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

[henias]

when was the last time we hammered a top team though? hopefully we put 2-3 past them at the Bridge with no reply. weirdly im confident in our defence but its the attack i worry about

Our attack has major issues. Notably the deployment of Dembele as a RM instead of a RW like against Juventus, plus his injuries that come along the way. The constant need to accomodate Paulinho, which provided hardly any thing attacking wise, he can provide movement but not good enough.

Since Dembele has not played much, I would expect a 442, Iniesta, Busquets, Rakitic, Paulinho and I'd prefer Valverde to switch to 433 after halftime, possibly for Vidal or Dembele as a wide player to put in crosses and transition quickly. Something like how we did against Madrid.

But if we play a 442 throughout against a conservative Chelsea, it would end up the same against Atletico. Would be a draw most likely.

 

[Ursegor]

Not too fussed about "not being able to score". The ideal tournament team, in my book, is Atletico Madrid but with more firepower upfront. A well-drilled, energetic 2 banks of four with intelligent midfield pressing but instead of dross like washed up Torres, washed up David Villa or Adrian Lopez, 2 genuine world class forwards and Atletico win 2 CLs in 3 years, no question.

Well, that's what we have now. 2 well-drilled banks of 4 which do not concede or get outplayed plus Messi and Suarez upfront. I fancy our chances a lot more than with MSN + 3 midfielders of which 1 had to do Messi's defensive duties.

 

[UEFA_Barça_Chris]

Lol would be nice to have 2-3 away goals for once. Would be 95% through. Don't have a good record in away games, but hey, at least that ought to change some day right

Maybe I'm coming across as too PTC, if we managed to kill the ever-annoying anoeta curse, then the stakes for me are high @ stamford!

 

[henias]

Not too fussed about "not being able to score". The ideal tournament team, in my book, is Atletico Madrid but with more firepower upfront. A well-drilled, energetic 2 banks of four with intelligent midfield pressing but instead of dross like washed up Torres, washed up David Villa or Adrian Lopez, 2 genuine world class forwards and Atletico win 2 CLs in 3 years, no question.

Well, that's what we have now. 2 well-drilled banks of 4 which do not concede or get outplayed plus Messi and Suarez upfront. I fancy our chances a lot more than with MSN + 3 midfielders of which 1 had to do Messi's defensive duties.

Atletico Madrid isnt a possession team that emphasise on heavy possession at the edge of opponents box. Plus they dont have Messi who drops deep continually to create chances, both our 2 men upfront aren't as dangerous aerially, when crosses are put in.

We are an team with an entirely different playstyle and player composition so u cant really compare us to Atletico. We have to do much better than the game against Getafe if we are to unlock the bus.

If Chelsea decides to play it out from the back, then yes we can press them but if they dont, and decides to just ping the ball and park the bus, then it's not going to work.

That being said, I would prefer a 442 the first half and a switch to 433. That would certainly throw Chelsea off like we did against Madrid.

 

[serghei]

Not too fussed about "not being able to score". The ideal tournament team, in my book, is Atletico Madrid but with more firepower upfront. A well-drilled, energetic 2 banks of four with intelligent midfield pressing but instead of dross like washed up Torres, washed up David Villa or Adrian Lopez, 2 genuine world class forwards and Atletico win 2 CLs in 3 years, no question.

Well, that's what we have now. 2 well-drilled banks of 4 which do not concede or get outplayed plus Messi and Suarez upfront. I fancy our chances a lot more than with MSN + 3 midfielders of which 1 had to do Messi's defensive duties.

I'd agree in theory, but we do really need to be tight defensively. If we are, Messi, Suarez and Iniesta will make the difference up front.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

[tw]962775585515851776[/tw]

Great job or not. We are Barcelona playing vs Getafe at home. We should be able to trash these teams. It was poor effort all around. We havent looked good in a while, so it's not that shocking result.

I think right now we are in the poorest form of this season.(if you don't count 2 games vs Real at the start of the season.)

 

[raki]

Will Morata be available?

played yesterday

 

[ATLBarcaFan]

Hazard looked real good yesterday

 

[Aryagorn]

[tw]962775585515851776[/tw]

PSG not being on the list is shocking considering that they have Veratti and they play in, you know, France

And Barcelona not being on the list is sort of a disaster!

 

[vlad]

Great job or not. We are Barcelona playing vs Getafe at home. We should be able to trash these teams. It was poor effort all around. We havent looked good in a while, so it's not that shocking result.

I think right now we are in the poorest form of this season.(if you don't count 2 games vs Real at the start of the season.)

Football is really not so simple, and thats good, give credit to another team, if that would be the case, rich teams trashing poorer teams, football wouldnt be watchable.

 

[Ghostmaster]

Great job or not. We are Barcelona playing vs Getafe at home. We should be able to trash these teams. It was poor effort all around. We havent looked good in a while, so it's not that shocking result.

I think right now we are in the poorest form of this season.(if you don't count 2 games vs Real at the start of the season.)

Against Getafe Mina and Digne might have been the problem. Although they played well in general, it looked as if the team were too cautious in possession. There might have been fear that CBs won't be able to cope with counters which also led to Busi playing very deep at times and focusing more on defending than build up play especially in the first half.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Football is really not so simple, and thats good, give credit to another team, if that would be the case, rich teams trashing poorer teams, football wouldnt be watchable.

We haven't been good in a while. Look at our results lately vs so so teams like Espanyol, Valencia without most of their starters, Alaves etc. We are not in good form and that's the only reason why Getafe performed so well. We are just not good at the moment. We are struggling vs every team we play.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Against Getafe Mina and Digne might have been the problem. Although they played well in general, it looked as if the team were too cautious in possession. There might have been fear that CBs won't be able to cope with counters which also led to Busi playing very deep at times and focusing more on defending than build up play especially in the first half.

That could explain some things, but Getafe had the most chances after 45 min I think. We were playing very poorly as a team. We created no chances in first half. Our offense was shocking, I don't think Digne and Mina makes that big difference.

It can explain some of our struggles but overall it was just poor game.

 

[ATLBarcaFan]

We haven't been good in a while. Look at our results lately vs so so teams like Espanyol, Valencia without most of their starters, Alaves etc. We are not in good form and that's the only reason why Getafe performed so well. We are just not good at the moment. We are struggling vs every team we play.

True, we have looked very average recently. Let's hope we can overcome this mini slump in time for Chelsea

 

[Raki13]

Hazard looked real good yesterday

Hazard will disappear in this game.