Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 590. (Read 141787 times)

Manchester City performance has been affected by the absence of KDB in the squad as it has been in their games despite having a very solid team one of the best team in the world but their position in the EPL and their game play says it all because the impact of KDB has been lacking in the team. Manchester City has managed to get to the round of 16 in the UCL I think they can still struggle to win games in the UCL even without the presence of KDB but the team will be in better shape and there will be more distribution of passes and more chances will be created if KDB should return from injury, hopefully he's going to be in the squad soon because City performance in the EPL has dropped so much.

@Cryptomultiplier, I think Osimhen will be back before the UCL games against Barcelona. The AFCON final match will be on February 12 and the UCL  match between them and Barcelona will be on 22 February. So I believe within these gaps he will be able to come back if Osimhen does not pick up any injury.  Even after that, I think it will be a 50-50 between them.  Because look at them, they are not doing very well. Suffering Serie A, out of Coppa Italia after that huge defeat against Frosinone.

Barcelona on the other hand are suffering in their own league as well. They had two recent hard fought victories against very weak teams. They are financially weak meaning they cannot even strengthen their team in the January transfer window. So both teams are struggling. This match will be the only 50-50 match in my opinion in the UCL  playoff.

It is understandable, although the domestic league cannot be used as a complete reference, to some extent it can be a reference for us. I agree that Napoli has a smaller chance than Barcelona. Napoli consistency is full of question marks at the moment, so even though Barcelona is experiencing a bit of a shake we have more confidence in Xavi squad if we want to bet.

The match will be held in mid February, Napoli and Barcelona are currently focusing on their respective domestic leagues. We need to look back at their performance ahead of the match, to get the latest updates and their preparations for the knockout rounds. Who knows, Napoli will experience an increase in performance, so that their strengths will be balanced when they face each other later.

For United, they've had good records from the beginning of their existence till 2seasons ago when they started experiencing gradual decline. Their coach switches has an effect on the team, they found it hard to secure a good coach that complements and will impact the team positively. And this has been on and on till this season when the situation got critical and United is literally nowhere to be found in the top 4 spot and they keep going behind in their struggle each passing week. Ten Hag is obviously not good for them currently as the team keeps slacking back and they do not stop looking confused on the pitch. All his implemented tactics and strategies aren't okay off well for him and it's safe to say that as the head of the team, he's got the greater part of the blame to bear.

 United needs a switch and not just any switch but a more reasonable switch that'll understand their condition and think innovatively without sentiments with the goal of team building and growth and implement new methods to combat their opponents. I don't know what the board is waiting for to realize the big error Ten Hag is to the team. The entire team has been infected with his virus and they need to be quarantined and looked after to return back to their usual self again. Sadly it may take a while but we hope it's soon.

I agree with you. Copenhagen has already proved their mettle. And after watching Copenhagen's performance against Bayern Munich, I feel there is no way to underestimate this team. This team has the ability to be confident and perform well against bigger teams.

Manchester City's performance is still a bit shaky. Due to their weak midfield, the team is not getting the expected performance from Haaland in attack. So the Copenhagen vs Manchester City match is likely to be competitive. However, if Haaland and De Bruyne play well, it will be a little easier for Manchester City to dominate the match.

Napoli was very strong last season. But this season they are like a different club. Last season they were Serie A champions but this season they are ranked eighth in the standings which shows that their performance has really dropped this season. Some clubs may also perform worse than last season but at least they are able to compete at the top of the standings.

So as you said, this match will be easier to bet on who will win than other matches where the performance of each team is very balanced. Let's take an example like PSV vs Dortmund where even though PSV is unbeaten in the league and Dortmund is in fifth place, the difference in domestic league level will make it difficult for us to choose the winner.

For Napoli and Barcelona, maybe I would make it an easy choice at least Barcelona still has a better chance. Because yes, the factor of changing coaches at Napoli is still difficult to get good results and also, the fact that Osimhen is not as impressive as in the last season. With such considerations, then for me Napoli at this moment has a more chaotic trend compared to Barcelona because after all, basically Barcelona also still has a squad that is certainly better than Napoli.

Therefore, for me choosing between Napoli and Barcelona seems to be easier than making a choice between Atletico and Inter. Because yes, I think Atletico and Inter both still have a good trend at this moment, so I think Atletico and Inter still both have a good chance to win.

I think Copenhagen proved what they can do by getting out of the group. So we should not say that Galatasaray would have done a better job or something because they also beat Galatasaray in the process to get out of the group.

They had to defeat Manchester United as well. But I think even if Galatasaray had qualified instead of Copenhagen, it would not have mattered that much. Manchester City would have destroyed them anyway.

Copenhagen is more likely to lose against Manchester City. But since this is a goal ball game, nothing can be said for sure.
Copenhagen's performance in the group stage was good. And they have proved that this team is in no way to be underestimated. If Manchester City can continue their great performance this season as well as last season then I would say City will win against Copenhagen. However, Manchester City's performance has also been somewhat erratic and weak this season. However, De Bruyne has been included in the squad after a long injury layoff. But we are still not sure if he can play well. So it's going to be tough for City to win against Copenhagen.

Maybe this is more a question of the right vocabulary, but when someone says that Copenhagen was a bit unlucky, then I get what he is trying to say. Of course there is some luck involved in the drawings and if they were now playing against Real Sociedad and not Bayern or Real Madrid or Manchester City, he would have probably said that instead of getting unlucky, they now got lucky. But it is what it is for them and I still think they are looking forward to that game and enjoy it. For Copenhagen it is huge no matter how it ends. All the players will remember the round of 16 games in the Champions League against Manchester City as a highlight of their careers.

