Champions League 2009/2010

If we can put Messi and Xavi out of game (i can see chances on it) then all eyes on Milito and Etoo.

We have to get a very good result from home match so that we can go to Camp Nou to defend for 90 minutes with 10 man. That is the only way. I'd say that we have to win, 0-0 is not enough.

Hey, Internazionale have gathered the most coefficiency points in this Euro season out of all the clubs so far.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/tcoef2010.html

edit. We went ahead of Lyon in Team ranking, but even if they lose tomorrow, they will go ahead of us again, because Bordeaux collects Country coefficiency points for France and that way Lyon gets a piece of the victory. But have to hope that still, since their lead would be minimal and drawing with Barca would put us ahead again.

Luka said:

Possibility of that happening is 0, if you ask me.

You will play your game, and we will play ours.

The game will look the same as when you played Arsenal away, but the difference this time will be, that Inter will actually deffend, not try to deffend like Arsenal was doing for the first 20 minutes.

We will sit on our ass, and we will try to counter you. Maybe there will be some "enhancments" to eliminate Xavi as much out of the game, but the general plan will be no different than to what Hiddink did last year.

It will all come down, to which football prevails against which. Offensive football, or tactical football of Mourinho.

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Im expecting a similar performance from Inter to that of Chelsea when they played us at Stamford Bridge in 2004/05. that was possibly the greatest counter-attacking game plan I've ever seen from Mourinho. Chelsea managed to score 3 goals against us in the first 20 minutes. I havent been able to keep up with Inter game's in Seria A week in, week out but based on the games Ive seen for them in the Champions League I can say that they are faster than Barca on the counter (but not faster than Chelsea of 2004/05) which might cause us big problems considering the spaces we leave in the back. so are Inter really fast on the counter? is there any chance of Materazzi starting in the first leg? I'll be worried if he did start because he will be extremely tough with Messi which would result in Messi not keeping hold of the ball

The Don said:

Im expecting a similar performance from Inter to that of Chelsea when they played us at Stamford Bridge in 2004/05. that was possibly the greatest counter-attacking game plan I've ever seen from Mourinho. Chelsea managed to score 3 goals against us in the first 20 minutes. I havent been able to keep up with Inter game's in Seria A week in, week out but based on the games Ive seen for them in the Champions League I can say that they are faster than Barca on the counter (but not faster than Chelsea of 2004/05) which might cause us big problems considering the spaces we leave in the back. so are Inter really fast on the counter? is there any chance of Materazzi starting in the first leg? I'll be worried if he did start because he will be extremely tough with Messi which would result in Messi not keeping hold of the ball

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inter are indeed fast on the counter, but our counter attacks rely more on passing rather than our striker's speed, that's not necessarily a problem but milito's weak physical presence upfront can make the counter less effective

as for materazzi, i'd say the only scenario in which he would start is if both lucio and samuel were injured, he might be tough but he is dead slow, and he couldn't handle messi without getting sent off even if his life depended on it

I know people will bash me for saying this but:

I am satisfied with the work we have done in Europe this season already. All I hope is a decent performance against Barca (unlike the first two in group stage). I rather the team focus on Serie A and retain the Scudetto than focusing on the CL.

Serie A title + Coppa Italia + semi-final of CL is a dream season for me already.

We can say that the semifinal was our goal at the begin of the season. Everything that come after is a plus.

CafeCordoba said:

Hey, Internazionale have gathered the most coefficiency points in this Euro season out of all the clubs so far.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/tcoef2010.html

edit. We went ahead of Lyon in Team ranking, but even if they lose tomorrow, they will go ahead of us again, because Bordeaux collects Country coefficiency points for France and that way Lyon gets a piece of the victory. But have to hope that still, since their lead would be minimal and drawing with Barca would put us ahead again.

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Yeah, and look that ranking:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2010.html

Which means only 1 team must be out of CL next season (Sevilla or Liverpool) and we are in POT1 in group stage.
But Lyon will be another problem. hope we can hold the lead over them.

The Don said:

is there any chance of Materazzi starting in the first leg? I'll be worried if he did start because he will be extremely tough with Messi which would result in Messi not keeping hold of the ball

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Dont worry Don, it will never happen, it was just a joke that Matrixx will brake his bones..Samuel-Lucio will be our 100% centreback pairing(but that doesnt mean they cant "do Matrix"..

lonewolf19 said:

I know people will bash me for saying this but:

I am satisfied with the work we have done in Europe this season already. All I hope is a decent performance against Barca (unlike the first two in group stage). I rather the team focus on Serie A and retain the Scudetto than focusing on the CL.

