Daniel Alves

[ZenI]

Watch how this post will be casually ignored like it never happened . Don't worry though, the excuses will flow in as usual for the other team, Dante's aunty was ill on the day of the Dortmund game, the chelsea game Pep had the shits in the morning so couldn't prepare his team well defensively(or something).

It's funny how people can build ideas in their head that-even when clearly wrong-is a "fact", no matter how much factual evidence you provide to the contrary.

"Bayern have the best defence in Europe this season" - Yet they have shipped in 8 goals with the only 4 decent teams they've faced this season, winning only one out of those 4 games.

"Madrid has a better defence than Barca"- Yet concede more than Barca every season, including during the worst season Barca experienced defensively last season.

"Madrid has a better squad than Barca"- This one, you hear it every season since 2009, yet in a 38 game season where squad strength is tested, Barca have won the league 3 out of 4 times in that period, and could very well be 4 out of 5 times this season.

I mean someone even said; "Dani Alves isn't THE BEST in the world anymore" oh really? Now that he is a mere number 2 or 3 or whatever, we should just dispose him eh? What good is Barca if they don't have the number 1 in every position?! like we did in errr.......when?

"Tata is the same as the other coaches, he doesn't really trust in youth". Another comment from someone against a coach that has been overseeing this team for an enormous number of (12!) games.

Unfortunately, that's the way it is on here, it's got to the point that when I see certain names I just automatically skip that post because 9 out of 10 times, all they'll spill is negative cliche'd nonsense despite the team having a fantastic start to the season, results and performance wise.The sooner you accept this, the better your life will be on this board.

:beer2:

You my friend deserve a medal for this post! I might not agree with everything in your post, but roughly you're right with how people reason on this forum.
And Alves is doing a fantastic job for us 90% of the time he plays. Maybe 70% of the time he plays he is the best in his position and he just slots in perfectly in our system. People don't know how good some players are until they are gone. The grass is always greener it seems on this forum...

Edit: But I have to add that watching Pique lately is a pain in the *ss. Wtf is up with his defending lately? Every time a player runs at him I feel it's not even a 50/50 chance Pique will stop him.

 

[Deco 20]

Barca has a better GK than Madrid though

 

[Poor_Sunyol]

Barca has a better GK than Madrid though

 

[Cule4life]

Dunno why ppl are making a simple argument complex. The issues in Barca defense are well known to anyone with a decent knowledge of football.

Two attacking fullbacks
Midgets trying to defend set pieces
Pique being more interested in activities off the field
Not buying decent CBs and relying on 36 years old Puyol
Playing an insane high line with slow defenders like Pique Busi and Xavi Iniesta etc. are also too slow to defend against counters

Just imagine if we didnt had these issues? Dont u think we would be better defensively? If you analyze our defense we are giving away many chances despite our high possession. Bartra and Valdes saved us many times. We dont defend properly as a team. Our attack is bailing us out all the time.
We wont survive against Bayern with this defense thats for sure.

If you look at Bayern they give away very less chances compared to Barca. Against city they only gave 2-3 chances in the whole game and it took Negredo's world class finish for them to score. Whereas i start biting my nails every time we have a set piece against us or an attacker is one on one against Pique. They use zonal pressing as well as their physicality to block chances. Dante and Boateng have pace and power to stop counters and Pique has neither. If Barca faced more clinical teams than we would concede a lot more.

 

[Trickykid]

According to whoscored, we concede 9 shots per game. Bayern concede 8 shots per game. TIL: only 1 shot conceded is the difference between what's hailed in here as the bestest defense in the whole wide world, and our shambolic excuse of a back four.


Some people... Seriously

 

[Icarium]

I think our only problem with defense that needs improvement urgently is Set pieces. Even if we have four best defenders in the world we would still be vulnerable on counter attacks, that is the part of our style.
But set pieces defending is pathetic.

 

[big_man]

According to whoscored, we concede 9 shots per game. Bayern concede 8 shots per game. TIL: only 1 shot conceded is the difference between what's hailed in here as the bestest defense in the whole wide world, and our shambolic excuse of a back four.


Some people... Seriously

I hadn't even noticed that, good point

 

[Trickykid]

I hadn't even noticed that, good point

Yeah, it does put into perspective just how much out of touch with reality these doom-mongers are.

 

[big_man]

Yeah, it does put into perspective just how much out of touch with reality these doom-mongers are.

Why didn't you post that yesterday. You could have saved me the energy of typing all those massive wall of texts . The way they went on about it, you would have thought Bayern let in only 2 shots, with both shots only in the 90th minute, just so poor old Neuer can get a feel of the ball, considering he's been bored all game

 

[footyfan]

According to whoscored, we concede 9 shots per game. Bayern concede 8 shots per game. TIL: only 1 shot conceded is the difference between what's hailed in here as the bestest defense in the whole wide world, and our shambolic excuse of a back four.


