Lliga | Round 1: Athletic Club - FC Barcelona 0-1

[Mido]

I can hardly understand the negativity in this thread. One a purely footballistic level, there's nothing to be ashamed of our last performance. We dominated them but we didn't put enough effort to materialize our goal scoring chances.

No Neymar, no Alba, no Piqué and no Mathieu...

[formation=barca,6]
Bravo
0-Bartra-0-0-0-Mascherano-0
Alves-0-0-0-0-0-Vermaelen
0-0-0-Busquets-0-0-0
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Rakitic-0-0-0-0-Iniesta-0
0-0-Messi-0-0-0-0
0-0-0-Suarez-0-0-Pedro
[/formation]

I hope Enrique sets up the same tactical adjustments he made against Atletico Madrid when we , superbly, beat them 3-1
In my opinion, there are two ways to crack Bilbao's defense :

--> Rakitic running rightwards in order to stretch Athletic's defensive block and allowing Messi to manoeuver the created space as he feels up to

--> Pedro staying wide and Suarez staying right in the middle of Bilbao's defensive line in order to create space for Iniesta who could try to find different openings or fiercly drill Bilbao's defensive block.

Alves, Busquets and Vermaelen will have to bring their A-game as their role will be crucial in order to temper the game's pace and cover , if needed, the players that will be involved in our offensive phases.

Last but not least, I think we should, if not must, try to counter-attack the socks out of them. We shouldn't be afraid of defending in a 4-3 lines and letting a certain distance between the midfielder and the attackers. Let's face it : I can hardly see how Bilbao could outplay our A-team.

 

[ThwiX]

Pedro won't be playing.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

This game will be super tough. Bilbao has all the momentum and we are missing some key players. It doesnt look too good for us. Let's hope we can get one point out of it..

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Pedro won't be playing.

Link? Is this confirmed? **** just more bad news..

 

[BigBarcaBoy]

Link? Is this confirmed? **** just more bad news..

off to the chelsea rent boys

 

[Alik]

Time to see what Sandro is made off.

 

[Mido]

Time to see what Sandro is made off.

I would definitely put Sandro instead of Rafinha if Pedro doesn't play.

I've always been a Munir skeptic and Sandro would be tactically more useful than Rafinha against Bilbao.

We got this, I am going for a 1-3 for Barca x2 Messi and x1 Suarez

 

[raskolnikov]

Munir still riding on his hype from those few early games last season, Sandro should start but Rafinha most likely will.

 

[Mido]

It would be very risky but extremely rewarding to try to outnumber them in the midfield and force them to withdraw their block as close to their goal as possible. This 3-6-1 is really growing on me :

[formation=barca,6]
Bravo
Bartra-0-0-Mascherano-0-0-Vermaelen
0-0-0-Roberto-0-0-0
0-Rakitic-0-0-0-Busquets-0
0-0-0-Iniesta-0-0-0
0-Messi-0-0-0-Rafinha-0
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
0-0-0-Suarez-0-0-0
[/formation]

I am still convinced that Roberto is a decent DM.

 

[Flavia]

It would be very risky but extremely rewarding to try to outnumber them in the midfield and force them to withdraw their block as close to their goal as possible. This 3-6-1 is really growing on me :

[formation=barca,6]
Bravo
Bartra-0-0-Mascherano-0-0-Vermaelen
0-0-0-Roberto-0-0-0
0-Rakitic-0-0-0-Busquets-0
0-0-0-Iniesta-0-0-0
0-Messi-0-0-0-Rafinha-0
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
0-0-0-Suarez-0-0-0
[/formation]

I am still convinced that Roberto is a decent DM.

Busquets is not a good cm. Double pivot never works for us. A 3-4-3 could work, but Busquets as dm, and Alves there too.

 

[vigneshFCB]

No need to mess around in the first game - if it goes wrong and Barca lose again, you can be sure about talk of another 'crisis'. 4-3-3 is perfect.

 

[Mido]

No need to mess around in the first game - if it goes wrong and Barca lose again, you can be sure about talk of another 'crisis'. 4-3-3 is perfect.

4-3-3 is perfect when substitutes do not alter our way of playing. With Vermaelen and Rafinha/Sandro playing on our left corridor, Alves being exhausted you could guarantee that considerable adjusments will have to be made.

Bilbao's tactics against us consist mainly in outnumbering us in waht they consider as being a "danger zone" and setting a very intelligent one-on-one pressing/man marking.

In a 6 midfielders system, with the majority of players being highly skilled technicians ( Messi , Iniesta , Busquets and to a lesser extent Rakitic) , we could not only outplay but outnumber them and confuse them. They will have to defend against playing triangles in every area of the pitch. Athletic's two defensive midfielders would be totally confused.

In order to be successful , Barca would have to very very rigorous and determined.

Like I said before, a very risky formation, but if correctly applied, extremely rewarding in my humble opinion. With Xavi and Pedro (nearly) having left, we are not only losing a considerable amount of quality in the squad but we become less unpredictable.

 

[Dan1983]

At this point in time I'd be happy to take a point away from this game.

 

[vigneshFCB]

4-3-3 is perfect when substitutes do not alter our way of playing. With Vermaelen and Rafinha/Sandro playing on our left corridor, Alves being exhausted you could guarantee that considerable adjusments will have to be made.

Bilbao's tactics against us consist mainly in outnumbering us in waht they consider as being a "danger zone" and setting a very intelligent one-on-one pressing/man marking.

In a 6 midfielders system, with the majority of players being highly skilled technicians ( Messi , Iniesta , Busquets and to a lesser extent Rakitic) , we could not only outplay but outnumber them and confuse them. They will have to defend against playing triangles in every area of the pitch. Athletic's two defensive midfielders would be totally confused.

In order to be successful , Barca would have to very very rigorous and determined.

Like I said before, a very risky formation, but if correctly applied, extremely rewarding in my humble opinion. With Xavi and Pedro (nearly) having left, we are not only losing a considerable amount of quality in the squad but we become less unpredictable.

You explained very well and convinced me, your suggestion is probably the best way to play against Bilbao on Sunday. Your formation is probably less risky than using a tired Dani Alves and the average Mathieu/Adriano as full backs in 4-3-3 formation.

 

[serghei]

At this point in time I'd be happy to take a point away from this game.

Nah, we must win. The point is for Calderon. Even with our absences we have a much better team than Athletic, one week of rest (Bilbao has less). Quite simply, there's no excuse if we don't win, it means we're not playing very well.