Serie A title + Coppa Italia + semi-final of CL is a dream season for me already.

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Totally disagree. If we get beaten by the better team sure its acceptable but I certainly want the team focussing on all three competitions. I believe if we can find a way past barca that we will win the cl. So no way would I want the team to not focus on it.

lonewolf19 said:

I know people will bash me for saying this but:

I am satisfied with the work we have done in Europe this season already. All I hope is a decent performance against Barca (unlike the first two in group stage). I rather the team focus on Serie A and retain the Scudetto than focusing on the CL.

Serie A title + Coppa Italia + semi-final of CL is a dream season for me already.

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That's like saying: we reached the semi-finals, it's like winning CL, so let's focus on the other competitions... No mate, we came here to win it, so I will be disappointed if we get beaten easily by Barca. Even if they beat us, we must give them a tough game

It's nice to play vs. an actual national champion in the Champions League for a change.

rsz85 said:

Yeah, and look that ranking:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2010.html

Which means only 1 team must be out of CL next season (Sevilla or Liverpool) and we are in POT1 in group stage.
But Lyon will be another problem. hope we can hold the lead over them.

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Well I just pointed out that in my edited part of the post. Lyon will go ahead of us today, irregardless if they win, draw or lose. Since France will get better country points which leads to Lyon getting more country points (country bonus is always 20% of Average Country coefficiency points).

France has now 2,9p country bonus to each of their clubs' Team ranking coefficiency points. Today France will get +3 points to their Country points which increases the average which increases that bonus to each of their club to 3p. That 0,1p increase will take Lyon ahead of us again.

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I'm with LW19 in this one. I mean what I understood he meant is that if we had to choose which competition to prioritize more, it would be Scudetto. I mean let's say we have Sneijder under great suspicion can he play at all against Barcelona in the first leg. We have 4 league matches left so what should we do? Risk the injury trying to get a good result against Barcelona or save him to allow him to get those couple of more resting days so he can play well in Serie A?

IMO this was what LW19 meant, and I agree with him, that Scudetto has to be prioritized at this point. This is because our chances against Barcelona possibly don't get increased enough to compensate the negativity which is reflected to Serie A (injury, fatique, concentration etc.). Our chances of winning the CL don't get increased enough so that they can compensate the risk of losing the Scudetto.

I know, these are ridiculously hard to evaluate, which thing affects more and which less and how much chances are increased or decreased depending on the situation. But the point is if there is a clear cut place of choice (whatever the situation is), either we pick CL or Serie A, I'd pick Serie A in any day of the week.

Yes, seeing this Barca (and im not that pessimistic, i see some chance stopping them and getting to the final) we must focus on scudetto this time.

Because scudetto+CL-semi is a great results we havent made for ages.

But loosing scudetto+CL-semi means a sad season for me.

Yes, Cafe. thank you for making it clear.
Anyways, I am sure opinion will differ on the forum.

I'm hopeing Bayern puts away United... It would be good to see no English teams in the top 4 for once.

Alessandro said:

I'm hopeing Bayern puts away United... It would be good to see no English teams in the top 4 for once.

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I agree with ya. It would be brilliant to shut them up about their "superior" league. Its over hyped to the last.

CafeCordoba said:

Well I just pointed out that in my edited part of the post. Lyon will go ahead of us today, irregardless if they win, draw or lose. Since France will get better country points which leads to Lyon getting more country points (country bonus is always 20% of Average Country coefficiency points).

France has now 2,9p country bonus to each of their clubs' Team ranking coefficiency points. Today France will get +3 points to their Country points which increases the average which increases that bonus to each of their club to 3p. That 0,1p increase will take Lyon ahead of us again.

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If they tie, won't France only get 2 country points??

Lets put it this way, going out to Barca wont hurt as much as losing the Scudetto. I really think Mou will tell his players that they have nothing to lose against Barca. If we win the next 2 games in the league, I think we will go for it against Barca.

Suneet said:

Lets put it this way, going out to Barca wont hurt as much as losing the Scudetto. I really think Mou will tell his players that they have nothing to lose against Barca. If we win the next 2 games in the league, I think we will go for it against Barca.

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Hopefully this doesn't come off as condescending but I don't think there's any shame in a side going out to one that is largely acknowledged as superior...It doesn't equate to a guarantee of passage so anything can still happen - As they say, every dog has it's day.

I think the best thing Inter can absolutely do is have no fear and play exactly as they have nothing to lose...You win, even sweeter...You lose, you bow out to a superior side...Should be a great tie