CL Round 16: Dortmund x Juventus

Forza wrote:My outlook for this match is that either team is capable of winning - it's nicely poised. However, I think having the second leg at home might be a pivotal advantage for Dortmund. This is because Juve are one of those teams that likes to measure exactly how much effort they need to grind out a result and I think that if they adopt their typically conservative European tactics and settle for 1-0 or even 2-1 at home, Dortmund will send them packing in Germany.

This is what I said before the game. I think the game was a missed opportunity for Juve to get a 2-0 or 3-1 buffer over Dortmund. I think the away game is going to be very difficult for Juve unless they score early. Juve scoring early will put Dortmund on the back foot. Conversely, if Dortmund score early, I think they could go on with it and win 2-0 or 3-0.

I actually think now we know what we're up against, and Dortmund need to go for it, that we have a better chance of scoring first than we did at the beginning of this match

No Pirlo from the start hopefully, and i'm sure Chiellini won't do that shit again so I think we'll draw the next match.

good thing for juve is that BVB's defence is absolutely shizhouse. cant see getting 1-0 at home.

Happless is more angry than he is when Bayern lose, is there something you're not telling us

Didn't watch the game but happy Morata scored and created the first and the best chance in the 2nd half. Hope he starts getting some solid minutes, you need to trust him if you want him to do well. He is a mental midget he needs the coach's support

halamadrid2 wrote:Happless is more angry than he is when Bayern lose, is there something you're not telling us

Didn't watch the game but happy Morata scored and created the first and the best chance in the 2nd half. Hope he starts getting some solid minutes, you need to trust him if you want him to do well. He is a mental midget he needs the coach's support

lol, not a midget but he is fast as hell... Fifa should lut his pace up to 87 tbh lol... Really underrated...

@VIva: it was a great match for me, very intense. I don't understand why you calling the teams shit... Juve played with a new style.

well I think the whole defensive organisation of Dortmund is a mess. I cant praise the duo of Sahin and Gündogan because I think they dont provide defensive cover to their back 4 at all. For both the goals, the defensive positions or the way they pressed was so laughable.

For the first Goal, Morata and Tevez had so much time to play 1-2 near the half way line, Gündogans effort to intercept the ball and then Sahin letting Tevez go insead of pressurising him or pressing him properly...I mean how can you make it so easy for them just to let go.

For the second Goal also, Gündogan just trying to tackle Tevez who plays the ball to Pogba and then finally Pogba crosses the ball in the box. There was always so much space imo.

After this midfield pressing, their defenders

If they make small changes to the same team, i think Dortmund should be able to go through. They have the away goal already.

What a bunch of Juve haters. Juve played good and efficient. Certainly had enough chances to make it 3-1. They only scored off a Chiellini slip. Juve defended extremely well and was dominant with the ball. There is nothing else to say about that. Don't hate.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:well I think the whole defensive organisation of Dortmund is a mess.

This was quite a bit due to the injuries to Piszczek and Sokratis, though. Klopp was forced to sub them and this led to a total forced reorganisation of the defense line.

Hapless_Hans wrote:lol are you guys serious?

I think Morata is not that good, what did he do except tap in one in acres of space and mess up a lot of attacks?

lol, your right bro, the game was shit, the players were shit, the refs were shit, none of the players are, or ever were any good. Except some of the german players, theyre just in a slump right now which is why they did jack shit. pogbas overrated, don't see why anyone wants him, Vidals been crap since he got to Italy, and this rata kid is nothing special. MUAHAHAHAHA
what else, you don't care for lasagna either?

Yes because that all is exactly what I've been saying

What's up, you're touchy because your team of superstars isn't better than a shaky Bundesliga mid table team?

Hapless_Hans wrote:Yes because that all is exactly what I've been saying

What's up, you're touchy because your team of superstars isn't better than a shaky Bundesliga mid table team?

 im not sure if touchy is the word id use, nor would I classify my evaluation of juventus as a "team of superstars", but yeah, that's basically all you've been saying, and I found it amusing, except the lasagna part, not sure about your feelings on that. btw, the score says they ARE better than the shaky bundesliga team, at least yesterday they were.  that it would compel you to write the last sentence might be more telling of whos panties are really in a bunch here.

I called the referee shit because his line of refereeing was recklessly lenient from the beginning, and he encouraged Juve players to tackles they would not have dared to make else.

I called Juve shit, because when I look at those players I'd say they should be playing better than they did.

