14 - Javier Mascherano

[Juan03]

you guys said it. the guy is immense

 

[nebeer]

I think Mascherano should be our first choice DM or a more frequent starter. Sergi is absolutely excellent, Masch is legendary. He is simply the best DM of this era. He took the ball away from players with such ease that it looked like he was playing with some school kids. His distribution is superbly effective. A great DM and deep lying playmaker.

 

[tigerlily]

Immense love for Mascherano in this match-- those long passes were exquisite. And the defending was really solid, and clean!

 

[iced1776]

Definitely his best game yet! You can see sometimes he wants to go in for a hard tackle but holds off because since you aren't allowed to breathe on players in Spain without getting a card. Luckily his tackling was still clean as a whistle, quality performance.

 

[Daemul]

I think Mascherano should be our first choice DM or a more frequent starter. Sergi is absolutely excellent, Masch is legendary. He is simply the best DM of this era. He took the ball away from players with such ease that it looked like he was playing with some school kids. His distribution is superbly effective. A great DM and deep lying playmaker.

Totally agree, he should start against Real Madrid

 

[Rohit]

Have mascherano man mark alonso and el clasico will be barcelonas to lose.

 

[Gnegneri]

Why would Mascherano man mark Alonso? Doesn't make sense positionally ... if Mascherano plays, he should always be the deepest midfielder.

 

[barcetia]

Have mascherano man mark alonso and el clasico will be barcelonas to lose.

Özil*

 

[Rohit]

because all of real madrid play goes through alonso he sets the tempo, upset that and you upset real madrids passing. I was going to say ozil before but di maria has been just as creative recently but the main distributor of madrids play is alonso. But then yeah i guess your right alonso might be too deep so ozil it is lol.

 

[Aasim]

He is very good for us away from home against tough teams like Getafe and Osasuna.

After Inter last year it was apparent we needed a bit of steel in the middle and now we have him we can beat Inter and Chelsea comfortably than before.

 

[PhilS]

He seems to retake the ball whenever he feels like it. His passing is up to Barca standards, and is more positive than Keita's.

So, FCB has 5 midfielders who will all play quite a bit. This is good, different lineups for different opponents, supersubs, and none should play too many minutes. Iniesta will also play at forward, eliminating Bojan minutes and reducing Pedro. Pep needs to try a CL or Liga game resting Iniesta.

 

[Metaphysical]

this Madrid team are basically the German side from the World Cup in terms of style. so Barca can beat them the same way Spain beat the Germans.

Xabi = Busquets
Busquets = Mascherano
Xavi = Xavi

Khedira = Khedira
Schweiny = Xabi
Oezil = Oezil

so Mascherano "marks" Oezil, shadowing him around the pitch whereas Busquets plays a more classic pivot role, making sure people can't use the gaps Oezil will leave as he moves around the field. then using the ball-playing skills of the midfield PLUS Messi (Pedro in the World Cup) and Iniesta as false-forwards you pass the ball in circles around Xabi and Khedira and boss possession, nullifying their ability to draw you out and hit you with direct balls into space.

 

[Cal-FCB]

Excellent game from Masch. I'd quite like to see him putting it about against Madrid. Who Pep would drop to stick him in I don't know. He's certainly found his feet in Barca now though.

 

[ViolentLogic]

Mascherano is a dense compact rolling ball of granite.

REALLY glad to have him in place of Toure.

 

[Daemul]

Excellent game from Masch. I'd quite like to see him putting it about against Madrid. Who Pep would drop to stick him in I don't know. He's certainly found his feet in Barca now though.

Pedro would be dropped with Iniesta moving foward.