chelsea: biggest threat in CL (im serious)

heres my list of the biggest threats overall for all teams in the CL:

1) milan
2) barcelona
3) chelsea
4) juventus
5) liverpool
6) real madrid
7) bayern munich
8) real madrid
9) inter milan
10)man united

Chelsea and Barca are our biggest threats.

Originally Posted by mk18

heres my list of the biggest threats overall for all teams in the CL:

1) milan
2) barcelona
3) chelsea
4) juventus
5) liverpool
6) real madrid
7) bayern munich
8) real madrid
9) inter milan
10)man united

I like your sequencing mk18, but this is how I see it(sans Milan):

1) I really think that we may be unpleasantly surprised by a minnow..not that we will get knocked out, but that we will come close to elimination by a Villareal type team...(IMO we are going to Paris, and winning this competition this year)..due more to our seeming inability to raise the bar against "smaller" clubs than anything else.

2) Chelsea
3) Barca
4) Juventus
5) Real Madrid
6) Inter Milan
7) Bayern Munich
8) ?


I dont regard Arsenal, Man U, or Liverpool to be a threat to us...if we face Liverpool at any point in the UCL this season, they will be in for a hammering.

Arsenal and Man U probably wont even reach the knockout stage this term.

Arsenal and Man U probably wont even reach the knockout stage this term.

of course Utd will win the CL, Rooney needs to practise lifting trophies as he will be doing it for England next summer

In all seriousness (not to say thew above isnt a possibility ) i rate the contenders in this order:

Chelsea
Milan
Barcelona
Juventus
Bayern
Utd
Inter
Real
Arsenal

Though as the transfer season isnt over yet a few decent buys could shift things dramatically (like a defender for Real perhaps )

I'd be very surprised if the winner comes from outside those top 3 though.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

IMO, Milan, Chelsea, Juve and Bayern M are the most serious contenders for this year's CL title and,

Bayern M out, replaced by Barcelona..
consider Barca's no.10 !!
even in Madrid there's the new pairing brazillians

Originally Posted by mk18

heres my list of the biggest threats overall for all teams in the CL:
1) milan
2) barcelona
3) chelsea
4) juventus

agree...
But I think the fourth team has the same chance to be the champ..
Barca..., see you in the next stage !!

p.s : Kui, are you there

Originally Posted by mk18

heres my list of the biggest threats overall for all teams in the CL:

1) milan
2) barcelona
3) chelsea
4) juventus
5) liverpool
6) real madrid
7) bayern munich
8) real madrid
9) inter milan
10)man united

I like the fact that Real are there twice they are going to be twice as good as last season, hence double the threat

Originally Posted by Peachtot

Bayern M out, replaced by Barcelona..
consider Barca's no.10 !!
even in Madrid there's the new pairing brazillians

CL is won by teams and not #10s or #11s ... Dinho is a marvelous player ... individually ... and this is why his presence in a team doesn't necessarily mean winning. They are champs of Spain but last year all the other contenders were more or less a tragedy and this left Barca as a lone runner for the title. In Europe it is a very different story.
Agree that Real have strengthen themselves a lot but they can't play all that firepower they have at the same time. Their problem is that they sold the one good defender they had without finding a suitable replacement and their defence is very exposed right now - it would be a miracle if they do end up winning the CL. In case they do buy a defender or two, I would consider them a serious contenter for the CL crown but now, imo, they are way too vulnerable at the back.
Expect a very strong perfomance from Bayern - they are much more solid as a team than Barca, for example. Last year the Germans had the misfortune to meet Chelski in a moment when both of their first-choice attackers - Makkay and Pizzarro - were injured, while Roque Santa Cruz had an injury-plagued season and never really managed to hit top form. With these three avoiding serious injuries, Bayern are as good a team as Chelski, Juve, and even Milan. Plus last year was the first year for Maggat in Bayern and now I would expect a much more fluent team-play from them since coach and players would know each other far better.

Good post Zlat, I agree with you, but tell me, how are Bayern defensively, now that they have sold Kaffur?

I think the biggest threat to Milan is themselves. Frankly, we have sort of become our own nemesis. Personally I don' think there is a better team than us in the world. Chelsea are definitely up there but if we approach games with perhaps a little less swagger and a healthy dose of pragmatism, we may well do better.

warro, as far as i know for there defence bayern signed bremen defender ismael and he got sent of in the first game of the season...bayern still won though.

