Bayern have a good defence, but I felt we could have done a better job attacking.

In any case the first leg sets up the second leg very nicely. Both teams still very much in it. Madrid don't exactly need a miracle to win the tie and Bayern now have options to work with coming into the game which will make the tactical battle interesting.

Can't wait.

Thats because Barca had 70% of the ball lol

Come on man, Bayern clearly have a better defence than they get credit for.

Lahm is rock solid, excellent reader and tackler. The kid at leftback is a force and has great physical tools.

And the two Germans in the middle cover each other well and excell at things the other doesnt.

One of the best, if not the best goalie and Gustavo protects them all very well.

No way is it a poor defence.

Yes, the goal wasnt their best moment but you can show examples like this for every team out there.

Bayern won because of the midfield, not the defence.

I actually don't rate Bayern's Defense higly honestly. Try breaching in the middle. I.E put a fast player or Dribbler and you'll see what I mean.

(Looks at Bad n' stubby's (Badstuber's) nervous face)

Saetablanca wrote:Bayern won because of the midfield, not the defence.

Bayern won because Mou lost.

Lord Hispano wrote:I actually don't rate Bayern's Defense higly honestly. Try breaching in the middle. I.E put a fast player or Dribbler and you'll see what I mean.

(Looks at Bad n' stubby's (Badstuber's) nervous face)

That's what Boateng is there for whos is quite frankly a speed merchant who can defend very well lol.....

Badstuber is a very clean defender who has great positional sense and very good interception skills who commands the penalty box very well who also good at bringing the ball out from the back.....

Neither to me are of WC ability but they are both compliment and fit each other very well and sometimes having two defenders whose ability's compliment each other is better than buying two defender of the highest ability.

The Franchise wrote:Thats because Barca had 70% of the ball lol

Come on man, Bayern clearly have a better defence than they get credit for.

Lahm is rock solid, excellent reader and tackler. The kid at leftback is a force and has great physical tools.

And the two Germans in the middle cover each other well and excell at things the other doesnt.

One of the best, if not the best goalie and Gustavo protects them all very well.

No way is it a poor defence.

Yes, the goal wasnt their best moment but you can show examples like this for every team out there.

Dani thats interesting since I gathered most dont rate Bayern's defense obviously. But last night showing really are changing ppl's mind. Although the midfield I thought helped out well and Lahm who I gathered were average this season turned up and Alaba rising up lately. Although partly due to the midfield 3v2 as well as Real couldnt get anything going apart from Ozil and Di MAria on ocassions, Ronaldo just flopped badly.

Not long ago their LB especially was a joke, probably now they are becoming good and deserves more praise :king:

The Franchise wrote:Thats because Barca had 70% of the ball lol

Come on man, Bayern clearly have a better defence than they get credit for.

Lahm is rock solid, excellent reader and tackler. The kid at leftback is a force and has great physical tools.

And the two Germans in the middle cover each other well and excell at things the other doesnt.

One of the best, if not the best goalie and Gustavo protects them all very well.

No way is it a poor defence.

Yes, the goal wasnt their best moment but you can show examples like this for every team out there.

You will see what I'm talking about next week.

Anyway, I hope the Bayern defense prove me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath either.

This thread hit 51 pages pretty quickly. Especially considering these usually die/get locked by the 25th page lol

Zealous wrote:This thread hit 51 pages pretty quickly. Especially considering these usually die/get locked by the 25th page lol

It was at around 30 pages before Bayern and Madrid got through lol.

No Barca helps I think lol

bayern won because we out played Madrid.

Badstuber is a good defender but I don't think his positioning is that good, he was nowhere to be found when madrid scored, Boateng had to leave his position and cover for him, anyways like I predicted Oezil was left too alone in that hole, something JH must deal with in the 2nd leg.

Before Madrid scored, Badstuber was in the vicinity of the Madrid goal as there was a freekick situation, if my memory doesn't deceive me. Obviously Heynckes wants him to be around in freekick situations (for good reasons, as he is pretty strong in the air, even though he has yet to score still), so it was logical he couldn't be in position for that really fast counter. If you check the situation, Madrid only defended the FK with 6 men, while the other 4 were already positioned well for a fast counter attack. As the FK set-ups are determined by the coach beforehand, you can't fault Badstuber for being where he should be for the FK. It was just bad luck (okay, Schweinsteiger losing the ball at the Madrid box) and Real's well executed turbo-fast counter-attack that Bayern were outplayed there for the goal.