Some people... Seriously

Now that's poor Tricky. Man City who have been awful defensively (worse than Barcelona) have conceded less shots than Barcelona.

Like I said, shots conceded is a better measure than tackles per game or interceptions per game, but it's still not the best as it neither takes into account where the shot was taken from nor whether the shot was on target.

To put things in context, last season Bayern conceded exactly the same number of shots per game as this season (8.1) while Barcelona also conceded almost exactly the same number of shots per game (9 this season vs 9.1 last season). Now are you really going to tell me that there wasn't a big difference defensively between Bayern and Barca last season?

 

[big_man]

Now that's poor Tricky. Man City who have been awful defensively (worse than Barcelona) have conceded less shots than Barcelona.

Like I said, shots conceded is a better measure than tackles per game or interceptions per game, but it's still not the best as it neither takes into account where the shot was taken from nor whether the shot was on target.

To put things in context, last season Bayern conceded exactly the same number of shots per game as this season (8.1) while Barcelona also conceded almost exactly the same number of shots per game (9 this season vs 9.1 last season). Now are you really going to tell me that there wasn't a big difference defensively between Bayern and Barca last season?

Most defensively good teams, at a guess, will limit opposing teams to about half (40-60%) of the (low) total no of shots from pot shots outside the 18 yard box. The difference in that range is so negligible that you're splitting hairs at that point and it becomes irrelevant as a barometer of defensive quality, more so when you take opposition and league styles into account. Again, you're looking for something that isn't there.

 

[footyfan]

No, it's not me who is using shots conceded as a barometer.

I'm using my own opinion which I've formed after watching all Barca and Bayern games this season (I get the feeling you haven't seen many Bayern games this season, can't be sure though)

 

[JamDav1982]

Now that's poor Tricky. Man City who have been awful defensively (worse than Barcelona) have conceded less shots than Barcelona.

Like I said, shots conceded is a better measure than tackles per game or interceptions per game, but it's still not the best as it neither takes into account where the shot was taken from nor whether the shot was on target.

To put things in context, last season Bayern conceded exactly the same number of shots per game as this season (8.1) while Barcelona also conceded almost exactly the same number of shots per game (9 this season vs 9.1 last season). Now are you really going to tell me that there wasn't a big difference defensively between Bayern and Barca last season?

Are Bayern Munich the only team you think has a better defence than Barca?

I am not personally saying that Barcelona have the best defence or that it is better than Bayern what I think is a joke is the different standards that are used to compare the two.

Bayern have conceded 7 in 3 games against the better teams they have faced this season. It remains to be seen how they get on against the very best teams.

Some people are obsessed with Bayern and find it easy to predict Barcelona will fall short.

 

[footyfan]

I don't understand what you're talking about, I've been using the same standards always. For me it's inarguable that Bayern have been better defensively than Barca this season, they may or may not be the best in the world and I'm not one to comment on it because I haven't seen very many teams this season.

I've watched all Barca, Bayern and Dortmund games this season bar the concurrent CL games. Bayern have been better than both defensively, while Barca and Dortmund have surprisingly been about the same, hard to tell the difference there.

Going forward, I believe Barcelona have been the best, Bayern create as many chances as Barca but they're not very clinical. Barca have a clear edge because they have Messi, and in his absence Neymar and Sanchez have been fantastic. Dortmund sort of struggle against the poorer teams and they deservedly lost to Napoli too.

 

[JamDav1982]

I don't understand what you're talking about, I've been using the same standards always. For me it's inarguable that Bayern have been better defensively than Barca this season, they may or may not be the best in the world and I'm not one to comment on it because I haven't seen very many teams this season.

I've watched all Barca, Bayern and Dortmund games this season bar the concurrent CL games. Bayern have been better than both defensively, while Barca and Dortmund have surprisingly been about the same, hard to tell the difference there.

Going forward, I believe Barcelona have been the best, Bayern create as many chances as Barca but they're not very clinical. Barca have a clear edge because they have Messi, and in his absence Neymar and Sanchez have been fantastic. Dortmund sort of struggle against the poorer teams and they deservedly lost to Napoli too.

You have watched all the Bayern and Dortmund games even when they have been playing at the same time?

I may be wrong but did you not claim there was a month between Bayern/Dortmund game and their next competitive one? That doesnt suggest a great memory of the games to be honest.

Where do you rate the ability of Barcelona to stop other teams scoring compred to other teams in world football?