I cannot see any other outcome than a convincing Barca win here.........Sorry.
And I do our proud run of Messi never having scored against us is going to come to a crushing end.
Unless of course he gets injured.
I know you'll consider me to be more negative than Mons here, but i feel in this case i'm looking at where our 2 teams are currently at and being realistic.
Add to that we cannot compare this to previous ties. Previous ties consisted of the best spine we've ever had and was packed with leaders.
We do not have those leaders any more.
Our Barca Tie.
posted on 16/2/18
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/2/18
Many of you are right - we are not playing very well, and Barcelona are big favourites for this tie. But let's not get carried away regarding our 2012 team. First of all, both Ivanovic and Terry were banned for the final, so we did not have those (admittedly very slow) leaders in the team. Ramires also. Our starting 11 included Mikel, Bosingwa, Kalou, Cahill and Bertrand.
We did have Cech, Ashley Cole, Lampard and (most importantly) Drogba - who were all leaders albeit ageing ones, but it's fair to say that our team today is at least as good as our 2012 team. It all comes down to belief - if Conte can transmit that belief to our team we have a chance.
Having said that - I also think Barcelona will win by 2 clear goals at the NC.
posted on 16/2/18
comment by BlueJ2 (U4630)
posted 41 minutes ago
Many of you are right - we are not playing very well, and Barcelona are big favourites for this tie. But let's not get carried away regarding our 2012 team. First of all, both Ivanovic and Terry were banned for the final, so we did not have those (admittedly very slow) leaders in the team. Ramires also. Our starting 11 included Mikel, Bosingwa, Kalou, Cahill and Bertrand.
We did have Cech, Ashley Cole, Lampard and (most importantly) Drogba - who were all leaders albeit ageing ones, but it's fair to say that our team today is at least as good as our 2012 team. It all comes down to belief - if Conte can transmit that belief to our team we have a chance.
Having said that - I also think Barcelona will win by 2 clear goals at the NC.
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But we didn't play Barca in the final. All those players were available to start against Barca in both matches.
This team are not anywhere near as mentally strong as that team in 2012. That was one last supreme effort by what was most definitely the remains of our golden generation.
put it this way which one would you trust more to go to war for you?
posted on 16/2/18
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posted on 16/2/18
You can't underestimate just how important experience can be in short-format k.o. tournaments.
You lived that entire tournament on the knife's edge. It's hard to imagine today's squad coming through so many high pressure scenarios successfully.
posted on 16/2/18
comment by Always NPE - 1,000,002 (U20804)
posted 17 minutes ago
I would trust last season's team over any other sides except the 2004/05 one.
And this side is only marginally worse.
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posted on 16/2/18
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posted on 16/2/18
Bollux, we couldn't even win the fa cup final vs Arsenal last year, our defense as a whole is $hit, our midfield is dreadful and our attack bar Hazard now we don't have Costa are all $hit, and Matic was $hit and is $hit.
Last season and this season are the two weakest teams we've had since Roman took over by far
posted on 16/2/18
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posted on 16/2/18
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