CL | 1/8 Finals: FC Barcelona - Chelsea 4-1 agg.
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Probably just randomness. ManC and Liverpool didn't matter, though. (used it as a free day to save energy for later).
i_bleed_blaugrana
Senior Member
I don’t expect him to but Dembele should start. Between his trickery to beat a player off a dribble and his increasing productivity around the box, given we had none of that at the Bridge, is alone why he starts.
I’m all for the pragmatic approach with a 4-4-2 away from home. At the Camp Nou however, we need to take the game to them, not be reckless, but remind them why it sucks to play here, and drain their energy and concentration out.
I’d be more open to the 4-4-2 if it had worked better in the first leg but we still gave up turnovers, they still had chances and we were extremely lucky to get a goal out of that game. Tactically, we had problems dealing with their advantage through the center and we didn’t do enough with the overloads we did have on the wings. We didn’t shut them out enough defensively and didn’t create enough either to warrant a conservative line-up, which to me is a riskier approach then being a bit more offensive.
The next goal is the winner most likely. I’m not saying we carelessly rush forward, simply including Dembele over Paulinho will make this game easier on ourselves. Making them run 3/4ths of the pitch every time they get the ball will be more preventative to them scoring than a roaming box-to-box midfielder, who while adding steel and legs, could give up a costly turnover to a team built to play off transitions.
I’m all for the pragmatic approach with a 4-4-2 away from home. At the Camp Nou however, we need to take the game to them, not be reckless, but remind them why it sucks to play here, and drain their energy and concentration out.
I’d be more open to the 4-4-2 if it had worked better in the first leg but we still gave up turnovers, they still had chances and we were extremely lucky to get a goal out of that game. Tactically, we had problems dealing with their advantage through the center and we didn’t do enough with the overloads we did have on the wings. We didn’t shut them out enough defensively and didn’t create enough either to warrant a conservative line-up, which to me is a riskier approach then being a bit more offensive.
The next goal is the winner most likely. I’m not saying we carelessly rush forward, simply including Dembele over Paulinho will make this game easier on ourselves. Making them run 3/4ths of the pitch every time they get the ball will be more preventative to them scoring than a roaming box-to-box midfielder, who while adding steel and legs, could give up a costly turnover to a team built to play off transitions.
serghei
Senior Member
I agree.
henias
New member
Agree. It's easier to mark a box to box midfielder since they use zonal marking than to mark someone out wide like Dembele and can easily stretch their defence since they need to mark Alba and Messi as well. Dembele will be gifted tons of space, even if they decide to man mark Dembele(unlikely), it will open up the width of their defence and allow Messi to exploit that. Paulinho can never function as a wide midfielder and Gomes is very wasteful in the final third.
Dembele will provide alot more pace and transition as Chelsea needs to run back and forth during our counter and theirs, can easily tire them out with our bigger pitch. It doesnt mean playing Dembele means he will rush at defence or dribble alone. He will make runs and thats what we need: alot of movement and pace to throw them off focus.
Conservative approach just seems more risky imo. Whoever scores first wins.
Dembele will provide alot more pace and transition as Chelsea needs to run back and forth during our counter and theirs, can easily tire them out with our bigger pitch. It doesnt mean playing Dembele means he will rush at defence or dribble alone. He will make runs and thats what we need: alot of movement and pace to throw them off focus.
Conservative approach just seems more risky imo. Whoever scores first wins.
this
Barcilliant
Senior Member
Lmao Valverde is Mourinho mark two. He will only push the game hard if we are behind. He will start 442 and change if things don't look good. If we attack it must be varied. Not the same old pass to death type of attacking. Would like to see Pique push forward at times a auxiliary cf with Rakitic and Busquets covering for him. I've noticed whenever we push Pique forward he gives the opposition problems.
vlad
New member
Next coach should be paco jemez, so fans who are comparing valverde to mourinho should be satisfied, with paco, barca wouldnt win CL, but we will watch joga bonito football, with alot of goals, thats most important right, while teams like real, bayern, atletico, juve will reach finals
henias
New member
Dafuq are you talking about.
raskolnikov
Well-known member
There is a different to clueless attacking and having an attacking approach. He should start with dembele and sub in Paulinho if we lead after 60 minutes. Valverde is a coward though so we will most likely start 4-4-2 and be 0-0 for a very long time. So we will be stressed as hell untill the end and either crucify or applaud Valverde for the result.
I hope we score early though just to open the match up.
vlad
New member
Why crying constantly about how valverde is mourinho 2.0, how barca is parking a bus, all this is not true, just overreacting, valverde should keep things the same, barca since 2012, reached semifinals once, got embarressed vs bayern, after going out from atletico easily, then winning cl with best attack in form, then again going out vs atletico snd easy loss vs juve, what was similar to all those fails in CL? Barca could not defend, they faced strong defence teams who were okay with waiting for that counter attack, barca had hard time break through 2 blocks of players, while all the time attacking and passing the ball around, pleasw dont tell me 20 old talent will change things, barca had best attack, and they got out 2 out of 3 times easily. If you are having enough to see other teams reaching finals and lifting thst trophy while not play "most beautiful football" then you should be okay with what valverde is trying now
Edit: fact is, barca needs to be in best form of all clubs to win that competition, while others dont, if barca wasnt in form they would get embarressed
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henias
New member
I think u keep missing the point.
Playing Dembele doesnt mean all out attacking, there is still certain elements of conservativeness as compared to previous seasons. There's alot of factors why we lost, fatugue is one of them, lack of pace, injured Messi, one loss doesnt mean shit. Last seasons Enrique has alot of tactical errors and player problems. Drawing brainless conclusions from those few losses from Barca is nothing. If that's the case, I could also draw many conclusions from defensive teams that still lost countless times in the end. My point is we have a attacking power upfront and it would be stupid not to use it. There's alot of misconception that having a more attacking approach would mean we become less defensive. Not at all. On the contrary, it actually mean they only can counter from deep and cannot recover numbers upfront.
If we are scared of Chelsea or Las Palmas, that what happens when we face Bayern or Manchester City? Even if we want to switch to defend and counter attacks, Dembele would be more useful. And would allow Messi to not be man marked too much.
If u are so obsessed wih Bayern humiliating Barca, we actually conceded alot of from set pieces and had height and physique issues, unable win the ball aerially. Even if Tata at that time focused only on defending we would have conceded alot of set pieces as well. We were also unable to counter fast enough and Bayern dont need to do much to recover the ball. All they need to do is mark Messi and it worked.
Our defence is much better now and have more positional disclipline and we have faster and taller players upfront like Suarez so it should be okay. Being scared all the time may eventually backfire.
And Messi in the form of his life.
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