14 - Javier Mascherano

[Zangash]

Very, very poor from him today. Was decent in the first half and made an important block but made up for it in spades in missed tackles, getting beaten on the dribble, and arbitrarily dribbling the ball out of the defense and losing possession.

And going for Silva's body when he should have tried to get the ball directly led to Aguero's goal. If it weren't for Pique we very well could have been crushed off of Masche's mistakes alone.

 

[JamDav1982]

I think he had a monster game for us tonight especially in defence but he was also solid in midfield.

Great great player and so happy he plays for Barca. I remember there were strong rumours he might be sold in the summer of 2014

He was brilliant for the first hour or so and was winning the battle with Aguero and coming out with ball from back. He also stopped a certain goal.

Had a two moments he dived in on Aguero too early but by had a good game over all.

Too many haters that ignore all the good things he does then come out to cry at one or to mistakes he makes.

 

[DrPepper]

I think he had a monster game for us tonight especially in defence but he was also solid in midfield.

Hmm, I thought his positioning was extremely off at times. Pique had to cover for him a lot. Also he tried his typical interception tackles few times but couldn't get the timing right. Probably case of wanting too much there.

Not too bad but imo Pique was much better.

 

[Scotsbarca]

Said it many times on here in big matches he should never be playing CB, its an accident waiting to happen , Pique to my surprise had a great game.

 

[JamDav1982]

Very, very poor from him today. Was decent in the first half and made an important block but made up for it in spades in missed tackles, getting beaten on the dribble, and arbitrarily dribbling the ball out of the defense and losing possession.

And going for Silva's body when he should have tried to get the ball directly led to Aguero's goal. If it weren't for Pique we very well could have been crushed off of Masche's mistakes alone.

What a load of garbage. He did little wrong for Silvas goal. Silva was just too cute for him.

'Decent in first half'... No he was one of best players on pitch for first 55/60 mins and handled Aguero well then got done a couple of times by one of best strikers in the world.

 

[Zangash]

What a load of garbage. He did little wrong for Silvas goal. Silva was just too cute for him.

'Decent in first half'... No he was one of best players on pitch for first 55/60 mins and handled Aguero well then got done a couple of times by one of best strikers in the world.

Go back and watch the goal. He made no attempt to stick his foot out where it was crucial he do so. He did, however, put an arm into Silva's back. Pretty clear he was hoping to muscle him off the ball instead of make an actual tackle.

Part of being a good CB is playing well the entire game. He was not one of our best players in the first hour (How long did it take him to concede a stupid free kick right in front of our area? 10 minutes? Less?) and when you say he "got done" by Aguero you mean he tried a slide tackle to intercept and missed completely so Aguero could run in on goal and, ultimately get stopped by Pique.

Moving him to midfield greatly reduced the pressure on our back line because he doesn't play CB like a CB, he plays like a DM. Whiffed tackles and using your arms in favor of tackling can be forgiven in midfield, but not when you're supposed to be our last line of defense.

 

[Zangash]

Imagine for a moment if we had two Mascheranos in central defense. One whiffed tackle. Two whiffed tackles. Goal.

"Oh well. He's one of the best strikers in the world!"

 

[JamDav1982]

Go back and watch the goal. He made no attempt to stick his foot out where it was crucial he do so. He did, however, put an arm into Silva's back. Pretty clear he was hoping to muscle him off the ball instead of make an actual tackle.

Part of being a good CB is playing well the entire game. He was not one of our best players in the first hour (How long did it take him to concede a stupid free kick right in front of our area? 10 minutes? Less?) and when you say he "got done" by Aguero you mean he tried a slide tackle to intercept and missed completely so Aguero could run in on goal and, ultimately get stopped by Pique.

Moving him to midfield greatly reduced the pressure on our back line because he doesn't play CB like a CB, he plays like a DM. Whiffed tackles and using your arms in favor of tackling can be forgiven in midfield, but not when you're supposed to be our last line of defense.

He didnt imagine Silva back heeling the ball. He was tight marking him and in right position. It was good play by Silva not even close to 'shocking defending'.

No defender in the world plays well an entire game every game when they are exposed the way Barca are at back.

That stupid foul was him trying to win ball when lost just on front of defence by Neymar. You would have moaned he never tried to win it back had he done nothing and they scored.

Masch stopped their best chance tonight as well and constantly came across to block Aguero.

Pique was better than him but Masch in the most part played well.

 

[JamDav1982]

Imagine for a moment if we had two Mascheranos in central defense. One whiffed tackle. Two whiffed tackles. Goal.

"Oh well. He's one of the best strikers in the world!"

Did Mascherano have the best defensive moment of the game that stopped a goal?

 

[DonAndres]

He's been great this season and I trust him in our defense but how tf could his game be classified as a positive one. He was beaten numerous times by Aguero. It wasn't just the ones where he was clearly demolished in the 2nd half, there were others where he just could not defend against Aguero despite committing. Aguero had 5 dribbles today, a large part of which were because of Mascherano. There were also times where he needlessly gave away corners (against a team that's dangerous on set pieces). Then there was the goal, which even if not his 'fault', was not good defending.

