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      Champions League: Round of 16

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      Mickred
      • Forum John Barnes
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #115: Dec 17, 2018 01:20:18 pm
      Tough draw, but could have been worse. They aren't as good as they were a couple of years ago.  We should do this one.

      YNWA
      Benito
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #116: Dec 17, 2018 01:21:56 pm
      Hey there everybody,

      I just registered here to write a few words about our current situation. "Our", that means I'm from Germany and a Bayern Munich Fan. Excuse me for my bad english.

      So, where do we start? Last year, we still had a pretty good Team. Everyone, who saw the semi final against Real, could see, that actually we must win these two matches, but we didn't use our chances and Ulreich + Rafinha made some bad mistakes, that costs us the final against.. right, Liverpool. With Heynckes we had a great Coach with a lot of experience, but now the reality is Kovac and 80% of our fans are against him. It's like the Mourinho/United Situation. You know, there is no chance in hell that these managers will be succesfull with the team and bring them to the Champions League Final. Kovac is like "The Chosen One". Great with a midclass team and even beat Bayern last year for the DFB Pokal, but he isn't made for a big team. He has so many tactical Problems (when he was Croatia Coach he once said "Tactical things doesn't matter, it's all about the heart), it's awful and until a few weeks ago german media talked about 13 (!!) players, who were against him. When he brought Thomas Müller in the 70. Minute of a match his wife (!) posted on instagram:"Finally he has a good idea.." and bullshit like that happend the whole season. We fans are totally dissatisfied with Kovac and our whole board (Salihamidzic, Hoeneß and Rummenigge). The Board didn't want to fire Kovac, cause they are to proud to say "Okay, you're right, we made a big mistake to hire Kovac" and so they let him go on.

      So therefore the question was - what to do now? The players and Kovac had a conversation und since that conversation we play definitely better again. Before that we tied against Augsburg, Düsseldorf and Freiburg and these teams you can compare to Huddersfield, West Ham and Burnley. Now? We won 3:0 against Nürnberg, 4:0 against Hannover which are also on this level, but we beat them and played really good. Also Benfica when we beat them 5:1. The guys seems like they are a team again and Kovac learned a little bit. Since a few matches, he plays with Goretzka and Kimmich in the central midfield, which is fantastic right now and Müller plays behind Lewandowski, central offensive midfield. THIS is his position and nothing else. In the last years he often played for an injured Robben at the right side, but he can't play that a good way. And thanks to Müller, Lewandowski scores and scores. So if your defense has to care about someone, than it's Lewandowski and Müller.

      Our forwards Robben and Ribery brought us the Champions League 2013, but now? They're too old and don't have a Chance against better opponents like you and I think, if nobody is injured at this Point, Kovac will start against you with one of Robben/Ribery (because of their experience, nothing else) and one of Coman/Gnabry. The last ones are our future. High potential, Coman is 22 years, Gnabry 23, both of them are playing really good, but they need a few years to get the class of Salah/Mané or Ribery/Robben in prime time. But Coman, I think, is already on the level to scare your defense a few times. He moves like Salah and has his speed.

      So, i talked about Kimmich and Goretzka. These 2 + Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen) are germany's future in the central midfield. Think about my words in a few years. The Problem is: Kimmich usually is our right back since we don't have Lahm anymore and if he plays in the midfield, we only have Rafinha as right back and what should I say? Mané will enjoy the 2 matches, if Kovac plays with Rafinha as right back.

      Our Central Backs Boateng, Hummels and Süle this Saison? My God, give me Klavan and Matip and we have a better defense. Seriously, Süle is a little out of form, but actually he's a f***in' beast and damn good, but Hummels and Boateng are sh*t, just sh*t. There is not a single game, in which they don't do a big mistake this Saison, it's unbelieveable and that's the main reason, why we are afraid of playing Liverpool. In Germany we love to watch the Premier League and myself? I watch every Liverpool game, cause every of your match is just enjoying Football. It reminds me of the time, Klopp was at the Dortmund and we had big issues with them. So, the point is, Salah, Mané and Firmino will play our defense dizzy. Is it dizzy? I think so. Alaba always was a Defender, who was worldclass offensive, especially with Ribery on the left side, but in the defense? Pheeew and year after year it get's more worse.

      Thiago, someone here said Thiago. Great Player if the whole team plays awesome on a day or if we play against weak teams, but can he bring the Turnaround in a big match? No, he never has.

      Javi Martinez once was one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, but nowadays? Just a shadow of himself.

