Champions League 2012/2013

I wouldn't say the fall of Tiki taka just yet. It will no doubt have its successes again in future. I just think Barca need some different personel to play the style they want.
A stronger Centre of Defence and More Potent wide men and I think you'd see a marked difference in the Barcelona team, while playing the same possession based football. I still think the Barca team of Guardiola are stronger than the current Bayern team.

That first season especially...The front 3 of Henry Eto'o and Messi was a joy...It was also Potent! Then you had Pedro Messi Villa, another Potent trio. But Pedro has declined and Villa hasnt quite been the same since the leg break.

So right now It's just Messi thats really firing and that, along with the decline and increased absence of Carles Puyol is a big factor in Barcelona's Impotence against Bayern this season.

I can't see those problems being fixed for next season though. I think they will need to do that one step at a time. Defence is priority.

But anyway. I really enjoy Tiki Taka, but I also enjoy the way the Germans play, Dortmund especially. I'm always Impressed by the link up play of Reus, Gotze and Lewandowski. Bayern of course are just a well oiled machine just now. The additions of Dante, Martinez and Madzukic have been excellent.

I'm actually wondering if the Arrival of Guardiola will be a bad thing?

 

Actually it wasn't the Hungarians who blew it out of the water... it was the Scottish which Hungary perfected :icon_mrgreen:

Specifically down to the work of one coach; who then went on and helped coach the Celtic side that Jock Stein was in; who then brought that style into the Lisbon Lions... who then won the European Cup and was a great inspiration to Rinus Michels; whose philosophy Cruyff took to heart; who made La Masia; which Guardiola done a lot of work with who perfected the "Tiki-Taka" style with Barcelona...

In short. Scotland rules world football

 

Also anybody who describes Germans as clinical and efficient deserve shot for using the Motson Cliche Commentary Handbook ™

 

I'm not calling people who enjoy Barca fanboys, you're ignoring my central premise.

Again, I am not trying to create a false equivalency between people who enjoy Barca and the Tiki Taka zealots, it simply doesn't exist.

I enjoyed Barca, and still do, to a certain extent.

Aye, well we didn't beat them 7-0! :smiley-laughing002:

I don't think you can hold up the media response to that victory, or indeed Inter's victory, as a moment when Tiki Taka was even questioned. The press generally gave air to pundits who pilloried both teams for being negative, and insisted that normal service would be resumed post haste.

The situation is a bit different after this season, as Barca were trounced and Bayern aren't going away. We'll have to wait and see if Guardiola tries to rip up the drawing board and implement Tiki Taka at Bayern, I hope he doesn't.

We'll have to wait and see, Tito Vilanova (bless him) has an awful long way to go before he can really be regarded as a top manager, overhauling the squad and maintaining their philosophy will be a big challenge. Barca are unique in that you can't just plug and play the best footballers in each position, you've only got to look at all of the high profile transfer flops over the years.

The likes of Ibra and Alexis Sanchez are fantastic footballers in their own right, but look utterly lost within a system that doesn't suit them. Finding the right personnel will be a tough task.

Guardiola tried to tweak and change them for the better, but couldn't manage it and decided to leave. It will take an excellent manager to turn them into what they used to be, or indeed better than what they used to be, if that's even possible.

Vilanova deserves a crack at it but as Sid Lowe has said, Barca will need a contingency plan as well.

Oh but I do, Diegan, I really do!

I'm just not beholden to a rigid philosophy, I enjoy variety, the ebb and flow of different styles, the natural cycle of change and the rise and fall of different approaches.

I just don't like the fanboys who are wedded to one system and one system alone, contra mundum. I'm not saying that you, or anyone else here, are one of them.

But they're out there...

 

Fawlty; you're debating against fanboys etc. when none are actually here. Which is odd.

 

Yes, but everyone knows that, it goes without saying! :smiley-laughing002:

 

It's really annoying me I can't remember that guys name

 

Who's name?

 

hahaha i am like that sometimes myself and it should be a good game

 

Got my first when I was 6 during their 1997 run. Still have it I think.

Lost interest during secondary school when I went off football for a while, but really started to pay attention again in the last 3 or 4 years after a trip to Germany.

 

Not too long now

 

Looking forward to it

 

fun game ahead anyway tonight

 

Pre match special on CNN with Pedro Pinto coming up, if anyone is interested.

How are we all watching it? Any plans to go to a pub or a bar, will it be a dodgy internet stream or a nice big telly?

I'm watching the cricket at the moment, will be switching over for all of the pre match stuff at breakfast time.

 

Nice big telly.

Nice freezing cold bottles a Bud.

* sunburn from being out in the garden all day, and a sore ankle from football yesterday

I'm watching the SkySports coverage - * listening to Adrian Chiles

Does anybody know if that * "GSTQ" will be played at any point (as obviously it's in Wembley?).

 

I wouldn't imagine so, I don't recall any national anthems at last years European Cup final.

We've got ESPN down here, hopefully it's Derek Rae and Adrian Healey doing to commentary.

 

I'm just thinking that ze English might possibly have played it to spite the game considering it was both German teams and German fans like.......

 

You know what it is....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePtoxDhJSw"]Wiz Khalifa - Black And Yellow [Official Music Video] - YouTube[/ame]

Mon the BVB!

 

Wouldn't surprise me if they played the theme tune from The Great Escape....

Wife going out with the daughters, so big telly for me, Coors Light, as thats all I can handle nowadays, couple of lads coming round, boxing booked for afterwards.

 

2-1 dortmund.