Perhaps stale was a bad word. We were playing well the whole game... but it seemed to my perception that we weren't being very penetrative until Cesc came in. Penetration and directness seems to be something he does currently have in abundance more than Iniesta and Xavi.
Perhaps Cesc has been "blown out of proportion"... or perhaps not. Perhaps people are just glad he is finally finding his potential and being one of the most creative players on the team. Yes, perhaps stating he has been our best player this season as "fact" is going overboard, but it is an opinion held by many. If not "best", certainly our most "creative" player as far as goal chances go, and I'm sure the stats would back that up.
That's exactly it. I doubt Iniesta would have been in that right place at that right time in that moment. Who knows, Iniesta could have ended up creating something else in the time remaining, but for the ~70 minutes he played, he didn't create a chance like Cesc did. The whole art of creating like that is being at the right place at the right time... that's why he was so effective.
I would disagree that it was Messi alone that turned the game, because that 2nd goal was not a solo goal but the combination of Cesc's position + Neymar's perfect pass + Messi's magic. The third goal, yes, was completely Messi, but I would not attribute the turn around to solely Messi. And not solely to Fabregas either, but I do think he was a big part. It isn't just me who noticed that we had a distinct edge about us once Cesc came on.
A few points I'd like to make:
Firstly, regarding the comparison between Cesc and Iniesta in this particular match:
I'd consider it an enormous stretch to state that Cesc created the chance which provided the 2-0 goal, that had nothing to do with Cesc's creativity and if he'd done anything else with the ball it would have been idiotic, it was a good team goal between Sanchez/Messi/Cesc/Neymar, and Cesc certainly didn't have the most asked of him on that play.
As for Iniesta not offering anything comparable going forward all night, I seem to recall that his last play involved redirecting a Sevilla player's pass to Neymar after a throw-in, getting the return pass and beating his first challenger out wide, then running inside to the corner of the box until he had attracted *four* players to surround and close him down, and releasing a perfectly timed/delivered pass to Messi at the top of the box who happened to send his shot high and wide.
(as a sidenote - Cesc played with a fresh Alexis who was better than Tello, he played when Messi clearly upped the tempo of his game and did a majority of his aggressive, on-the-ball running, and he played when Sevilla was considerably drained mentally/physically)
Now, as for any player of the season discussion - "If not "best", certainly our most "creative" player as far as goal chances go, and I'm sure the stats would back that up."
This about sums it up nicely, if one had to give that title to any Barca player Cesc would probably be most worthy, with the possible exception of Messi although he hasn't been as consistent as Cesc this season to date.
Still, I'd say Fabregas is making those creative/attacking plays more than our other midfielders this season because it's what he is excellent at, not because he's not better than all of them in that regard. The midfield unit is responsible for a TON of work other than simply providing the killer ball, and most other areas Cesc is hopeless compared to the big three. If Tata asked Iniesta to play aggressive and risky attacking ball for the entire match, he'd be excellent at it, which he has made abundantly clear with incredible consistency for years. Ask Cesc to play a patient, intelligent game which involves a lot of distribution/tempo control and hanging back smartly to kill off counters, and you get a massive drop in quality from Iniesta or Xavi.
I don't think he's been as good overall as Iniesta and Xavi, he just does more of the 'exciting' stuff in general, and people seem to tend to confuse that with performing better in a general sense.
Anyways, I don't mean to sound like I hate Cesc or something - he has been awesome this season and I hope he keeps it up because at this point I'd say we've got 4 of the top 10 attacking players in the game right now if not better, which is just ridiculous, and this before the team has hit its stride. The future definitely looks bright..