      Actually the best Player in our squad is James. Worldclass, absolutely brillant. Problem? He's still in a fight with Kovac. Already before the Saison started, there were rumours, Kovac don't like James, he wants him to leave and we fans were like, what the bloody hell? Now James is injured, but he will back after the winter break and then? We'll see. In this form, Müller won't be out of the first 11 and if there is Müller in the first 11, there is no James unfortunatelly. Media says he's still in a fight with Kovac, just like Hummels by the way. They don't like each other. It's a situation like Pogba/Mourinho with the two of them.

      I forgot Neuer. Worldclass Keeper? Yes, at least until he was injured for nearly a year. Since the world Cup? You could play with Karius and would not see a difference. I think, now you can imagine, how good Neuer is in the last months.

      So, now I wrote a lot and for sure you're already tired to read. So what's the Conclusion? Usually you should not have any problems with us. Right now, you're the better team, absolutely. You have the better players, the better manager, we need a rebuild in the summer (Rafinha, Boateng, Hummels, Robben, Ribery, Martinez.. all out). In the winter, you don't get a good player normally. Van Dijk doesn't like that, yeah, but we? Maybe we get an injured Parvard from Stuttgart and Ante Rebic from Frankfurt. This would be the best, we can get in the winter.

      That doesn't mean we lose both matches 5:0, no. You definitely have to watch out for Lewandowski, Müller, Coman, maybe Gnabry and the fact that we won a lot matches, nobody believe we could do at this point or just let it be a match like the United matches 2010. Somehow we won 2:1 in Munich and at old trafford we were down 3:0. After 90 minutes it was 3:2 and we were through the next round.

      I'm just looking forward to 2 nice matches and if you beat us, I hope you finally win the Champions League and the Premier League. Your team and your Club is what Football is all about and the love we share to this game.


      Thanks for the low-down Thomas Mueller! Great post!

      While Bayern are a shadow of their former selves, its still one of the hardest draws in the round (bar United/PSG).

      bmck
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      • YNWA
      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #117: Dec 17, 2018 01:29:53 pm
      Hey there everybody,

      I just registered here to write a few words about our current situation. "Our", that means I'm from Germany and a Bayern Munich Fan. Excuse me for my bad english.

      So, where do we start? Last year, we still had a pretty good Team. Everyone, who saw the semi final against Real, could see, that actually we must win these two matches, but we didn't use our chances and Ulreich + Rafinha made some bad mistakes, that costs us the final against.. right, Liverpool. With Heynckes we had a great Coach with a lot of experience, but now the reality is Kovac and 80% of our fans are against him. It's like the Mourinho/United Situation. You know, there is no chance in hell that these managers will be succesfull with the team and bring them to the Champions League Final. Kovac is like "The Chosen One". Great with a midclass team and even beat Bayern last year for the DFB Pokal, but he isn't made for a big team. He has so many tactical Problems (when he was Croatia Coach he once said "Tactical things doesn't matter, it's all about the heart), it's awful and until a few weeks ago german media talked about 13 (!!) players, who were against him. When he brought Thomas Müller in the 70. Minute of a match his wife (!) posted on instagram:"Finally he has a good idea.." and bullshit like that happend the whole season. We fans are totally dissatisfied with Kovac and our whole board (Salihamidzic, Hoeneß and Rummenigge). The Board didn't want to fire Kovac, cause they are to proud to say "Okay, you're right, we made a big mistake to hire Kovac" and so they let him go on.

      So therefore the question was - what to do now? The players and Kovac had a conversation und since that conversation we play definitely better again. Before that we tied against Augsburg, Düsseldorf and Freiburg and these teams you can compare to Huddersfield, West Ham and Burnley. Now? We won 3:0 against Nürnberg, 4:0 against Hannover which are also on this level, but we beat them and played really good. Also Benfica when we beat them 5:1. The guys seems like they are a team again and Kovac learned a little bit. Since a few matches, he plays with Goretzka and Kimmich in the central midfield, which is fantastic right now and Müller plays behind Lewandowski, central offensive midfield. THIS is his position and nothing else. In the last years he often played for an injured Robben at the right side, but he can't play that a good way. And thanks to Müller, Lewandowski scores and scores. So if your defense has to care about someone, than it's Lewandowski and Müller.

