God Serena
New member
If all Mathieu has to do to be considered having a good game is avoiding single handedly being the reason we drop points or concede absurd goals that says a lot about Mathieu's quality overall.
FCBarca
Mike the Knife
I believe his window of utility for Barcelona has nearly closed and should be used only in emergency situations. That being said, he's still ahead of Bartra in the pecking order, for me. Piqué, Masch, Vermaelen, Mathieu, Bartra. Douglas at the bottom of the heap just ahead of Adriano for defenders
EdmondDantes
New member
He did very well. And Alba got a rest.
God Serena
New member
He's started as LB as many times as he's started as CB and whenever he's subbed on he's only subbed on as LB, which means he actually has more appearances at LB than CB.
He's actually our backup LB...
El Flaco
Active member
Marlboro was actually a threat offensively with good runs, provided dangerous crosses to Real Betis' penalty area and had some combinational play with his teammates. Also, the Frenchman was solid defensively as well and had some good interception. Since he played as LB, he was good from yesterday and rightfully so. So yeah, Marlboro did more than avoiding errors as you want to portray.
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Also, I disagree when you're saying the Frenchman is single handedly responsable for the points we dropped of this season so far. If anything, Marlboro was only responsable for our loss against Sevilla.
We have dropped points in 4 games and here's a summary:
1. Against Celta Vigo: We were totally outplayed by Celta Vigo (who made their best performance of this season so far). Also, Alves and Piqué made individual mistakes that caused 4 goals from Nolito, Aspas x2 and Guidetti. Marlboro is NOT the one to be blamed for this loss.
2. Against Sevilla: Alba allowed Konoplyanka to run past him and therefore put Marlboro in a difficult position. However, the Frenchman was behind for our faltering offside trap in the 2nd goal by Sevilla. So yeah, Marlboro was involved for the loss in that game and deserve criticism.
3. Against Deportivo La Coruna: When Lucas Pérez scored the first goal for Depor, it's a shared responsibility between three defenders. But Marlboro is definetly the one to be blamed for the collaps, Piqué was wimpy when the ball rolled past him. As for Bergantiños' goal, Busquets was responsable with his shitty backpass (he even took the blame in media) and Mascherano who clearly didn't bother to pay attention to Bergantiños as he ran to our penalty area and scored.
4. Against Valencia: Marlboro was injured and didn't play a single minute in that game.
All in all: Marlboro was resposable for 3 points out of 8 points we dropped and I referring to the Sevilla match of course.
So why am I telling this? Well, perhaps it's because some people want to spreading myths about certain players on this team. And let's not forget that Marlboro was rock solid against Real Madrid in El Clásico, he came in when Mascherano was injured. And we have to be honest: Piqué and Mascherano as CB pair are often shaky against our biggest antagonist at several occasions and in other games as well. But neither these two gets as much shit as Marlboro.
Marlboro gets amount of unfair criticism on Barcaforum that he doesn't deserve.
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God Serena
New member
I was going to post the highlights of the Euro supercup and dissect every major mistake Mathieu has made at LB since joining the club but I'm instead going to take a step back and realize that if I have to argue that he sucks at LB, the person I'm arguing with is already so deeply in denial that there's no way he can be convinced anyways, and it would thus be a waste of effort.
El Flaco
Active member
Again, I said it's unfair from you to portray Marlboro as a scapegoat for the points we dropped, which isn't really true at all. Also, Marlboro a good game game yesterday and did more than avioding errors as you said. But then again, what can I expect from someone who's an outspoken hater of this player who ignore everything positive he does on the field and focuses only on the mistakes,
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God Serena
New member
He's a terrible LB. That isn't general consensus because he's a scapegoat. A perfect example of scapegoating would be people getting mad at the keeper when Mats conceded a corner at his near post because Malboro decided to duck when the ball was coming to him. His performances at CB far outshine his performances at LB and I don't think there's a single time where he had a standout performance at LB despite constantly being used there. I don't even have to ignore everything positive he does because he does very little to be proud of him for (When playing LB).
Good analysis.
evilhita666
Barçapocalypse NOW!
He has been under par as LB no doubt, but he hasn't been constantly played as LB as you claim, only in emergency situations or when Alba needed rest... And he was alright against Betis as LB, so I guess that's an improvement...
10Rivaldo
Hoy, mañana y siempre traductor
He also scored the winning goal against Celta the week after el Clasico. He was extremely crucial to our treble campaign.
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