Lliga | Round 27: FC Barcelona - Real Sociedad 1-0
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Asylum15
Senior Member
Well lads, I didn't quite Jinx it but...
I'm still in Barcelona, going to take in more of the city but regarding last nights game, firstly an incredible stadium which cannot ever be captured on any form of media in terms of it's magnitude and atmosphere. I was emotional as fuck, it was a surreal feeling walking up the stairs and seeing ''FC Barcelona'' peaking back at me on the opposite side of the stadium before the full view was revealed.
In terms of the match itself, I wasn't overly surprised. After a week of stupidity around Eder Sarabia and a defeat in the Clasico (aside from our overall average-ness), I warned myself not to place too much of an expectation on the game, especially considering Sociedad are a decent side. It was incredible to see our system in person for the first time as opposed to that somewhat biased view that Television shows us. Rather than following a directors camera, I used my own eyes and I saw many things.
Our fans HATE Alba. I don't speak Spanish but I know a few of the common insults and those thrown at Jordi were borderline hilarious. Many references to ''cry some more'' etc. That Liverpool game has killed that guys mentality IMO. His body language is so disgracefully poor and he's CONSTANTLY bitching on the field. I don't know if you guys saw it on TV but he was moaning at Frankie numerous times last night even though he was standing MILES from his own team mates most of the night, hiding from the ball. He's a fucking cancer these days and the sooner we shove him out, the better.
As someone who played for a professional club (I'll keep the details to myself), it was incredible to see how EASY it is to play AGAINST us. You could see our game plan of high block pressure when the opponent has it deep but we execute it so poorly due to a lack of intensity. It is incredibly easy to play through our wave(s) and once you get it past our initial press, it is so easy to get us turned over and be in 1v1 scenarios which is frightening. Worse still, our 1v1 defending is not great either. Many times Sociedad had Busquets scamparing back with his gangly running style, asking the question of Lenglet (who was horrible) and Pique (need I say more) to come and make the tackle. They invaded that dangerous central space between CB/CM numerous times and due to a combination of a lack of composure/luck, they couldn't punish us. To me, Sociedad's high pressure when Marc had it was more solidified than ours, I could see it clearly, especially as the game progressed.
Messi WALKS ALOT. The guy is clearly not right, I do suspect he's injured like most here but we essentially defend with 9 outfield players when he's like this and aside from springing into action when he gets it occasionally, his off the ball movement/body language is quite worrying at the minute. The 'end' is not miles away, nor is Messi anywhere near finished but both in combination further show to me that we need better personnel to help Leo in his final few years here.
Rakitic/Busquets is a dreadful midfield. Guys, these fuckers are even slower in real life! Our fans were slating Rakitic numerous times, he was boo'ed aggressively when he was substituted. I don't want to see this midfield ever again but it won't be long before we do.
Much more to type but little time left here so I must go explore more of the City.
A decent first experience but a pity I didn't get to see 2011/2015 Barca maybe! Our issues are personified in person and further slap a dose of reality into the face.
Happy Sunday guys!
I'm still in Barcelona, going to take in more of the city but regarding last nights game, firstly an incredible stadium which cannot ever be captured on any form of media in terms of it's magnitude and atmosphere. I was emotional as fuck, it was a surreal feeling walking up the stairs and seeing ''FC Barcelona'' peaking back at me on the opposite side of the stadium before the full view was revealed.
In terms of the match itself, I wasn't overly surprised. After a week of stupidity around Eder Sarabia and a defeat in the Clasico (aside from our overall average-ness), I warned myself not to place too much of an expectation on the game, especially considering Sociedad are a decent side. It was incredible to see our system in person for the first time as opposed to that somewhat biased view that Television shows us. Rather than following a directors camera, I used my own eyes and I saw many things.
Our fans HATE Alba. I don't speak Spanish but I know a few of the common insults and those thrown at Jordi were borderline hilarious. Many references to ''cry some more'' etc. That Liverpool game has killed that guys mentality IMO. His body language is so disgracefully poor and he's CONSTANTLY bitching on the field. I don't know if you guys saw it on TV but he was moaning at Frankie numerous times last night even though he was standing MILES from his own team mates most of the night, hiding from the ball. He's a fucking cancer these days and the sooner we shove him out, the better.
