Which team you prefer to play in next round?

Imo

Games in which we have high chance

Wolfsburg
Benfica/Zenit

Teams we have good chance against
City
Bayern
Chelsea
PSG

Games that will be 50-50

Juventus
Atletico

Games we have less chance

Barka

Ill just copy and paste what i said in the other thread

I dont think Bayern will cause us any problems. If there is an overrated team out there they are definitely it. I would like to avoid Atleti and Barca. Atleti because they are so damn efficient even if we have their number in knock out competitions and Barca because id like them in a final rather than a 2 legged tie. If Juve progress then i'd like to avoid them too not because of last season but because like Atleti they are an annoyingly solid team. PSG i dont mind as long as we man mark ADM they will cause us no trouble

Basically if i had to rank them teams in order of preference it would be:

Wolfsburg
Benfica
City
Bayern
PSG
Juve (if they go through)
Atleti
Barca

Wolfsburg
Benfica/Zenit
Atletico
City
PSG
Bayern
Barca

Atletico and juventus don't have the ability to completely run away with the tie. They only have the ability to beat us on away goals or one goal margin. Which is exactly where the danger comes from, all they need is some jammy goal which both the teams are really good at and then they can comfortably defend the lead.

City will. be a fun match up and our experience and superior individual ability should take us through.

Bayern let's too much one on ones at the back... That hasn't changed and fits our individual game.

PSG have the v potential to make a tough games but I'm. Not impressed with them against Chelsea.

Quarters
Real Madrid - Manchester City
Barcelona - Bayern/Juve
Atletico - PSG
Benfica - Wolfsburg

Semis
Real Madrid - Wolfsburg
PSG - Bayern/Juve

Final
Real Madrid - PSG

I don't understand, nor do I share this over-the-top confidence that most of you seem to be having, especially when there's no facts to back it up.

Personally, I think we'll get knocked out the second we draw a heavyweight.

We were worse than we are right now last season and we were some bs defending (Carvajal) and goalkeeping (Moratas goal at the SB) away from a final. As long as we do not get Barca I am confident we can go through against any team. We have a better bench this season too. Ronaldo seems to have picked up form, Bale is back and regaining that form he had before injury and if need be we have Lucas waiting in the wings to come on for underperforming Isco/James

Of course you have that Marcelo liability issue but he isnt always like that. Only when he gets overconfident does he abandon his defensive duties

Give me Benfica or Wilfsburg in the Quarters and I am confident we go through to the final no matter whi we get in the semis. Even Atleti

ofcourse wolfsburg or benfica/zenit. even if our form was tops i'd still want one of those 2. imo we have done nothing for us to start thinking we can take on all comers any day of the week. let's just get an easy draw and hope we can negotiate our way out of that, cos two legged ties are very tricky

Watching PSG, i realized what we lack... PSG set up their tactics to emphasize the strengths of their pace setters as much as possible: Ibra, Motta and Silva. Those 3 guys are not speed burners but are fantastic technically. So they slow down their pace to and keep the ball on the ground to accommodate them.

Madrid have guys that work at different paces. Our CBs are pacy and athletic, Modric is more of a slower/technique guy while Ronaldo/Bale are both pace players. Playing a high line while trying to keep possession with short line gaps takes advantage of Modric and the speed of our CBs. Even Bale has figured out what to do as he lurks and makes a quick run when the opposition is lulled to sleep (like Lucas and ADM do for PSG). But Ronaldo is COMPLETELY lost.

Ronaldo really must either adapt (unlikely) or gtfo. I HOPE Flo bring in someone that fits in his place. Namely, a pacey yet technically gifted wing player who can pierce lines. ADM would be perfect but that ship has sailed. Reus or Griezmann are the other choices... we need to get one of those.

While I can joke with Hans about us beating Bayern, chances are all the heavy hitters would put a proper beating on us including Bayern. Now we can rise to the occasion and we have the talent to do it but this season, we really haven't for one reason or the other.

N.B the heavy hitters does not include PSG. Don't care what Sports write, I really don't see any need for me to be all frightful of them. That doesn't mean they can't win, very much can but this is a more personal standing I have.

I really hope we get Bayern before the final so that you can all see how overrated they are. We know our flaws while they keep pretending they are Gods gift to earth until they play somebody on their level and get spanked.

I do not share you guys' pessimism. I am very confident we may reach the final this year. It just depends on the Quarter draw. I do not think we are ready just yet to play a powerhouse in the quarters due to the various injuries we have to our attacking players. But in a month or so when we play Barca you will all see that we are back.

PS: I have set the bar very high for us so hopefully i do not have to eat crow

Re-PSG outside ADM, Ibra, Matuidi and Veratti they are an awful team. If we are drawn agqinst them we will win

sportsczy wrote:Watching PSG, i realized what we lack... PSG set up their tactics to emphasize the strengths of their pace setters as much as possible: Ibra, Motta and Silva. Those 3 guys are not speed burners but are fantastic technically. So they slow down their pace to and keep the ball on the ground to accommodate them.

