The best you can usually say about a Mourinho team is they're successful. There's invariably more excitement in the press conferences than on the pitch.


They aren't as sharp as they were but that's almost inevitable given the transitionary nature of this season - not just for Bayern but most of the big sides. Maybe Pep does experiment a bit too much but the press are going a bit ott in their criticism of them the other night. Real are a top side who defended v well. Bayern's road to the trophy last year wasn't that great either. Everyone remembers them thrashing Barcelona but they very nearly went out to Arsenal in the quarters and some would say Dortmund were unlucky not to win the final.

@demonyo - sure no team is perfect but pep waited way too long to make changes when his weird scheme flopped.

anyway, i was waiting for ZM's writeup which hasn't appeared yet, but found this elsewhere:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...-bayern-munich

^^ great article as usual by michael cox.

oh shit fuck poor tito vilanova is dead.

Very sad about Vilanova.

Agree about Pep's reluctance to change things during a game. It was also true at Barcelona. He gets away with it because he rarely has to. I do wonder though how some of the bigger Bayern players feel about his constant tinkering between games. I don't follow the Bundesliga but it almost seems like Pep's still looking for his best side/formation. Still, when you win the league so early in the season it's obviously not that big a problem.

It's been a few days since you posted that pic and I still can't look at it without pissing myself laughing.

No shit, Michael Jordan is sitting on the Bobcats bench in the corner, its who Lebron is staring at as he goes up for this dunk. You should have seen Jordan's reaction!

Oh yeah, I saw Manchester United destroy some team or another, I don't remember which, it was early this morning.

And so, for one week, every Liverpool fan becomes a rabid toffee.

???

Haha. Everton's nickname is the toffees. Next week Liverpool fans will be in the weird position of desperately wanting to see Everton win against Man City to help secure them the title.

I think everton might cause city some problems. They've been appalling recently so will have had a massive kick up the arse. And they're still in with a shout of champions league so will have a lot to play for

Hope el symbols has found a local bierkeller for Bayern v Real in a minute. Gonna be great.

i got a legal stream but it's not coming through due to my slow internet. so i'm gonna have to follow on a live blog and watch the replay later when i have a good connection.... but thanks for the good wishes!

i'm a bit nervous.

You're no doubt happy that Pep's decided to drop Rafinha and put Lahm back in defence.

not with the current score :/

Fucking hell. This is mad. I honstly thought Bayern would do it but they've disintegrated!

Should say that, while Bayern have imploded, Real have been brilliant.

a comment from the guardian live blog:

Nicholas Matatu sums up why many people think Pep Guardiola is a busted flush. "Set pieces, a bit of physicality and turbo-charged counter attacks. Isn't that the very same strategy Bayern used last year to tear apart the Catalan masters of tiki-taka?" notes Nicholas Matatu

also:

"The man who will pay the most for this result is Jurgen Klopp," reckons Krishnan patel. "Expect Bayern to shamelessly bully Dortmund and take away Subotic and/or Hummels."Personally,I think Hummels is over-rated.