As someone who played for a professional club (I'll keep the details to myself), it was incredible to see how EASY it is to play AGAINST us. You could see our game plan of high block pressure when the opponent has it deep but we execute it so poorly due to a lack of intensity. It is incredibly easy to play through our wave(s) and once you get it past our initial press, it is so easy to get us turned over and be in 1v1 scenarios which is frightening. Worse still, our 1v1 defending is not great either. Many times Sociedad had Busquets scamparing back with his gangly running style, asking the question of Lenglet (who was horrible) and Pique (need I say more) to come and make the tackle. They invaded that dangerous central space between CB/CM numerous times and due to a combination of a lack of composure/luck, they couldn't punish us. To me, Sociedad's high pressure when Marc had it was more solidified than ours, I could see it clearly, especially as the game progressed.
Messi WALKS ALOT. The guy is clearly not right, I do suspect he's injured like most here but we essentially defend with 9 outfield players when he's like this and aside from springing into action when he gets it occasionally, his off the ball movement/body language is quite worrying at the minute. The 'end' is not miles away, nor is Messi anywhere near finished but both in combination further show to me that we need better personnel to help Leo in his final few years here.
Rakitic/Busquets is a dreadful midfield. Guys, these fuckers are even slower in real life! Our fans were slating Rakitic numerous times, he was boo'ed aggressively when he was substituted. I don't want to see this midfield ever again but it won't be long before we do.
Much more to type but little time left here so I must go explore more of the City.
A decent first experience but a pity I didn't get to see 2011/2015 Barca maybe! Our issues are personified in person and further slap a dose of reality into the face.
Happy Sunday guys!
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Vilarrubi
New member
THis is a well constructed post and is easy to follow & understand where your coming from BUT....
If this what you seen is so bad, then how come we keep winning? why does no one thrash us at nou camp by 2-3 goals or so.
If busi, rakitic so bad, messi walking all day etc.
But then how come keep winning? How come on top of league so often.
I think the quality is there in all players, but they use the brain more than the "gung ho" lets run like mad men mentality.
serghei
Senior Member
The problem is there are many teams who also use their brain and their athleticism.
Asylum15
Senior Member
Well, how do we define 'winning?' In La Liga we win because we still have sprinkles of individual quality (and Messi) which overcomes most of the challenges put in front of us. A declined Barca is still better than most of the sides in Spain, that was the gap we created between ourselves and the rest since 2008/2009. I'm not saying winning La Liga isn't winning but surely the level we truly measure ourselves against is the Champions League. This is more relevant than ever since La Liga (IMO) is no longer the strongest league in Europe as it's best 3 teams are in transition and Liverpool have been the best team in the World for months now.
Everything I mentioned in my original post is a part of the reason we aren't 'winning' where it truly matters, in Europe. Over the last few years, we've been knocked out by Juventus, Atletico, Roma, Liverpool and alot of what is contained in my post about the Sociedad game holds true with these knockout games. The problem is that football now has evolved even since 2011 and 'running' is incredibly important, even more deadly when it's implemented in well coordinated movement patterns on the field. Liverpool have showed this many times in the last 2 years. Press together in a consistent block when they need to, sit back and plug holes where they need do. Our team does neither well. We press incoherently with certain individuals out of sync, thus making it easy to play through our pressure and we then don't sit in a deep block well either as once again, our central areas (midfield especially) lack mobility and intensity (especially when Sergio/Rakitic are in there) which allows the better sides to hurt us.
Sociedad created 5-6 moments on Saturday where in footballing terms, we were in big trouble but as you tend to see in La Liga when the 'smaller' sides go to the Camp Nou, Bernabeu etc, they made poor decisions or overhit crosses, hesitated etc and nothing came of the chances. Maybe this is psychological. How many chances have been created against us at home this year? Seems higher than ever, we don't defend well as a unit.
Modern football is more than ever about using your brain (I agree with you) but it's also about using your brain when RUNNING as-well. Well set up teams tactically with intelligent systems that are aerobically fit tend to be difficult to beat in the modern game. Our team is not particularly good at anything right now. We don't setup with a huge amount of clarity, we don't really seem to possess the ball well at times and often when we do, we create little and we certainly don't defend well without the ball. Many teams have decent personnel that need coaching, we have the opposite issue, we have personnel that need to leave the club in order to implement a clear system. Rakitic, Busquets, Alba, Pique, Suarez for a start need to move on. Leo is nearing his career end and our future has never been so critical.
