Decent last few minutes but the best thing you can say about the two games this week is they are nicely poised for the return legs.
Ronnie thinks Real could have won 3 or 4 nil which I think is overstating it a bit - Bayern had a couple of chances too, particularly near the end for Gotze and Muller.
Think Guardiola has out-thought himself on his selections. Lahm is a great versatile option to have in midfield but if it means starting Rafinha ahead of Javi Martinez and if Muller doesnât get to play then it does make Bayern more predictable and easier to defend against. Didnât see all the first half but Schweinsteiger and Kroos are a little similar and for all Kroosâs talents he doesnât really impose himself sometimes and allows the pace of a game to drop.
Lack of away goal for Bayern might be a problem with Realâs effectiveness on the break.
[QUOTE=âRocko, post: 936054, member: 1â]Giles thinks Guardiola brought in Iniesta and Xavi.
Eamonn making a fair point about Bayern but itâs more about their form than their class. They havenât played well in a number of weeks now.[/QUOTE]
They werenât great against Arsenal or Man Utd either. I think its more to do with their inability to break down organised defences
The systems they are coming up against is certainly a part of it but theyâre also just not generally in good form for at least a month or so - going back to the United games anyway.
Though itâs worth pointing out that they lost 1-0 away to probably the second best team in Europe at the moment. Theyâre not firing well but they arenât far off winning a CL, Bundesliga and German Cup in the space of a few weeks.
Has to have something to do with having the league wrapped up so early Iâd imagine-no meaningful competitive matches outside of cup games for a month now. The same reasons Celtic havenât dominated this competition in recent years.
RTE really could have sacrificed the âhighlightsâ of Atletico Madrid v Scum FC to have an extra long discussion on Manchester United. Nobody supports Chelsea.
[QUOTE=âRocko, post: 936048, member: 1â]Decent last few minutes but the best thing you can say about the two games this week is they are nicely poised for the return legs.
Ronnie thinks Real could have won 3 or 4 nil which I think is overstating it a bit - Bayern had a couple of chances too, particularly near the end for Gotze and Muller.
Think Guardiola has out-thought himself on his selections. Lahm is a great versatile option to have in midfield but if it means starting Rafinha ahead of Javi Martinez and if Muller doesnât get to play then it does make Bayern more predictable and easier to defend against. Didnât see all the first half but Schweinsteiger and Kroos are a little similar and for all Kroosâs talents he doesnât really impose himself sometimes and allows the pace of a game to drop.
Lack of away goal for Bayern might be a problem with Realâs effectiveness on the break.[/QUOTE]
Bayern didnât look comfortable playing guardiolaâs way last nightâŚits like they are trying too hard to do it instead of using their instinct⌠kroos, Mueller and schweinsteiger looked so awkward getting possession with their back to goalâŚ
Robben had caontrao bet up a stick but mandzukic was just making the same run to the back post every time and robben was never going to get the ball to him with two Madrid centre halves in the way considering Robben usually waits til heâs on the edge of the penalty box at the very least before crossingâŚthey made Pepe look like a hero, even if some of his defensive headers were just straight up in the air⌠thought goetze would have been on much earlierâŚsurely they need him to thread passes if guardiola wants any joy in final thirdâŚ
the only Bayern players who seemed to have any urgency were the goalkeeper and Robben⌠they will find it hard to keep a clean sheet at home but if they get an early goal I could see that Madrid defence going to pieces like they did in DortmundâŚ