Had a nice block but when a player has that many bad defensive moments it is a poor defensive match. Mathieu gets crucified for his matches against PSG and RM but it's not like he got dribbled 10 times or so. It's down to a handful of bad moments that show that they were ineffective in their duty.

 

[JamDav1982]

He's been great this season and I trust him in our defense but how tf could his game be classified as a positive one. He was beaten numerous times by Aguero. It wasn't just the ones where he was clearly demolished in the 2nd half, there were others where he just could not defend against Aguero despite committing. Aguero had 5 dribbles today, a large part of which were because of Mascherano. There were also times where he needlessly gave away corners (against a team that's dangerous on set pieces). Then there was the goal, which even if not his 'fault', was not good defending.

Had a nice block but when a player has that many bad defensive moments it is a poor defensive match. Mathieu gets crucified for his matches against PSG and RM but it's not like he got dribbled 10 times or so. It's down to a handful of bad moments that show that they were ineffective in their duty.

He was beaten by Aguero, but had the upper hand on Aguero for the most part of the game. Then dived in too early a couple of times as the second half progressed.

Gave away corners..... and a 'nice' block.

Biased much?

Masch tackled Aguero more times than was dribbled by him.

 

[Zangash]

He didnt imagine Silva back heeling the ball. He was tight marking him and in right position. It was good play by Silva not even close to 'shocking defending'.

No defender in the world plays well an entire game every game when they are exposed the way Barca are at back.

That stupid foul was him trying to win ball when lost just on front of defence by Neymar. You would have moaned he never tried to win it back had he done nothing and they scored.

Masch stopped their best chance tonight as well and constantly came across to block Aguero.

Pique was better than him but Masch in the most part played well.

I didn't use the words 'shocking defending' anywhere in any post of mine as 'shocking' in that sense is not in my vocabulary, so I'm not sure why you slid little quotations around it, as if I said that. He made the wrong decision there, no matter how you look at it. Imagine if he'd have gone for goal instead. Then it'd have been "He didn't imagine Silva would try such a cheeky shot". That situation desperately called for a tackle and I threw my remote when Masche failed to even attempt it.

If it weren't for Pique saving Masche's ass time, after time, after time we'd have gone down by multiple goals. Yes, Mascherano made that one block, but to call it the best chance City had is just playing up the quality of the shot. Pique's last man tackles on Aguero were far more crucial as missing those (The way Mascherano missed his) would have resulted in Aguero going one on one with our keeper who can't dream of getting more than 3 games in any given month not called January.

When you play defense no matter how well you play if you fuck up and cost us points all of that goes away. You wouldn't be able to say Pique had a good game if he made 15 last man tackles but made two huge errors that costed us the match, now would you?

Did Mascherano have the best defensive moment of the game that stopped a goal?

No, Pique did. He had several of them, actually. Whether or not Masche saved a goal is up in the air as well. We have a goalkeeper who also needs to be beaten, after all, and it's not like his positioning was too poor to save it. Pique tackling Aguero and Dzeko as the last man were far more crucial.

 

[JamDav1982]

I didn't use the words 'shocking defending' anywhere in any post of mine as 'shocking' in that sense is not in my vocabulary, so I'm not sure why you slid little quotations around it, as if I said that. He made the wrong decision there, no matter how you look at it. Imagine if he'd have gone for goal instead. Then it'd have been "He didn't imagine Silva would try such a cheeky shot". That situation desperately called for a tackle and I threw my remote when Masche failed to even attempt it.

If it weren't for Pique saving Masche's ass time, after time, after time we'd have gone down by multiple goals. Yes, Mascherano made that one block, but to call it the best chance City had is just playing up the quality of the shot. Pique's last man tackles on Aguero were far more crucial as missing those (The way Mascherano missed his) would have resulted in Aguero going one on one with our keeper who can't dream of getting more than 3 games in any given month not called January.

When you play defense no matter how well you play if you fuck up and cost us points all of that goes away. You wouldn't be able to say Pique had a good game if he made 15 last man tackles but made two huge errors that costed us the match, now would you?



No, Pique did. He had several of them, actually. Whether or not Masche saved a goal is up in the air as well. We have a goalkeeper who also needs to be beaten, after all, and it's not like his positioning was too poor to save it. Pique tackling Aguero and Dzeko as the last man were far more crucial.

Pique was better than Masch but he never 'saved Masch ass time after time'. You are making that up out of thin air.

Pique was top class and mopped up the couple of times Masch dived in too early on Aguero.

Masch tackle on Aguero to stop goal was most important defensive action of game. Regardless of how you try to down play it.

 

[Zangash]

Masch tackled Aguero more times than was dribbled by him.

I don't think you understand how defending works. It's much easier to make a tackle than to avoid one. It's also much more forgiving to get tackled than to miss one. It's not about who has a higher tally versus the other. Messi could only dribble Ramos one time in any given game and that's all that matters. Goal.

 

[Zangash]

Pique was better than Masch but he never 'saved Masch ass time after time'. You are making that up out of thin air.

Pique was top class and mopped up the couple of times Masch dived in too early on Aguero.

Masch tackle on Aguero to stop goal was most important defensive action of game. Regardless of how you try to down play it.

He could kick the ball into his own net and you'd say "But he made a solid tackle earlier!"

What a joke. Masch was the weak link in our defense.