David Villa

[Cule4life]

With him and Cesc up front we lack a bit of mobility and speed

This. Villa is a finisher, Pedro has hustle and Messi is GOAT. Thats why MVP rocks

 

[BarcaJack]

Villa did his job today. Should not blame him for not beating Thiago Silva in the box, right? It was Thiago Silva anyway.
A VERY nice assist. Prove one again the power of MVP. Wonder why Fabregas wasn't able to use the space Villa created.
The links between Fabregas, Iniesta and Xavi seemed broken. Busquets disappeared.. That's new..A bad day for Barca midfielders; however, we are still the survivor.

 

[barcanuck]

His assist today is very under appreciated, check out how he had to bend his foot to get the ball back to Pedro.

All he's done in the last 2 CL games is score the winner and assist the winning goal.

 

[BarcaJack]

Jush watch how Villa bursted into the box to get the ball, and how he tricked two defenders away from Pedro. This is actually the only good chance till that moment. I enjoy the assist very much.

Look at how Paris defended in the box and how we did. All the great talents we got, impossible Messi, magical Iniesta, will mean nothing if we cannot defend their rather 'simple' attacks.

 

[Cule4life]

Our fragile defence also has to affect the mindset of our attackers. Sometimes Villa Pedro Sanchez seem to try too hard seemingly not trusting the defence to keep a clean sheet.

 

[abual3bed1]

Let's just say he had a very average night before that assist. Bad passes and missed controlling a couple of balls that were easy to receive. But that assist was so

That's where his experience comes to appreciation.

 

[AvocadoCake]

I thought he was very very poor barring that one incredible assist, considering Alexis was amazing vs Mallorca, I feel it's harsh to not have started him, especially considering the pace of Messi was replaced by Fabregas' lack of pace. Cesc+DV doesn't seem like a partnership for the future (unsurprisingly).

 

[FCBarca]

You can't claim a forward like Villa is shit when he's not really being serviced...It's a myopic take

It was a very narrow formation from Barcelona, a good deal of the time, particularly from the trident which gave David even less room to maneuver...I have to say, I thought Tito got the XI wrong despite it being difficult circumstances

 

[Cule4life]

You can't claim a forward like Villa is shit when he's not really being serviced...It's a myopic take

It was a very narrow formation from Barcelona, a good deal of the time, particularly from the trident which gave David even less room to maneuver...I have to say, I thought Tito got the XI wrong despite it being difficult circumstances

Agree Pedro+Alexis+Villa or Tello+Villa+Pedro could have worked

 

[DavidVillano1]

More bias

Why don't you like the Irish? BTW: everyone loves us Irish...

Was just joking bro.

Let's just say he had a very average night before that assist. Bad passes and missed controlling a couple of balls that were easy to receive. But that assist was so

That's where his experience comes to appreciation.

Villa still had a 91% pass ratio last night, not bad for all those bad passes. Also made the most key passes of any player on the park, just ahead of Iniesta.

Don't think Villa had a great game but he was not as bad as made out, he set up the goal. Not to mention he set up Iniesta in the box with a great one-two and nearly put Cesc in with a delightful flick in the first half that Cesc failed to control. Held the ball up at times when it was punted. Above average but nothing great, but the service was off and so was his shooting.

 

[Stric]

On another note, which nobody seems to be mentioning in all this CL fuss.... Villa has been getting consistent playing time in big matches for a while now. No more inexplicable benching and ignoring. Tito wasn't lying when he said Villa would be very important "later in the season". I hope he stays.

 

[Galning]

On another note, which nobody seems to be mentioning in all this CL fuss.... Villa has been getting consistent playing time in big matches for a while now. No more inexplicable benching and ignoring. Tito wasn't lying when he said Villa would be very important "later in the season". I hope he stays.

Nobody mentions it because 90% of the forum actually thought it was a conspiracy against Villa

 

[Scottro]

Villa executed his role perfectly on Pedro's goal. He was up top occupying defenders and creating space for his team mates. If you watch the play 2 defenders initially engage Villa when he recieves Messi's pass and he actually cuts left and engages a 3rd defender and then makes the pass leaving Pedro with space and time to shoot. There were 3 defenders witin 3 feet of Villa when he finally passed. Good Stuff.

 

[Cule4life]

On another note, which nobody seems to be mentioning in all this CL fuss.... Villa has been getting consistent playing time in big matches for a while now. No more inexplicable benching and ignoring. Tito wasn't lying when he said Villa would be very important "later in the season". I hope he stays.

Tito's hand was forced by the pathetic form of Cesc and the defeats against Milan and Madrid. Only then he realized he needs more than 1 goalscorer on a team and that midfielders are not goalscorers. You cant expect a player with sparse play time to turn up in big matches.
And stop with this conspiracy BS. The most probable reason Villa was left out earlier is that Tito thought that Villa was too old and past it or that he failed to see that having Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc on at the same time wont work against strong teams. We dont keep harping on the Villa situation again and again because Tito has finally realized his mistake and to keep talking about it more wont serve any purpose now that we have a settled First XI for big matches

 

[darthvader7888]

IMO, Tito's mistake wasn't the Iniesta on LW thing itself. It did work very well in the first half of the season, when Fabregas was on-form.

His mistake was not dropping it sooner.