Lliga | Round 35: FC Barcelona - Levante 1-0

[Howlgrana]

And what will you say on Wed when Messi is walking around and Suarez, Rakitic etc look gassed? How many games has Suarez even sat out this season? Literally none.

If you can’t rest players for a CL semi final when the league is all but wrapped up, when do you?

Spot on. This is textbook occasion when you need to rest most of the first team, when you have a NINE POINT lead at the top of the table, 3 days before a massive CL match against one of the strongest teams in Europe. If you don't rest most of the players under these circumstances, what the hell is the purpose of a 9-point lead?!? If EV doesn't rest most of the team, he needs his head examining.

 

[Joan]

Should do some rotating.

But a coach can't really say he doesn't care about the next match.

 

[Kul_z]

Exactly. So why is it so fucking important to win against Levante.

Its not like we are playing against madrid teams so its a exhausting match. Its against levante, we should win this no matter if we win la liga or not, whith who ever plays. We have a quality back ups and i dont understand why we shouldnt win la liga tonight.

 

[soul24rage]

A mix of the key players who didn't start vs Alaves (then subbing them out if we have a comfortable lead) and the squad players would be the ideal starting XI vs Levante.

 

[eaman]

Its not like we are playing against madrid teams so its a exhausting match. Its against levante, we should win this no matter if we win la liga or not, whith who ever plays. We have a quality back ups and i dont understand why we shouldnt win la liga tonight.

You can't go into a match thinking it's easy and play at 80 percent. The reason we have won so many la liga titles in the last few years and real haven't is that we give it our all especially in concentration in every match. It would be better to rest a good few including Messi and suarez today for this reason

 

[Altomonte]

I think Valverde wants to win today and then send a B team to Vigo for the Celta match. Liverpool will not be able to rest next Sunday against Newcastle ahead of the home return match against Barça on Tuesday. That will be a big challenge for Klopp.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves: Play well against Levante, beat Liverpool at Camp Nou, and we'll be in good shape!

 

[Leo_98cro]

Id play

Stegen

Roberto Todibo Lenglet Umtiti

Vidal Raki Alena

Dembele Messi Malcolm

Hopefully 2:0 at the break and then sub Messi for Prince, and later Busi for Raki in 60.min and Cou for Vidal or Dembele, or maybe Alba to gain some rhytm as he didnt play much in tuesday also
Full rest for Suarez, Pique and Arthur

And in wednesday ofc gala IX with Semedo and Cou ( Dembele later as super-sub )

 

[Vilarrubi]

I think Valverde wants to win today and then send a B team to Vigo for the Celta match. Liverpool will not be able to rest next Sunday against Newcastle ahead of the home return match against Barça on Tuesday. That will be a big challenge for Klopp.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves: Play well against Levante, beat Liverpool at Camp Nou, and we'll be in good shape!

The Newcastle vs Liverpool got moved to the Saturday.. but still late kickoff at 19:45 and yeah, they won’t be able to rest at all. Good for us.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

The Newcastle vs Liverpool got moved to the Saturday.. but still late kickoff at 19:45 and yeah, they won’t be able to rest at all. Good for us.

That's great news!

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

"Klopp: “It's clear that we will play Newcastle on the Saturday, we're just not 100% sure when. It would be important if we could play Newcastle in the late game on the Saturday and not the 12.30pm kick-off.”"

Why would he want to play it later?

 

[Calidad]

Id play

Stegen

Roberto Todibo Lenglet Umtiti

Vidal Raki Alena

Dembele Messi Malcolm

Hopefully 2:0 at the break and then sub Messi for Prince, and later Busi for Raki in 60.min and Cou for Vidal or Dembele, or maybe Alba to gain some rhytm as he didnt play much in tuesday also
Full rest for Suarez, Pique and Arthur

And in wednesday ofc gala IX with Semedo and Cou ( Dembele later as super-sub )

Looks a good team for today. Nice mixture of regulars and non-regulars.

Definitely agree that Suarez, Alba + Pique should be getting a full rest.

 

[Vilarrubi]

i guess to not mess with the players' diet/sleep schedule. those things are very important in the top level

Not sure about that at all tbh... not sure why he’d rather not have an extra 7 hours rest even if it isn’t much it’s something as the game is Tuesday so don’t have a clue why he would say he’d prefer a later game, he’s either bluffing or maybe it’s because 12:30 games in the PL are notoriously bad for big teams and a lot of upsets happen in that kick off time.

 

[valonquar]

Not sure about that at all tbh... not sure why he’d rather not have an extra 7 hours rest even if it isn’t much it’s something as the game is Tuesday so don’t have a clue why he would say he’d prefer a later game, he’s either bluffing or maybe it’s because 12:30 games in the PL are notoriously bad for big teams and a lot of upsets happen in that kick off time.

Isn't it summer in the UK now? I guess playing during the hottest hours of the day would be a big drain on players' stamina.

 

[Howlgrana]

I think because Pool need to win that Newcastle game and yeah, 12.30 KO are notorious for poor performances because it's too early in the day for footballers to play elite football idk. But Newcastle away on their current form is going to be tough for them after travelling back from Spain 3 days earlier.

 

[jairzinho]

Man fuck Athleti.
They’ll keep winning 1-0 until the season is over.