Should have taken Rakitic off who was on a yellow and clearly looked tired.
Hated that sub. It almost becomes a bad cliche for Valverde. Sub Arthur keep Rakitic on. Otherwise got the tactics pretty well figured out.
Now, rest Rakitic vs Betis please, and start Malcom.
Yup. I would actually go
------------MATS-------------
Semedo-Pique-Lenglet-Alba
------------Busi--------------
-----Vidal--------Arthur-----
Malcom---Suarez---Dembele
against Betis. With Messi coming on as a sub in the 2nd half.
Keep dreamin' son. I think Valverde will use the same team as tonight give or take.
So, when will you guys admit that Goatverde is doing great? Keeps getting result after result, even without Messi, oh, and Bilbao is falling apart without him.
Be happy that he signed a new contract, guaranteed to win just about every title then.
tbh - EV has typically set us up well in a pressure situation, including last year's fixtures against Juventus, Madrid, Madrid & Spurs this year. It is when the fixture looks simple on paper that he struggles! His reaction time is too slow which is the reason why he might struggle when he faces good managers.
In fact, this year El Clasico sums him up well - Prepares well for the game, gets his team to dominate in the first half. But fails to react on time when his opponent makes some change!