La Liga | Round 30: Real Madrid - FC Barcelona 2-1

Bobo32

Senior Member
Recently we've played 3-4-3 with these exact players. But i feel Koeman will place De Jong in the midfield for this game because there is possibility of a slow midfield of Pedri and Busi getting schooled by the trio of Kroos-Casamiro-Modric. De Jong in midfield will be crucial.

There is a small chance for that, although I don't really see Koeman doing it.
If it would be better with another player in midfield is a different question, I am always uneasy with that midfield of two, but I guess it has worked ok until now.

Chances are Real Madrid will dominate the midfield tonight like they never did before against Barcelona. I can see a game like the one vs PSG, but much worse, Modric having the same time on the ball as Xavi used to have, but instead of facing teams with great defences prepared to defend, he's facing a 3ATB consisting of one retrained midfielder with bad positional sense, an overly aggressive mistake-prone youngster who recently wasn't good enough for Barcelona B, and Lenglet. Because of that iron-defence, the wingbacks Alba and Dest are supposed to be able to be more free in offence, let's see about that...

Busquets and Pedri are in need of good connection to the other players in the press and also with the ball. In front of them are three players; Dembele who runs in a random direction and passes in a random direction, Messi who walks, and Griezmann who jogs. My guess is these three will be easily overplayed by Madrid, and they will arrive once and again towards Pedri and Busquets with the ball under control, and a pretty large space, as some players will want to pressure even if there is no chance. Busquets is one of the worst at defending a large space, Pedri has shown to be as well. But even Makelele wouldn't be able to help much in this picture.

Barcelona need to control the ball in order to hide some of these weaknesses, more obvious than ever. The front three play with too high error% and the frenchmen have no sense for jdp type of play.

Of course with Messi everything is always possible.
 

ronniecro

Active member
it's the first time in years i don't feel nervousness for clasico. both teams are nothing special and offer no much excitement compared to previous years. hope for good game from messi and pedri,not confident at our defence at all. i still think madrid have more chances to win though,benzema will probably be the decider
 

behindbrowneyes

Well-known member
A Clasico on a better training ground will be weird to watch. I hope the players don't forget about the importance of the game without the atmosphere of a big stadium.
 

Porque

Senior Member
I'd personally go with a 352 with de Jong in midfield. So Pique or Araujo into CB.

I'd favour controlling the game and counting on Messi to convert the few chances.

If we need/feel we can transition to a stronger attack then Griezmann for one of the CBs and de Jong back to hybrid CB.

To Sevilla and PSG we needed to overturn results so the 343 made sense. But starting that way I can see Madrid overrunning us.
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
I'd personally go with a 352 with de Jong in midfield. So Pique or Araujo into CB.

I'd favour controlling the game and counting on Messi to convert the few chances.

If we need/feel we can transition to a stronger attack then Griezmann for one of the CBs and de Jong back to hybrid CB.

To Sevilla and PSG we needed to overturn results so the 343 made sense. But starting that way I can see Madrid overrunning us.

Yeah not a big fan of changing system for the opposition, but here we are and need some midfield control. Your suggestion would be a simple and good change, maybe realistic as well.
My suggestion would be changing Greasy for Puig. Not realistic, but even simpler and better!

Araujo could be needed defensively, but I wouldn't trust him in the buildup. Pique would be my choice if Frenkie play midfield, given he is fit enough.
 

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