14 - Javier Mascherano

[Messi_Goal]

If he plays cb in the Clasico we will get beat, But I would start him as the cdm.

 

[Antimadridista1]

I thought he did very little of note today, average performance and his distribution is totally incompatible with our style of play

loool are you sure that you were watching the same game ? Your statement is pointless, as always.

 

[Irish_Cules]

Trust Pique to start playing terribly as soon as Masch starts bossing in midfield. I think Masch-Mathieu was always likely to be the pairing for El Classico but it seems certain now. Hopefully it wont Benzema wont be winning headers for fun again.

 

[Alarcón]

You must have been watching a different game, or else you are just biased. He was great today, he had 7 tackles many and won the ball back many times. His passing was just fine too.

His tackling and his long balls were spot on as always, he did fine for what he can do but we had problems in transition and for me it's obvious that he was the main culprit for that. Couple that with Rakitic whose stengths don't lie in build up play either and you see why we struggled. I had previously said he's not a good midfielder for Barça's style of play and yesterday's match reinforced my opinion. Masch is a fantastic player but if you want to play the Barça way and dominate the midfield then you'll have to look for someone else.

loool are you sure that you were watching the same game ? Your statement is pointless, as always.

Sure you weren't looking in the mirror mate?

 

[Barcaman]

Rakitic's strengths aren't in build-up play? Seriously?
What those consist then? Pass the ball to closest player and sideways?

 

[Antimadridista1]

Sure you weren't looking in the mirror mate?

Yup this is why most of the people on the thread agree with me. Not sure you ever played football in your life dude... hard to understand the business when you only played football on FIFA.

 

[Alarcón]

Funnily enough, sideways passing is most of what he's been doing at Barça since they forced him into Xavi's role... And no, I don't think it consists of passing to your nearest teammate, but of bringing the ball forward in a smart way, picking the right pass, not losing possession unnecessarily and dealing well with situation where you're put under pressure, and Rakitic doesn't have Xavi's or Iniesta's first touch and ball control to do that as well as those 2

Yup this is why most of the people on the thread agree with me.

That's a very bad argument my friend, I could just as well say that every Barça coach so far preferred playing Mascherano in defense even though he's 1.74m and they arguably know more about football than us, you should try to think of something yourself instead of saying "X and Y agree with me and that's why I'm right"

Not sure you ever played football in your life dude... hard to understand the business when you only played football on FIFA.

I've spent the better part of my life playing football, but nice try, even though I don't see what this has to do with anything... if this was your attempt at saying something clever, it hasn't turned out that well

 

[Deco 20]

I think Mascherano had a good game defensively, and you can't expect him to contribute as much as Busquets to our overall play. He did well enough overall.

 

[Kerrybai]

His transition play was generally fine for Argentina despite only having Messi to work with on many occasions. I think he's a very good fit for us i midfield.

 

[Zangash]

His transition play was generally fine for Argentina despite only having Messi to work with on many occasions. I think he's a very good fit for us i midfield.

For some reason, something seems off here to me...

 

[reDIOS10]

for me, he didn't distribute that well. He did what he's excellent at and dats tackling and energy. At first, i thought Batra and Pique avoided giving him the ball dat much.

 

[Ini8]

He spend a second or two too long on the ball at times, but it doesn't really bother me. His defensive efforts in the midfield make up for it.

 

[reDIOS10]

those extra two seconds will matter if we play a big team like Real Madrid or especially Atletico

 

[Alik]

I am part of the group who thinks he did well defensively and with the long balls. I don't think he should start in DM in big games unless he improves some more. Otherwise he's fine.

Edsit: Just to add on that, Mache hasn't played DM in a game where our midfield was our strongest point yet. This might just be circumstances, but I would trust a Iniesta/Xavi-Busi-Rakitic/Xavi to dominate more.

 

[Iarwain]

Are you guys confident he would do well with high pressure during build-ups from the back against RM?

Remember that one Bernabeu Clasico when Keita played at DM? He was a disaster waiting to happen, and Keita is way more composed on the ball than Masch.