Lliga: Real Madrid - FC Barcelona 3-1

[Neymessi]

@ schumi Out of curiosity,you still think mathieu should have played LB?

 

[barcanuck]

Sometimes you gotta ask yourself : what would Mou do with our squad in this type of match. I know it's wrong to suggest our style should change as it's not in our DNA. But makes you wonder how we would stack up with 3 CB's and 2 DM's that he loves to play...

Bartra - Pique - Mathieu - Alba
Busquets - Masche
Rakitic - Messi - Neymar
Suarez

 

[spark]

What university do you study at that has midterms on the weekend? I've never seen that before tbf.

That makes sense, I'm in the Caribbean. I turned a study abroad semester from McGill permanent in 2012. My idea is to end up working with the IDB.

 

[Schumi]

Sometimes you gotta ask yourself : what would Mou do with our squad in this type of match. I know it's wrong to suggest our style should change as it's not in our DNA. But makes you wonder how we would stack up with 3 CB's and 2 DM's that he loves to play...

Bartra - Pique - Mathieu - Alba
Busquets - Masche
Rakitic - Messi - Neymar
Suarez

As painful as it is, I think you are right. We are no longer good enough to play the way we did in years gone by, while other clubs around Europe and Spain have improved markedly. Xavi and Iniesta cannot cut it anymore at the top level cry and we must swallow that. We must change our formation or we will suffer defeat after defeat against the big boys. Simple as.

 

[DonAK]

Thinking.....Thinking.....Thinking..... about how Lucho's stubborn style could work...

Just something I came out with in a couple of minutes, but demands a lot from Rakitic and Iniesta... Don't kill me.

 

[Barcilliant]

I thought Lucho was going to bring different ideas and formations.

So far Lucho has been found wanting in the big games.

 

[DonAK]

Guys, is it worth opening a match thread on the Catalunya Supercup Final against Espanyol on Wednesday?

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

Guys, is it worth opening a match thread on the Catalunya Supercup Final against Espanyol on Wednesday?

Yes.Do it.Hope we win it to show off a trophy.

 

[Capitan Puyol]

Very bad second half... we could lead 2-0 after 20 minutes but Iker saved their asses...

 

[Flavia]

Thinking.....Thinking.....Thinking..... about how Lucho's stubborn style could work...

Just something I came out with in a couple of minutes, but demands a lot from Rakitic and Iniesta... Don't kill me.

That is lacking width.

He should try a 4-2-3-1. Iniesta's bad form is the perfect time to try it.

 

[DonAK]

That is lacking width.

He should try a 4-2-3-1. Iniesta's bad form is the perfect time to try it.

Yep.

The 4-2-3-1 would be interesting to see work out.

 

[Frodo_FCB]

I think our problem is mental too, in the first half we were quite good, RM had their chances and we had ours. In the second half our players just collapsed, i still dont understand what happened. Even after Benz goal we got still lot of time to turn the game, but instead of that our game was just a chaos.

 

[SeloBarca]

Barcelona was the dominating force.

The play RM has now is tailored to counter Barcelona, made by Mourinho.
RM style is perfect against Barcelona. Barcelona style against RM is quite bad. The style we met when we won 5-0 is not the same as RM plays now.

Most other teams have tried to copy RMs playstyle. "If you beat Barcelona, you beat them all"
Every team we meet in CL plays the same. Back home, close down middle to shut down Iniesta, Xavi and Messi, dont worry about sides since Barcelona are not good in air, then counterattack.

Unfortunally, Barcelona have said over and over that theyll stick to "their idea" of football, aka posession. Its the football i love, but its not effective anymore.

 

[Vilarrubi]

I hope everybody opened their eyes today. The sadest thing is, I'm watching croatian tv, and commentators concluding even after Barca took a lead they knew Real would win. The sadest thruth.
This is why some of us were pessimistic after Malaga and PSG, not because we lost point(s) but because we saw same old mistakes, same old Barca. Actually I think Tata is the only one after Pep era who tried to change things but failed, everybody else continue downfall spiral.
We used to have problems with let's say Chelsea's bus, even though we created a lot of chances against them as well, now, now every bus is problem, but also teams who are fast and strong like RM and PSG who didn't play bus. I can't belive some people here still think opposition doesn't try hard enough against Real, or Bayern or even Chelsea....THEY DO, yet thoose teams find space..WE DON'T!
Todays game actually showed CR is not in some uber form, he done pretty much nothing, it's just taht entire team is opening so much space for him and all the rest, on the other hand we only rely on individual class.
I remember when Messi was at his peak (even though I don't think he is much worse this season) rm fanboys said he is good because of Iniesta and Xavi. Of course that was bullshit but it showed something else - we were fucking machine with Messi delivering final punch. But our main strength was team play, team movement, running without of ball (many teams said after playing us it's like chasing shadows), quick passing from one touch and so on...everything is gone now.
Even Pep said he hates tiki taka (of course words could be twisted a bit) but his point is passing for sake of passing means nothing, passing to open space quickly - that's the point. We give opposition chances on counters from our mistakes also because of that problem...many times our players are under big pressure and they lose the ball, years ago we danced more quickly our why out of trouble, or simply put opposition couldn't pressure us as the ball was already gone.
Now this may sound controversial (and I'm stealing this from one analyst here in Croatia) but Neymar is good example of this new Barca: He is technicaly great player, great potential...but he slows our game down to a hault. He always has 10 touches, entire defence is already prepared and only thing he can try is individual break. Our entire team is trying the same, Messi is the one who can do it and that is why he has so many assists, but on the other hand he is rearly in perfect position himself.
no, problem is not Alves crossing, yes I would like him to cross better...but be honest to yourself, pause the game every time before his cross and you'll see he actually doesn't have any othe options. He is the player that opposition gives space as they know thew ball is slow and they'll have their defence complety ready. He didn't cross any better couple of years ago but he crosses to a defence thyt was of balance, not prepared and he assisted a lot.
Our entire game is flawed and with this style there is 0% chance of us beating top teams, especially over the two games (and we always thought Barca can be beaten only over one game by some fluke)..now we need that fluke game.
Ofcourse our individual class is still more than enough for 95% of teams, but those 5% are better than us. Sad thing is: they are not better individualy. Our attack trio is the best in the world but our team as unit is mediocare.

Great post! The one thing I disagree about is Neymar. He slows it down because he has no support.. Our team stands still absolutely no movement at all. When he takes 10 touches often he goes past a player and creates something.. Neymar isn't to blame on this one.

 

[Vilarrubi]

That is what we get for hiring a manager who has been plain average throughout his career.and pique lol,he is everything that is wrong with barca.how he still starts is a mystery.ill probably get yelled at by the pique supporting group in this forum.ha

The team lacked desire and what more can I say,I really hope CAS suspends the ban and the monkeys incharge of our club makes some defensive signings.pique should be sold.

Pique only had a contract extension because he is a "marketable" player for Barca because of Shakira etc. If it went on form he shouldn't have started a game for 2 years. Bartra and Mathieu should have started CBs. Masch at CDM