      Our forwards Robben and Ribery brought us the Champions League 2013, but now? They're too old and don't have a Chance against better opponents like you and I think, if nobody is injured at this Point, Kovac will start against you with one of Robben/Ribery (because of their experience, nothing else) and one of Coman/Gnabry. The last ones are our future. High potential, Coman is 22 years, Gnabry 23, both of them are playing really good, but they need a few years to get the class of Salah/Mané or Ribery/Robben in prime time. But Coman, I think, is already on the level to scare your defense a few times. He moves like Salah and has his speed.

      So, i talked about Kimmich and Goretzka. These 2 + Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen) are germany's future in the central midfield. Think about my words in a few years. The Problem is: Kimmich usually is our right back since we don't have Lahm anymore and if he plays in the midfield, we only have Rafinha as right back and what should I say? Mané will enjoy the 2 matches, if Kovac plays with Rafinha as right back.

      Our Central Backs Boateng, Hummels and Süle this Saison? My God, give me Klavan and Matip and we have a better defense. Seriously, Süle is a little out of form, but actually he's a f***in' beast and damn good, but Hummels and Boateng are sh*t, just sh*t. There is not a single game, in which they don't do a big mistake this Saison, it's unbelieveable and that's the main reason, why we are afraid of playing Liverpool. In Germany we love to watch the Premier League and myself? I watch every Liverpool game, cause every of your match is just enjoying Football. It reminds me of the time, Klopp was at the Dortmund and we had big issues with them. So, the point is, Salah, Mané and Firmino will play our defense dizzy. Is it dizzy? I think so. Alaba always was a Defender, who was worldclass offensive, especially with Ribery on the left side, but in the defense? Pheeew and year after year it get's more worse.

      Thiago, someone here said Thiago. Great Player if the whole team plays awesome on a day or if we play against weak teams, but can he bring the Turnaround in a big match? No, he never has.

      Javi Martinez once was one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, but nowadays? Just a shadow of himself.

      Actually the best Player in our squad is James. Worldclass, absolutely brillant. Problem? He's still in a fight with Kovac. Already before the Saison started, there were rumours, Kovac don't like James, he wants him to leave and we fans were like, what the bloody hell? Now James is injured, but he will back after the winter break and then? We'll see. In this form, Müller won't be out of the first 11 and if there is Müller in the first 11, there is no James unfortunatelly. Media says he's still in a fight with Kovac, just like Hummels by the way. They don't like each other. It's a situation like Pogba/Mourinho with the two of them.

      I forgot Neuer. Worldclass Keeper? Yes, at least until he was injured for nearly a year. Since the world Cup? You could play with Karius and would not see a difference. I think, now you can imagine, how good Neuer is in the last months.

      So, now I wrote a lot and for sure you're already tired to read. So what's the Conclusion? Usually you should not have any problems with us. Right now, you're the better team, absolutely. You have the better players, the better manager, we need a rebuild in the summer (Rafinha, Boateng, Hummels, Robben, Ribery, Martinez.. all out). In the winter, you don't get a good player normally. Van Dijk doesn't like that, yeah, but we? Maybe we get an injured Parvard from Stuttgart and Ante Rebic from Frankfurt. This would be the best, we can get in the winter.

      That doesn't mean we lose both matches 5:0, no. You definitely have to watch out for Lewandowski, Müller, Coman, maybe Gnabry and the fact that we won a lot matches, nobody believe we could do at this point or just let it be a match like the United matches 2010. Somehow we won 2:1 in Munich and at old trafford we were down 3:0. After 90 minutes it was 3:2 and we were through the next round.

      I'm just looking forward to 2 nice matches and if you beat us, I hope you finally win the Champions League and the Premier League. Your team and your Club is what Football is all about and the love we share to this game.


      Well done mate, interesting post, and good luck in the tie !  [ well, not too much luck ;) ]
      ruthcity
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #118: Dec 17, 2018 01:39:40 pm
      waltonl4
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #119: Dec 17, 2018 01:56:55 pm
      Just love this draw its exactly what a last 16 game should be and it will be a cracker and I am sure Jürgen will be delighted by having the opportunity to take his team back to Germany.
      So much to look forward to this season is turning out to be special
      waltonl4
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #120: Dec 17, 2018 01:59:06 pm
      Anyone got any omens for this years competition?.

      it will be 60 years since Shankly to over at Anfield next year it would be nice to celebrate that with a league and CL win I don't think I am being greedy.
      Brian78
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #121: Dec 17, 2018 02:00:38 pm
      Fairly sure its our first meeting with Munich in the European cup since 81 semi finals
      jimbo1962
      • Forum Ian Callaghan
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #122: Dec 17, 2018 02:33:23 pm
      hows it looking  in terms of our path crossing Reals or is each stage totally randomised
      PurpleMonkey
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #123: Dec 17, 2018 02:39:50 pm
      hows it looking  in terms of our path crossing Reals or is each stage totally randomised

