CL | Round 3: Barcelona - Dynamo Kyiv 2-1

[Messi983]

Don't give too much importance to this game, 9 points from 3 games is all that matters.

Expect a much better performance and a win against Betis.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Don't give too much importance to this game, 9 points from 3 games is all that matters.

Expect a much better performance and a win against Betis.

I feel like we say this after every match. Juventus was the last good game we played. It's been a while.

 

[Messi983]

I feel like we say this after every match. Juventus was the last good game we played. It's been a while.

Just a week ago. But then people said we've only looked good because Juve was bad. They were but we also played well in that game.

But it's true at this point we need a string of wins (especially in La Liga) more than anything regardless of how we'll get them. Ideally we'd get a few big wins with Messi and Griezmann both scoring a bunch o goals but I'd also take scrappy wins vs Betis and against Atleti in two weeks just to get some belief and confidence back in and around the team before we'll have a bit easier schedule for the rest of November and December (at least on paper as we all know we usually struggle in games we shouldn't).

That said, second half vs Alaves wasn't that bad (granted they've played with a man down for almost half an hour). And we could've been 3-0 up after 20 minutes yesterday as well and we'd probably watch a different game after that.

We've had some good moments in most games but we just struggle to be consistent for a half let alone a full game. We create chances but can't score. And we can't defend which is nothing new. That's up on the static players (Busi, Pigue-Lenglet CB partnership) and Messi not helping out defensively more than anything. Still better than in last few seasons when we've had two players walking upfront but we just can't play the way we want/expect with a high backline and not having fast defenders to catch opponents on the counters when we lose possesion which is happening too often. We look better when we defend positionally with most players behind the ball but that's just nothing we (fans and players) are used to.

I'm usually very patient and I knew this will be a transitional season with younger players taking over for veterans who left so I'll give time to Koeman and the team. But I'll just feel so much better if/when he'll finally realise Busi has no business being a starter anymore. Other veterans are also far from perfect but after Suarez left I think he's our biggest problem and removing him from the lineup will solve a lot of our issues (not all of course).

 

[raskolnikov]

This game pissed me off greatly. A ukranian team ridded by covid and we scrape by to a 2-1 victory as if its Psg or something.

Same slow build up, same lack of movement, same lack of intensity, same terrible high lined defence.

You can easily see another train wreck coming. If this was bayern it would be another 2-8.
Kiev got trough the same way over and over.

You can counter the hell out of us at this point.
This whole system/style needs to be changed.

 

[serghei]

Not playing a high line with poor defenders, and with no counter-attacking game, is just another quick way to be shit. Because you end up just inviting pressure near your hot areas like crazy and we are not equipped to a) resist that for long amounts of time due to poor defensive ability in nearly all areas, b) pass around that heat because our movement is shit, c) play direct balls from defense to attack because we have nobody who can be a decent target man. Something many teams easily exploited against Ernie's Barca. Press our low block and the whole thing will collapse easily.

In the end, it's like dying by hanging or dying by the electric chair. Same fucking thing in the end.

If you play a high line, you keep the distance between the lines shorter (basically more men blocking the same number of opponents in a shorter space = more chances to control space and ideal for applying pressure), and you play farther away from your goal, as well as are more compact in key areas, making it harder for the other team to play its game. But you are exposed to runs in behind your defense, and with 2 turtle defenders, that's not good.

If you drop your lines closer to your goal, you either defend deep and compact in which case you need solid, reliable, disciplined defenders who make very few errors under pressure (since playing deep invites pressure), a good counter game to create clear chances (meaning speed and great transitions), good target men, as well as defensively solid players. That's a lot. Think of peak Simeone's Atletico or Chelsea back in Mourinho's days with an iron defense, iron DM (Essien/Makelele type), and an amazing target man in Drogba who is used to playing isolated and wrestles defenders for fun. Or you end up with a hugely long team, with sometimes 70m between defender line and forward line with lazy Messi and Suarez moving at their own pace with no regards to what the rest of the team does. Meaning a huge playing zone for the opponent with low amount of pressure.

 

[Barcilliant]

This team is the worst Barca team I've seeeand I've seen some bad ones in 30 plus years of being a fan.

 

[fergus90]

This team is the worst Barca team I've seeeand I've seen some bad ones in 30 plus years of being a fan.

2000-2003 was pretty shocking. It shows how much Barca re-established itself back as one of the top teams of European football from 2005-18ish because we've only endured one trophyless season in the last 6 years.

This and last season is the worst side featuring Messi though without question.

I can remember one game Enrique getting a hat-trick and we were smashing Bilbao 6-0 at half time in January/Feb time. My innocent self thinking a league title was on the cards only to win about 3 more games for the rest of the season after that

Runs like that now would have the internet blowing up with rage

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

MAtS saved 4 goals - we could have lost without him. However, we could also have scored 2-3 in first half. In 2nd half our defense was really bad.

Mats was man of the match. Incredible saves.n

 

[Birdy]

xG stats from yesterday confirm that a 5-5 scoreline would accurately reflect the chances created by both teams:

 

[Devils]

We absolutely killed them for the first 10-15 minutes and then let them grow into thee game and eventually take control over the next 75-80 minutes. Barcelona is really the only 'top' club in Europe these days that allow this sort of ridiculousness to happen.

It will be years before this team will compete for a European title. Total disarray.