I called Dortmund shit too, mind you

To be exact, I thought the game was pretty good in the first half, very bad in the second, if you can find it in your heart to tolerate this opinion

Hapless_Hans wrote:I called the referee shit because his line of refereeing was recklessly lenient from the beginning, and he encouraged Juve players to tackles they would not have dared to make else.

I called Juve shit, because when I look at those players I'd say they should be playing better than they did.

I called Dortmund shit too, mind you

To be exact, I thought the game was pretty good in the first half, very bad in the second, if you can find it in your heart to tolerate this opinion

and to be fair I agree with your assessment, not so much with the teams (I guess that's expected) and definitely not Morata. But the ref was VERY lenient and the second half was very sloppy. but again, its not about tolerating anything, you assume im outraged, I just find it hilarious you chime in every few posts with this is shit and that is shit. maybe if it were a face to face, you would've interpreted it differently? Idk. either way....

misunderstanding maybe, if I said "so and so was shit" I don't mean "shit forever", "fundamentally shit" etc pp.
I was a bit disaapointed by the game, that's why the choice of language.

I think for example Juve's midfield is immensely strong 'on paper', but they didn't look it, really.

That's because Juve didn't play through their midfield to avoid Dortmund's superior midfield press. GOATllegri

(didn't watch the game, this is just what the zonal marking report claims)

By the way, Allegri already admitted in a press conference that we had a game plan and used it. Our midfield 4 didn't magically turn to shit on the ball and get pinned back, we let Dortmund have the ball because it's infinitely better giving headless chickens with 9999 pace and 0 vision the ball instead of playing a high line and hunting them down.

Smart move.

Something really glaring that i noticed... although not slow, Morata was considered one of the slower players at Madrid. He's slower than Benzema as an example. As a result, he had a horrible time getting past anyone and often did his best work as a targetman.

At Juve, he looks like one of the fastest guys on the pitch for them The question is whether he's gotten that much faster or whether most Juve players are that slow.

In general, the only guys i noticed that had any pace to speak of were Morata, Pogba and Tevez. There was Pereyra too... but he doesn't count as he's not very impactful and plays as a sub.

Been saying since 200-something that our lack of pace is disgusting, don't care how stacked our midfield is with no pace we're left without a dimension in attack

Tbf each Juve midfielder is great as their respective individual but it probably doesn't equate to excellence as a unit.

At least as good as you may not expect, mainly because 3 of them are box to box midfielders leaving only Pirlo as the only one who is a supreme passer.

...and Juve looked way better when Pirlo was still on too, obviously.

Tom, I don't think your gameplan involved getting dispossessed numerous times 35 meters in front of your own goals, Dortmund's pressing was pointed at times but the way they played out the counters was ridiculously bad.

Dortmund's pressing is insane. No wonder they get so many injuries. Klopp tears his players a new arsehole every game. At one point I think I saw 5 Dortmund players pressing Buffon and 2 Juve's center halves and they were all back in position 4 seconds later.

Juventus' tactical organisation was brilliant. There were very few moments where they were actually troubled by Dortmund's pressing.

Dortmunds pressing lol, as soon as they won the ball back all they done was keep it in pointless areas then as soon as they got near us again we just nicked it back, mainly because their lack of physicality was funny when somebody like Pogba started hounding them



They never worried me once, Chiellini's disgusting lack of balance put Reus through. I don't remember them actually having the ball in our box properly, minus when Immobile tried to shoot from a nearly impossible position straight at Buffon.

When a person says that Juve plays better with Pirlo on, they just doesn't watch Juventus.

People here are making crazy assumptions, all based on 1 game, which Juventus played (and won) according to their manager's tactic. Juventus is one of the best team in the world, and one of their strongest asset would be its midfield, not only for the quality of players, but how they play together. Note, this last comment is not because I say it but it is the consensus of what you can find on very different sport news and editorials. If someone tells me, this happened all because of Pirlo, their knowledge in Serie A is outdated.

I don't watch Juve in Serie A at all, but as far as i remember we're talking about the CL game of yesterday.
So expecting "one of the best teams in the world" lol, maybe you can understand why I wonder.

After the 1:1 Juve was all over the place and kept giving the ball away for quite a while, nothing to do with gameplan lol.

Juventus does play better with Pirlo on though. Not that they are bad without him, but he definitely improves their team. It was noticeable yesterday.