Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 1144. (Read 141749 times)

Yes, I mean we are getting flooded with so many worthless games anyway year round whether that is nationally or internationally, that is why I think that the Super Cup is one of those unnecessary games that makes more sense than others. Is it really necessary? No it isn't but at least there is some reasoning behind letting those two winners of those two trophies play against each other.

For this coming Champions League season I am curious to see how many games Haaland will score during the group stage alone. He is a great player and very grounded. Hopefully he can continue his marvelous journey.

Playoff period will definitely be great and I am guessing that teams will have a bit of easier period as well. Anyone who loses here goes to groups of europa league if I am not wrong, if that's true then teams will be happy because they will be able to fight at either champions league groups or europa groups but their European competition story still continues instead of going back home.

Obvious the payment structure is very very different, while one of them gets 10+ million, even 20+ million considering all the games, the other is getting like 3-5 million instead. That is why I am sure that teams will try to win no matter what, they will put all their great players as much in as they possibly could to get that win, but if not, it is not end of the world.

The good performance of a striker is not only measured by the goals scored in the matches they play, but I think their performance can also be seen by how much they influence the game. Haaland is a player who can make a positive impact on a game, even if he doesn't score a single goal during the match. That's why Pep Guardiola gives him minutes if he is available in the squad list.

In fact, last season Haaland could not do anything well in the last two matches After that, Haaland's dedication to hope's journey to the final is the best of all. So it is not right to criticize him with the last two matches.

About Haaland in the Champions League, I can say that he has been quite impressive in this tournament also. He scored so many goals here last season. Maybe he couldn't make much impact on the semi finals and the finale but I can't overlook his overall effort just because of that.

Manchester City are playing great as a team. They don't rely on only one player such as Haaland. The semi finals and the finale were great examples for that. It is the truth that Haaland is an important piece of the puzzle. But Guardiola has a system working like a clockwork now. Even when Haaland isn't in-form the rest of the players can make up for that.

I personally don't care about Ronaldo's record, because I don't think all great strikers should be compared to Ronaldo. So, the benchmark for Haaland for me is not only about the number of goals, but how can Haaland maintain his consistency to keep playing well to make a big contribution to the success of the team.

Therefore, even though Haaland still cannot surpass Ronaldo's number of goals, but I am sure that this will not make Haaland rated badly. Also at least it's true, even though Haaland is a target man but at least, his teammates don't always rely on Haaland to be able to score goals. Thus, the team will still get good results even if Haaland doesn't score.

That's right, Haaland is not only dangerous because of his ability to score goals, but he can also attract the attention of defenders to mark him tightly which in all likelihood gives space for other players to score goals. We see that scenario a lot in Manchester City games, especially when Haaland really struggles to score.

Of course it's not a problem without a solution, Pep Guardiola has a solution and takes a better approach to win games. In the Manchester City squad, I don't think you can underestimate anyone because basically they can score goals when there's space to shoot.

Marseille's inconsistency during the UCL qualifying round suggests that the team may not have fully embraced the new coach's strategy. I have the same expectation with you to saw marseille would be beating panathinaikos but the unexpected result was just happening with marseille caused by it has been performing so badly against panathinaikos. The club needs more time to adapt to the new coach. Marseille needs to rebuild its chemistry as soon as possible. The club is very close to the

Braga looks strong but did you believe if panathinaikos may be lucky enough to be qualified for UCL? panathinaikos can surprise us this. This is definitely true. Marseille was a top club in league 1.
The greece club was able beating one of top club in league 1 which is amazing. Panathi looks very strong right now. A tough game gonna happen between braga vs panathinaikos.

Good stats but still far from Ronaldo's record (if I'm not mistaken, he scored 11 goals even just in the group stage). By the way, after the game with Sevilla, Haaland has a problem with the fact that further he will be under great pressure. He currently has zero goals for City in 5 finals! I think he will be reminded of this before each next final and if this figure continues to grow, it will be sad for him.

Although Haaland did not play well in the semi-final and final, Haaland contributed a lot to Manchester City's Champions League final qualification and title win. Haaland was able to perform well in the group stage matches. He managed to score in almost every match.

Guardiola was well aware that Haaland would be blocked by every defender. For this he applied a different strategy. Guardiola didn't rely on Haaaland for scores. Every player in midfield and attack tried to score. This made it easier for other players in the team to score when the opposing defenders were busy blocking Haaland. This is why I think Haaland's contribution to Manchester City's title win is high.

Pep Guardiola's football approach is usually effective because he knows what he wants for the team and how to attain it. It is usually a good idea for a coach to not rely just on one player in football because it is always productive in the end. What matters most in a team is how to win the game, and if they can win a game with or without any of the players being the key decider or scorer, it will be a victory for the entire team, and that is what counts most now. Even if Haaland does not perform well in every game, his presence on the field is something opponents fear and can still work in favour of the coach on how to defeat his opponent.

