Quote from: Iroh on August 01, 2023, 09:45:14 PM

Quote from: FanEagle on August 01, 2023, 03:52:00 PM

The main reason is that after first few weeks, like maximum of 10 but probably less, teams will realize that Haaland is not their only scorer, and City is using him as bait, you fear him scoring, so others score easier. Then teams will end up defending normally, and that will make Haaland score a lot easier as well. That's how I think the season will go, first 2 months not that great, after that it is all goals galore for him until the end.

I see and understand your logic there. But I think it would work more in the premier league. Haaland might just continue to score more goals for Manchester City. Defenders would be automatically drawn to seriously mark him as he’s an obvious threat and capable of scoring goals. Well, so are almost if not all the players in the first squad of Manchester City.

Everyone is a threat and capable of scoring goals but perhaps some could be considered more of a threat than others. Manchester City is that good. They don’t actually need to rely on Haaland to score goals.
A coach of any club playing a match with Manchester City should know that while Haaland is the striker, center back players also scores goals as well.

Talking about Haaland in Manchester City, I think unlike we usually talk about this player in this thread but Haaland is performing well in the premier league while he couldn't perform well enough in the champions league, and comparing the English League he was weaker in the Champions league. Maybe that's because he is playing against stronger defenders in the Champions League.

Quote from: arimamib on August 01, 2023, 09:18:56 PM

Quote from: Falconer on August 01, 2023, 09:10:19 PM

I also noticed that condition with Barcelona in the Champions League last season, but one of the other factors that made them fail was that Barcelona joined the group of hell last season. Regarding the Champions League next season, of course Barcelona has a higher chance of qualifying for the round of 16 (at least), but it still depends on who will be their opponent in the group stage. If Barcelona are going to be in the group of hell again, I think it's difficult to see them qualify for the higher stages.

About Barcelona, I know they have changed. Xavi is responsible for improving the quality of Barcelona in the last 2 seasons, but I agree that Xavi has not been able to convince many of his fans about the Champions League at the moment. Dembele will join PSG and a verbal agreement has been reached, it will cost Barcelona their firepower next season.

Not the hell group for Barcelona in the previous season in the Champions League, but indeed their strength is not too strong when they have to face other teams. Barcelona was very difficult to win matches in the champions league last season because they were not consistent in the matches they played. However, this season Barcelona will try their best after the player's confidence begins to rise after winning the Laliga trophy.

For Xavi, he really wants to bring Barcelona to go far in the Champions League so he needs better performance from his players when playing in Champions League matches. I'm sure Gundogan presence will be a source of strength for them next season because Gundogan can provide his best experience to help Barcelona beat their opponents next season.

Xavi was a legendary player in Barcelona and now he has proven that he can be a good coach too regarding the players he bought I think Gundogan is an experienced player who helped Machester City to win the champions league and he was an effective player in Manchester City. Maybe after Xavi improves this team they can even think about racing for the champion league and winning the title in this tournament.

Quote from: marcous on August 01, 2023, 03:29:22 PM

Quote from: tusandii on August 01, 2023, 02:54:30 PM

In the Champions League, clubs from the Premier League often dominate and of course it's a tough challenge for Barcelona because they have to fight clubs from the Premier League, one of which is Manchester City, who won last season.
Don't forget that there are clubs that are quite tough, namely PSG and Real Madrid, where there will always be tough competition in every season in the Champions League.

Maybe Xavi has prepared a team to bring Barcelona to compete, it's just that we don't know if they can last until the semifinals, based on the research I did from La Liga, Real Madrid will be stronger, not Barcelona.

I think it's only natural that Real Madrid is currently stronger than Barcelona, because Madrid is in fourth place with the most expensive squad at the moment. Meanwhile, Barcelona occupies position number seven, but this is not a benchmark and parameter. Because Barcelona has its own luck I see, in the midst of setbacks they created consistency so that they won the La Liga championship trophy last season. It's possible that next season they can do it again amid Madrid dominance, at least we can see the strength of the two teams when El Clasico takes place in La Liga.

I think all teams that have recruited new players will experience ups and downs in their performance at the start of the season, because they will certainly encounter various challenges during their adaptation period.

Many people like you think Real Madrid is stronger than Barcelona and they can have more chance for the champions league because of the more money they invested there and the more and better player they bought this season like Jude Bellingham and they are even close to buying Mbappe while Barcelona is not in the good financial situation but I think this can price anything because, in the recent friendly match, Barcelona won the game and beat Real Madrid.