So, Spurs ( who are not the best English team and currently under strength ) can't compete ( you're words ) but yet managed to draw in Madrid and possibly should have won the game, so from my prospective I would say they can compete. I see you're resentment towards English teams is still going strong.
Real Madrid is 8 points behind in La Liga with 2 losses in 10 games compared to 3 losses in 38 games last season. Napoli and Juventus could make an argument for being the best club by Serie A play but not in the Champions League. Napoli lost 2 out of 3 Champions League games. Losing at Barcelona isn't a bad loss for Juventus, but a 0 goal differential with 2 out of 3 games at home is not as good as they want. If they lose at Sporting they could have a battle just to make the Round of 16. Chelsea has done great in the Champions League but is only fourth in England. My favorite club, Manchester United, has done great in England and the Champions League. The three clubs who are undefeated in their domestic league and Champions League are Barcelona, Manchester City, and Paris Saint-Germain. Paris Saint-Germain has a Champions League goal differential of +12 in a group with Bayern Munich, and the next best goal differentials are Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool at +7. However, they have a worse points per game and goal differential per game in a weaker league than Barcelona and Manchester City. Bayern Munich has taken the Bundesliga lead, but their points and goal differential are worse than Barcelona and both Manchester clubs all of whom have 3 more Champions League points than Bayern Munich. I think the top two clubs are Barcelona and Manchester City.
Common upsets happen in the group stages. I mean more like when it comes to the knockouts. Do you really think any EPL team would be favorites against Real Madrid in the knockouts? Well not that most teams would either, but the chances of any EPL team knocking out Real would be 30-%
A team that made the final last season and outplayed Real Madrid in the first half????? A team that beat Barcelona 3-0 in Turin and prevented MSN from scoring at Camp Nou. This is still the group stage guys. Upsets frequently happen. 2016-17 Group Stage: Juventus 1-1 Lyon (No way was Lyon the same level as Juve last season) Juventus 0-0 Sevilla (Sevilla was nowhere near Juve's level) Real Madrid 2-2 Dortmund Dortmund 2-2 Real Madrid Legia 3-3 Real Madrid (Legia and Dortmund were nowhere near Real's level). In the group stage point drops happen. Weird results happen. In the knockouts you will see what I am saying. And not to mention Napoli and Chelsea are the only real teams Man City have played so far this season, and both of them are still not as good as Man City.
Based on current form Man City is definitely one of the teams to beat, I'm talking about as a squad in general Real Madrid is the best. There is no team in the world who would turn down the chance to switch squads with them.
Well to tell you the truth as a Juve fan, I am not sure if I wanted to switch with them. Some players yes, but not the whole squad. Anyway though don't get fooled with Man City. They are a good team and can be threatening but people are really overrating them. Again: Real, Barca, Juve, PSG, and Bayern are all better. Man City is probably 6th best in Europe.
Real Madrid is at 2 points per game and +1 goal differential per game in La Liga. Manchester City would have done better. Real Madrid played a draw hosting second place Valencia, and they haven't had to play Barcelona or Atletico Madrid yet. In Real Madrid's last six games before the winter break, they play those two clubs and fifth place Sevilla. In the last three seasons, Barcelona and Real Madrid have both had at least 90 points. Real Madrid must average 2.5 points per game in their last 28 La Liga games to reach 90. Real Madrid could have the same players do better later in the season, but Manchester City is clearly off to a better start.
I do agree with you. Man City is off to a much better start than Real, thats for sure. I was kind of talking about later in the season though when it comes to the knockouts. If they met I doubt City would be favorites. But now you are right City has looked more impressive.
thats last season, last season real madrid cake walked their league, Juve think can will be a good signing for them, but its the same crap with you always bigging up italian teams and putting down epl teams yet your predictions generally SUCK! SUCK!! SUCK!!!!
Ok before I say anything else, I honestly don't see how you can say Juventus is not a top team. They reached 2 finals in 3 seasons, and have won 6 Serie A titles in a row. Has any other team done that besides Real and Barca anytime recently? Juventus is clearly top 3 in the world. No other team has been able to seriously compete with Juventus during the time of Allegri with the exception of Bayern Munich. Bayern you might be able to argue, although they have not been able to reach UCL Final since 2012-13, and more so failed to beat any La Liga teams since then. Seriously though Juventus also has been the only team since 2012-13 season that has been able to knockout La Liga teams. Otherwise its just been Spanish teams knocking out each other. I have been really disturbed by the fact that people still discredit Juventus and don't give them the credit they deserve. No other team outside of La Liga has knocked out any La Liga team from the UCL since 2012-13. Well the exception of Leicester knocking out Sevilla, but Sevilla were never a top team. I have seen loads of posts with people downgrading Juventus and saying that PSG, Man City, Chelsea, Dortmund, and Bayern are superior to them. Honestly its ridiculous. No team has proved that yet ok? The season just started. Yeah maybe Juve is not having the best start ever, but we cannot conclude that any of those teams are better than Juve until close to the season being over ok? The only teams that we can definitely call better than Juventus at the moment are Real Madrid and Barcelona. Maybe Bayern and Atletico, although both of them clearly are not as good this season as they used to be.
Roma has pretty much booked there spot to the next round. Despite the loss, since Atletico surprisingly only drew Quarabag they also look favourites to go through. Juventus drew away from home, not a great performance, but it also means they are likely through having the head to head. They'll scrape 2nd by the looks of it. Whether you come 1 point behind the leaders or 5 points it doesn't make a difference. Napoli needs a result and if they want to keep qualification in their hands they will need to do what no other side has done so far this season, beat Manchester City.
Well considering Barcelona failed to beat Olympiacos, a 3-0 win for Juventus will put us top of the group after next round.
It's important to remember that it's only Nov 1st. There are teams that peak before December and then there are ones that get much better after the break. We won't see the best version of the big clubs until at least Feb/March. As for Serie A vs EPL, both leagues look finely balanced this year. Curiously, Serie A has a winning record head-to-head against EPL sides over the last 10 years. Make of that what you will.
Here are points earned in the last three complete Champions Leagues and 2017-2018 so far treating knockout round games as if they were Group Stage games and going by scores after regulation: Real Madrid: 90 (and they haven't played their fourth Group Stage game yet) Barcelona: 85 Bayern Munich: 79 Juventus: 74 Atletico Madrid: 68 Paris Saint-Germain: 62 Manchester City: 41 Chelsea: 36 Borussia Dortmund: 31 There is a gap between sixth and seventh. I only checked the clubs you mentioned, so clubs I didn't list could have more points than clubs I listed.
Yeah, pretty much. I expected Juve not to be as good this season as in recent years. I know its only November but since what I'm seeing from Juve is kinda what I expected, I don't attribute their play to it being early in the season. I think what we're seeing is how good they are. No better, no worse.
Juve's new signing have barely played. Costa and Bernardeschi have played less combined than Cuadrado. Juve had so any injuries to start the year as well. They usually play like crap until Feb/March.
Yeah you are probably right. I could see us winning 3-0 (not what I predict but possible), but not 4-0. Barca will probably win the group, but honestly I might prefer to make second considering Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will probably finish second as well.
I wouldn't say we are weaker. Honestly we have actually been playing more convincing this season than we have at the start of last season if you watch the way we play. Last Season I was extremely worried about our build up to score goals pretty much until the 3-0 win against Barca. Don't let that 3-1 win vs Sevilla fool you. It was an ugly win against a 10-men Sevilla for most of the time, and pure luck. We were struggling against a 10-men Sevilla for large parts of that game.