[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

look to Kaka

i do that every morning! usually with a sense of pride and satisfaction for a job well done.

Originally Posted by h8kurdt

Well that was just a huge bag of frustration.

for me too, believe me. i kept screaming for schieber to go in-- with a fresh pair of legs, dortmund's late counterattacks could have been much more successful. though santana was a great addition.

and not sure if you guys noticed but this is the problem with dortmund's shallow bench. take out gotze and put in grosskreutz and dortmund's offense goes from magic to meh. compare vs. bayern minus kroos-- "sure, whatevs".

also, i like reus better when he plays on the left. he's right footed, but he makes an awesome left winger.

ANYWAY. tomorrow we'll know for sure.

[demonrail666]

I couldn't believe the last five minutes. I really thought Real would pull it off. And all without even playing the Pepe card, although tonight's performance makes their collapse in the first leg even more unforgivable.

Yeah, Dortmund don't seem to have much depth on their bench. Gotze was a blow but from what I'm hearing he should be OK for the final.

[demonrail666]

Excellent analysis of last night's game posted on zonalmarking. Modric has been named as the big difference in Real's performance, and the sidelining of Pepe. And I loved Klopp's little prematch dig at Pepe, “If you block Xabi, you make it so Pepe always has the ball. That is a big difference.” Ouch!

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/05/...tmund-tactics/

[!@#$%!]

yeah i read that earlier this morning and the guy makes a great analysis, but mourinho's good strategy aside it bugged me that klopp didn't have a plan b of his own to deal with madrid's 3 defenders. he could have made it so dortmund scored.

this is probably because with gozte gone he had little to choose from. and then bender going out injured didn't help his options with substitutions, though that was last minute. santana did good and stabilized things but that didn't give him options upfront where a goal in favor was more important than two against. he had something like 25 minutes to make a change (madrid's first changes --> madrid's first goal) and he didn't.

re: schieber he is fast but loses his head-- still i'd like to have seen him in the last 20-30 minutes taking advantage of a madrid all thrown forward. problem is grosskreutz was already in that spot. maybe grosskreuts could have come back for more of a 4-3-3 (this before bender's substitution).

anyway i thought klopp erred by playing pure defense instead of going for better counterattacks. but that doesn't matter since they won in the aggregate and up until before the goals happened the commentators were saying "dortmund was the best in both legs".

one more thing though-- i didn't see madrid's changes really gel until khedira came in for alonso. i was like "eh, look, mourinho made 2 changes but nothing happened" and then after khedira came in is when things happened.

anyway here we go for the last deciding match-- bayern best not fuck up!

[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Excellent analysis of last night's game posted on zonalmarking. Modric has been named as the big difference in Real's performance, and the sidelining of Pepe. And I loved Klopp's little prematch dig at Pepe, “If you block Xabi, you make it so Pepe always has the ball. That is a big difference.” Ouch!

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/05/...tmund-tactics/

Bloody love that site.

[!@#$%!]

from the bayern FB page:

Überraschung bei Barcelona: Messi spielt nicht! Weltfußballer heute vorerst nur auf der Bank!

Line-up /Aufstellung: Neuer - Lahm, Boateng, van Buyten, Alaba - Martínez, Schweinsteiger, - Robben, Müller, Ribéry - Mandzukic

Our substitutes / Einwechselspieler: Starke - Dante, Shaqiri, Rafinha, Luiz Gustavo, Gomez, Tymoshchuk.

--

wtf are they saying about Messi? anyway, van buyten for dante??? hmmmm....

--

EDIT: GOOGLE TRANSLATE SEZ:

Messi does not play! World Player today for the time being on the bench!

====

MOAR EHDITT: from barcelona's FB

Line-up confirmed / Alineació confirmada / Alineación confirmada:

Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Cesc, Xavi, Villa, Iniesta, Bartra, Pedro, Adriano, Song

Força Barça!!

[h8kurdt]

Messi will not play...that can't be right?

[h8kurdt]

Oh he's on the bench.

Wow. Well at the leat they aren't dragging him on the field when he clearly wasn't fit.

[!@#$%!]

i feel bad for him. i really really really like him as a player, and for what he projects publicly as a person too. last time w/ juve he was anxious as fuck while he didn't play.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

yeah i read that earlier this morning and the guy makes a great analysis, but mourinho's good strategy aside it bugged me that klopp didn't have a plan b of his own to deal with madrid's 3 defenders. he could have made it so dortmund scored.

this is probably because with gozte gone he had little to choose from. and then bender going out injured didn't help his options with substitutions, though that was last minute. santana did good and stabilized things but that didn't give him options upfront where a goal in favor was more important than two against. he had something like 25 minutes to make a change (madrid's first changes --> madrid's first goal) and he didn't.

re: schieber he is fast but loses his head-- still i'd like to have seen him in the last 20-30 minutes taking advantage of a madrid all thrown forward. problem is grosskreutz was already in that spot. maybe grosskreuts could have come back for more of a 4-3-3 (this before bender's substitution).

anyway i thought klopp erred by playing pure defense instead of going for better counterattacks. but that doesn't matter since they won in the aggregate and up until before the goals happened the commentators were saying "dortmund was the best in both legs".

one more thing though-- i didn't see madrid's changes really gel until khedira came in for alonso. i was like "eh, look, mourinho made 2 changes but nothing happened" and then after khedira came in is when things happened.

anyway here we go for the last deciding match-- bayern best not fuck up!