Madrid have guys that work at different paces. Our CBs are pacy and athletic, Modric is more of a slower/technique guy while Ronaldo/Bale are both pace players. Playing a high line while trying to keep possession with short line gaps takes advantage of Modric and the speed of our CBs. Even Bale has figured out what to do as he lurks and makes a quick run when the opposition is lulled to sleep (like Lucas and ADM do for PSG). But Ronaldo is COMPLETELY lost.

Ronaldo really must either adapt (unlikely) or gtfo. I HOPE Flo bring in someone that fits in his place. Namely, a pacey yet technically gifted wing player who can pierce lines. ADM would be perfect but that ship has sailed. Reus or Griezmann are the other choices... we need to get one of those.

Or the coach should set up the team to our best player's strengths. It's clear that Ronaldo is still our best player. Carlo tried the same thing at the start of his first season and he switched back to fast paced football in the second half of the season. We ended up winning la decima. PSG is awful by the way.

Where is this confidence coming from? Is it from the fact that we were skinned alive against Barça or the fact that we lost to Atlético at home? Is it because we crashed out of the title race and CDR in midseason or is it because we could barely beat a wasteful and lackluster Roma?

Confidence should come with winning and total domination, not with inconsistency and the inability to beat or even draw big teams.

Our CBs are inconsistent, our LB doesn't track back, our midfield is poorly constructed with tendency to get ran over every time we meet a half-decent team, and our attack is painfully lazy. We tend to struggle away from home, and we're unable to unlock defenses through direct play. We're third in the league, 12 points behind Barça, 4 points behind Atlético. The only big game we won this year was against PSG, and ironically enough, it wasn't deserved.

So instead of calling other teams "overrated", we should look at ourselves in the mirror first. Because we're one hell of an overrated team, and I'm pretty sure there are at least 4 teams in Europe better than us based on current form.

We are unbeaten in CL have conceded 1 goal iirc. PSG like Roma enjoyed ONE half out of home and away where they could have scored a couple of goals. League I will admit we have been poor but we have seldom had a full squad with at least one of the front 3 always being injured. We were alot worse last seasln but that didnt stop us from beating Atleti in CL even after theyd spanked us 4-0 in the league.

If Zidane plays his cards right we will reach at least the Semis and I do not mind taking a bet on that

PSG dominated the entire game at the Bernabeu.... all of it. We only won because of Trapp and Cavani being retarded in that one. Roma never pushed us around like that... PSG starved us of the ball.

Don't have convenient memory hala.

No they did not. I cant even think of a chance they created in the second half. Over the whole game we had more shots ON target than they did OVERALL.

Much like Roma ONE good half and people claim we could have been eliminated lol do me a favour

Yeah Sports is wrong on that one. PSG had a first half where they were really good and should have buried us. The 2nd half, their levels dropped considerably for whatever reason and we controlled the rest of the match. The match is Paris was fairly even.

That being said, they too can beat us. DoC, unfortunately, is pretty correct in everything he wrote except the deserve to win line. I'm really glad about Hala's optimism or anyone else's but I think it's more a hope than anything scientific or logical. I do hope we get our shit together and perform to our elite level but I have been hoping for that all damn season.

I rarely get to see that hope bare fruit.

PSG outshot us and had 60% possession for the game...  not to mention they're like Barca:  They don't shoot unless it's the perfect shot as opposed to Madrid who will shoot from anywhere (looking at you CR and Isco too lol).  Cavani missed a sitter wide and Ibra missed two great chances wide... so technically those aren't shots on goal.  That's why shots is a lot more telling a stat than shots on goal.

Benfica, if we get to SF then it will be a boost to our confidence and anything can happen, plus the team will have more time under the direction of Zidane hopefully we will have Benz and all the players in form.

City with that laughable midfield will never beat PSG. It will be like a training game for PSG

Our tie against Wolfsburg depends on the first leg. This season's team does not have much character or fight compared to previous seasons. If Wolfsburg get a clean sheet in the first leg i can guarantee you 100% we will concede in the return leg

On the other hand Navad is two games and some minutes away from setting a clean sheet record in the CL oh and Ronaldo will probably try and beat his last season tally in case we dont make it past the semis.

Lol ADM will run rings past that midfield and defence. Who do City have that could trouble PSG?? Kun Sterling?? On the other hand PSG are going to look like prime Barca with City's laughable pressing. I predict an easy 2-0 win for PSG in the first leg

Oh trust me I am not even half as bad as some of our colleagues here I am not comfortable now that BBC is back and Ramos continues to be a liability. They have Kruse, Draxler and Schurrle who may be really threatening on the break and unlike Usain Salah they can actually finish. That said I fancy our attackers against their defence particularly Ronaldo who has been a completely different beast in CL compared to the league

Wolfsburg, Benfica, Bayern and City were the teams I had hoped to play against. We got Wolfsburg so I am not too saddned. But we still need to be careful. This team has a hard time closing down games and makes WAY TOO MANY ERRORS for my liking. But at the same time our experience alone should be enough to take us through