Lliga | Round 9: FC Barcelona - Malaga 2-0

[Ousmane Dembélé]

Also Suarez looks almost back to his best.

Please immediately get off whatever drugs you're on right now, it's messing with your cognitive ability.

 

[mssarm]

Just because someone is not calling doom and gloom it doesn't necessarily means hiding their heads in the sand. Will Valverde be success in Barca? No one can tell. You call Cruyff's spirit and ask that question he won't be able to answer. Valverde had pretty fuckrd up pre-season(thanks to that cunt Neymar for it), Suarez just recovered from injury and he is out of form. Dembele who is supposed to be one of our key player is injured, we carry bunch deadweight that is not Velverde fault . Why he is playing certain players and not others, we don't know but I'm sure there's a good reason for that(at least in his mind). What is important that we are not losing important points on league games. We had ugly games under every single coach including Pep's glorious era. Is EV a yesman? I have my doubts, he did not hesitate to bench Pique and did not hesitate to bench Suarez, confronted board members publicly when those idiots blamed players for loss.None of his previous teams played Capello or Mourinho style football , why he would do that with Barca, I'm not even sure if he knows how to play that. Bilbao played very attractive games and he always showed good tactical skills.Again, I'm not saying his success is guaranteed with Barca, but taking out the pitchforks mid October when the team just had one draw after international break to me is overreaction. I was never over-hyped with Valverde's appointment and time will tell if he's good for us, but now it's not that time.

 

[MessiCam]

I don't get all the hate here, we got a goal in what? first 3 minutes? we practically won the game there and saved energy.
We aren't gonna try to win games 5-0 and entertain fans, we neither have the players for that nor the manager (at least that is the impression till now) and even with their troubles Malaga are still better organized on the defense that most lower of the table teams.
Given all that it wasn't a terrible game, I don't get the hate everyone is giving to almost every player

In terms of football, I’ve had two loves since the early 90’s... Barcelona and their brand of football and that ridiculously good Juventus squad of the mid 90’s with Ravanelli, Vialli and a young Del Piero.

I was prepared to give Valverde a chance but after last nights shit show, because other than 3 points that’s exactly what it was. Barcelona’s brand of football, the soul of the club, is being shat on by Valverde’s defensive pragmatism. Instead of using the possession as a means to create chances as well as defend we ended up with side, both in terms of selection and tactics, that were unable to deal with the high press of a Malaga team which had let in 18 goals in 8 matches prior to last night. Barcelona had 80% possession in the first half and mustered only 220 passes and 1 attempt on goal, which was the goal itself.

An outstanding runner and playmaker is being relegated to play as a right back when an out of his depth Rakitic, whom annoyed Messi to no end last night, is playing in midfield. All he does is suck the oxygen out of every possible attack by playing safe. When Roberto was moved into midfield the game moved forward and chances were created.

It’s the same with Denis too who should be playing as LW because Suárez rot has well and truly set in but this coach says “The more chances he misses, the better, because he is there. He is priceless for us.” That is what Valverde said, seriously... When has mediocrity been priceless? He’s already missed 8 clear cut chances and we’re not even a third of the way into the season when Denis has buried all his opportunities.

Bilbao, Sevilla and Valencia are coming up in quick order and if they play like they did last night that points lead will be wiped out very quickly.

 

[Givenchy]

In terms of football, I’ve had two loves since the early 90’s... Barcelona and their brand of football and that ridiculously good Juventus squad of the mid 90’s with Ravanelli, Vialli and a young Del Piero.

I was prepared to give Valverde a chance but after last nights shit show, because other than 3 points that’s exactly what it was. Barcelona’s brand of football, the soul of the club, is being shat on by Valverde’s defensive pragmatism. Instead of using the possession as a means to create chances as well as defend we ended up with side, both in terms of selection and tactics, that were unable to deal with the high press of a Malaga team which had let in 18 goals in 8 matches prior to last night. Barcelona had 80% possession in the first half and mustered only 220 passes and 1 attempt on goal, which was the goal itself.

An outstanding runner and playmaker is being relegated to play as a right back when an out of his depth Rakitic, whom annoyed Messi to no end last night, is playing in midfield. All he does is suck the oxygen out of every possible attack by playing safe. When Roberto was moved into midfield the game moved forward and chances were created.

It’s the same with Denis too who should be playing as LW because Suárez rot has well and truly set in but this coach says “The more chances he misses, the better, because he is there. He is priceless for us.” That is what Valverde said, seriously... When has mediocrity been priceless? He’s already missed 8 clear cut chances and we’re not even a third of the way into the season when Denis has buried all his opportunities.

Bilbao, Sevilla and Valencia are coming up in quick order and if they play like they did last night that points lead will be wiped out very quickly.

totally agree with this. for the first time in ages i felt bored and disconnected watching yesterdays match. other than Messi there is no magic, no spark.. just mediocre shite all over the pitch, i was looking forward to seeing more Semedo-Messi link ups but ofcourse Ernesto benches him, what next? Gomes at RB?

its funny how in the past we had some ruthlessness about us in getting rid of players who weren't working here anymore (Ronaldinho, Zlatan etc) but now we are basically turning into a retirement home

 

[LeeRomeno]

This is absolutely hilarious. We don't play attacking football? Valverde has turned this team back into how we played under Pep. Is this not what everyone critizized under Lucho? We hold onto possession, make thousands of sideways passes, make opponent lose focus, find opportunity and then pass the ball to Messi who abuses opponents and scores or creates. Only difference is that we have a bit slower version of Iniesta, more mature Messi and no Xavi.
I don't really get the critique last game apart from allowing Malaga back into game for last 15-20 minutes and Suarez still being in terrible shape.
It's not like we didn't have those games where we won in a boring way under Pep or Lucho or any coach really.
As for selection of players, once again, Lucho was heavily critizized for never having a clear starting 11. Now we have, what is the goddamn problem. Same way we did under Pep. Rotations will come once it is reasonable.