The most interesting draws are Napoli - Barcelona and Inter - Atletico Madrid clearly. I'm saying this due to the fact that these are matchups between really close teams in strength.    Napoli and Barcelona both are having an inconsistent season in their local leagues. However they have done well in the Champions League so far. I'm seeing Napoli one step ahead for now but they absolutely need Osimhen to have more chance.

When it comes to the other matchup one of the last season finalists is facing Simeone's Atletico Madrid. As Atletico Madrid are playing much better in the Champions League this season it is pretty hard to predict the winner of the draw. 

I don't think that Copenhagen were unlucky with their round of 16 draw against Manchester City and I have my reasons of saying that. For a team to avoid been drawn against some certain teams  in the round of 16 of the UEFA champions league competition, they must have to finish at the top of their group stage table.
Copenhagen without doubt did exceptionally well to progress from a team that consists of Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Galatasaray but they only progressed as runners up to Bayern Munich who who the table and that's why they'll have to face a team that finished as winners of another group. There's no doubt to the fact that Manchester City have a greater chances of winning the tie against Copenhagen, but I that if Copenhagen can play on their full strength, they can surprisingly reach the last eight of the competition at the expense of Manchester City.

Real Madrid rarely buys players in the winter transfer market. Most likely they will only pursue short-term borrowing options.
Because next season all their injured core players will return. The decider is at the end of the season who they have to buy, and who they sell.
For now, Madrid is more comfortable using their juniors in Castilla. The Castilla captain has just been promoted to the Real Madrid main squad to fill the CB position.

It is a pity that they are playing against Manchester City because I think Manchester City really is out of their league. I absolutely agree with you that they have shown some astonishing and surprisingly good performances in the Champions League. With some luck they could have gotten a few more points during the group stage even against Bayern Munich.

I was hoping that they would get one of the weaker opponents in the knockout round of the Champions League, but Manchester City is 98% their final destination in this tournament.

The Copenhagen team is not weak at all. They performed well against Bayern Munich and managed to draw the match goalless. They showed great dominance in the home match against Manchester United. Copenhagen team won 4-3. Copenhagen performed well in the last match against Galatasaray as well.

Copenhagen will face mighty Manchester City in the knockout round. The first leg match is a home match in Copenhagen. If they play well in this match, Copenhagen have a slim chance of advancing to the next round. But the Manchester City team is very strong. Manchester City are unlikely to lose against a smaller team like Copenhagen.

In fact, these two clubs have similarities in terms of bad things, such as Napoli, which has difficulty getting the right strategy because Mazzari is still too new as Napoli's coach and it takes a long time to be able to read and provide the right strategy for Napoli because coaches are also very influential on the future of a club.
Meanwhile, Barcelona still has the same financial problems which prevent Xavi from being able to bring in more quality players and Xavi is forced to try to strengthen his players only with existing players.
But in terms of experience, it is actually very influential for the club to be able to continue its journey and qualify for the next round and Barca advantage only lies in experience and Napoli superiority lies in their truly quality players.

Manchester City is already in the last sixteen now in the Champions League and in the middle of next month all teams including Manchester City will compete again to reach the last eight. However, without Kevin De Bruyne in the Manchester City squad this season, of course there will be a little difficulty for Manchester City to reach several important rounds in the Champions League. Because other teams have also improved rapidly in their respective strengths, Manchester City will not run smoothly in the two big competitions this season.

Losing KDB has indeed had a big impact on Manchester City, but for now I think Manchester City performance is still stable because they have several replacements for KDB in the midfield, although they can't completely replace KDB role, but at least Manchester City midfield is still quite strong, Manchester performance decreased  maybe it's more likely due to Manchester City busy schedule and also things that usually happen to a club, but apart from all that, now Manchester City has returned to the right track and they have also entered the race for champions at the top of the standings, it's back KDB will certainly further motivate the market for other Manchester City players because so far Manchester City players have often used KDB as their mentor and leader both off and on the field.
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Manchester City knows how Kevin Debruyne is important to the squad.They have struggled when he is absent,but with what we saw City playing when Debruyne was absent,we can actually say they have a way of coping without him.The one special player they can never do without is their holding midfielder,Rodri,City played three games without their defensive midfielder Rodri,and they lost all three of the games,that is to say they aren't a complete team without that man in the team.That is the only area they are short,they can look for a replacement for him in the transfer window,so that when he gets injured,they wouldn't suffer the way they did in those three games.

[quote author=Fakhrulenclix link=topic=5456121.msg63446183#msg63446183
If Kevin De Bruyne was the reason for the Man City team's decline in performance, now he is back and let's wait and see how Kevin De Bruyne contributes to the team after the long injury he suffered.
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Losing KDB has indeed had a big impact on Manchester City, but for now I think Manchester City performance is still stable because they have several replacements for KDB in the midfield, although they can't completely replace KDB role, but at least Manchester City midfield is still quite strong, Manchester performance decreased  maybe it's more likely due to Manchester City busy schedule and also things that usually happen to a club, but apart from all that, now Manchester City has returned to the right track and they have also entered the race for champions at the top of the standings, it's back KDB will certainly further motivate the market for other Manchester City players because so far Manchester City players have often used KDB as their mentor and leader both off and on the field.

The unluckiest team of the round is Copenhagen of course. They have a very tough draw against Manchester City and they will probably get destroyed easily as well. I respect their challenge in the group stage a lot. Just as Galatasaray were Copenhagen were also very ambitious to get points. But it looks like this is the end of the road for Copenhagen. 

I would have been happier to see Galatasaray in Copenhagen's place. I mean the draw would have still been very tough but at least they could have made much more money before being eliminated by the Manchester club. But anyways, the top title favourite Manchester City should have no problem on finishing off Copenhagen.