Yet more proof of what has been obvious for years. Our defence will let us down. With Messi off the pitch they'll let us down and with him they'll let us down. I hope now some people see Messi not running an extra 1km a game isn't the overriding factor in our defence opening the door every game. Betis had 12 shots, 6 on target, that is far too many to give away to a team playing with 10 men from the 60th minute.
La Liga | Round 9: FC Barcelona - Real Betis 5-2
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
malvolio
Senior Member
Cannot agree more. This match is as deceiving as Villareal away last year. This Bar?a team will suffer all season. We are dreadful at finishing under pressure, keeping shape or defending.
Gnidrologist
Senior Member
Very good first half without Messi. Barca play much better team footy without him. Him entering in the second half as actually beneficial, because he was fresh and team was already found good chemistry. He integrated well into this. I think Messi should be used as impact sub in second halves from now on. but doubt Cowman has courage for that.
All in all i like this direct football and it obviously goes well against attacking teams like Betis on home soil, but it would actually play well against anyone, if not for the abysmal defensive capability. Pique, Alba, Busquets and Roberto should fuck off. They simply cannot keep up with any fast attacks. Lenglet should stay, he has a merit and he's still relatively young, but should be paired with fast athletic CB like Puyiol and our whole defense should be reformed.
Anyhow, i like this football better than anything i remember from Vallcrap and Setcuck.
All in all i like this direct football and it obviously goes well against attacking teams like Betis on home soil, but it would actually play well against anyone, if not for the abysmal defensive capability. Pique, Alba, Busquets and Roberto should fuck off. They simply cannot keep up with any fast attacks. Lenglet should stay, he has a merit and he's still relatively young, but should be paired with fast athletic CB like Puyiol and our whole defense should be reformed.
Anyhow, i like this football better than anything i remember from Vallcrap and Setcuck.
Marie-Antoinette
Banned
😳😲🤣Indeed.
Messi983
Senior Member
Usually don't like their articles but there was a good analysis of the defensive problems on the right side on fichajes.net two days ago.
https://www.fichajes.net/noticias/v...-defensivos-banda-derecha-barca-20201109.html
Pique out of the position, don't recover the ball and free up the zone. Lenglet comes to cover for him and there is a lot of free space (in the middle).
Pique again out of the position, nobody is covering Betis player running into the space. Busi just a passenger.
Dembele not tracking back enough and leaving Roberto in a 2 vs 1 situation.
Dembele again far away, Roberto covering Tello while Busi doing who knows what which opens up a lot of space in the middle again.
TBH I think people are usually too harsh on Roberto. Sure, he's not great defensively and he'll always be exposed against fast and/or skillfull wingers 1 on 1 but he also often doesn't get any help. I think Dembele has at least shown effort to track back but he'll never be disciplined and tactical aware enough in that regard so we'll always struggle defensively down his side when he'll play if the opponents will focus on attacking us there (and why they wouldn't until we show we can stop or at least slow them down?).
But Pique and especially Busi are the biggest problems we should resolve if we want to find any kind of defensive stability. Obviously by replacing them in the lineup or at least not play them both at the same time (talking about this season, next year none of them should be a starter anymore).
https://www.fichajes.net/noticias/v...-defensivos-banda-derecha-barca-20201109.html
Pique out of the position, don't recover the ball and free up the zone. Lenglet comes to cover for him and there is a lot of free space (in the middle).
Pique again out of the position, nobody is covering Betis player running into the space. Busi just a passenger.
Dembele not tracking back enough and leaving Roberto in a 2 vs 1 situation.
Dembele again far away, Roberto covering Tello while Busi doing who knows what which opens up a lot of space in the middle again.
TBH I think people are usually too harsh on Roberto. Sure, he's not great defensively and he'll always be exposed against fast and/or skillfull wingers 1 on 1 but he also often doesn't get any help. I think Dembele has at least shown effort to track back but he'll never be disciplined and tactical aware enough in that regard so we'll always struggle defensively down his side when he'll play if the opponents will focus on attacking us there (and why they wouldn't until we show we can stop or at least slow them down?).
But Pique and especially Busi are the biggest problems we should resolve if we want to find any kind of defensive stability. Obviously by replacing them in the lineup or at least not play them both at the same time (talking about this season, next year none of them should be a starter anymore).
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Busi is such a waste defensively. Whatever he brings offensively isn't enough to cover the lack of speed on defense.
Pique is distracted too often.
Pique is distracted too often.
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