Everthing I saw on Saturday reaffirmed what I've written above, we will be still beaten by the better teams in Europe, our system is not working very well, we don't cover ground in sync as a team as well as we need to and our stale possession game is easy to defend against.
I'll never stop supporting us however
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snowy
Well-known member
Well, how do we define 'winning?' In La Liga we win because we still have sprinkles of individual quality (and Messi) which overcomes most of the challenges put in front of us. A declined Barca is still better than most of the sides in Spain, that was the gap we created between ourselves and the rest since 2008/2009. I'm not saying winning La Liga isn't winning but surely the level we truly measure ourselves against is the Champions League. This is more relevant than ever since La Liga (IMO) is no longer the strongest league in Europe as it's best 3 teams are in transition and Liverpool have been the best team in the World for months now.
Everything I mentioned in my original post is a part of the reason we aren't 'winning' where it truly matters, in Europe. Over the last few years, we've been knocked out by Juventus, Atletico, Roma, Liverpool and alot of what is contained in my post about the Sociedad game holds true with these knockout games. The problem is that football now has evolved even since 2011 and 'running' is incredibly important, even more deadly when it's implemented in well coordinated movement patterns on the field. Liverpool have showed this many times in the last 2 years. Press together in a consistent block when they need to, sit back and plug holes where they need do. Our team does neither well. We press incoherently with certain individuals out of sync, thus making it easy to play through our pressure and we then don't sit in a deep block well either as once again, our central areas (midfield especially) lack mobility and intensity (especially when Sergio/Rakitic are in there) which allows the better sides to hurt us.
Sociedad created 5-6 moments on Saturday where in footballing terms, we were in big trouble but as you tend to see in La Liga when the 'smaller' sides go to the Camp Nou, Bernabeu etc, they made poor decisions or overhit crosses, hesitated etc and nothing came of the chances. Maybe this is psychological. How many chances have been created against us at home this year? Seems higher than ever, we don't defend well as a unit.
Modern football is more than ever about using your brain (I agree with you) but it's also about using your brain when RUNNING as-well. Well set up teams tactically with intelligent systems that are aerobically fit tend to be difficult to beat in the modern game. Our team is not particularly good at anything right now. We don't setup with a huge amount of clarity, we don't really seem to possess the ball well at times and often when we do, we create little and we certainly don't defend well without the ball. Many teams have decent personnel that need coaching, we have the opposite issue, we have personnel that need to leave the club in order to implement a clear system. Rakitic, Busquets, Alba, Pique, Suarez for a start need to move on. Leo is nearing his career end and our future has never been so critical.
Everthing I saw on Saturday reaffirmed what I've written above, we will be still beaten by the better teams in Europe, our system is not working very well, we don't cover ground in sync as a team as well as we need to and our stale possession game is easy to defend against.
I'll never stop supporting us however
Can't deny it, teams are wise to our act and no longer fear attacking us full blast with shields lowered.
All these issues you've highlighted have been lingering for a few years now, only to be exacerbated by players being older and Leo playing injured.
After Lucho, Ernie-ball came along as a temp patch and gave the board a full year to secure a top coach + scout and sign young talents.
Posting from my mob here so might be mistaken on the timelines but had the board not offered those insane multi-year extensions, would've been much easier to sign young, cheap prospects and guarantee them starting position.
They were at a crossing and they chose the Leburhaya Galactico 69. Missed opp right there.
Contrast that with current Chelsea for instance
They're playing top football yet Lamp's looking to overhaul half his squad. That's the kind of proactive and balsy move Barto had the chance to make with the mega-windfall from neyney's transfer.
serghei
Senior Member
seems like half a year tbh...
JerseyAddict
Well-known member
Gari
Active member
Official — LaLiga clubs are returning to training this week following the Spanish Ministry of Health’s approval for the return of sports training sessions. All players will start training alone following medical tests carried out by club staff.
Professional football competitions in Spain are expected to resume in June.
Professional football competitions in Spain are expected to resume in June.
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