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

[SwiftGuyver]

Yeah it was a decent away performance in my opinion against a tough opponent in a Champions League first leg match. Chelsea are not a scrub team! They have some very dangerous players going forward, are capable of staying organised and disciplined defensively for long periods with players such as Azpilicueta & Kanté etc and Stamford Bridge is a small, tight pitch which is the complete opposite of Camp Nou and doesn't suit the way we want to play. They played an almost perfect game tactically against a Barca team last night.

Here are the facts though for those moaning. We are unbeaten in the league so far this season after 24 games, in the Copa del Rey final for a 5th straight year and have a 1-1 draw with a vital away goal to take back to Camp Nou in a Champions League round of 16 tie. Everything is going very well at the moment and anyone complaining or calling for the manager's head is a complete moron and obviously a newb! Probably the same people who were saying that Suárez was done and should be sold at the start of the season. I'm guessing a lot of those individuals are quite young and part of the generation that expects everything instantly and dismissing something if it isn't right straight away. Barca haven't always been as dominant or successful as they have been in the last decade or so and things aren't always perfect. Deal with it.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

Yeah it was a decent away performance in my opinion against a tough opponent in a Champions League first leg match. Chelsea are not a scrub team! They have some very dangerous players going forward, are capable of staying organised and disciplined defensively for long periods with players such as Azpilicueta & Kanté etc and Stamford Bridge is a small, tight pitch which is the complete opposite of Camp Nou and doesn't suit the way we want to play. They played an almost perfect game tactically against a Barca team last night.

Here are the facts though for those moaning. We are unbeaten in the league so far this season after 24 games, in the Copa del Rey final for a 5th straight year and have a 1-1 draw with a vital away goal to take back to Camp Nou in a Champions League round of 16 tie. Everything is going very well at the moment and anyone complaining or calling for the manager's head is a complete moron and obviously a newb! Probably the same people who were saying that Suárez was done and should be sold at the start of the season. I'm guessing a lot of those individuals are quite young and part of the generation that expects everything instantly and dismissing something if it isn't right straight away. Barca haven't always been as dominant or successful as they have been in the last decade or so and things aren't always perfect. Deal with it.

We’ve been shit in the CL for years now, and if we keep performing like we did today, it’ll be the exact same story this year.

Yes, this was a good result, yes we probably will get past chelsea, but better teams will punish us. If Valverde doesn’t wake up and instead keeps making the excuses you guys are making.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

Yeah, let’s compare the Chelsea of 2009, that had almost won the CL just one year prior, to the one that just got trashed by watford

And dont even try to bring 2012 up. Chelsea should have conceded at least 20 in that tie.

It is quite easy to park a bus if you have decent, physical and tactical disciplined players like Chelsea has. A defensive minded tactician on the bench too. Even Getafe is great at bus parking and they don't have the financial sources Chelsea has. And we are talking about the current PL champion.

Chelsea's ability to park the bus never will suit us. We didn't look well there with prime Xavi and we won't look good there with anyone else. I can easily see Xavi complaining about the condition of the pitch after yesterday's game.

 

[Barcilliant]

Yeah it was a decent away performance in my opinion against a tough opponent in a Champions League first leg match. Chelsea are not a scrub team! They have some very dangerous players going forward, are capable of staying organised and disciplined defensively for long periods with players such as Azpilicueta & Kanté etc and Stamford Bridge is a small, tight pitch which is the complete opposite of Camp Nou and doesn't suit the way we want to play. They played an almost perfect game tactically against a Barca team last night.

Here are the facts though for those moaning. We are unbeaten in the league so far this season after 24 games, in the Copa del Rey final for a 5th straight year and have a 1-1 draw with a vital away goal to take back to Camp Nou in a Champions League round of 16 tie. Everything is going very well at the moment and anyone complaining or calling for the manager's head is a complete moron and obviously a newb! Probably the same people who were saying that Suárez was done and should be sold at the start of the season. I'm guessing a lot of those individuals are quite young and part of the generation that expects everything instantly and dismissing something if it isn't right straight away. Barca haven't always been as dominant or successful as they have been in the last decade or so and things aren't always perfect. Deal with it.

