2015–16 UEFA Champions League

[DD12]

Pep's unending love for Xabi almost gets Bayern eliminated. And of course once he finally brought Thiago on he decided the match for the bavarians like the disgustingly gifted player that he is. Alongside the decision to start the veteran Ribery over the on-form Coman, as well as opting for Benatia at CB over Alaba...who had a dreadful start to match playing the LB position that he oh so rarely plays this season...Pep's conservatism/over-caution in big matches almost killed him yet again. For such a clever and creative coach, that must be such an irritating trend for Bayern fans to see in him.

Pep is an awful coach. He literally destroyed Jupp's team. Jupp probably can't sleep at nights after watching this team.

[cgf]

Pep's unending love for Xabi almost gets Bayern eliminated. And of course once he finally brought Thiago on he decided the match for the bavarians like the disgustingly gifted player that he is. Alongside the decision to start the veteran Ribery over the on-form Coman, as well as opting for Benatia at CB over Alaba...who had a dreadful start to match playing the LB position that he oh so rarely plays this season...Pep's conservatism/over-caution in big matches almost killed him yet again. For such a clever and creative coach, that must be such an irritating trend for Bayern fans to see in him.

Pep is an awful coach. He literally destroyed Jupp's team. Jupp probably can't sleep at nights after watching this team.

Sure thing bro!

[Ted Lasso]

i would say aragones perfected it before guardiola

I would not say that. Aragones had a limited association with tiki-taka. His Spain team played a 4-4-2 (the direct nature of which is the antithesis of tiki-taka), got most of their goals at Euro 2008 on the break, and he preferred a classic defensive midfielder in Marcos Senna to a stereotypical and foundational tiki-taka player in Xabi Alonso. They didn't even have the majority of possession in the final against Germany.

It's Del Bosque who took what Guardiola was doing and utilised it in a more conservative and pragmatic way.

[Ted Lasso]

On a separate note, I personally would not link total football so directly to tiki-taka. Total football's chief stylistic emphasis was on players switching positions. And while that philosophy is present to some extent in tiki-taka, the main emphasis there is on possession. What binds them more so is the idea of high pressing.

[Det the Threat]

Predictions for the quaterfinal draw:

Bayern vs Man City
PSG vs Atletico
Barca vs Benfica
Real vs Wolfsburg

Benfica-Wolfsburg would be awesome. Everyone is waiting to draw these two teams.

Yeah, that's what I thought as well.
And I'm pretty sure Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wold love for such a draw, already crying about a new seeding system given that they had to play a tough opponent in the round of 16.
I mean, they normally don't get those before the semifinals so poor Kalle was sweating really hard in this one...

And there's also no way teams like Atleti, Dortmund, Benfica etc. should ever be able to make it to a final without having to beat three teams out of Bayern, Barca, Real, PSG, United, City, (maybe)Juventus during the knockout stages.

[DNP - Old]

i would say aragones perfected it before guardiola

I would not say that. Aragones had a limited association with tiki-taka. His Spain team played a 4-4-2 (the direct nature of which is the antithesis of tiki-taka), got most of their goals at Euro 2008 on the break, and he preferred a classic defensive midfielder in Marcos Senna to a stereotypical and foundational tiki-taka player in Xabi Alonso. They didn't even have the majority of possession in the final against Germany.

It's Del Bosque who took what Guardiola was doing and utilised it in a more conservative and pragmatic way.

Yeah, the lineup in the NT for Aragones' used to be Albelda + ten other players.

[DNP - Old]

Btw, what's up with the hate for Guardiola in this forum? How many girls did he steal? Jeez...

[Ted Lasso]

Predictions for the quaterfinal draw:

Bayern vs Man City
PSG vs Atletico
Barca vs Benfica
Real vs Wolfsburg

Benfica-Wolfsburg would be awesome. Everyone is waiting to draw these two teams.

It would mean having to suffer one of them in the next round as well, so i am firmly against it. I hope they draw Barca and Real or Bayern.

[Baphomet]

On a separate note, I personally would not link total football so directly to tiki-taka. Total football's chief stylistic emphasis was on players switching positions. And while that philosophy is present to some extent in tiki-taka, the main emphasis there is on possession. What binds them more so is the idea of high pressing.

I do agree, but I was responding to the claim that Pep created tiki-taka. Pep merely adapted a tradition that Cruyff had long ago brought to catalonia and passed on to future Barca coaches, which in turn was partly adapted from total football. While there are some key tactical deviations from the original Total Football tactic that Cruyff played under, there are certainly shades of it in tiki-taka. Those shades might be more philosophical than tactical in this day and age, but I have no doubt that Barcelona's tiki-taka was birthed from Cruyff's desire for a creative, fluid attack, as a counterpoint to more defensive styles.

