Dortmund vs Real Madrid

Nah... Coentrao has to play. Dortmund attack through the wings and you need to be rock solid defensively there and force the play in the middle. Marcelo is in bad form, especially defensively. With Lew and Goetze, we can't have our CBs cheating to help the fullbacks. They need to focus on their primary job.

Worth mentioning: Will Sahin get to show Mou what he lost?

VivaStPauli wrote:So you want to play a left winger as a defender?

Marcelo adds so much to our attack just as a passing outlet alone. Well worth any risk of defensive frailties. Also his team mates will cover for him because that is what team mates do

why is it the most ppl here underrate coentrao? must be hala, he slanders him everyday

marcelo is NOT ready, sports speaking the truth

sportsczy wrote:Nah... Coentrao has to play. Dortmund attack through the wings and you need to be rock solid defensively there and force the play in the middle. Marcelo is in bad form, especially defensively. With Lew and Goetze, we can't have our CBs cheating to help the fullbacks. They need to focus on their primary job.

Worth mentioning: Will Sahin get to show Mou what he lost?

Don't think Sahin is allowed to play, not sure though.

sportsczy wrote:Worth mentioning: Will Sahin get to show Mou what he lost?

He might very well, Bender has been f*cking up recently, and Sahin coming up against Malaga made BVB look a lot better for the last 20 or so minutes, than they did with Bender, who basically had 2 or 3 world class tackles in the first 20 minutes, and declined hard after that.

No chance Sahin will start unless there are injuries....

In fact i'd bet he doesn't get anywhere near the pitch.

likeastar wrote:I'd take a 50% Marcelo over Coentrao...

That's just silly. Coentrao is a good left back, I would only prefer Marcelo if he was at 100%.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:No chance Sahin will start unless there are injuries....

In fact i'd bet he doesn't get anywhere near the pitch.

Any specific reason? He'd be super motivated to show Mou why he should've started for Real, and Bender has been hit-and-miss these couple of weeks, Sahin is probably their most rested player, and has been great for the past 3 or 4 matches he got to play.

Because Gundogan is superior and Klopp is smart enough to know that a gundogan and sahin pivot would get overrun.

If Bender doesn't pick up then Kehl will play.

I'm with Z. IF Marcelo is back to 100%, he's the obvious choice. Otherwise, it has to be Coentrao. I think it has to be Coentrao at Dortmund regardless.

I think Madrid should use the next few games to see where Iker and Marcelo are in terms of play... as good as Lopez and Coentrao are, they don't have the game changing abilities of Iker and Marcelo.

likeastar wrote:

Zealous wrote:

likeastar wrote:I'd take a 50% Marcelo over Coentrao...

That's just silly. Coentrao is a good left back, I would only prefer Marcelo if he was at 100%.

Coentrao adds nothing in attack, and with Essien/Arbeloa on the right side, we only have Di Maria and sometimes Ronaldo on the flanks, when we attack.

I get what you're saying but Marcelo is a player who only plays really well when he is in top shape. Him at 50% would be a disaster lol

Marcelo is awesome though and if he is 100% I hope he plays, he just adds so much dynamics to our attack.

As for Sahin I don't think he holds a grudge. From his interviews he's said that injuries are what held him back and he's said good things about Mou and the team in general. I'm basing this off of interviews so who knows how he really feels.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Because Gundogan is superior and Klopp is smart enough to know that a gundogan and sahin pivot would get overrun.

If Bender doesn't pick up then Kehl will play.

Overrun by who? The Madrid midfield?? We can't overrun any midfield lol. No danger there.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Because Gundogan is superior and Klopp is smart enough to know that a gundogan and sahin pivot would get overrun.

If Bender doesn't pick up then Kehl will play.

Against Malaga Gündogan + Sahin were actually more stable than Gündogan + Bender; I agree with you in theory, but in recent weeks Gündogan has improved his tackling massively, and Sahins is better than I remember as well. Might actually work, especially since Reals players who go through the center of the pitch aren't really the tough outmuscling types, they can probably bully an Özil, or a Modric. Khedira might just run through them like through wet tissue paper, but then again, he might do that to Bender as well.

