Lionel Messi - v7

[Messi983]

Thought he was in the box way more than last season, just unlucky that none of the passes/crosses got to him. The amount of crosses Alba was making is positive, I’m sure loads of those will get to Messi in coming games if he keeps it up.

Not only him. We've often had at least 2 or 3 players in the box which was refeshing to see after years of playing everyone around the box with almost no players inside. Villarreal played pretty open though and we'll see how we'll look against teams defending deeper.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Not only him. We've often had at least 2 or 3 players in the box which was refeshing to see after years of playing everyone around the box with almost no players inside. Villarreal played pretty open though and we'll see how we'll look against teams defending deeper.

Exactly. At times we had 4+ players in the box. Last couple years it’s been opposition parking bus and our players trying to break it down somehow.

Thought Coutinho was class.

 

[BusiTheKing]

Not only him. We've often had at least 2 or 3 players in the box which was refeshing to see after years of playing everyone around the box with almost no players inside. Villarreal played pretty open though and we'll see how we'll look against teams defending deeper.

True. The weird thing about Suarez is how few goals he scored from regular crosses. Whenever a cross was lining up, it seemed he always wanted to back away to the edge of the box. That first goal he scored for Atleti, a regular classical striker goal, he scored strangely few of those for us.

 

[Messi983]

Just watching these highlights.

Look at the first goal. Griezmann (for all his critics) had 3 defenders occupied, Fati was free, if he wouldn't get the ball it would come to Messi (knowing Alba he was probably targeting him and Ansu just got in the way, heh) and Coutinho was totally free on the right as well. And there are more examples of having multiple players inside the box during the game.

This is what you get by playing faster and with more mobility upfront. We're still far from perfect and we'll see how we look against better teams (that said, Villarreal are far from as bad team as they've looked in the 1st half and at least something of them looking poor also has to be us playing well) but these are very good early signs that we're on the right track. I think once he gets over a disappointment of losing his friend Messi will eventually start to enjoy playing like this as well.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Just watching these highlights.

Look at the first goal. Griezmann (for all his critics) had 3 defenders occupied, Fati was free, if he wouldn't get the ball it would come to Messi (knowing Alba he was probably targeting him and Ansu just got in the way, heh) and Coutinho was totally free on the right as well. And there are more examples of having multiple players inside the box during the game.

This is what you get by playing faster and with more mobility upfront. We're still far from perfect and we'll see how we look against better teams (that said, Villarreal are far from as bad team as they've looked in the 1st half and at least something of them looking poor also has to be us playing well) but these are very good early signs that we're on the right track. I think once he gets over a disappointment of losing his friend Messi will eventually start to enjoy playing like this as well.

Yeah I don’t think we should be expecting crazy goal/assist numbers from Griezmann or Coutinho this season and I’m fine with that if Messi/Fati are scoring. If they’re creating space with good link up play that’s what we need.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Just watch some old goals and saw this against Roma. 15/16 was a strange season, imo we played in the first half of the season stronger football than in 14/15 and suddenly we had 2 bad months which cost us the CL. We should have won the Champions League, MSN was still on another level.

 

[CatalinR10]

Just watch some old goals and saw this against Roma. 15/16 was a strange season, imo we played in the first half of the season stronger football than in 14/15 and suddenly we had 2 bad months which cost us the CL. We should have won the Champions League, MSN was still on another level.

PAIN.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

Just watch some old goals and saw this against Roma. 15/16 was a strange season, imo we played in the first half of the season stronger football than in 14/15 and suddenly we had 2 bad months which cost us the CL. We should have won the Champions League, MSN was still on another level.

True. Those 2 bad months were the result of little to no rotation. Key players were tired and overplayed and it showed in the most important months.
The summer after they spent "big" on Umtiti, Gomes, Paco, Cillessen, Digne and brought Tello, Samper, Denis, Munir, Vermaelen and Lord Douglas back from their loans.

 

[Batistuta9]

Just watch some old goals and saw this against Roma. 15/16 was a strange season, imo we played in the first half of the season stronger football than in 14/15 and suddenly we had 2 bad months which cost us the CL. We should have won the Champions League, MSN was still on another level.

We were easily good enough to win that year. Sometimes it's just about peaking at the right time. We were poor the first half of 14/15 and blew everyone away in the second part. Liverpool were almost perfect in the first part of last season and then lost their to atletico, got knocked out of the domestic cup to chelsea and lost their first league game to Watford in the space of a couple of weeks.

 

[eaman]

True. Those 2 bad months were the result of little to no rotation. Key players were tired and overplayed and it showed in the most important months.
The summer after they spent "big" on Umtiti, Gomes, Paco, Cillessen, Digne and brought Tello, Samper, Denis, Munir, Vermaelen and Lord Douglas back from their loans.

I think they lost the champions league quarter after MSN just returned from conmebol qualifiers. That happened 2 years in a row I think

 

[Pedro]

Let's hope Leo scores vs. Celta Vigo

@Vilarrubi

@catalinutzr80

@Hardy

@bismp

 

[BBZ8800]

Just watch some old goals and saw this against Roma. 15/16 was a strange season, imo we played in the first half of the season stronger football than in 14/15 and suddenly we had 2 bad months which cost us the CL. We should have won the Champions League, MSN was still on another level.

We couldn't score a goal in 11 vs 11 in those two matches.

Atletico in 2016 is the beginning of a toothless Barca in key away CL matches.
Barely creating chances, barely scoring, conceding like crazy.

Every match after that is like deja vu.

 

[khaled_a_d]

We couldn't score a goal in 11 vs 11 in those two matches.

Atletico in 2016 is the beginning of a toothless Barca in key away CL matches.
Barely creating chances, barely scoring, conceding like crazy.

Every match after that is like deja vu.

Our problem started in the Classico, one of the matches that made me respect Zidane as a coach tbh.
He attacked our right flank knowing that Messi became a SS, Marcelo and CR7 was too much for Alves and Rakitic tried to support him, so we lose midfield and our right side because Marcelo didn't have to worry about Messi anymore.
This became text book barca.

 

[Jadentheman]

Just watch some old goals and saw this against Roma. 15/16 was a strange season, imo we played in the first half of the season stronger football than in 14/15 and suddenly we had 2 bad months which cost us the CL. We should have won the Champions League, MSN was still on another level.

I keep saying that Barca were unlucky that season. Should have been a back to back treble that season. Losing to Athletico sucks especially since they went on to bottle it AGAIN against Real.

 

[bismp]

Let's hope Leo scores vs. Celta Vigo

@Vilarrubi

@catalinutzr80

@Hardy

@bismp

Let's hope