Saetablanca wrote:Bayern won because of the midfield, not the defence.

Yes, but their defence is also good because of their midfield.
When I talk about Bayern defence I don't mean their back-four, I mean the factt that their above-average-but-not-world-class back four is covered very well by their midfield.

Bayern have a well-functioning defensive unit, and if people refuse to see that, they'll... Well, something will happen to them. Can't quite find the word... :vagi:

Lord Hispano wrote:I.E put a fast player or Dribbler and you'll see what I mean.

(Looks at Bad n' stubby's (Badstuber's) nervous face)

Yes, if you could finally find that one fast dribbler, surely Bayerns defence will collapse. Of course any pub team could defend against scrubs like Cristiano Ronaldo, Di Maria, Özil, Benzema and Higuain. Sluggish, and clumsy, as they are.

Yes you'll probably outdribble either of them in 1on1, but you'll have to get past Piggy and Gustavo before that, and Gomez will probably shove you in the back while Alaba runs at you with max pace, all the while you're trying to navigate the wall of Goodstuber and Boateng, only to have your neat through-ball picked up by Neuer.

Yeah Bayern will probably concede again, might even lose to Real and go out. Still doesn't make the defence bad, unless they lose like 0-4

The Barca-threads are too angry for my taste, can we get this hug-fest here up and going again? I miss grown-up talks.

i think its clear madrid didnt give their all in that game, they werent pressing at least not the way they do against barca at nou camp and the way im expecting them to do this saturday

i think everyone should stop with the it was mou's fault and he lost.. if the outcome was different in the last minutes then no one would have talked about the way he approached the game in the last quarter.. who would have thought coentrao would lose that battle and pepe his..

saying that i believe the 2nd leg at bernabeu madrid will have the upperhand even if they r tired from the el classico they will control the game, dominate possession and miss or score chance after chance
there will be moments were bayern will feel lost i just hope we finish our chances ffs

free_cat wrote:

Bayern will get smashed. Hope they win, but I can't see it happen with that weak team.

blind hater

deadrave wrote:i think its clear madrid didnt give their all in that game, they werent pressing at least not the way they do against barca at nou camp and the way im expecting them to do this saturday

I don't necessarily think that's even true. Yes Real looked below their usual best, but, believe me or not, so did Bayern. Bayern usually have far better passing percentages than the mid-70s they had in that match, so I'll be daring and say they neutralized each other, that's why both teams looked below par.

Obviously I probably watch more Bayern than you do, while you'll likely watch more Madrid than I do - but the teams are very similar, not necessarily in playing style, but in the number and types of outlets for attack they have.

I can still see Madrid winning, in fact I expect them to win, I'm pretty sure scoreline, and thus goal difference and/or away goals rule will decide who goes to the final.

Doesn't change my opinion that it's impossible for Madrid to "dominate" the midfielda gainst Madrid though. They might win the midfield-battle, they might win the match, be the better team etc. etc. yadda yadda, you don't dominate possession or boss the midfield over 90 minutes against this Bayern side.

I won't believe it until I see it. Not because Bayern are the better team, but they're certainly the better team if you want to keep possession.

deadrave wrote:i think its clear madrid didnt give their all in that game, they werent pressing at least not the way they do against barca at nou camp and the way im expecting them to do this saturday

Well, it might also be that Bayern just didn't allow them to press? After all, this is a match of two teams of practically the same strength (and please don't talk about "Real is better on paper - that doesn't say anything on the pitch if it goes against a determined and organised opponent. Ask any "big name" NT that got defeated by the German NT along the years).

deadrave wrote:i think everyone should stop with the it was mou's fault and he lost.. if the outcome was different in the last minutes then no one would have talked about the way he approached the game in the last quarter.. who would have thought coentrao would lose that battle and pepe his..

