Champions League

    did anyone watch the Werder Bremen game???


    it was almost as exiting as watching a bayern outing in europe :P


    they go down 3-0 and get back in on aggregat with a late 90+ min goal to send it to extra time!


    then pizarro puts one in at the 100 min mark. bremen make it to the CL, making it 3 german teams in the biggest badest competition in club football.

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    Bundesilga always has three teams in Champion League. We have three in Champion League last season too. But only this season, Serie A has only 3 teams in Champion League. Thats a bit of different.

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    It is an average group and if we dont win this group, there is nobody to blame but ourselves. Roma isnt a tough opponent as their defence is weak as hell, just like us. Obviously, we are slightly better. The way bayern plays, Roma will have no chance whosoever. in fact, I would be more worried about Basel and Cluj as both will be ultra defensive and could potentially cause us troubles

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    i think in modern day football, every team is tough! so we can't take Cluj and Basel for granted, they can cause an upset like K'slautern did tonight!

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    I completely agree. In fact, they might even pose a huge threat to us as I have said, our defence is extremely scared of those counter attack teams, like Kaiserslautern and Inter

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    If Kroos and Gomez don't start on Wednesday against AS Roma, I think I won't even watch the game. I'm a huge fan of Van Gaal, and he did great last season, but he has to let his favourites go and play those who are fit and deserve to start. Muller is tired, Olic looks tired, Van Bommel is a shadow of the great WC Van Bommel (if we shouldn't have alternatives, would be no problem, but for those players you have Kroos, Gomez and Tymoschuk who deserve a chance).


    I always said I wanted to give him credit this summer, and wait until the transfer market was closed to evaluate the summer. And it seems we'll struggle in the first half of the season. OK, we've only played 3 or 4 games, but it doesn't bring much hope.

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    To be honest, without Ribery and Robben, our attack becomes very predictable. If Roma did do homework, we wont be able to win much, because most of our attacks come from both sides as most of Bayern fans know. We cant attack through the middle. I think either Van Bommel or Schweinsteiger or even the like of Demichelis or Badstuber needs to start attacking from the middle or go for mid-range shots, otherwise, opponents just need to stuck their entire force in either wings and will be able to keep us quiet for most of the time

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    Another Merci for our Belgian friend chrisco....


    It is the most natural and logical choice to include KROOS in the starting line up given that Ribery is still serving that silly suspension...


    If the coach doesn't wish to start Kroos.... WHY was he the 'greatest' and only recruit to the team this summer !!!!! That defies logic given the surpeme talent of this kid... I saw him do wonders at Leverkusen last year up till now VG doesn't have confidence in him for some unexplained reason and that is a pitty... :(
    Kroos needs to be a regular starter to shine....
    He is an attacking midfielder, and this is not the time in his career to start telling him to shift positions... he has to master one first... that's just my opinion...


    Hoping for a win (in whatever way...) against Roma,


    - Sari

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    BRAVO BBJ for bringing up the topic of predictability :))


    You are a good observer ! :)


    I had written about that in August (before the start of the Bundesliga!!!)


    That is HOW the Dutch team lost at the WC... they became so predictable that Spain picked them up in pieces....


    In football the worst thing to be is to become predictable !
    (even the Maverick Football of Ajax and Cruijf)
    cause when someone has your number it is soooo easy for them to play negative football and pick you out like picking strawberries !! hehehehehe !


    Very nice tactical discussion BBJ :)
    I hope we can reserve a space (thread) to talk tactics Only and share ideas about that topics cause it is my favorite ;)


    Cheers all !
    - Sari


    :8

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    With the players that we have, I think we should at least give them a chance to shine. Personally, I dont think Van Gaal is a great tactian because he fields the same team in every time with every opponents unless someone is injuried or suspended.


    Therefore, I think Van Gaal will keep the same backline against Roma maybe with the change of Demichelis in for Van Buyten. For the attacking unit, I think Van Gaal tries to play Altintop, Mueller and Kroos. To be honest, Altintop's natural position is right winger/midfielder. But because of Robben's success, Van Gaal plays every single left foot players on the right side and vica versa. It becomes too predictable now. So I prefer playing Altintop back in his natural position and he had a few good matches under Turkey national team there now

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