CL | 1/8 Finals: FC Barcelona - Chelsea 4-1 agg.

[5ergio_Busquets]

Yeah it wasn't a good performance against Madrid but he is not a wide midfielder. He is a box to box midfielder and should be playing as a central midfielder like he does for Brazil for whom he has been fantastic for 2 years in a 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1.

These workhorse types struggle when out wide. Look at Rakitic as well.

He played central against Eibar and Rakitic played wide, how did he perform there?

 

[Raki13]

Some amount of rubbish on here , Hazard is well known for going missing in big games and will do tonight. If we play like we can Chelsea won't win any of these games.

 

[MessiCam]

He played central against Eibar and Rakitic played wide, how did he perform there?

He played as an attacking midfielder against Eibar. He is not creative enough to play that role and all you end up with is a player making runs into the box and roaming freely.

Valverde's new thing is to use players out of position just so Messi and Suárez can play together centrally. It's time to drop one of them.

Neither of Gomes, Paulinho and Iniesta are wide players but that is where they end up playing and it's causing havoc in the midfield. What's it been now? 5 games or so on the trot... The Eibar game was the low point though because the midfield was overrun.

I don't buy the fatigue excuse. Players have been rotated enough apart from maybe Alba and Roberto.

 

[Aryagorn]

FTFY. Always Messi’s fault. Always.

True. And it would be him not running enough

 

[Zincubus]

I'm actually dreading tonight's game , not sure I can stand to watch it live ....

Hazard is a real good player but tonight he's gonna look like a world beater as he continually slaloms through Rakitic / Paulinho then Sergi Roberto ..

Then our esteemed manager will bring on Paco and Vidal to shore things up

 

[Barcilliant]

I'm actually dreading tonight's game , not sure I can stand to watch it live ....

Hazard is a real good player but tonight he's gonna look like a world beater as he continually slaloms through Rakitic / Paulinho then Sergi Roberto ..

Then our esteemed manager will bring on Paco and Vidal to shore things up

LOL 😂 Dude please. Maybe Hazard might make a slight dent but I'm sure Valverde will have a plan for him and Chelsea. Valverde will set up compact and keep things tight.

The reason we're doing well this season is organisation's, tactics and defence. It's not pretty but it's been effective.... So far.

 

[henias]

Our midfield is not in tip top condition. Iniesta especially and if he plays Gomes or Paulinho, I think we are pretty much goners. Not feeling good for this tie.

 

[henias]

Some amount of rubbish on here , Hazard is well known for going missing in big games and will do tonight. If we play like we can Chelsea won't win any of these games.

One player isn't to blame for the team's loss. He was the best PL player in 16/17 and the one with the highest dribble success rate in Europe. Underestimating Hazard is the worst thing one could do. He always look to be the most creative player of Chelsea and it's Conte that's an idiot.

 

[Ghostmaster]

I don't buy the fatigue excuse. Players have been rotated enough apart from maybe Alba and Roberto.

Yep and Chelsea is in the same boat as us. So what that they rested players just before 1stl leg, they played more games than us since they always have very hectic Christmas period in PL and they go full throttle in the league since they are fighting for 4th place.

 

[Barcaman]

Sport speculates it's Aleix as 4th midfielder

 

[henias]

Sport speculates it's Aleix as 4th midfielder

Reasonable choice. He's the only decent wide player. Just dont want Gomes playing wide or Paulinho forcing Rakitic to go wide.

 

[Neymessi]

Until you bring any argument from your side, I do not need to bring anything besides trophies really. Your only argument is that we had excellent players on squad, which can be applied to any coach for most of top teams in recent decades. Then again, only selected few have managed to win treble with those good players, Lucho "The Average" being one of them. He was shit in Roma? Not really, he was hired to make Roma "Barcelona" of Italy, make it stand out in Serie A and bring "beautiful" attack minded football to Italy. He was given an aging squad not suitable for that and limited resources. Also to be noted, he was not fired, everyone wanted him to continue, but he left himself as he felt he had no more energy left for the job.

I have mentioned how his lineups were bizarre and how his tactics were totally shit in his final season and half of the season before that. Everybody here wanted him gone by the last season and it was clear he was just average. If he was such a trophy hotshot then many clubs would have been going crazy for him since he won so much trophies for us but no one is. He had weak rumours linking him to bayern which bayern fans didn't want at all to happen and now he has weak rumours of joining chelsea and chelsea fans don't want him either. Just goes on to show how he is nothing special. This is more than enough proof for his mediocrity. You are literally the only one here who thinks enrique was much more than an average coach and sorry you don't have any good arguments.

 

[Raketa10]

So Semedo is suspendes so it's either Gomes, Paulinho or Vidal. I am betting Paulinho will start...

 

[Ghostmaster]

Paulinho most likely will start, but I would choose Vidal.

 

[Barcilliant]

Paulinho most likely will start, but I would choose Vidal.

This game is tailored for Paulinho. His ability to pop up in goal scoring positions unsettled RM and I believe it would unsettle Chelsea. He's been poor last few matches but he'll step up for this if played.

Vidal is crap. It would be a huge mistake to start him in such a game.