Lliga | Round 22: Espanyol de Cornella - FC Barcelona 1-1

[MessiCam]

Ok I posted defensive lineup. Here is it offensively:

--------------Ter Stegen---------------
Semedo-----Pique-----Umtiti-----Alba
--Rakitić-----Busquets-----Coutinho--
--Roberto---Messi-------Suarez-------

Happy? Able to sleep now?

Lol. What’s with the attitude?

Roberto will play right back.

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

I don’t consider an 11 point lead sealed when there are 5 dangerous fixtures still coming. Madrid, Valencia, Atleti, Villareal and Sevilla.

Winning today and one of Atleti and Valencia, preferably Atleti, dropping points eases my concerns somewhat.

Even if we average a draw in all those fixtures we'll still win the league comfortably, nobody else is going to go perfect or will even come close to going perfect. I can understand why you want to be cautious especially after than collapse in 2016 that almost cost us the league, but we're going to Espanyol which will almost surely be a physically charged game after the cup fixtures and all the complaints from both sides about chants. They will be out to get blood and this is the remaining fixture before the Chelsea match which has the highest possibility by far for a player to get injured.

Would much prefer if we rested this week and used the next two fixtures against Getafe and Eibar to get warmed up for Chelsea.

 

[FCBfan22]

It's Asspanyol. We need to beat them to put them in their place, as always. Our standings in the liga don't matter.

 

[Barcaman]

Valverde said after Valencia there will be changes vs. Espanyol so don't expect the strongest team.

 

[Trickykid]

It's Asspanyol. We need to beat them to put them in their place, as always. Our standings in the liga don't matter.

Pretty much, yeah. Full strenght tonight and rotations over the next two games. No hiccups against Espanyol, pretty please.

 

[raskolnikov]

In the grand scheme of things resting players now is the best choice. We have a huge lead in la liga and they will be looking to injure our players. Also having keyplayers fresh for Valencia away is more important. I really feel Iniesta and Messi need to sit this one out.
Its better to have them play getafe at home and gain momentum in a trashing rather than struggling getting fouled constantly in a tough fixture like this.

 

[serghei]

Valverde said after Valencia there will be changes vs. Espanyol so don't expect the strongest team.

Given that the starters were visibly tired, we might actually play better with some big chances in the team than we did in the last 2 games vs Alaves and Valencia.

 

[MessiCam]

Given that the starters were visibly tired, we might actually play better with some big chances in the team than we did in the last 2 games vs Alaves and Valencia.

I’m curious as to why some consider the Valencia performance average... It was quite possibly the best performance Barça have put on for a full 90 minutes all season. They completely dominated the midfield battle and the pressing was on point all game. That Valencia put on a defensive clinic shouldn’t take away from that.

Alaves was a shit show though.

 

[Windhook]

Pique will be Asspanyol's crowd only target today. One of the key games to keep the unbeaten run, so it will be tough, but our squad knows when to step on the gas in the second half and win this type of games. Also this is another great chance to extend the lead on Real Madrid to 21 points and our players are aware of this. And one more thing, later today Atletico Madrid face Valencia. Chances of Atleti dropping points are low, given that Valencia are more focused on the Copa second leg game against Barcelona.

 

[serghei]

I’m curious as to why some consider the Valencia performance average... It was quite possibly the best performance Barça have put on for a full 90 minutes all season. They completely dominated the midfield battle and the pressing was on point all game. That Valencia put on a defensive clinic shouldn’t take away from that.

Alaves was a shit show though.

Because Valencia were coming after a 1-4 at home with Madrid without half their starters (including their starting CB pair), and we, with about 75% possession managed to create about 3 decent chances all game. We could have won the tie on Camp Nou if we played well. But we didn't. Again, even though Valencia played nothing in offense, were in a bad period of form, and were missing a lot of players.

 

[Barcaman]

Shitty and Q$G apparently win all matches and never play bad.

 

[MessiCam]

Because Valencia were coming after a 1-4 at home with Madrid without half their starters (including their starting CB pair), and we, with about 75% possession managed to create about 3 decent chances all game. We could have won the tie on Camp Nou if we played well. But we didn't. Again, even though Valencia played nothing in offense, were in a bad period of form, and were missing a lot of players.

That 4-1 scoreline flattered Madrid just as much as this 1-0 flattered Valencia.

The passing, the pressing, the movement.. Everything was on point. That Valencia managed to withstand and come away with only a goal deficit is credit to them. Sometimes the opposition deserves credit too. They did well to block attacks and just gets bodies in the way.

Look at the Burnley v City game yesterday. You’re always going to get games like these when you play this type of possession and passing game.

Teams don’t park buses against Madrid.

 

[dostoevskij]

i would play with ter stegen;Semedo,Pique,Umtiti,Alba; Busquets,Paulinho,Rakitic,Coutinho;Paco,Leo!

Btw. our dear friend Gil manzano is the ref for this derby!

 

[vlad]

11point difference from atletico is great but still long way to go and valverde should not rotate to much, there are still strong matches ahead and who knows barca can go into bad form and start losing points.


Laliga should be priority, one match to CDR final, season with those 2 trophies is great season

 

[Kuchi]

Despite all doubts from the beggining of the season, with neymar leaving and all..doubts that me and lots of fans shared..we turned out to be pretty solid and we have chances for another treble season..and we should play the rotation game, esp in la liga. Real will also play it hopeing they save themselves with another ucl..so point buffer should be used especially for hard physical games with an opponent that will try to hurt us as a way to vent frustration and so called local pride..

So..ffs valverde..rest messi..rest everybody..it will be a perfect way to show those fuckers how little we think of them..