Originally Posted by Hasan Rossonero

I think the biggest threat to Milan is themselves. Frankly, we have sort of become our own nemesis. Personally I don' think there is a better team than us in the world.

totally agree with you - first we have to be aware of ourselves and once we cope with that, the rest would be a walk in the park.

@ Warro - Bayern lost both Kuffur and Kovac in central defence but although they both are very experienced players, neither of them was irreplaceble for Bayern. Kuffur, for example, is great one-on-one but totally sucks when it comes to tactical awareness and often runs around like a headless chicken covering offsides or leaving his zone vulnerable. He never really established himself as a first-choice defender for Bayern but was more of a first-off-the-bench in case of emergency. This has been the case for the past 2 seasons or so.
If they had a more regular partener for Lucio that was Kovac. He, however, is 32-33 and although he has always been a good and solid defender, he has also had his moments of "lights-out".
For this season Bayern brought in Valerien Ismael from Werder to sub for Kovac. The frenchman isn't perfect either but is a solid and fast defender, not to mention his height and cannon-of-a-shot. Ismael has never been so far part of a club of Bayern's calibre but has always impressed in his previous clubs. I would expect a great season for him now that he is at Bayern, although he got sent off in his first official game for them in the Bundesliga .
Off course they have Lucio too, but it is another central defender I am very impressed by - argentinian Martin Demichelis. He is a young (25) central defender they got 2 years ago from River Plate. He had some niggling injuries in the first season with Bayern so he had a hard time impressing, but since Maggat came in, Demichelis has become increasingly important for them and is being used both in central defence and as a holding midfielder. IMO, the Argentinian is Bayern's best/most talanted defender and he is one player I wouldn't mind seeing at Milan, especially when we start rejuvenating our defence.
Lucio/Ismael seems to be Bayern's first-choice defensive pair but Demichelis, who Maggat plays mostly in midfield, can immediately substitute anyone of them.

Thanks Zlat...nice analysis...so on paper, in essence, Bayern´s central defence is up there with ours and Juve...not a comforting thought...

I too am an admirer of Demichelis...he seems to be an excellent player, and I endorse your opinion that he would be a welcome addition to our back 4.

So indeed, Bayern rises as a potential threat, but I also agree with Hasan´s assessment, that we are in essence our own worst enemy, that, and the average age of our back 4...even with Nesta´s youth, we are the Italian version of the geriatricos insofar as our defense is concerned.

This for me is our biggest challenge, having the defense fit and ready for Paris in May...summer 06 is a long long 60+ matches away as well..we would really be doing ourselves a favour by bringing in a young player for the back...Cicinho would be a good start..

Originally Posted by Stezagud

Chelsea are now the most balanced side in Europe and if they add Essien to their midfield will put distance between themselves and the rest. At the moment though i think Milan are the 2nd most balanced side in Europe and the gap is still bridgable by a moment of individual brilliance (the sort guys like Sheva and Kaka are well capable of supplying ) Therefore i dont feel we need fear them at all, believe me, they will be just as worried about Milan as we are about them.

Mourinho has 2 tasks this season to accomplish before i think they can win the CL, the first being to successfully integrate SWP into the team as he is as good as Robben and naturally right sided, giving them maximumn width. The 2nd and harder task is to keep the squad satisfied, how long will Cole, Gallas, Crespo etc keep quiet if they get limited chances?

As for Barca, i dont think they are on the same level as Milan, Chelsea or Juve. They are top heavy (though not as much as Real) and it will cost them in later rounds when they face sides with both Attackers AND defenders

but then again, chelsea forwards are second class compared to milan's. if i am a manager, i would choose milan's team over chelsea's.

but then again, chelsea forwards are second class compared to milan's. if i am a manager, i would choose milan's team over chelsea's.

Chelsea's forwards are weaker than Milans but you have to look at the bigger picture. Drogba as an individual isnt as good as Sheva but he does just as important a job for his team, his role is absolutely vital to Chelsea's counter attacking style and he is often heavily involved in the goal threat that comes from Chelsea's midfield (a midfield that scored around 50 goals last season)