Overall thoughts and some perspective:-
-Mestalla away; traditionally tough game, on isolation, 1 point here isn't unexpected or a disaster
- Saw the Valencia injury list before the match and I was shocked. I knew they had injuries but this was ridiculous! All of a sudden the expectation was different - Valencia B vs Barcelona in sizzling form - a win was very much on the cards and this win would have been a milestone victory in the title race; both psychologically and otherwise
- Was a bit surprised at how Valencia came out. 10 men behind the ball at all times, it really didn't feel like a top level team at their home turf. Ofc, they were even more defensive because it was practically a changed 11 but their shape was defensive beyond belief.
- Even so, we made enough chances. I saw some posts on here, saying "we just showed up expecting to win", "this is what you get when you walk around at Mestalla", etc. I don't think that was the case at all. If you watched the first half, it was intense. There was crazy running and pressure from both sides, and the tempo was quick - transitions from defence to attach from our end was fast, with Alba constantly sprinting his ass off on that left flank. I expected the pace of the game to come down once players tired a bit in the second half.
- In the end, some poor finishing cost us the game. That happens. I would have been a bit more worried if we didn't manage to create much against this side, but we created more than enough against this bus - so that's not a concern.
- In terms of individuals, I thought Biscuits was not bad in the first half, had a poor second half. Rakitic for me had a really poor game - along with Messi. Messi clearly hasn't gotten his groove back yet - if you have noticed, since he came back - he has hit so many shots meekly straight at the keeper. I can recollect 4 of them between this and the previous match. His passing and dribbling too are off.
But this isn't a concern obviously, cause it's the GOAT we are talking about. He's going to get his mojo back in no time and going to be ripping everyone to shreds. It's just a matter of one or two games more.
- Having said that, as some here have mentioned, I do think that constantly looking for Messi in the second half lost us 2 points. You can never say for sure, but I'm fairly confident we would have won this game if we continued in the same vein as we have been playing upto this point.
In a world without "other" consequences - subbing Messi off - would have probably been the best move; purely from the game's perspective. The team would have then had more shots, Neymar would have taken on the keeper more and we would have (probably) looked more direct and threatening. However, we do NOT live in a world where actions don't have meaning - so subbing Messi off was never, ever, ever going to happen and more than rightly so.
- Lastly, I was most disappointed with the result because of how Valencia played. I thought they were poor, and didn't deserve a point in this game. Getting caught on the counter with 5 minutes left. 2 v 2 in such a situation, that's really infuriating. Also, just a nothing ball, a hoof upfield leads to a goal. And we aren't talking about a monster like Drogba here, would have really liked to see Pique (considering he is tall) handle that better.
Overall, great opportunity to make a huge leap towards the title thwarter by a make shift Valencia. However, we are still in great shape, leading ATM and RM with tough away games behind us, and can go into the new year optimistic about our reinforcements bolstering our squad and giving us the push needed when crunch time comes calling post Jan.