Ultimately you have to defend Real on the flanks anyway, and in that case I'd rather have a mobile pivot, than a tough one.

sportsczy wrote:I'm with Z. IF Marcelo is back to 100%, he's the obvious choice. Otherwise, it has to be Coentrao. I think it has to be Coentrao at Dortmund regardless.

I think Madrid should use the next few games to see where Iker and Marcelo are in terms of play... as good as Lopez and Coentrao are, they don't have the game changing abilities of Iker and Marcelo.

I agree which is why I hope Jose gives Iker and Marcelo as many La Liga games as possible between now and the semis.

Klopp won't start the defensively inept duo Gündogan/Sahin, Kehl or Bender will start 100% if they're fit. It only worked when Malaga stopped attacking in the last 10 minutes, Klopp knew that and brought him on to send more long balls in the final third. I also don't agree that Bender has been bad, defensively as usual very good, passing was off because of Malaga's intense pressing... Madrid won't do that.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Because Gundogan is superior and Klopp is smart enough to know that a gundogan and sahin pivot would get overrun.

If Bender doesn't pick up then Kehl will play.

Against Malaga Gündogan + Sahin were actually more stable than Gündogan + Bender; I agree with you in theory, but in recent weeks Gündogan has improved his tackling massively, and Sahins is better than I remember as well. Might actually work, especially since Reals players who go through the center of the pitch aren't really the tough outmuscling types, they can probably bully an Özil, or a Modric. Khedira might just run through them like through wet tissue paper, but then again, he might do that to Bender as well.

Ultimately you have to defend Real on the flanks anyway, and in that case I'd rather have a mobile pivot, than a tough one.

If Ronaldo sees an opening through the middle, he'll play through the middle and like you said Khedira could potentially be huge for Madrid if Dortmund's middle isn't stable.

I think Klopp will set up the same way as he did in the groups.

urbaNRoots wrote:Klopp won't start the defensively inept duo Gündogan/Sahin, Kehl or Bender will start 100% if they're fit. It only worked when Malaga stopped attacking in the last 10 minutes, Klopp knew that and brought him on to send more long balls in the final third. I also don't agree that Bender has been bad, defensively as usual very good, passing was off because of Malaga's intense pressing... Madrid won't do that.

lol

Nah sports but for the likes of Ozil, Di Maria, Benz and CR the job to get in between the lines and create openings becomes a lot easier with Sahin instead of Bender/Kehl.

No chance Marcelo starts. Coentrao has been rock solid for us and Marcelo is out of form.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Nah sports but for the likes of Ozil, Di Maria, Benz and CR the job to get in between the lines and create openings becomes a lot easier with Sahin instead of Bender/Kehl.

That's true. It just depends if Dortmund want to go balls out in the first game or will try to manage risk. I think they start with the same XI as in pool play and then adjust as needed with subs.

Good thing for Madrid is that Dortmund plays one way and one way only. They are similar to Barca in that sense.... they have their style and they will stick with it. Mou loves this kind of rigidity.

Klopp will have to show his worth as a tactician for Dortmund to beat us again.

Dortmund don't have only one style though, if you've seen Dortmund against Bayern München in recent years and against Malaga for example you could see the difference.

Btw Sahin CAN play against Real Madrid, there's no clause according to Sky.

urbaNRoots wrote:Dortmund don't have only one style though, if you've seen Dortmund against Bayern München in recent years and against Malaga for example you could see the difference.

The change is very subtle. The only true difference is how aggressive the fullbacks play. If they get behind, you have Hummels jump into the attack quite often.

Bayern have figured them out too and Dortmund haven't made the adjustment.

Reus vs Arbeloa

Also i don't agree with Bayern finding Dortmund out, the only game they have played in the league this season was a draw and anything Dortmund were a bit unlucky not to win.