Champions League: FC Barcelona - APOEL Nicosia 1-0

[Bucky]

I thought we played well today. This game was never going to be a real challenge, why expend real energy?

We have so much to play for this season, and we're going for all of it. Do what is necessary in these sort of games just to get a win.

We did exactly that. We never looked like conceding, we had more than a few chances to score some goals, and we avoided injuries.

Complaining about these types of wins is stupid.

^ So much this.

It wasn't a boring or bad game. There was a great display of what we can do even with youngsters in the side. 9 changes and we still had high possession, lots of passes even if some were bad and I'll say it too, we never looked like conceding. Only chance they had was right at the end but Ter Stegen is a beast.

What better way to give the youth in the squad some experience? They did fantastically well. Disrespect doesn't mean bollocks all, sorry it just doesn't, you're against Barça with true quality in the depth of the squad; they have to understand there is a massive road for Barça ahead of them so can't afford to play 1st team players every match.

A win is a win ffs.

 

[anguy]

Messi worst man of the match? Fuck this forum

Why not? Who else? Xavi or Roberto played it too safe, true, but Messi really screwed up almost everything today, even fundamental things like short passes. If someone makes highlights of all his touches in this game you'll see.

 

[Darko]

I thought we played well today. This game was never going to be a real challenge, why expend real energy?

We have so much to play for this season, and we're going for all of it. Do what is necessary in these sort of games just to get a win.

We did exactly that. We never looked like conceding, we had more than a few chances to score some goals, and we avoided injuries.

Complaining about these types of wins is stupid.

lol wut
they had 3 counters that could have easily ended up as goals if they passed/finished better

 

[messi2140]

Goals and ter stegen dont go together

 

[dakt]

Ufff, was boring like hell. Messi made quite a lot of mistakes in passing. Neymar is still unstable I just don't see him making any progress.
Lucho should find answer against teams like this. We NEED TO SHOUT OUT OF THE FRIKIN BOX! FRUSTRATING!!! I was just afraid of counter attacks and corners. It could have ended much worse...

 

[Mitchell1978]

Must admit i was only able to see parts of the game but didn't like what i saw, we seemed to create too little.

 

[DonAK]

Ufff, was boring like hell. Messi made quite a lot of mistakes in passing. Neymar is still unstable I just don't see him making any progress.
Lucho should find answer against teams like this. We NEED TO SHOUT OUT OF THE FRIKIN BOX! FRUSTRATING!!! I was just afraid of counter attacks and corners. It could have ended much worse...

Neymar has progressed from last season.

 

[Mitchell1978]

I hindsight, Enrique rotaded to much for this game.

 

[Flavia]

Thats VERY big problem IMO. You just don't put BOTH of your DMs on stands, just screams disrespect. We have to respect every team on CL.

DM wasn't the problem, Samper was pure class. played really well.

Barca Manager lets youngsters play and rotates the lineup against a what should be a relatively easy opponent = Complain

Barca Manager keep playing his best lineup or only rotates a player or two = Complain

Complain, complain, complain. It's the first match. We won. Still a lot of matches to be played, better performances to come. Go to sleep and look forward to the next game.

Wasn't a good performance at all, but if you expect Barcelona to destroy every opponent every single match then you're terribly naive.

So much this

It was a parked bus, and unfortunetely Messi didn't have his best game, nor did Neymar. And the team was different, key players rested. It was bound to not look as good.

 

[Icarium]

What is done is done. I am glad we got the 3 points from this match. We will place our best team in la liga and i expect to see a much better performance. Plus we are starting Munir too much imo. He is doing good but not great. But we don't have any choice other than pedro. Fuck you CAS!!!

 

[dakt]

I hindsight, Enrique rotaded to much for this game.

AGREE.
Shouldn't play with the fire in CL. We have strong opponents ahead and loosing points against weaker team is not an option.

 

[anguy]

It was a parked bus, and unfortunetely Messi didn't have his best game, nor did Neymar. And the team was different, key players rested. It was bound to not look as good.

I just remember what was basically B Team defeating Borisov (?) 5:0 few years ago...

 

[DonAndres]

Too much rotation??? If our regulars had better individual performances today (Messi, Neymar, Xavi, etc.) then this would've easily been a blowout. The youngsters and rotation didn't weigh things down if anything the diffusion of chances was given perfectly today to keep the team fresh. The objective isn't just to get flashy 5/6 goal wins against minnows, it's to build consistency and get the team improving game by game. Rotation is very important towards that and will serve us better in the 2nd half of the season. We have a big squad and plenty of capable/awesome players. Busquet's and Masch's deputy proved that today with a MOTM performance on his debut.

 

[Icarium]

DM wasn't the problem, Samper was pure class. played really well.

+1 Only good thing from this match. Oh! and pique header. That is for history books don't know when i will see the second one. And i feel more comfortable when Mats plays in goal but this Apoel so would not judge much. I will wait until PSG match if Mats does a great job he deserves to start La Liga too. I think Bartra also did good but it was an easy challenge for him. Much work to be done by lucho though but nothing big to worry about.

 

[Sid90]

The fans were just terrible....no friggin noise even maribor made more noise than us.