[DevilsSon]

Right - the Champions Leagues is about to kick off and it's all Deja Vu it seems.

Bayern vs. City
Dortmund vs. Arsenal
Chelsea vs. Schalke
Barcelona vs. PSG

All the same as last year's?

Anyhow - this time I won't write a detailed analysis because I am pretty much certain Bayern will take it home! The final is in Berlin. With Lewandowski and Xabi Alonso they got just the players they still needed. Benatia brought some additional class in defense. And yes, Martinez and Thiago are injured, but, they'll be back for the second half of the season. I can't possible see beyond them. And neither can the bookies . Top favourite again. Hope they're right!!!

[KSantaFe]

Originally Posted by DevilsSon

Right - the Champions Leagues is about to kick off and it's all Deja Vu it seems.

Bayern will win, but I'd love to see Atletico Madrid win in Berlin. That'd be fantastic for Diego Simeone who certainly deserves a UCL title to his name. Even after losing key players to Chelsea, Atleti were still able to bring the sparkly Real to shame.

Aside from the Simeone, Arsene Wenger is another one who thoroughly deserves the UCL (although I'm biased towards my club, Arsenal). Overall very excited this year

My predictions:

Bayern 2-0 City
Dortmund 1 - 2 Arsenal
Chelsea 3 - 0 Schalke
Barca 1-1 PSG

[liljovi93]

Very poor performance from Liverpool tonight. That wasn't the way I wanted us to play our first game back. It was the win I wanted of course, but the performance was extremely poor.

Balotelli is a signing I am made up with. He has huge potential and on his day is unstoppable but he doesn't fit our style of play (at the moment) We need the Suarez/Sturridge sort of player to open up the defence but Balotelli doesn't do that. He is very central and lets the defenders organize themselves.

Borini actually opened them up a bit when he came on and that is what we needed and it worked for the team.

I hope we put in a better performance than that in our next game because they are the weak ones in our group and we was at home and just about got the result.

[DevilsSon]

Originally Posted by liljovi93

Very poor performance from Liverpool tonight. That wasn't the way I wanted us to play our first game back. It was the win I wanted of course, but the performance was extremely poor.

Balotelli is a signing I am made up with. He has huge potential and on his day is unstoppable but he doesn't fit our style of play (at the moment) We need the Suarez/Sturridge sort of player to open up the defence but Balotelli doesn't do that. He is very central and lets the defenders organize themselves.

Borini actually opened them up a bit when he came on and that is what we needed and it worked for the team.

I hope we put in a better performance than that in our next game because they are the weak ones in our group and we was at home and just about got the result.

That was super lucky from Liverpool. Their goalie just messed it up.
But the team to watch yesterday was Dortmund. My god those boys play football. They need to do something about their conversion rate though - they should have scored 4 or 5 easily.

Really excited about Bayern - City tonight though

[liljovi93]

Originally Posted by DevilsSon

That was super lucky from Liverpool. Their goalie just messed it up.
But the team to watch yesterday was Dortmund. My god those boys play football. They need to do something about their conversion rate though - they should have scored 4 or 5 easily.

Really excited about Bayern - City tonight though

Agreed. We didn't look anything like the team we was last season. We haven't at all yet, really. Glimpses against Spurs.

[DevilsSon]

Originally Posted by liljovi93

Agreed. We didn't look anything like the team we was last season. We haven't at all yet, really. Glimpses against Spurs.

It's not just Liverpool though. It might be a little early but again - I can't see any English team in the top 4. If they don't play against each other before, I feel it's between Real, Barcelona, Bayern and Dortmund. Of course there's potentially the odd surprise - which could be Chelsea, PSG or Atletico - but again, under normal circumstances, it won't happen. These 4 are just too strong for Europe.

Bring on City now. No Robben, no Ribery, no Alcantara, no Schweinsteiger, no Javi Martinez...still, I expect a solid 2 goal difference result

[liljovi93]

Originally Posted by DevilsSon

It's not just Liverpool though. It might be a little early but again - I can't see any English team in the top 4. If they don't play against each other before, I feel it's between Real, Barcelona, Bayern and Dortmund. Of course there's potentially the odd surprise - which could be Chelsea, PSG or Atletico - but again, under normal circumstances, it won't happen. These 4 are just too strong for Europe.

Bring on City now. No Robben, no Ribery, no Alcantara, no Schweinsteiger, no Javi Martinez...still, I expect a solid 2 goal difference result

I don't know. I'm not saying that teams wont make it to the finals because I think that Chelsea at the moment look strong enough to go all the way in every tournament.

In terms of Liverpool, I think we have changed our team far too much after what was our best season for years. Their are 6 or 7 players who have barely played with eachother before all playing now. For me, that's too much as it's over half of the starting 11. Even the subs are players who are new or who have barely played.

[DevilsSon]

Solid performance against City. In the end it was lucky - but totally deserved . So happy it's Champions League time again

[liljovi93]

What can I say? Just absolutely shocking from the start. We need Sturridge back ASAP. Someone who will do Balotelli's job because he will not move! He is a great player WHEN he tries. A really great player, even.

I fear Real Madrid now. I didn't, but I do now.

[KSantaFe]

Originally Posted by liljovi93

What can I say? Just absolutely shocking from the start. We need Sturridge back ASAP. Someone who will do Balotelli's job because he will not move! He is a great player WHEN he tries. A really great player, even.

I fear Real Madrid now. I didn't, but I do now.

I'm just glad that you ended up with Balotelli and we bought Welbeck. After all the majority of Gooners would've preferred the former