I watched both Barca and Inter last season. On their good says they are excellent. Inter has a solid midfield and tough defence. They destroyed Lecce on the weekend. Conte might suck in the knockouts but he knows how to tackle the group stages. Even without Icardi they pushed on ahead and got better as the season went on. Same for Lautaro. Maybe with a new coach things might be different. I wouldn't brush aside Sanchez and Lukaku either. As for Barca I'm not afraid of their midfield and their defence is shaky af. But Ter Stegen is way better than Burki and we know that Akanji cannot stop Griezmann. Not only do they have the best player on the planet, they also happen to have the best player BVB has had in the last 5 years. So yeah I'm going to go with a bit of tactical approach rather than just flat out confidence and hope for the best to express how I feel about our group. And I think it's ridiculous that we end up in a group of death every couple of years. Real/City, Real/Sporting, Arsenal/Napoli and now this shit. Wtf!! Groups aside we need to hold on to Rapha. That's a must. He killed Atletico last season and he's a big game player....more so than most of your squad.
You all are really underestimating your chances of advancing. It’s tough but seriously, by fall I expect you all to be gelling quite well
Barca is def beatable (I don't understand how they didn't sack their coach after Liverpool's 4-0) but it doesn't mean that we should expect to be top of the group. It'll be fun to watch. I have no idea how it'll end. But we definitely got a good chance at advancing, which is the most important.
I'm known for being a pessimist and a cynic, but frankly I'm shocked at the lack of confidence, you guys. I don't see why we can't advance to the last 16. - Barcelona: the 1997 UEFA SuperCup notwithstanding, this will be our first ever clash with Barcelona in European tournaments, so I'm really looking forward to this one. It's up to Götze and Hummels to remind Messi of the World Cup Final. - Inter Milan: IMO they are our main rivals in the race to the last 16. Let's give Conte the sort of nightmares that will leave him in need of a new hair transplant. - Slavia Praha: anything less than six points could prove fatal, nuff said. As for topping the group, group stage performances are secondary to knockout round performances. I'd much rather finish second and make a deep run than finish first only to be knocked out the moment I step into the knockout round, which is a test Favre has failed to pass repeatedly.
We won an award for the anti racism campaign. Aki gave a speech in English for you anglophones. If we want to top the group twice we need to beat Barca twice. That is going to be incredibly difficult The only advantage we have is possibly Valvedere since he really sucks in the big games. And it isn't so much that I lack confidence, it's that Lionel Messi cannot be under estimated. We need him out with a niggling injury before we face them in the Camp Nou. On paper we should beat Inter. They aren't even the 2nd best club in Napoli and haven't strengthened like we did in the summer.
It's just an average CL group, it's not a group of death by any means. Go check out Leverkusen's group.
The match schedule will also count. Any team that plays barcelona on matchday 6 might face a second team if barcelona already qualified
Well it is our job to make sure they haven't. I really dislike this defeatist attitude. I am glad Reus has come out and said he wanted Barca. This is an opportunity to send a clear message.
Actually a whole bunch of players stood around breakfast and said they wanted Barca. Well why not Madrid or Liverpool?
Well Madrid were poor last year, though I think they will be very good this year. That may have effected them. Also our boys have played Madrid so many times in recent years, getting the best of them more than once. They have also played Liverpool and couple of times in friendlies. We have not played Barca in a very long time.
Like I posted earlier, this is our first ever meeting with Barcelona, the 1997 UEFA SuperCup notwithstanding, apart from that we've never even faced them in friendlies.
You know Slash, we've faced Real Madrid so many times over the last seven years I'm frankly sick of it.
Barcelona leaving Messi and other key players at home vs Inter BvB have themselves to blame for being in this position Not beating Barcelona at home and the pathetic display in Milan
Everyones saying we want Valencia.. screw that.. I want a big team. Cant become a big team beating little teams. We need a big signature win.
A jolly reunion with the tactical genius it is, then. Once PSG knock us out Slash will post nonstop messages about how sacking Tuchel was the biggest mistake in the club's history.
Oh well, considering the potential opponents, there wasn't much hope anyways. PSG had some recent chokes in the CL, on paper they were clearly better than ManU last year. That seems to be our only chance: Try not to concede too much and hope to get lucky in offense. So far, our guaranteed prize money from the CL is around 60 million. Tax issues aside, around a third or close to a half of our payroll payed by the CL is not too bad.
I wouldnt say sacking TT was a mistake.. He is 1 of the most overpriced coach in Europe.. He is that strange type just like Favre, he was rotating like crazy, 1 match the attack is Reus-Mor-Pulisic, Auba; second match starts Guerreiro-Reus-Dembele, Ramos; third match Dembele-Kagawa-Schurlle, Reus.... That was his biggest problem and the results were suffering. We were good at home, but in away matches, we lost every second match. What did he bring to PSG? Absolutely nothing, winning the Ligue 1 is not an achievement. Amazingly overpriced coach.. Klopp for poor people
You had me until the bolded part.... Are you saying that Klopp is over rated? I would beg to differ. I love Klopp's ability to motivate. And yes motivating your team is a huge part of coaching.