Teams we have to 'fear' in the (near)future

Was talking about this in the Guardiola topic, but was a little off-topic


Perhaps an interesting question; wich teams we have to fear in the future? I see Bayern Munchen growing allot. Maybe Ajax when Cruijff and De Boer get their way? Will Real Madrid be as good when Mourinho leaves?

NONE!

I think realistically the main team for discussion is Bayern.

Personally, im on the fence. They dont dominate their own league and having seen them a few times while I can see they are good, I dont think they are on Madrid's level.

I think worse still, just like Germany vs Spain, they match up all wrong for us and without possession they will suffer.

Other teams we have to wait and see, for example Man City have the ability to buy their way to a very high level but to what extent we have to wait and see.

Madrid, Manchter City, Manchester United and perhaps Milan.

Madrid: obviously, richest club in the world, they can buy anyone they want and their team is very young except Alonso. They can last years and have spending power to add any player they need.

Manchester United: Third richest club in the world, with a very good squad and young prospects. With a few signings they can improve a lot. Have the challenge to improve their midfield and replace Rio and in some years Vidic.

Manchester City: Also a young team, with astonishing purchasing power. They'll keep improving.

Milan: In principle, they don't have money, but you never know if Berlusconi will go on a spending spree. They are already a good team that improving some areas and with the challenge to replace Nesta they can give us trouble.

If Financial Fair play comes is effective, Manchester City and Milan shouldn't be able to compete with us in the next 5-10 years. But in this case, Arsenal (top 5 rich club) would be a challenger. However, I highly doubt that FFP will be implemented effectively.

Bayern, I don't know. They can't even manage to win a mediocre league like Bundesliga and I don't see why they should improve that much. They don't have any tremendous youngster coming and they have many shortcomings.

I expect Bayern to or
a) invest in youth
b) buy some great players.

They are just behind Manchester United when it comes to profit; - 323m.
2007/8 they ended 1st in Bundesliga. 2008/9 second. 2009/10 again first. Now they are third, with just 4 points behind. I can really see them growing in the near future. Maybe not next year but within 5 years (depends on choice a or choice b) I think they will join the top5 clubs in the world.

Well a top 5 team in 5 years from now isnt something we can really think about. I mean, just a year before Inter won the CL, we wouldnt of considered them either.

Anyway, I agree with Free's post on all those clubs. I think though may have some problems because Ibra is now 30 and Pato still hasnt been fixed.

Collblanc wrote:I expect Bayern to or
a) invest in youth
b) buy some great players.

They are just behind Manchester United when it comes to profit; - 323m.
2007/8 they ended 1st in Bundesliga. 2008/9 second. 2009/10 again first. Now they are third, with just 4 points behind. I can really see them growing in the near future. Maybe not next year but within 5 years (depends on choice a or choice b) I think they will join the top5 clubs in the world.

I don't see any convincing reason why they should.
Richest clubs are Madrid, Barça, Manchester, Bayern and Arsenal, by this order. If FFP is effectively implemented, I can see Bayern improving. Otherwise, they don't have economical power to compete with the first three, neither with Manchester City, Chelsea and Milan (when they decide to spend).

And yeah, they might invest in youth, but who do they have now? Youth players appear long term: do they have players aged 14-18 that can be great? I have no idea, but I know that Barça does.

And it gets worse if Bayern handcuff themselves like they are when they say things like "we will never buy a young Brazilian again".

Fear is a strong word, I don't think we have to fear anyone.

As far as teams that will be able to compete with us I think Real Madrid are at that level (or almost, a decline in Xavi would make all the difference), City can get there, Bayern could get there if they would invest in a defense (although they would still need to also invest in forwards that don't get injured every 3 games) and Juventus have the resources to become world class, winning the league and returning to the champions league could spur some big moves from them. United are also always a threat, but SAF said he's retiring in 2-3 years, so that's a big question mark in my mind.

Btw how far do you guys think the Roma project can go? I can see them becoming a side able to get into the CL semis and perhaps winning a Serie A (given that they've only won 3 in their history, that would be quite an achievement), but I don't think they'll be able to compete with Barca in the near term future.

I don't find Bayern to be a threat. At all.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Fear is a strong word, I don't think we have to fear anyone.

This.

Teams that will compete with Barca in the upcoming years are obvious; Real Madrid, Man City [biggest squad in europe, with lots of big names/ very talented ones...], maybe Bayern? [not sure]

The rest, like ACMilan, Juve, Man utd ... can't see them causing any threat if they played against us in the near future..


maybe Malaga in the future? if they qualified to CL next season, i can see them buying big names like man city !!!

Worst team we have to fear in the future is ourselves

They are all scary but with the current Barcelona roster the way it is, I think our worst enemy will be ourselves.

Madrid, Bayern and Milan are the ones I fear the most though.

If we are on song and rested, I am confident that we can beat any other team on song and rested(and therefore don't see a need to "fear" them per se), but that doesn't often happen so I would say Real is our closest competitor. That is just basing it off a much larger squad depth and their ability to see off small teams home and away very consistently

In terms of other teams, Milan have showed some promise but I don't see any reason to fear them.

Our team is a big game team and our players usually step up to the occasion of playing against a strong team, which is why I don't fear matches against big teams. Nothing has occurred recently that will change my opinion in that regard.

BPL teams at this point in time have 0 threat level.

I expect Madrid to be the biggest challenge in the future if Mou stays. If he leaves, I can see them falling apart.
Besides Madrid maybe Man City if they get a half decent manager

billy_gr wrote:I expect Madrid to be the biggest challenge in the future if Mou stays. If he leaves, I can see them falling apart.
Besides Madrid maybe Man City if they get a half decent manager

The Complete Opposite...
with an attacking minded coach, this realmadrid can do better results...

Khaled wrote:

billy_gr wrote:I expect Madrid to be the biggest challenge in the future if Mou stays. If he leaves, I can see them falling apart.
Besides Madrid maybe Man City if they get a half decent manager

The Complete Opposite...
with an attacking minded coach, this realmadrid can do better results...

we saw that with coaches before mou..

Khaled wrote:

billy_gr wrote:I expect Madrid to be the biggest challenge in the future if Mou stays. If he leaves, I can see them falling apart.
Besides Madrid maybe Man City if they get a half decent manager

The Complete Opposite...
with an attacking minded coach, this realmadrid can do better results...

like him or not... no coach can discipline Madrid players like Mou can.
Should he leave they will fall apart. just wait and see

Ac Milan's Football keeps improving, if say we have the best set of passers in the world, well they probably have the best set of "Shooters" in the world right now, as well as young rising stars... El shaarawy etc..

but Domestically we might have another heavyweight next season in the form of Malaga, as the owner kind of hinted he will spend as much if not more next summer as the last.