14 - Javier Mascherano

[Flavia]

Poor game, but I'm not worried. The entire team was clearly taking it easy, and understandably so. He's been brilliant all season when it mattered and all this kneejerk reaction makes me wonder how many of these people have actually been watching our games.

Hey, nice to see you back

 

[ZenI]

Been a fan since Romario days genius . Have a read back , i agree he's been terrific , i also think he's a world class midfielder as he's proved many times .
Where there is a problem is when you are up against better sides . He is above average in most league games but when up against quality like tonight he's a bombscare and to ask him to mark Lewandowski tonight was comical , even an expert like you could see that.
We badly need a tall strong CB for nights like tonight , Mascherano is not the answer in that position.

Thanks for calling me a genius, otherwise only my mom calls me that. Jokes aside, we have a lot of knee-jerk fanboys on the forum - especially after a successful CL campaign. You only have 100 posts so I thought you were one of them. But I still don't agree with you, it's easy to be afterwise - if he'd save our asses today people would "OMG totally knew it, champ!". Of course we did the right thing starting him, who would you choose instead? Mathieu? Barbra? You would be criticizing them and Lucho even more if they had cost us the CL.

 

[footyfan]

It was the same Bayern they beat 3-0 at home.

It was the same Bayern team, but the attacking tactics were completely different. More lobs into Lewandowski and Muller as he drifted centrally and more use of the wings. These attacks tend to make life difficult for Mascherano, and Barca have known it for a long time. Now, it all depends on whether Madrid can exploit that or not.

 

[Antimadridista1]

He's been a beast this season and I just can't blame him for his poor performance.

 

[Scotsbarca]

Thanks for calling me a genius, otherwise only my mom calls me that. Jokes aside, we have a lot of knee-jerk fanboys on the forum - especially after a successful CL campaign. You only have 100 posts so I thought you were one of them. But I still don't agree with you, it's easy to be afterwise - if he'd save our asses today people would "OMG totally knew it, champ!". Of course we did the right thing starting him, who would you choose instead? Mathieu? Barbra? You would be criticizing them and Lucho even more if they had cost us the CL.

Never asked you to agree with me , i said long before this tie that we would lose goals against Bayern if he was at the back with Pique , not after the game.
You seem to be one of the few who cant see how bad he is against top class opposition.

 

[Flavia]

[tw]598249854100463618[/tw]

Wise words.

 

[Stric]

Well said. Let's not forget this is football, stranger things have happened.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Terrible performance in the 2nd half, but then again, he wasn't the only one.

 

[Behrox]

The problem in this match was trying to defend the lead and soaking the pressure. We let Bayern impose their game on us with us playing exactly the opposite of our game which is understandable since we were trying to pace ourselves, but it backfired and unnecessary pressure was put on our midfield and defensive players.

 

[DrPepper]

How do you expect him to have a good game when Bayern exploit his biggest weakness, which is aerial ability? Throw in long balls to Lewandowski in the middle who is simply a beast at holding the ball up. Wait for Real to do the same in the final, like they always do in Clasicos. Mascherano gets regularly owned by Benzema and Cristiano in aerial duels.

Meh, why can't we simply have a hybrid of Mascherano and Mathieu?

 

[Ghostmaster]

How do you expect him to have a good game when Bayern exploit his biggest weakness, which is aerial ability? Throw in long balls to Lewandowski in the middle who is simply a beast at holding the ball up. Wait for Real to do the same in the final, like they always do in Clasicos. Mascherano gets regularly owned by Benzema and Cristiano in aerial duels.

Meh, why can't we simply have a hybrid of Mascherano and Mathieu?

I was worried about Mascherano as well, but he did well in the first leg, won the most aerial duels in that match, it's not always about height, firstly it's about preventing crosses to the box by pressing from midfielders or fullbacks, secondly with taking good position while defending headers, Chielini is 1.86m but did it help him when Ronaldo scored that header in the first leg? No because he was no where to be seen.

 

[Kohe321]

[MENTION=13941]Luftstalag14[/MENTION] Since you weren't completely convinced that the reason Bayern scored twice on us in that second half was due to complacency, I give you Mascherano:

[tw]599044062830821377[/tw]

 

[Barcaman]

Legend!

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

[MENTION=13941]Luftstalag14[/MENTION] Since you weren't completely convinced that the reason Bayern scored twice on us in that second half was due to complacency, I give you Mascherano:

[tw]599044062830821377[/tw]

Obviously, only bayern/german sympathizers would say otherwise.

 

[FC B]

Great great game from him tonight !

What a player he is...