QuoteSinne Fianna Fáil A tá fé gheall ag Éirinn....Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
'Tis.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Sinne Fianna Fáil A tá fé gheall ag Éirinn....
When was the last time we had four teams this good in the semi finals?
You mean 3 good teams plus Borussia Dortmund?
No I meant 4 non-English teams
Seriously, Dortmund aren't far behind any of the others. And Barcelona are probably third best.
Bonnie must be passed out on his kitchen floor, surrounded by 20 empty cans of Dortmunder Export.
The semi finalists arent without their flaws though, are they? Only Bayern look close to fully functional in my view. Real might have lost to United and had a wobble in Turkey. Both Barca and Dortmund shipped a shed load of gilt edged chances to their QF opponents.
I'm not complaining mind you. The only flaw in the plot line for me is that we don't have a strong Serie A team in the mix, but I do like the 'Germany and Spain good, EPL bad' narrative, even if the Spanish go-it-alone revenue distribution model is far from my liking. Despite being a Barcelona admirer I want a German winner.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 10/04/2013 at 9:40 PM.
Bayern were very impressive against Juve and don't have much to distract them this year, if you accept the theory that they were just burnt out by the time of last year's final, then they look the team, also considering the detail that they have a better team this year.
Dortmund might and they mightn't, who knows, they are a devastating team at times.
I think the 2 German teams have the beating of Madrid.
I'll go for Barca, not on tonights performance but if they get through the semis they are the team who can pull a magnificent final performance out of the fire.
I'd say Bayern definitely have a better team than last year and are obviously a year further down the road. For the first time in a long time, I think any semi-final permutation would have no nailed-on winner, although I think at the moment it does rank Bayern-Real-Barcelona-Dortmund.
My worry about Dortmund, which I expressed at the time they were stomping on Real and City in the group stages, was that the best teams peak at the right times of the season and Real were bound to be a different proposition in March/April than in November. I think Dortmund have possibly just got their preparation for this season wrong and they peaked far too early, whereas Real haven't been playing well but they still look like they have an extra level they can hit in the coming weeks.
And yes, absolutely, if Barca make the final they win it. Although I would be fascinated to see if Bayern could become the first side to impose their possession game on Barca rather than vice-versa, or if they'd just Arsenal it.
RTE panelists each pick a different team,
Eamo goes with Madrid, Brady with Bayern and Giles with Barca.
I suppose that must mean Dortmund.
Barca are the nr.1 team by default imo, the others are challenging. This year though the challenge is way stronger than at any time previous, no longer will teams think they have to do an Inter or a Chelsea and aim to get a breakaway goal.
Agree with that, my rankings are for the semis. I think Barca have been really rattled by two teams who aren't anywhere near the level of the remaining sides, and out of four games have only really performed once. I think Mourninho as finally got their number and I think Hoeness must think they can outplay Barca.
It's interesting that a couple of months ago, these probably would have been the four sides most would have ranked as the top four (maybe some would have United instead of Dortmund), but they've all had hiccups on the way.
Yes, whoever wins will have done so by way of proper engagement rather than last years successful formula, which was interesting to some degree but not you want to see being successful on a regular basis. It's a mouth watering lineup but my only fears are rank bad officiating affecting the outcome or a girlie bitchfest between the two Spanish sides. This is an almost unique shop window opportunity for European club football but I worry that it has the potential to show the worst rather than the best of it.
For sure don't want an outbreak of Mourinhoitis. Barca also have problems with their central defenders, Puyol is out again after another knee operation and Mascherano is almost definitely out of the semi finals. That leaves Pique as the main man to plug the rearguard. The search for the perfect (Barcaesque) centre half signing is becoming a millstone for them.
It's too simple to say Barca are a one Messi team. He's the catalyst for the rest of the team to play superb football. Before he came on last night, most of Barca's play was predictable, unusually you could predict where the next pass would go, as soon as Messi came on, every players' game upped a notch.
Hard to credit the betting to win the Europa league, Tottenham are 5/1 whilst Basel are 10/1, going into tonight's game.
Strange enough, Basel are now 5/1 and Spurs are nowhere to be found.
What happened??
Penalty shoot outs are a lottery, Clive.
Predictive Europa semi final pairing.
Basel v Chelsea
Benfica v Fenerbahce.
or
Benfica V Basel
Chelsea v Fenerbahce.
Not that one, it was always going to be Basel, they speak German in Basel.
Though I was quietly reassured with the Icelander burying his one for Spurs.
What are you suggesting geysir, that there is a 67% chance that either of those line-ups will be drawn?
Yeah, Sigurdsson's penalty was excellent, as I predicted it to be in the Conor Sammon thread.
The Basel goalie did a Van De Saar for Spurs' first penalty, grinning like a monkey, pointing to his right side, diving that way and saving it. Once you saw that being pulled off, then you knew the shoot-out was only going one way.
Of course VDS did it better in the CL shoot out, nerves of steel, waited 'til the last one and didn't even have to dive.
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