The point is we've been here before. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict how Chelsea will set up against Barca. Yet we still played the same, slow static game against a parked bus. It seems 10 years on from that semi against Utd we still don't know how to play against a team that packs 10men behind the ball.

Aaand the same old response

Tell me, where was that invincible Italian defense in last year's final? The one everyone raved about after they beat us?

Could it be that we're subpar in the CL? Nah, it must be the mighty unbreakable Italian defenses. That don't seem to trouble any other big team nearly as much.

. So true.

Funny how teams that park the bus and have great defense suddenly turn porous against the likes of Real and Bayern.

 

[SwiftGuyver]

We’ve been shit in the CL for years now, and if we keep performing like we did today, it’ll be the exact same this year.

Yes, this was a good result, yes we probably will get past chelsea, but better teams will punish us. If Valverde doesn’t wake up and instead keeps making the excuses you guys are making.

We don't have a divine right to do well in the Champions League mate. There are plenty of other top teams around Europe. We are in that elite group of teams but we will still always have tough games especially away from home in this competition.

We've been shit in the CL for years now? 2007-08: Semi final, 2008-09: winners, 2009-10: semi final, 2010-11: winners, 2011-12: semi final, 2012-13: semi final, 2013-14: quarter final, 2014-15: winners, 2015-16: quarter final, 2016-17: quarter final.

You're a spoilt fan whose used to near perfection. Things are going well this season. Calm down.

The point is we've been here before. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict how Chelsea will set up against Barca. Yet we still played the same, slow static game against a parked bus. It seems 10 years on from that semi against Utd we still don't know how to play against a team that packs 10men behind the ball.

Who does?!

That is the hardest thing to face in football. Especially away at a top opponent in the Champions League.

 

[Barcilliant]

Who does?!

That is the hardest thing to face in football. Especially away at a top opponent in the Champions League.

That is why other top teams can break through? Tell that to teams like Bayern, Real Madrid.

Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes again and again?

 

[vlad]

That is why other top teams can break through? Tell that to teams like Bayern, Real Madrid.

Whats with bayern? Which factor they played in recent years?

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

We don't have a divine right to do well in the Champions League mate. There are plenty of other top teams around Europe. We are in that elite group of teams but we will still always have tough games especially away from home in this competition.

We've been shit in the CL for years now? 2007-08: Semi final, 2008-09: winners, 2009-10: semi final, 2010-11: winners, 2011-12: semi final, 2012-13: semi final, 2013-14: quarter final, 2014-15: winners, 2015-16: quarter final, 2016-17: quarter final.

You're a spoilt fan whose used to near perfection. Things are going well this season. Calm down.

I’m talking about the years since Pep left:

12-13: trashed by Milan (I remember fans making the same “muh italian defense” excuses then ) and needed a miracle comeback, limped past psg, destroyed by Bayern.
13-14: trashed by Atletico
14-15: the sole exception
15-16: another qf exit to atletico
16-17: needed yet another miracle comeback (this time from 4-0 down) and then got trashed by Juve.

I’m not demanding that we win the CL every year, that’d be ridiculous (although Madrid somehow manage to pull it off...). I’m just asking that we perform well, like actual contenders. Meaning not struggling against every crappy team we go up against in the round of 16 and then getting trashed in the quarters after making every excuse in the book as to why we struggle to create chances against mid table Milan or Chelsea “trashed by watford” fc while Madrid walk to yet another CL title. We have the GOAT on our team ffs. We can’t win them all, but we should be doing much better than this.

 

[Ghostmaster]

It was carbon copy Juve away game for me, moving the ball around and creating nothing for majority of the game, I think EV was playing for 0-0. Yes away goal is important( and we actually got it), but it's better than going to Camp Nou trying to overturn 4-0 or 3-0 result. We had 3 very dangerous shots from Willian and one has result in a goal, now imagine if we took more chances and allowed them more counters, it would have ended the same as PSG or Juve game.

 

[kollegah]

La Masia hipsters losing their pants over the 442.
What I see is that valverde brought us in a top position for the return leg.
Only danger chelsea showed were longshots from goddamn willian.