      Random.
      Alfie2510
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #124: Dec 17, 2018 02:41:43 pm
      Thomas Muller suspended for 1st leg
      ConzS
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #125: Dec 17, 2018 02:48:59 pm
      Thomas Muller suspended for 1st leg
      And Van Dijk  :mad:
      srslfc
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #126: Dec 17, 2018 02:49:18 pm
      Great draw and we always get up for the big games so bring it on.
      shabbadoo
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #127: Dec 17, 2018 02:51:03 pm
      Taken from a news article..

      “For some in the Liverpool camp, the match represents something far more sentimental than any other game this season.

      Klopp name-checked three members of the group, all of whom have a history with the German champions.

      Xherdan Shaqiri - Anfield's hero against Manchester United on Sunday - played for the Bundesliga side between 2012 and 2015, while Head of Nutrition Mona Nemmer spent three years there working with Pep Guardiola.

      Andreas Kornmayer, meanwhile, knows the Allianz Arena better than most. Liverpool's Head of Fitness and Conditioning spent more than 15 years with Bayern, working under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Guardiola before leaving for Merseyside in 2016.”   






      Forgot how many came across  from Bayern..
      Ribapuru
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #128: Dec 17, 2018 02:52:12 pm
      Thomas Muller suspended for 1st leg
      good
      racerx34
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #129: Dec 17, 2018 02:52:48 pm
      Xherdan Shaqiri - Anfield's hero against Manchester United on Sunday - played for the Bundesliga side between 2012 and 2015

      Of course. It had to be.
      ConzS
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #130: Dec 17, 2018 02:53:50 pm
      Hmm I leave a few hours after the second fixture, heading to NY/Vegas for the old man’s 50th. The result could make it a either a very enjoyable or a very miserable journey.
      molbys belly
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #131: Dec 17, 2018 03:03:40 pm

      I know least he will be there for the away leg . Be a hard game that one
      Harrisimo
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #132: Dec 17, 2018 03:27:05 pm
      VAR now comes into it. Strange decision by UEFA...group stages were you could easily get knocked out by a wrong decision and they agree to bring it into play only for the last 16. The biggest club competition in the World.

      That idiot Skomina could've easily given Napoli a penalty and we would be out...no VAR. What's the point of only having VAR for the later stages of a competition, surely disadvantages teams in the group stage.
      « Last Edit: Dec 17, 2018 03:31:10 pm by Harrisimo »
      jimbo1962
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #133: Dec 17, 2018 03:35:35 pm

      not like the world cup then?
      heimdall
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #134: Dec 17, 2018 04:09:51 pm
      VAR now comes into it. Strange decision by UEFA...group stages were you could easily get knocked out by a wrong decision and they agree to bring it into play only for the last 16. The biggest club competition in the World.

      That idiot Skomina could've easily given Napoli a penalty and we would be out...no VAR. What's the point of only having VAR for the later stages of a competition, surely disadvantages teams in the group stage.

      Napoli a penalty, what was that for then? Didn't we have a few half calls for penalties in that match as well?

      Anyway more than happy getting Bayern, they are not the team they used to be and I really fancy us to beat them over 2 legs.
      Harrisimo
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #135: Dec 17, 2018 04:19:56 pm
      Napoli a penalty, what was that for then? Didn't we have a few half calls for penalties in that match as well?

      Anyway more than happy getting Bayern, they are not the team they used to be and I really fancy us to beat them over 2 legs.

      Obviously I wasn't pointing to any one specific incident, just why only have VAR in the last 16 with millions at stake. Start with VAR and finish with VAR.

      Yeah Bayern is OK. But Klopp will treat the tie on it's merits for sure.
      adammac
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #136: Dec 17, 2018 05:36:14 pm
      I would like to see us draw Porto but my gut feeling is we will be facing Bayern Munich

      I guess my gut was right for once! I think it a decent draw for us. They are a side who are still good on their day and have some great players but thus far this season shown to be shadow of themselves though form could be different in a couple months but I am looking forward another European night vs a big side.
      Magillionare
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      Re: Champions League: Round of 16
      Reply #137: Dec 17, 2018 06:56:34 pm
      Bayern not having the best season, should beat them quite handily I imagine.

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