Andrés Iniesta

[BerkeleyBernie]

His ball control is possibly the worst of all Barca players, it seems like he is even more one dimensional than Tello at dribbling, and at least Tello pulls his move off, when Pedro tries a step over it gets stuck under his foot Professional footballer

Sigh...Pedro's ball control is actually excellent; he's pulled some amazing passes out of the air and latches onto bullet through balls with a velvet foot. And as far as performance last night, sorry, Iniesta was dispossessed 2 times and had 5 turnovers (to Pedro's 1 dispossession and 2 turnovers). Love both players, but Atletico had them both disabled, and they got to Iniesta more than Pedro. Iniesta, in particular, tried to get away with his usual relaxed ghosting tempo, but Atletico just shut him down.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/71...de-Espana-2012-2013-Atletico-Madrid-Barcelona

This fixture was actually a blessing this early in the season. I have a feeling Barça will be much better next time at dealing with Atletico's excellent defensive tactics and discipline, as well as any other team that might try the same.

 

[Elite-BkD]

They did not get to Iniesta in the slightest, watch again and you'll have to agree.
His turnovers consisted of passing lofted balls into areas very high up the pitch and when those plays didn't come off, Atletico still had a mountain to climb before getting in Barca's half. On top of that he lost the ball on a failed dribble just outside their box which led to Atletico countering 2 against 4 and Barca literally recovered the ball within 4 seconds.
He never lost the ball to pressure (they rarely bothered to try pressuring him off it, usually just one guy would close down pretty close to him if he was close enough to their box) and he spent most of the match smartly moving it around so as to wear down the opposition, which oddly is a concept half the side didn't seem to grasp.
Alves and Alba were the only ones who actually seemed poor in terms of sharpness and touch, a few of the others simply had the problem of being too aggressive as though we'd easily win 4-0. Alexis comes to mind pretty readily with that one.
Atletico had two good counters in the first half, both from our right side with Messi losing the ball and very lazy play by Alves on the first one which resulted in a goal. Iniesta as per usual played mostly on the left and they rarely came within 40 yards of goal going that route.
Pretty much any time we're away to a quality team which defends with numbers and energy the match goes like this, and every time people are unfairly critical of Xavi and Iniesta just because they played an intelligent game but it didn't happen to involve completely eviscerating the opposing defense and creating a clear cut chance with every attack.
Barcelona happened to dominate the match, give up very few clear cut chances (The one as I remember, and that due to Alves being lazy more than anything) and take home a satisfying result which leaves them as pretty massive favorites for what will be their first trophy of the season, and once again Iniesta and Xavi were at the heart of it.

 

[ShandyFFM]

If only don Andres could finish better he would have so many insane goals not just dribbles.

 

[Jadentheman]

The Don is good at what he does. He doesn't really need to have strong finishing because usually he is assisting the finishers.

 

[Barcaman]

He was hopeless against Atletico and improved only slightly tonight vs. Malaga. Hope he gets back to his old self soon, we'll need him.

 

[raskolnikov]

Last season it was these games where Iniesta was extremely good and the best player on the pitch. I hope that guy gets back soon.
It feels weird to see him and Xavi lose the ball, I can remember times when that felt impossible no matter how big the bus.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Has Iniesta been off form like this before?

 

[raskolnikov]

Can you really call it off form though, if it were 10 games I would get it but 2 is just a fluke at the moment.
Im sure he is up to Don Andres level in no time.

 

[Vapor]

You know, he was still actually pretty damn good in the first half. I guess it just goes to show how high of standards he's set for himself. Last year he was absolutely on fire.

I'm sure his best will come back soon enough. The guy is a BEAST, and he is quite consistent about it too.

 

[Jadentheman]

It's actually better. Many outside football fans get tired when they see a 5-0 game with Barca. It just gets boring. 1-0 is good because that means the game has a potential to be good

 

[abual3bed1]

He might be a bit off but he was much better last night than Wednesday's.

 

[tello]

I'm not worried about Iniesta's form. He was pretty good yesterday and there is no reason for me to think he won't be the last season's brilliant player.

 

[Gaudi]

Has Iniesta been off form like this before?

Don is never off form, form is just eluding him at the moment

 

[Kerrybai]

Last season he peaked very early, hopefully this season he peaks when it matters most.

 

[CatalinR10]

Iniesta, who's holding renewal talks with the club, will become the 2nd best paid player of the squad, after Messi and ahead of Xavi. [md]


Well deserved.