Champions League Watch

Robben is the "go to" man for everything Bayern do

 

When they want to lose the ball, give it to Robben

 

typical webb

 

Great defending from Alonso to preserve the lead.

 

nah, the guy is world class. But it shows without him Bayern don't look threatening at all.

 

Except the goal, Benzema has spoofed his way through another game. What a frustrating player he is.

 

At first no, but we all got bored of the endless passing with little to go with it. Barca of 2011 relied extremely heavily on the genius of Messi and the players supplying him.
But this also leads to teams like Chelsea, how will sit back and wait and wait and then score on the break. Leads to the dullest football matches to watch.

Bayern last year were exciting to watch, now the over control of the game has become boring. Sure they'll win lots of games, mainly cause the opposition will barely get a touch, but do people want to watch a re-run of Barca v Chavs again?

 

This competition is crying out for a good attacking team to be involved in it

 

Oh, he's good. Just like Ronaldo and Bale. But my word the three of them are greedy ****s who try to take on the whole world then shoot from any angle. Frustrates me to watch them.

 

This. I think Bayern are showing that Pep's style of play needs one exceptionally talented player (like Messi) for it to pay off. One thing Pep doesn't get enough credit for is how well his teams close the opposition. It really is brilliant the way they press the opposition.

 

Real had strict instructions not to let him drift left.

 

Yeh, and double up on him. Carlo was spot on with that. The fcker always goes inside tbf and that's when he's at his deadliest.

 

They rely on Robben a little to much if you ask me. They keep on feeding him the ball hoping he'll be able to unlock the defence, as no one else has the tricks to do it. Ribery is way overrated if you ask me, how he was on the Ballon Do'r list is beyond me

 

I think everyone who's ever played against him has been given those instructions. He's so dangerous when he cuts inside

 

And sometimes triple up on him...

I don't get why Guardiola can't find room for Muller upfront.

 

Guardiola is ruining bayern

He's taking the best full back in the world and making an ok holding midfielder while a player as pure class as Martinez goes rot they are all over the place

Too many defenders on the pitch too slow going forward, ends up attacking a massed defence

 

Or European player of the year. I see nothing from him which makes me go wow.

 

I see your point but don't agree re Barca of 2011.

They were a fantastic team and great to Watch. It's a little unfair to criticise them for being so good that it led to teams like Chelsea parking the bus. Chelsea parked the bus against Bayern is 2012 and Athletico last night. Neither of those are as good as Barca of 2011. The Alternative was to play football against them and get well beaten like Utd and Arsenal did.

As for relying on Messi, he is the best player of this generation so he's always gonna stand out, but the other fowards and MF's in Xavi, Inestia, Pedro and Villa were outstanding in that period. Spains successes didn't need Messi. They could defend in those days as well.

However, they certainly aren't a patch on that team nowadays and i'd agree Bayern arn't as exciting as last year.

 

I used to believe this as well, I remember arguing that Xavi and Iniesta were equally as important as Messi if not more. But now I believe what Messi offered was someone who could turn all that possession into runs through the defence. Pep turned him into a false number 9 for precisely that reason. I don't believe you need the world's best player to do that, but Bayern do need someone in that mold to make his transformation of Bayern work. When you look at the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pedro, you can't say that Bayern don't have players who can provide the same pressing, possession and passing as them. What they lack are those runners.

Spain imo also struggle when their strikers don't perform. They then rely on the likes of Iniesta or Fabregas to get in behind, but if defences are able to cope with them then they tend to show a lot of possession without actually threatening. I'm not convinced by all this but I'm beginning to believe it.

 

I wouldn't disagree with that, Bayern really need a world class player instead of Mandzukic. Mandzukic is good but he's not quite what they require. Lewandowski could be the man to make the difference next season. He is a big man too , but he's also very quick, where as Mandzukic is abit of a slouch