abual3bed1
New member
not his best nights.
pretty bad is so little to say of how shit he was tonight...
Me55i D105
New member
Very bad, same with Xavi. If you are the conductor in a game you are responsible for the tempo of the game and setting up players for runs. Today they did neither, every single forward action they pass sideways or backwards, that doesn't cut in these game. Either take risks or go to the bench, we can't have only Messi with balls to take those passes. I get that the defense is shit, but still if you are losing do something and not just slow the game down and pass sideways/backwards.
Alik
Moderator
I remember Xavi making an amazing pass to Dani Alves, but that's all.
FCBarca
Mike the Knife
Can't remember the last time he played like this
Yeah, not one of his more memorable performances...Surprised Cesc didn't get the start, seemed like a perfect occasion for him to play against the sort of defenses he saw often in the Premiership
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Sheesh...they were constantly looking for ways to penetrate, and moved the ball forward as much as they could. The Don would make a 180 and lose his marker, but then see there was nowhere to go. Sorry, Celtic was a fkn wall. They also tried shooting from outside (Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Villa, that I recall offhand), but none of them could get the ball to stay down- not easy in that weather. Yeah, you take risks, but not 10/90 risks. You might as well ask them to bomb balls in from the corner like every EPL team, hoping they'll win a header. You want box-to-box excitement, go watch the English Premier Lottery.
Thought Barça played great, moved the ball amazingly with not an inch of space. Game just went Celtic's way. Strategically, Barça might try to keep a deeper perimeter on the attack, and hope to draw the opponent away from collapsing into a double bank on the edge of the box, to gain a little space in between the lines. Alternatively, the dribblers might try to drive the box more and draw penalties, rather than look for the inside pass- Iniesta and Pedro are both good at juking defenders enough to get them to stick out a leg.
Me55i D105
New member
Then we have not seen the same match. I saw plenty of opportunities to pass through which the old Iniesta/Xavi would pull off but something was holding them back, guess the fear of losing the ball and then they scoring on the counter with the beyond par defense Barca has at the moment.
They could've given their all for this game and won and then secured the group and then rest players for the remainder of the games, but now everything can happen, they haven't been very convincing in CL games. This game you could see only 100% in the last 5 minutes, players running and really trying to score which resulted in a goal. Too bad they didn't do that in the previous 85 minutes.
From my point of view, they played shit. Doesn't matter how much possession, shots on goal,passing accuracy and other stats you have, if you don't score and win those are then meaningless. During times in the game the offense was either overcrowded in the middle or they were divided and no one was in the middle, looked like chaos. Players not knowing their position or their plan of action is the fault of the coach or the captain, his job is to make sure they follow the plan and organize accordingly or giving them orders on backup plans. You also see Tito not coaching enough from the sideline, I really thought they didn't care about this match or even that they didn't want to win, seeing as how they started playing brilliant only after Celtic scored the second goal.
If this continues we won't have a chance for the CL title, but still a long way there and still to early to draw conclusions. But the way they played yesterday, I hope it doesn't happen again.
They could've given their all for this game and won and then secured the group and then rest players for the remainder of the games, but now everything can happen, they haven't been very convincing in CL games. This game you could see only 100% in the last 5 minutes, players running and really trying to score which resulted in a goal. Too bad they didn't do that in the previous 85 minutes.
From my point of view, they played shit. Doesn't matter how much possession, shots on goal,passing accuracy and other stats you have, if you don't score and win those are then meaningless. During times in the game the offense was either overcrowded in the middle or they were divided and no one was in the middle, looked like chaos. Players not knowing their position or their plan of action is the fault of the coach or the captain, his job is to make sure they follow the plan and organize accordingly or giving them orders on backup plans. You also see Tito not coaching enough from the sideline, I really thought they didn't care about this match or even that they didn't want to win, seeing as how they started playing brilliant only after Celtic scored the second goal.
If this continues we won't have a chance for the CL title, but still a long way there and still to early to draw conclusions. But the way they played yesterday, I hope it doesn't happen again.
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Here's the game I saw. Not shit.
http://fcbhighdef.blogspot.com/2012/11/celtic-barcelona-highlights-hd-07112012.html
Garrus
New member
With all due respect, But this is BS, Players like xavi and iniesta can't find a one good opportunity for a through ball in the entire course of a game?, Messi with all his marking, Made a couple of godly passes, And he had less possession of the ball than xavi and iniesta, Just like the other guy said, You probably watched a different game, Many opportunities came, And they didn't go for it.
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
They went for it plenty in the video highlights in the link I posted. And nearly scored multiple times. Fantastic work.
Me55i D105
New member
Seeing that, they had decent chances but anything looks good if you only watch highlights. Still I saw no through balls from iniesta or xavi that resulted in a chance, only 1-2 with messi or ball to alba who then passes towards Messi.
I'll take back the "they played shit" but they didn't play well, otherwise they would have won. The highlights don't show the utter chaos which was being displayed in the offense during times.
A game which if won would've let them rest players for the remainder. I hope it will be a lesson and that in the future this won't happen again. We can't rely on Messi every single time, Xavi and Iniesta have to together with Villa/Pedro/Sanches lessen the burden. Tito has to see this by now, what didn't work with Pep the last year (holding the ball too much) won't work in the future and new tactics or bringing back old ones (through balls/taking runs) is required to be able to win big titles. Since the defense is beyond par, all the more reason we need an extremely effective offense.
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