Bayern are still favorites

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Germans will ALWAYS choke.

that's why they have three stars on the jersey..

VivaStPauli wrote:What is this talk about nerves?
Yesterday's problem was the opposite of nerves. Bayern were too relaxed and complacent, not too nervous. They hardly moved at all, they tried to coast through the tie, and that's what made it dangerous in the first place. They obviously didn't take Arsenal seriously, that was the only problem. Never seen their offense move so little this season.

Their offense was so lazy, it was almost like watching Brazilians over 25.

this. everyone who has followed bayern for more than two years knows that this is exactly how they have done it for years. on many occassions in europe as well as in germany they thought it would be best just to do whats required - and ultimately had success with it. you will rarely find a top-team that will demonstrate so much neglect and arrogance at this stage and get away with it. if this behaviour shocks you then you don't know much about bayern munich..

If you argue that Bayern are chokers, you could as well argue that Real and Barca were choking in last years semi finals.

All of a sudden this turned into a random German hate thread.

Bayern are a great team but they've yet to be truly tested this season imo. I'll reserve my judgement about them till after the round of 8.

ELO wrote:If you argue that Bayern are chokers, you could as well argue that Real and Barca were choking in last years semi finals.

Nah Ramos and Kaka choked and it was in a penalty shoot out where anything can happen. Bayern had a pen in extra time to win the final and it's pretty obvious that no one wanted to take it. Neuer taking a pen because the rest of his team mates are too afraid

Arquitecto wrote:Excuses here are pathetic.

-Bayern missed their squad? Well Arsenal were without Sagna, Wilshere and Podolski.

Agreed.

-Bayern missed sitters? Sitters are open goals, I didn't see any. Arsenal missed 2 sitters along with a wrongly offside call which would have let to a one on one with Neuer

Agreed, though on a better day one or two of those attempts from distance result in goal.

-Bayern lazy? Yes cause Arsenal had so much incentive in trying to overturn a 3 goal deficit. More excuses

It's not an excuse, it's a reason. Look at that match again. They did not move like they do usually. The Bayern attack did hardly ever interchange positions, Alaba didn't gel with Robben at all, and on more than one occasion they had a perfectly good counter going, and when the player on the ball looked up, he saw that he had nobody to pass to. They had shitty off the ball movement yesterday, and you probably won't see that again this season. Except for in the league. You'll see this in the league a lot.

-Schweinsteiger a leader? Mark van Bommel is laughing at this. There is no leader in Bayern bar Neuer and Javi when he actually learns to speak Deutsch.

While this certainly is no excuse for the way Bayern played yesterday, and I agree that MvB has not been replaced yet, Schweinsteiger missing always extremely weakens Bayern. Bayerns mighty deep squad can't really cover the fact that Schweinsteiger has no backup.

-Barca are the best team in the world. Not Bayern.

Wouldn't say otherwise until after this UCL season anyway.

Also, 100% agree with Toffer Harley.
Obviously, since he wrote his post to agree with me. Obviously.
!

ELO wrote:If you argue that Bayern are chokers, you could as well argue that Real and Barca were choking in last years semi finals.

The difference is that Barca's core players have won 3 Champions Leagues, 2 Eurocups and 1 World Cup. Xavi and Iniesta in particular have won the biggest football trophy every season running since 2008:

08: EC
09: CL
10: WC
11: CL
12: EC

Now let's look at the Schweinsteiger-Lahm generation:

06: third on home soil
08: second
10: second with Bayern and third with Germany
12: second with Bayern and semi-finals with Germany

the difference is that barca/spain are the superior Teams and Germany/Bayern werent good enough (bar Last years CL final)...

I don't really believe in that whole choker myth either, they just sucked a couple seasons ago, and were very unlucky last season. And with Germany they sucked until 2010, where they were done in by Löws cowardly tactics, and again in 2012, by basically the same tactical mistake.

well, according to 70% of this forum özil is a choker as well. might as well slap this label on any german above the age of of 18. these god damn little chokers, can't seem to win a freakin CL or world cup to save their life!

some people seem to forget that it took the magnificent xavi a while to do something of significance as well.. i wonder if he was called a choker before.

I don't remember Xavi reaching several finals or semi-finals and choking in all of them. So: no.

so he choked/lost in the groupstages or early playoff rounds of the respective competitions. oh ok, i see the winning mentality in that...

futbol wrote:I don't remember Xavi reaching several finals or semi-finals and choking in all of them. So: no.

So him never even making it to the finals makes him a moral juggernaut?

Actually, the order of the favorites is this:

Barcelona +175
Real Madrid +300
Bayern Munich +400
Borussia Dortmund +900
Juventus +1200
Paris Saint Germain +2200
Malaga +5000
Galatasaray +6600

At least that's what Vegas thinks

seems about right!!!

Maybe one should bet on Dortmund and get some sneaky money in the end

I don't see Dortmund making it, but it would be VERY awesome.
Malaga they can do, but with their current depth, or lack thereof, and "luck" with injuries, it's bye-bye in the semis.

most likely yes, but maybe... maybe - with just 3 games left - they'll freak out completely and it's GÖTZEUS GALORE