Who do we want in the last 8 of the Champions League?

[Shadydan]

I don't want to get the "easiest" draw. I'd prefer the toughest possible; usually we do much better in those games. At any rate, whoever it is, this is what we want to see.

I don't get this?

We literally played Juve last season on the k.o game and lost, how is that faring better against tougher opposition?

 

[spids]

I don't get this?

We literally played Juve last season on the k.o game and lost, how is that faring better against tougher opposition?

We played very, very well in those games though and, although we ultimately lost, we outplayed them for 90% of the two legs but got schooled in the dark arts. The players seem to have learned from this and manage games better now, but Poch does not seem to take much from his lack of response to Juve going 4-2-4 and then scoring 2 goals in 5 minutes before he re-organised. As witnessed in a lack of response to Arsenal switching to a 4-4-2 diamond at HT at the Emirates recently.

We also played very well against Dortmund and Real Madrid, and this year Barca (in both games). We did not play so well against PSV. The better the opposition the better we tend to play - that is the point the OP was making.

Personally I want Juve and I want us to stuff them and spend the last 10 minutes of the 2nd leg, in their ground, play acting, tactical fouling and time wasting.

 

[JCRD]

I don't get this?

We literally played Juve last season on the k.o game and lost, how is that faring better against tougher opposition?

We have Toby and Verts back together again. We also lost because we just simply didnt put our chances away which to be honest hasnt changed much if we take Barca game as an example

 

[arunspurs]

Bayern are playing their worst football in years. I would like to get them in U16. Would be great experience for our lads at Alianz arena. And a equally winnable ties IMHO.

I dont want PSG or Juve...

 

[Geyzer Soze]

I want the easiest route through possible. I don’t really get the argument for the glamour ties above all. They’re all glamour ties, h

 

[wirE]

I'd take on Real Madrid. We beat them last season and they are in a bit og a struggle this season. CSKA Moscow won 3-0 against them. I want a good fight as I know we're not contenders winning the champions league

 

[Danfunkel]

Just someone different. Done Juve, Madrid. Porto would be good.

 

[mark87]

Wouldn't mind Bayern.

Liverpool getting Madrid would be a good one to watch, but I reckon the dippers would win that one.

 

[buckley]

I don't know who we will get that is obvious but whoever we meet we will give a good account of ourselves and in cup competitions you never know and for once we may not make a silly error that costs us the game because at the risk of being laughed at I still believe that the home game against Barcelona would have had a positive outcome but for the early silly error.last year against Juventus we were sailing along and but for a stupid two minute lapse who knows what we could have achieved.

 

[Shadydan]

We played very, very well in those games though and, although we ultimately lost, we outplayed them for 90% of the two legs but got schooled in the dark arts. The players seem to have learned from this and manage games better now, but Poch does not seem to take much from his lack of response to Juve going 4-2-4 and then scoring 2 goals in 5 minutes before he re-organised. As witnessed in a lack of response to Arsenal switching to a 4-4-2 diamond at HT at the Emirates recently.

We also played very well against Dortmund and Real Madrid, and this year Barca (in both games). We did not play so well against PSV. The better the opposition the better we tend to play - that is the point the OP was making.

Personally I want Juve and I want us to stuff them and spend the last 10 minutes of the 2nd leg, in their ground, play acting, tactical fouling and time wasting.

Fundamentally my point, we're still not using dark arts to frustrate our opponents, against Barcelona we had an opportunity to get Vermaelen in trouble for the studs up challenge on Eriksen, Eriksen should have gone down clutching his leg and the other players should have surrounded the ref, what did we do...? fuck all. A min later Son was through on goal and he gets clipped by a defender and he stays on his feet, if he goes down then that player gets sent off. The same against PSV in Eindhoven where we should have managed period when Lloris got sent off better, they went onto score.

Our game management is good but not at the level of these teams such as Juve, this is why everyone talks about having the experience in these competition because it counts and players know what to do to win. This is why I don't think we can measure group stage matches against knock out matches because as I mentioned earlier there's a whole new level of intensity and mentality as it's sudden death so whether we played well against bigger sides in the group stages are irrelevant, we dismissed Real Madrid last season and they went onto win the CL.

And we're still giving away cheap goals, how many goals can you remember so far in this CL campaign where the opposition has earnt their goals, maybe 3 or 4?, the rest you can say we've literally handed the opportunity to the opposition or we could have done a lot better in preventing them.

This is why we need to avoid the bigger sides like Juve/Real/Bayern/PSG and hope for Porto or Dortmund because it's not just merely about ability, it's about mentality, game management and dark arts which comes down to experience and we're not as schooled as the bigger sides in the competition yet.

 

[ItsBoris]

I think we'd have the lowest probability of going through against PSG or Juve. Although Juve as a rematch would be cool.

Most fun match up would be against Dortmund (50-50 I'd say).

I think we could give both Madrid and Bayern some trouble.

Porto would be the team we would be most likely to go through against.

 

[spurious1]

I couldn't really say against which team we have the best or worst chance of progressing. I believe we could plausibly beat or lose to any of the remaining teams, so in the end I'm not actually hoping for/against anything. Of course as pointed out, we have fared poorly against the "black artist" teams in the past, but by the same token, are perhaps slowly improving against them, as a result of those experiences.

 

[Lighty64]

I fancy Bayern. I can't remember if we have ever met them competitively?

A night I’ll never. Forget when we beat them 2-0 at the lane in the quarterfinals in 83/84 UEFA Cup, I nearly died after

Think we lost the previous season in the cup winners cup

 

[tototoner]

fun fun fun

got PSG 3 times, Real twice and Porto once

 

[mightyspur]

Draw is at 11 today right? So assume after they've faffed about, explained how the draw works, shown some video we'll actually know who we are facing by about 5pm this evening?

 

[southlondonyiddo]

A night I’ll never. Forget when we beat them 2-0 at the lane in the quarterfinals in 83/84 UEFA Cup, I nearly died after

Think we lost the previous season in the cup winners cup

Yep, Bayern would be my pick. Could also be a great opener for the new stadium as they are probably the 3rd best supported team in the World

 

[bubble07]

Dream draw..

Ajax v Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid v Man City
Liverpool v Barcelona
Lyon v Bayern Munich
Man Utd v PSG
Roma v Dortmund
Schalke v Juventus
Tottenham v Porto

 

[tototoner]

Dream draw..

Ajax v Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid v Man City
Liverpool v Barcelona
Lyon v Bayern Munich
Man Utd v PSG
Roma v Dortmund
Schalke v Juventus
Tottenham v Porto

i really don't want Porto, think we'd under estimate them

 

[bubble07]

i really don't want Porto, think we'd under estimate them

I get we can't fool the mind. If we draw Porto the players and fans would be delighted and the talk would be we can't get complacent etc but the facts are their players are inferior to the other teams we could get

 

[TheVoiceofReason]

We will 100% get Real or Bayern and Liverpool will get Porto.