When I was reading about this topic this morning, I found this little chestnut. Does this remind anyone else of a certain RealGM soccer board legend?

Inter’s defeat in the European Cup Final was welcomed throughout Europe. Newspapers from all over the continent celebrated the fact that catenaccio had been beaten by total football. According to ‘The Times’: ‘Ajax proved that creative attack is the real lifeblood of the game; that blanket defence can be outwitted and outmanoeuvred, and by doing so they made the outlines of the night a little sharper and the shadows a little brighter.’ In Holland ‘De Telegraaf’ ran a nine page special on the game with words like ‘superstar’ and ‘triumph’ liberally splattered across its headlines, while ‘Algemeen Dagblad’ declared: ‘The Inter system undermined. Defensive football is destroyed.’

[Foye]

Predictions for the quaterfinal draw:

Bayern vs Man City
PSG vs Atletico
Barca vs Benfica
Real vs Wolfsburg

Benfica-Wolfsburg would be awesome. Everyone is waiting to draw these two teams.

Yeah, that's what I thought as well.
And I'm pretty sure Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wold love for such a draw, already crying about a new seeding system given that they had to play a tough opponent in the round of 16.
I mean, they normally don't get those before the semifinals so poor Kalle was sweating really hard in this one...

And there's also no way teams like Atleti, Dortmund, Benfica etc. should ever be able to make it to a final without having to beat three teams out of Bayern, Barca, Real, PSG, United, City, (maybe)Juventus during the knockout stages.

Rummenigge is far beyond the point of simply being idiotic. I have no words to describe the foolish proposals he always comes up with.

[DD12]

On a separate note, I personally would not link total football so directly to tiki-taka. Total football's chief stylistic emphasis was on players switching positions. And while that philosophy is present to some extent in tiki-taka, the main emphasis there is on possession. What binds them more so is the idea of high pressing.

This.

There is so much difference between tiki taka and direct football.

Under Rijkaard when Ronaldinho was playing insane along with Young iniesta, Deco, Eto'o etc. it wasn't tiki taka football, it was Dutch Total football. It was extremely direct. Dutch football didn't serve total football the way Pep has been using disgustingly. Getting the ball, and making 894 passes in a row and people who are watching are about to throw up to see the useless passes.

What guardiola has been doing is nothing close to what Dutch total football is. He is doing something horrible and not watchable anymore. There is no directness and it is all about passes and possession. That's why many people hate him.

But if you ever watch Rijkaard's Barcelona with Ronaldinho leading, it was a total football. It was direct. There were sure a lot of passes but there were also many direct passes to the opponent unlike Pep's tiki taka.

Even today's Luis Enrique's Barcelona doesn't play as much tiki taka. After he took over, there are a lot of direct passes. It is more of total football than tiki taka.


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[Rasho Brezec]

I probably hate Muller more than any other player in the world. He has such a disgusting face.

[Foye]

I probably hate Muller more than any other player in the world. He has such a disgusting face.

World class player.

[truth18]

I probably hate Muller more than any other player in the world. He has such a disgusting face.

World class player.

**** Muller.

[Baphomet]

I probably hate Muller more than any other player in the world. He has such a disgusting face.

I'm transfixed by this gif. Looking even beyond Muller's extreme levels of germanness, only half of the gif moves and he ghosts through the other guy's shirt. The tumblr community's dedication to fetishistic fandom has given birth to such bizarre compression techniques.

[Rasho Brezec]

No, Muller just has the ability to transcend time and space.

[DD12]

True. If you go to Germany you can see a lot ot Muller face. He has so german face so punchable.

Meh i dont buy he is a world class player. He is just system's player. Playing at bayern and Germany. If he goes to any other team, he'll never be as good.


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[Andi Obst]

I love Müller and Rasho's love for him and the hate he's getting from most other people on this board just makes him even more awesome.

[Foye]

True. If you go to Germany you can see a lot ot Muller face. He has so german face so punchable.

Meh i dont buy he is a world class player. He is just system's player. Playing at bayern and Germany. If he goes to any other team, he'll never be as good.
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What drugs do you use? I want some of those.

Müller is not world class but Felipe Melo is. Ok.

Müller is constantly producing results in big games. The dude is as clutch as you can possibly be. Clear world class player.

[DD12]

True. If you go to Germany you can see a lot ot Muller face. He has so german face so punchable.

Meh i dont buy he is a world class player. He is just system's player. Playing at bayern and Germany. If he goes to any other team, he'll never be as good.
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What drugs do you use? I want some of those.

Müller is not world class but Felipe Melo is. Ok.

He is not. He is another Pedro, Bojan Krkic. Player of the system. Nothing more.


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