Search results

It's not something that he's 'picked' up overnight. I've seen him make mistakes before but he usually had a younger and healthier Puyol to bail him out at times. Pique's best years were the times when he played alongside the more tactically, positionally and defensively aware LB Abidal and when...

This is really bad news but not a huge surprise for me to be honest- the guy is old now and his body has a lot of mileage. Puyol has been injury prone for quite some time now and he rarely ever plays any back-to-back games. It really shows just how messed up Barca's transfer policy was in the...

He's the best in our side at bringing the ball out from the back. The speed with which he makes those driving runs into midfield invites other defenders and therefore helps create space for Xavi etc. Masch starting in the second leg against Milan was largely due to offensive reasons and not...

I think the point of those posters has been proven to be generally correct . Barca when they faced Osasuna had a worse record defensively than them. We failed to keep a clean sheet in a ridiculous number of matches in a row, the streak was halted when we played bottom side Deportivo and we...

His crossing was a little poor but it's not easy crossing in a side like Barcelona because you're generally crossing to pretty small players. He actually looked one of our better defenders out there today I felt, he did more than a decent job of covering back.. It was Masch, Alba and Pique that...

His last-ditch tackle was very crucial but that doesn't take away the many other occasions when he lets players get in behind him and allows them acres of space. The second Milan goal in the San Siro was a result of a ball down Alba's wing and anybody could see that he was the one that the...

He's slow on the turn and pretty poor in 1v1 situations. People kept excusing our CB's by saying that the Barca forwards and midfield aren't pressing and winning the ball back the way they used to but in this game really showed. He's an overrated defender, good in the air generally and on...

He's still a defensive liability most of the time. Milan in both legs were trying to constantly attack down Alba's flank. Alves gets much of the blame and Dani's crossing wasn't exactly on par but Alves is much better defensively and somebody who has done the job on big occasions as well. So...

People keep saying that it's all entirely due to the lack of pressing at Barca and that's why the CB's are exposed but this game really showed that even with such great pressing the CB's and the LB still looked all over the place. Masch lunges in every single time the ball comes near him, he's...

I wasn't referring to you specifically but just in general to those that have already compared him to the likes of Baresi or Maldini or said that he was going to be better than them. and yes, I would have liked him here at Barca as well.

I don;t understand. a 3-1 is a bad result but I don't consider it a thrashing, does this mean we also trashed them last season 3-1 at Bernabeau??

Let's not get carried away with the Baresi comparisons. There's no question that Varane is a phenominal talent but you will have to do more to be compared to a legend. Against Barca, Madrid are compact and tightly organized defensively with many defenders close to each other. It's harder to...

Or it could also be the after-effect of the mighty Sevilla who dispossessed Messi on numerous times. I mean, they have got a bunch of future Maldini's and Baresi's too. And we got a 3-1 win last year at the SB as well and a comfortable 2-1 win which should have been much more at your home...

There was an entire cage of players around Messi most of the time . By your reckoning did Mexes or Cahill or Ambrosini had Messi in his pocket??? It;s just just an incorrect statement but I guess after the Copa win at Camp Nou, the Madrid fans who have been suffering for much of this season are...

He's said it before as well but he will play and give it his all wherever he is asked to play.

Iniesta on his positioning: "Everyone knows what I think, but I must perform at my best wherever I am put," he said. "The coach makes the decisions and there is no other explanation. I do not start debates. My natural position is an 'interior' [inside forward / creative midfielder], but what...

One of the things is that Madrid's philosophy as a team is working in that they can get the best out of Ronaldo. You can see in these games how much open space he can run into or getting into a 1v1 situation with our defenders. Puyol is old now and Pique was never good in one-on-one situations...

Ronaldo is all-time great scorer. He will go down in history as one of the best in that aspect. However, he comes up short in some other aspects of the game. Ronaldo is a WINGER but his passing, vision and distribution are pretty ordinary at best. His style of play is very individualistic. His...

We don't need to forget this match but learn from it as Madrid will try the same tactics. They clearly see it working so they don't need to change it.

Thiago isn't half the player that the great Xavi is but there's no question I would rather start Thiago instead on Saturda, that's how bad Xavi has been lately in this game and in Milan.