It just looked like an impossible situation for Klopp. By half time they'd taken a bit of a pounding but still hadn't conceded a goal and missed some chances themselves, and the threat from Real did look like it'd subsided by the start of the second. And really, Dortmund, looked home and dry until the last ten minutes. A limited set of options, as you say, as well as having to use a sub early on must've also played a part in Klopp's (in)decisions.

EDIT: Brave move from Heynckes, playing so many already on yellow cards.

[!@#$%!]

alexis for xavi! that should open up some holes in barça's defensive scheme.

[demonrail666]

Xavi going off was Barcelona raising the white flag. Faultless performance from Bayern but Barcelona have been awful. Barely worth watching now.

[TheMadcapLaughs]

done and dusted. barca will be back next year though.

but for now. GO DORTMUND!!!

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Xavi going off was Barcelona raising the white flag. Faultless performance from Bayern but Barcelona have been awful. Barely worth watching now.

wait, do you mean...

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

barcelona is a creaky old cart with the wheels falling off but a turbo engine (messi) driving it.

???

anyway--- i feel bad for messi and piqué but that was delicious to watch. even though i thought bayern lacked a bit of finish early on.

if joo guys wanna watch a preview of the final (or something else, who knows), bayern-dortmund face off this weekend. if i were heynckes i'd put 100% benchers and command them to chop legs.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by TheMadcapLaughs

done and dusted. barca will be back next year though.

but for now. GO DORTMUND!!!

I think they'll remain competitive in Spain but I don't think they're the team they were, Messi or no Messi. They were at the top for about 4 years and it's hard for any team to go any longer than that. Bayern definitely seem best placed to dominate for a while but even they'll have to deal with the upheavals of a new manager. But yeah, go Dortmund, absolutely!

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

But yeah, go Dortmund, absolutely!

i like bayern more but i'm happy with either. though i'd put my money on bayern cuz they've won everything this year. and i like more of their players than dortmund's. and will gotze play right vs. his new team? this is all hilarious, btw. i'm loving every minute of it.

BUNDESLIGA, COME TO AMERICA!!! MORE TV PLEASE!!!

[demonrail666]

I imagine most people other than confirmed Bayern fans will go for Dortmund. It's an underdog thing. If I'm honest, though, I think a lot of people (in England, anyway) just won't bother to watch a final between two German sides. You can bet UEFA are sick there's no Spanish or English or even Italian team involved to boost TV revenue. I'll be watching and the media will go all out to try and promote it but I think it'll be largely ignored, here, relative to other finals. Not sure if that'll be the case elsewhere in Europe, though.

[Bertrand]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

if joo guys wanna watch a preview of the final (or something else, who knows), bayern-dortmund face off this weekend. if i were heynckes i'd put 100% benchers and command them to chop legs.

You would be an adorable coach...

Such ideas spring to mind over here too.
Harald Schumacher + Claudio Gentile + Marco Materazzi + a slice of Van Bommel, some Der Zakarian (his rough treatment on Cantona while King Eric was still playing in France... EC called the referee, said "that man won't get away with it"; EC then sliced down the bloke, got booked, did it again, got expelled, but was happy he did that to fucking Der Zak)... that would be murder...

That's how whatnationitwasicantrecall got rid of Hungary in the mid-50s, when substitutions were not allowed. If I'm correct. Subs were introduced to protect such teams afterwards.

I'd like to see the final.
It ought to boost the Manshaft confidence for what comes next.

[demonrail666]

No big revelations but the ZM analysis is up.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/05/...ayern-tactics/

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Bertrand

You would be an adorable coach...

ha ha ha, i forgot to put an "evil" smilie after i wrote that (this board doesn't have them).i remember i was searching for one but got derailed by what i'm sure was some shiny object.

Originally Posted by Bertrand

Such ideas spring to mind over here too.
Harald Schumacher + Claudio Gentile + Marco Materazzi + a slice of Van Bommel, some Der Zakarian (his rough treatment on Cantona while King Eric was still playing in France... EC called the referee, said "that man won't get away with it"; EC then sliced down the bloke, got booked, did it again, got expelled, but was happy he did that to fucking Der Zak)... that would be murder...

haa ah haaa.

well to be honest i don't think bayern needs that to win. i think they have the better team this year, but the issue is that in a single game luck can influence a lot.

and so there's the strategic dilemma-- do you use this saturday's match to test your opponent, with the downside that you also reveal your weaknesses against them? or do you go completely off-tangent and go for something else, like a team full of subs? (and if you use subs, what do you ask them to do?)

Originally Posted by Bertrand

That's how whatnationitwasicantrecall got rid of Hungary in the mid-50s, when substitutions were not allowed. If I'm correct. Subs were introduced to protect such teams afterwards.

i didn't know that! i should look it up. i know that hungary were a glorious team that invented total football, but i didn't know they were brought down with hatchets.

Originally Posted by Bertrand

I'd like to see the final.
It ought to boost the Manshaft confidence for what comes next.

the whole world should enjoy watching the two best teams in the world right now