Copa semis: Villarreal-Barca 1-3 (2-6 agg.)
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Bucky
Penya Member
Some of these posts on this page made me 
Raki, Busi & Iniesta to start. Strongest midfield line up. We'll need the defence of Rakitic if we're to hold on to our lead. Xavi still has some use, but I'd save him for low profile league games. Big games, Xavi could be a liability. However that all well & said we need our players to not make silly mistakes. That has obviously lead to us conceding some goals that seriously need not have happened.
Raki, Busi & Iniesta to start. Strongest midfield line up. We'll need the defence of Rakitic if we're to hold on to our lead. Xavi still has some use, but I'd save him for low profile league games. Big games, Xavi could be a liability. However that all well & said we need our players to not make silly mistakes. That has obviously lead to us conceding some goals that seriously need not have happened.
vlad
New member
yes, strongest line up should be, villareal is not a joke, they scored 3 goals at camp nou in 2 games, and they didn´t even chase result, villareal coach was resting key players vs real madrid at santiago and even with 2nd line up he had a draw, so they are serious about this match, can´t wait.
Bucky
Penya Member
One thing to remember is Real Madrid are having a terrible run of form at the moment, but all season their defence has looked shaky - plus Casillas hasn't been great for a while now. The only thing RM have is midfield and attack; they're quick & dangerous with the ability to score goals but like I say they're not finding that form at the moment. They don't even have to try, they can play poorly and still score. Not to take credit away from Villarreal but RM aren't to be feared right now, dangerous but that "big club mentality" isn't as strong as it once was as say the start of the season.
Shut them out, if they score don't allow them to score another. They will have to park the bus and look to counter quickly. If they don't park it Barça will open them up, pretty much like they did in the 1st leg.
Shut them out, if they score don't allow them to score another. They will have to park the bus and look to counter quickly. If they don't park it Barça will open them up, pretty much like they did in the 1st leg.
F
Flavia
Guest
Squad for the game:
Ter Stegen, Masip, Montoya, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Xavi, Pedro, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Rafinha, Mascherano, Jordi Alba, Adriano, Alves and Mathieu.
Bravo, Bartra, Douglas and Sergi Roberto didn't travel to Villarreal.
Ter Stegen, Masip, Montoya, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Xavi, Pedro, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Rafinha, Mascherano, Jordi Alba, Adriano, Alves and Mathieu.
Bravo, Bartra, Douglas and Sergi Roberto didn't travel to Villarreal.
Bartra be like "Fuck this shit I'm out"
You have your opinion, I have mine, but please do not complain at a certain moment of the season if we don't get good results against European top teams. I 'll be the first to recognize that it was a mistake to let Xavi start. But from what he mostly showed this season his performances were at least honorable, and by 100 miles better than Iniesta's.
Rakitic is excellent without the ball. But Rakitic is "just" a good player with the ball.
To me Rakitic will remain the perfect replacement for Fabregas, nothing more, nothing less. Fabregas was better technically, but tactically Rakitic is better by margins and that was the 12th player we badly needed.
If Iniesta doesn't show signs of improvements, we will lack organization and balance.
I 'll repeat it, the best midfield at the moment, to me is Rakitic--Busquets--Xavi . Rakitic is a temporary solution at the moment. With him and Iniesta clearly in decline ( not in terms of stamina but in terms of skills) we will start to creat a strong dependance towards Messi and that coud be fatal!
Rakitic is excellent without the ball. But Rakitic is "just" a good player with the ball.
To me Rakitic will remain the perfect replacement for Fabregas, nothing more, nothing less. Fabregas was better technically, but tactically Rakitic is better by margins and that was the 12th player we badly needed.
If Iniesta doesn't show signs of improvements, we will lack organization and balance.
I 'll repeat it, the best midfield at the moment, to me is Rakitic--Busquets--Xavi . Rakitic is a temporary solution at the moment. With him and Iniesta clearly in decline ( not in terms of stamina but in terms of skills) we will start to creat a strong dependance towards Messi and that coud be fatal!
BBZ8800
Senior Member
We have 14 wins in the last 15 matches.
With Rakitic+Iniesta as our 1st pick.
We played Possession+counterattacks before Pep, and now we finally play the same style again.
A pure Possession worked only during Pep, and it won't work ever again.
We will maybe struggle against top teams.
But with possession football/midfield (Xavi-Iniesta) we sucked even more in the last 2-3 years.
Possession doesn't mean=domination.
It worked that way under Pep.
But in today's football, possession is just=usually a sterile football followed by average results
I think I've been massively misunderstood. I am not saying that Xavi--Iniesta should be our 1st pick. For instance if e had to play Bayern on this saturday I would line up Rakitic---Busquets---Xavi.
In my previous post, where I gave a tactical insight on how we should/can play with Xavi--Iniesta, was meant to show that it is still possible to play with those two against teams such as Villareal juust to see what they are still worth together. For instance, I thought that during the Classico, before Xavi and Suarez got subbed off, there were phases where we totally dominated Real Madrid.
There two keys that Enrique hasn't fully unlocked to bring the best out of a Xavi--Iniesta midfield : 1- granting Alves and Alba a more central role ( Guardiola makes it perfect at Bayern Munich) / 2- ask the wingers ( Messi/Suarez---Neymar) to overflow when we are building the game ( before the last 30 meters) in order to stretch the opponent's block.
I would almost promise you that the tactical adjustments I mentioned before would work IF Iniesta comes back to his true level.
If I had to be very cynical, I would say that Iniesta is a potential problem. I am not impressed at all by his performances. I a stil have hope though.
I don't dislike Rakitic at all, please don't misinterpret my words. And once I again, I fully support Enrique. I am just pointing out that we might encounter some big issues if we always bench Xavi. At 35, in order to keep your craft at an elite level, you have to play at least 60 min per week.
I am almost sure that if Enrique let Xavi in at around the 60-65th against City, we would have mastered the game. Xavi playing against Malaga was a must to me.
But if we had to play against Atletico tomorrow, I would have no problem at all letting Xavi on the bench.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Xavi has to play only if you want to rotate players.
We don't play a pure possession anymore because it sucks.
And when we play faster, Rakitic+Iniesta, Rakitic+Rafinha are better options.
Xavi can play only when we want to rest Rakitic.
Also, Xavi-Rakitic?
Both of them are Mcs. We play better with Iniesta or Rafinha along Rakitic/Xavi.
Iniesta+Rafinha is not good, and Xavi+Rakitic isn't too good.
barcanuck
New member
Poor Bartra. I don't get why he doesn't have Bravo as a backup. Should anything happen to Mats you want to roll with Masip in the semis wtf
Heisenberg is cooking
New member
This is FAR out. People want to start a 35 year old - who has declined every year since 2012 - against the best opponents. We are talking about Barca here, not some average la liga club. I love xavi for his contribution, but he should by no means be a starter for Barca in 2015.
The only midfield that works is raki, busi and iniesta. Busi, raki and xavi adds zero creativity and xavi has become slower.
I am sceptical about iniesta, he has been very weak this season, but he still show some former brilliance from time to time. Rafinha is knocking on the door.
The only midfield that works is raki, busi and iniesta. Busi, raki and xavi adds zero creativity and xavi has become slower.
I am sceptical about iniesta, he has been very weak this season, but he still show some former brilliance from time to time. Rafinha is knocking on the door.
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