Not infrequently each coach applies a different strategy in every match that will be played by his team, especially in crucial matches such as what happened in City's match in the semifinal and final match. in these two crucial matches, Haaland was unable to score a single goal for his team. but his contribution to his teammates is huge, let's take a look at Bernardo Silva's goal moment. At that time, Haaland was under heavy guard from the opposing team. However, he was able to outwit and make room for his other teammates to move freely and score goals. proven, City won the game over Madrid.

Referring to what you said about Pep's system, we totally agree that even though Haaland is actually a Target Man, his teammates are involved in building attacks. hence, Pep tends to use a 3-2-4-1 system. the pattern applied by Pep is very effective and every player can score goals if they have the opportunity and opportunity. So, back to Haaland's discussion, the fact is that not every striker will always score goals in crucial matches. it could be, the coach makes a strategy scenario like I said at the beginning. but for sure, Haaland is a great striker and very hungry for goals. this season, he has the potential to become the top scorer in both the domestic league and the champions league.

Although Panathinaikos surprised in the previous qualifying round by eliminating Marseille, this time there is a tendency they will not succeed in doing the same thing twice. It must be realized that their next opponent is SC Braga which is a regular team in the champion league from Portugal and often SC Braga is at almost the same level as Porto or Sporting.

There is no doubt that SC Braga will win this time and if I place a bet on this match, it is clear that I will bet on SC Braga's victory. Apart from that, it's a different story if Panathinaikos manages to hold SC Braga's series and takes them to the penalty shootout as before. Most likely Panathinaikos will qualify in this way, but if we talk about 90 minutes of normal time, I think their hopes are very slim.

I think Pep Guardiola is the main reason for the success of Manchester City winning trophies,  he is a good coach and well experienced that understands football.  Pep Guardiola knows how to use his players well, he understands the positions that every of his players can be fit into to perform well. Manchester City have good players and Pep Guardiola contributes to the performance of this players, he brings out the best from this players . With Pep Guardiola as the coach of Manchester City it is very possible Manchester City can still dominate the Champions league this season again because they look so extraordinary.

Not just about Pep Guardiola but in Manchester City they had a revolution after he joined this team. Because having a good coach like Guardiola can't be the reason for a team to have a good performance like Manchester City, I think their reason for them is to have more investment in their team, Manchester City bought many superstar players and hired players like Haaland while other teams can't use the money they have in the right moment,
This Manchester City can even be the first hope for the Premier League and Champions League in the next season. 

Pep Guardiola's influence at Manchester City is what has made me a true fan of this team since his arrival. I certainly agree that Pep Guardiola's philosophy of play has greatly benefited Manchester City, this is evident from the many titles they have won since the two parties agreed to work together until now.

As for the key players, I think Pep Guardiola has them. De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Grealish are the masterminds of the Manchester City attack, and you can see a lot of difference when one or all of those players are not involved. Manchester City's performance will not be as good as expected without this player, but they are still able to dominate well.

Okay, when I saw this post, my first reaction was who the hell is Panathinaikos? And why are they playing in the Champions League competition? And how the hell is Marseille getting beaten by them? But I think we can say that it is not because Panathinaikos is a really good team or performing really well. I think it is because Marseille is just not being able to perform well enough. And of course it was not a convincing win from Panathinaikos. But in the end I win is a win and we have to give credit to them for that. It’s like just because Argentina was able to win the World Cup via penalties, we can say that Argentina did not deserve it.

But I also agree that this is probably going to be the end of their miraculous journey. Braga is going to be a big opponent for Panathinaikos. But of course, nothing is a hundred percent certain.

Most likely this round is Panathinaikos last step in the UCL because the bookies are very much on Braga side with smaller odds, we can see in the image below that SC Braga gets @1.65 odds while Panathinaikos has @5.4.


But what makes this match interesting is that this opportunity is the first meeting for the two teams in history, they have never met before even in a friendly match, so, of course the result of the match will be very difficult to predict, it doesn't mean that Panathinaikos with their big odds will lose easily. About surprising us a second time? it's possible, nothing is impossible in football.

They will face Braga in 2 decisive matches (leg 1 & leg 2), it is definitely not an easy opponent, although perhaps in strength it is weaker than the opponent they faced before, Marseille. Now both clubs will go all out to win a ticket to the Champions League group stage, and believe me both will do everything possible to win this match.
The first leg will see them as guests of Braga, and it's likely that they'll be more defensive in this one, and if they can they'll steal an early goal and then go all out.