La Liga | Round 2: Athletic Bilbao - FC Barcelona 2-3

[Neeraj]

One of the better halves of the season. But let's calm down. It wasn't a "great" half. We are comical at the back with the French tubeman.

Both goals were keeper errors IMO. On the first, he should be knocking that behind for a corner, and on the second, well I don't even know what he is doing. He is neither closing down nor back on his line and gets beat by a simple shot to the near post. He left the goal open.

Dembele has been amazing again. Pedri, oh boy what a player he looks to be, at just 18.

 

[Horatio]

One of the better halves of the season. But let's calm down. It wasn't a "great" half. We are comical at the back with the French tubeman.

Both goals were keeper errors IMO. On the first, he should be knocking that behind for a corner, and on the second, well I don't even know what he is doing. He is neither closing down nor back on his line and gets beat by a simple shot to the near post. He left the goal open.

Dembele has been amazing again. Pedri, oh boy what a player he looks to be, at just 18.

Second goal Messi nutmegged player. Keeper thought that angle was shielded.

 

[kattanib]

I will say we have been playing so much better football against teams that don't sit back generally this season. Most games that "sucked" were against teams that park busses.

Pep the great was agile and used to experiment smartly .. Koeman has very stupid solutions to break busses, he subs defenders for attackers and we end up with 5 attackers

 

[fergus90]

Credit to Simon btw , been a better player for Barca than Lenglet , Busquets and Griezmann today.

Commentator said he?s currently Spain?s number 1?! Refreshing that?s it?s the opposition gifting us goals though and not the other way.

 

[messi2140]

Even some of the games against the parked buses have been good creation wise, we just ruined the chances and the level drops off from the 70th minute leaving us clinging on to a game where we could of been out of sight.

Also in those moments where Koeman shows one his worst qualities and just pumps the field with forwards and hopes for the best.

Commentator said he?s currently Spain?s number 1?! Refreshing that?s it?s the opposition gifting us goals though and not the other way.

A breath of fresh air indeed.

 

[serghei]

Griezmann hasn't been that bad. Lenglet has been the only terrible player. Others were so-so, but Lenglet is a liability, and so is Busi. Very slow players are very hard to integrate into today's football.

 

[kattanib]

It would if Bilbao was a CL contender. They're not even in the Europa League I think.

Madrid found a fix for this problem recently, early crosses and Benzema heading the balls. Ours should be shooting from the edge of the box and placing the ball .. Messi, Dembele, Griezman and maybe even Pedri are capable of having these shots but need to train for it and sharpen their senses

 

[serghei]

Have to say this bromance between Messi and Pedri looks like passing of the torch a bit.

 

[kattanib]

Have to say this bromance between Messi and Pedri looks like passing of the torch a bit.

Such a gem Pedri is

 

[Horatio]

Not true. We are having trouble with any decent counter-attacking team. Which makes the PSG game a big problem coming ahead. Our transition is plain bad. And I don't know how the hell he continues to play Busi knowing this.

When this team loses the ball there are times when the positioning is chaotic, and it takes far too long until we regroup. Reminds me of Arsenal football back from a few years ago under Wenger. They were also pretty entertaining and nice to watch but were getting clowned on the counters regularly. They also had a skill like no other of losing and drawing games they seemed to control and be the better team in.

Yeah I know first response would be someone bringing up Juventus game. But we were still picking up form. And I aint saying we are at top-tier level of football yet. I have already said that I am not sure about PSG. Its a team with a lot of quality and we could easily be knocked out.

 

[serghei]

Yeah I know first response would be someone bringing up Juventus game. But we were still picking up form. And I aint saying we are at top-tier level of football yet. I have already said that I am not sure about PSG. Its a team with a lot of quality and we could easily be knocked out.

I'd say this is the first season where we are seeing a true rebuild in a long time. Now since we are committed to this, and selling Suarez while he was still scoring domestically on regular basis is a sign of that, it's time we fine-tune the errors. Not all errors we make are individual blunders though, far from it.

 

[JohnN]

Messis best half this season?

He has been playing like this for a series of games now..

 

[messi2140]

Good to see Dembele allowing Messi to wear the armband , just shows how humble he is.

 

[serghei]

We need the third goal.

 

[serghei]

Stegen and Lenglet are total clowns this match.