Kind reminder: Pep managed to lose to Arsenal away when we had prime Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Busq, Alves, Puyol, Abidal

 

[JerseyAddict]

now imagine if we took more chances and allowed them more counters, it would have ended the same as PSG or Juve game.

Exactly. That was what EV has in mind.

 

[NeyMesSis]

We have 5 (one is the copa catalunya) games until the return leg and chelsea 3...

 

[MessiCam]

+1

We are soooo one dimensional.
We are attacking through the middle with shortpasses all the time.
All teams learned how to defend against us:
Park 2 buses around the box and that's it.
Also, all passes around the box will go to Messi all the time. So predictable.
And when we try to do something through the flanks, Roberto and guys will just try a backpass to the edge of a box and the opponents will intercept it

Basically:
1. Pass through the crowded middle
2. Pass to Messi in 90% of actions
3. Wing attacks will end with a backpass, lol

People will say: but this is "Barca's" style.
Well, wake up, this thing is an open book and totally predictable in 2018.

Set pieces: zero threat
Crosses: zero threat
Longshots: zero threat except Messi who will be marked with 3 players

But this is what you wanted [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]... No attacking wingers like Dembélé, Neymar and Coutinho to run at defenders because they lose the ball too often. Instead you wanted workhorses in the middle and full backs providing the width. With your 4-4-2 who should the passes around the box go to? We only have Suárez and Messi (if he is not in midfield) there. Paulinho and Gomes are not going to provide creativity on the flanks.

And no pointless passes are not Barça's style but this has become a thing under Lucho and Valverde.

Some of us always knew this 4-4-2 (double pivot) workhorse rubbish was going to come back and bite us. What surprises me more is that Valverde has done absolutely nothing about it despite it's deficiencies being glaringly obvious for the best part of a month now. He was quick to change a winning formula in the beginning but is slow as shit in self correcting a problem he brought about.

 

[vlad]

cant resist, but i have a feeling some of the fans here just cant accept the fact that barca before pep (or they started to watch barca under pep and dont care what was before) and greatest trio played similar like barca today, always struggling against though defensive teams also it wasnt joga bonito, during period of greatest team ever, how did barca do vs tough defences? 2010? 2012? but dont touch pep, he is holy grail, doesnt matter that he had messi, xavi and iniesta in prime, when you mention inter or chelsea 2012 it was due to luck, but after pep, lets shit on all coaches who cant fix that problem, look how much shit valverde got here yestreday because of performance where chelsea had counter attack 2 times which was due to individual mistake from paulinho and roberto, valverde has to choose between paulinho or gomes, 300 m signings are not available and still he got 1:1 without much struggling.

 

[BBZ8800]

Whats with bayern? Which factor they played in recent years?

Last 5 years:
Barcelona
= winner, semifinal, quarters, quarters, quarters
Bayern:
= winner, semifinal, semifinal, semifinal, quarters
Real:
= winner, winner, winner, semis, semis

Real 5 semis in the last five years.
Bayern 4 semis in the last five years.
Barca 2 semis in the last five years.

Yet, Real and Bayern don't have Messi and cheating codes.
And they have to play with mortal players.

When you take that into the account, imo, it is clear that lately Real and Bayern have a superior tactics for Champions league matches against big boys and against physical teams and parked buses.

Both Real and Bayern have technical teams.
Both of them have more muscles in midfield.
Both of them have attackers (Lewa, Benzema, Cr8200) who can score with feet and head.

Both Real and Bayern can score:
1. Through the middle, like Barca
2. After crosses, unlike Barca
3. After corners, unlike Barca
4. After longshots, unlike Barca bar Messi

These teams have a several different options for a CL where majority of big teams will park a bus and crowd a middle.

On the other hand, Barca have only one idea how to play: pass and move around a box and wait for a hole to open which often never happens against teams like Atletico, Juve, Chelsea, Bayern and similar.

Also, if we are sterile now, with Messi in our team, imagine how sterile we will be in post-Messi's era and how far behind top teams we will drop.

But when some of us suggest that we should evolve and move away from "a classic Barca's style", people are getting heart attacks and strokes here.

That's our style.
That's our Dna, they'll reply.

We are quitte stubborn as a club and as a fanbase in some aspects.