Well, on the other hand that shows one big strength of Bayern - they fight till the very end in matches that count (e.g. if it wasn't for Robben's individual blackouts they could have ended the Dortmund match 2:1 in their favour within the last 5 minutes, too). Moreover, Bayern could easily have been 4:1 or 5:1 up on Tuesday, if Gomez would have converted all of his sitters (or rather 4:2 or 5:2 if Benz would have scored his chance, too).

deadrave wrote:saying that i believe the 2nd leg at bernabeu madrid will have the upperhand even if they r tired from the el classico they will control the game, dominate possession and miss or score chance after chance

Well, you underestimate the fact that Bayern are also a possession side who are used to dominate possession. In the first leg the possession stats were 52.27% to 47.53% in favour to Bayern, so you cannot expect Madrid to be able to hog the ball over most of the match as the Bayern players will have some say in that, too. Moreover, Bayern are also excellent on the counter, so both Real and Bayern actually play to the same strengths. And about the ability of Bayern to miss or score chances, too, not much needs to be said (Gomez at times).

deadrave wrote:there will be moments were bayern will feel lost i just hope we finish our chances ffs

I very much doubt that Bayern will feel lost at any time. They are not cannon fodder and used to play in stadiums that are filled to the brim with hostile fans.

The Bernabeu holds 200 more people than the Signal Iduna Park, though, so you know they won't be used to that kind of crowds

rwo power wrote:Before Madrid scored, Badstuber was in the vicinity of the Madrid goal as there was a freekick situation, if my memory doesn't deceive me. Obviously Heynckes wants him to be around in freekick situations (for good reasons, as he is pretty strong in the air, even though he has yet to score still), so it was logical he couldn't be in position for that really fast counter. If you check the situation, Madrid only defended the FK with 6 men, while the other 4 were already positioned well for a fast counter attack. As the FK set-ups are determined by the coach beforehand, you can't fault Badstuber for being where he should be for the FK. It was just bad luck (okay, Schweinsteiger losing the ball at the Madrid box) and Real's well executed turbo-fast counter-attack that Bayern were outplayed there for the goal.

Actually, you can considering Badstubers' role for Bayern has been the one to thwart Counter's while staying dynamically deep within FK lines. He was out of position within the Madrid goal and several other times (from Benzema earlier on).

Aside from that he had a clean and efficient game and marked Benzema out. I also liked his tactical foul as it reminded me of Nesta against Barca. Some fouls just have to be made.

Arquitecto wrote:
Aside from that he had a clean and efficient game and marked Benzema out. I also liked his tactical foul as it reminded me of Nesta against Barca. Some fouls just have to be made.

Agreed. It's a bit dirty, but sometimes it's that or allow a goal. Rather shut up and take the yellow card like a man.

Very smart defender. Still, obviously, lacking experience and his acceleration is crap. Top speed is very good though, and his positioning is brilliant for his age - obviously he's got his flaws.

But on t hat particular counter, I agree with RWO Power - he was clearly in front of goal for the aerial battle, and there was basically no chance in hell of him being back in time.

That being said, none of Bayerns defenders looked great when the Madrid goal happened. But that's what goals usually do. Make defenders look dumb.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:
Aside from that he had a clean and efficient game and marked Benzema out. I also liked his tactical foul as it reminded me of Nesta against Barca. Some fouls just have to be made.

Agreed. It's a bit dirty, but sometimes it's that or allow a goal. Rather shut up and take the yellow card like a man.

Very smart defender. Still, obviously, lacking experience and his acceleration is crap. Top speed is very good though, and his positioning is brilliant for his age - obviously he's got his flaws.

But on t hat particular counter, I agree with RWO Power - he was clearly in front of goal for the aerial battle, and there was basically no chance in hell of him being back in time.

That being said, none of Bayerns defenders looked great when the Madrid goal happened. But that's what goals usually do. Make defenders look dumb.

The counter-attack debate is arguable as even beforehand I was questioning his positioning as it initiated. But I guess I see it differently.

His positioning is his best feat no doubt. Agreed he could have more turning speed but this is why he tends to stay deep when not attacking but its not really a deficiency at all.

He has his fair share of flaws but I'm confident that in time they will fade as his strengths grow. As for the tactical foul, the reason I liked his move so much was once again mentioning Nesta against Barca (Messi), he committed those tactical fouls in the pure reason that Messi would have ripped through the remaining defense. Badstuber proved crucial with his foul on (Benzema, IIRC) as otherwise Madrid surely would have a goal. Wonderfully experienced move from such an inexperienced player. Goodstuber

The only drawback is that Badstuber now has to be careful for the second leg - on one hand, he can't allow Madrid's attackers to get through, but on the other hand he needs to keep an eye on a possible final, so he can't allow himself to be booked as IMO he is too important to be missing in a final match.