14 - Javier Mascherano

[Meitux]

Our defense was never as good as some people here think. It was the high-pressuring and work ethic of the players in front of them plus the fact that they play in a team that has 70% possession that hides some of their defeciencies. This is the problem at times with Mascherano as well and we saw that against Chelsea in the stamford bridge where he was at fault for the Drogba goal. His positioning at times is suspect but he uses his recovery speed and pace to overcome his mistakes and make last-ditch tackles as he did tonight to deny Higuain. But you;re not really a world-class defender if you have to rely on that too much, a great defender is always in the right position so doesn't have to make those kind of tackles. A great defender is an expert in denying the opposition space.

His lack of height also poses a problem for us especially on corners and set-pieces. Despite what some might here think, Mascherano is not a world-class defender. He's done remarkably well for a guy who has only started playing there in the last few years but he is not world-class. Guys like Cannavaro and Nesta are world-class not Javier.........

i agree cannavaro was short also but very powerfull and strong in the air too but you cant compare him with world class defenders like them

 

[Boris]

Don't hate Masche, he really gave us a lot on the defensive side. He rarely makes mistakes like this, so give him a break

 

[hellsangel1]

I may get hate for saying it, but he fucks up in important (this was a clasico even if its a shitty super cup) games. Happened vs Chelsea, too. He was great the rest of the game, but still, the damage was already done.

He was admittedly great for the rest of the game but part of that also has to do with the fact that Madrid were pressing less and our midfield was getting into the game particularly in the second half so Madrid were attacking less.

We saw that in the Osasuna game as well when our midfield wasn't able to gain it's foothold and have the vast majority of the possession the defense when put under pressure was really making mistakes and we saw that again here.

 

[UberNjufer]

Don't hate Masche, he really gave us a lot on the defensive side. He rarely makes mistakes like this, so give him a break

he always does these mistakes in big games,he's just not a CB

 

[ammarfcb]

terrible performance.

 

[Ohio Catalan]

Made one major mistake, and put in a great performance otherwise. Got the tackle in on Higuain that would have sunk us. The guy is always solid and only makes a mistake every so often. He's a high risk, high reward player, and that's why his errors seem so egregious. The team put in a poor performance for 30 minutes, not just Masch.

 

[Deco 20]

What happened? I missed the first goal..

 

[UEFA_Barça_Chris]

Masch tried to stretch for the ball in the air, missed. Higgers got to it and scored.

 

[ammarfcb]

Made one major mistake, and put in a great performance otherwise. Got the tackle in on Higuain that would have sunk us. The guy is always solid and only makes a mistake every so often. He's a high risk, high reward player, and that's why his errors seem so egregious. The team put in a poor performance for 30 minutes, not just Masch.

even with the goal aside he still had a terrible game. long balls going no where wasting possession, always out of position. never attacks the player with the ball, just watches them (whole defense was doing that). made one good interception against higgy that's all

 

[Theconomist]

even with the goal aside he still had a terrible game. long balls going no where wasting possession, always out of position. never attacks the player with the ball, just watches them (whole defense was doing that). made one good interception against higgy that's all

That long ball to Pedro.

I really think we should have bought a CB and shifted Masch back to DM, we're missing out on so much. You can't change 10 years of playing a position in a season and a half. You can see that in his mind he's still a DM, he tried that move because in normal circumstances a defender would stand between him and the goal. Anyway he's still a very decent option for us at the back. We've always had this problem even with Puyol and Pique both on form: our defence is simply not that good and our play style doesn't help since as we can see we are very weak against counters which is basically our only weakness one which neither Guardiola nor Vilanova solved. Still we're supposed to score more than we concede.

 

[elvisng1005]

That was a big mistake, That was not really a position mistake, he was litte careless, he could jump litte bit and get a tackle on ball more carefully to the pitch. Of course, this is just shitty Supercopa game, but El Classico is always a honorable game. But remember, his heart for Barcelona is another one unconsiderable.

 

[Meitux]

That long ball to Pedro.

I really think we should have bought a CB and shifted Masch back to DM, we're missing out on so much. You can't change 10 years of playing a position in a season and a half. You can see that in his mind he's still a DM, he tried that move because in normal circumstances a defender would stand between him and the goal. Anyway he's still a very decent option for us at the back. We've always had this problem even with Puyol and Pique both on form: our defence is simply not that good and our play style doesn't help since as we can see we are very weak against counters which is basically our only weakness one which neither Guardiola nor Vilanova solved. Still we're supposed to score more than we concede.

puyol never tries longs balls he always gives the ball to pique to put it out of defence,but on mascherano, he makes little mistakes that cause us problems sometimes against big rivals

 

[Raed]

That would have made it 3-2 and then we would have a hard time cuz then we would need 2 goals to advance. On the other hand we were all over them, as Jordan said it could have ended in a landslide if Arsenal had awakened the beast.

That tackle wasn't early on in the game was it? It was in the last minute of the game, no?

 

[Richard.H]

I still love Mascherano and believe he's an EXCELLENT CB. I will not say he's a subpar CB just because of his game against RM today or Chelsea last season. He has been nearly as important for us as Busquets has been.

 

[Raed]

Got 99 great games but this aint one...