 

[MessiCam]

totally agree with this. for the first time in ages i felt bored and disconnected watching yesterdays match. other than Messi there is no magic, no spark.. just mediocre shite all over the pitch, i was looking forward to seeing more Semedo-Messi link ups but ofcourse Ernesto benches him, what next? Gomes at RB?

its funny how in the past we had some ruthlessness about us in getting rid of players who weren't working here anymore (Ronaldinho, Zlatan etc) but now we are basically turning into a retirement home

Yep, but Iniesta had a good game too. I also feel for Deulofeu because after he put in a really good performance against Olympiacos in the LW position, his crossing aside, he gets relegated to RM because an early goal under Valverde means defend it. Moving him into a midfield role reduces his effectiveness and all he did after was look to make passes from deep. Why wasn’t Paulinho played too after his performance in the Champions League?

To add what was said above, last nights side did no pressing of their own. They let Malaga just run at them. Valverde needs to be told that this is not Athletic Bilbao. It was pathetic.

 

[MessiCam]

This is absolutely hilarious. We don't play attacking football? Valverde has turned this team back into how we played under Pep. Is this not what everyone critizized under Lucho? We hold onto possession, make thousands of sideways passes, make opponent lose focus, find opportunity and then pass the ball to Messi who abuses opponents and scores or creates. Only difference is that we have a bit slower version of Iniesta, more mature Messi and no Xavi.
I don't really get the critique last game apart from allowing Malaga back into game for last 15-20 minutes and Suarez still being in terrible shape.
It's not like we didn't have those games where we won in a boring way under Pep or Lucho or any coach really.
As for selection of players, once again, Lucho was heavily critizized for never having a clear starting 11. Now we have, what is the goddamn problem. Same way we did under Pep. Rotations will come once it is reasonable.

You don’t get it do you... The starting 11 doesn’t have to be your worst 11 and the tactics don’t have to be score and defend and play counter attack football. Paulinho was more of an attacking threat in midfield in 14 minutes than Rakitic was in the entire 90 minutes. Rakitic didn’t release the ball to Messi on time on numerous occasions and left him completely isolated upfield. Roberto, with all he has to offer shouldn’t be playing as a right back and if it’s not obvious by now Suárez has no business starting in his current form.

 

[Messi983]

No matter how poor Malaga has been so far this season we've only won against them once in three games at Camp Nou under Lucho while only scoring one goal. They've not been an easy opponent for us recently so beating them comfortable playing with half gas (or not even that) is a good thing. You don't win titles by winning 6-0 against Malaga in October so why waste energy to do that? How many titles did City already won this season by crushing teams like Stoke 7-2?

I'm ok with how EV and team have done so far. They've stepped up against the best two teams we've played so far - Juve and AM (yes, we only got a point but deserved all three) so I don't understand why people are saying "if we'll play the same way against better teams we'll get crushed." They'll again show more effort when that will be needed but you have to play and beat worse teams on you schedule too and we've done that. Some (own)goals we scored were lucky, that's true but I think we were the better team in all of our games so far except for maybe the Getafe one. But then again, you also have to win games when you're not playing good. RM has done that for years.

So people can be concerned about our play if they want but I'm not because I believe in Valverde and this team to improve in coming weeks/months and be at their best when that will be needed. For now, I'll just take wins.

Yep, but Iniesta had a good game too. I also feel for Deulofeu because after he put in a really good performance against Olympiacos in the LW position, his crossing aside, he gets relegated to RM because an early goal under Valverde means defend it..

Deu played RW against Olympiacos.

To add what was said above, last nights side did no pressing of their own.

Why should we press and waste energy in a game we don't need to do that?

 

[Ghostmaster]

Totally agree with [MENTION=20930]Messi983[/MENTION], just because Malaga is at the bottom of the table doesn't mean that we should be crushing them 7-0, those are the same bus parkers that give their all when they play against us and I think that players thought that this is going to be very easy as well and weren't that motivated for this game.

 

[Barcaman]

I don't get all the hate here, we got a goal in what? first 3 minutes? we practically won the game there and saved energy.
We aren't gonna try to win games 5-0 and entertain fans, we neither have the players for that nor the manager (at least that is the impression till now) and even with their troubles Malaga are still better organized on the defense that most lower of the table teams.
Given all that it wasn't a terrible game, I don't get the hate everyone is giving to almost every player

Didn't look to me we saved energy at all. Iniesta played entire match, Roberto was running his heart out, Suarez did his best to score.
We also played bad football and created little.

 

[MessiCam]

No matter how poor Malaga has been so far this season we've only won against them once in three games at Camp Nou under Lucho while only scoring one goal. They've not been an easy opponent for us recently so beating them comfortable playing with half gas (or not even that) is a good thing. You don't win titles by winning 6-0 against Malaga in October so why waste energy to do that? How many titles did City already won this season by crushing teams like Stoke 7-2?

I'm ok with how EV and team have done so far. They've stepped up against the best two teams we've played so far - Juve and AM (yes, we only got a point but deserved all three) so I don't understand why people are saying "if we'll play the same way against better teams we'll get crushed." They'll again show more effort when that will be needed but you have to play and beat worse teams on you schedule too and we've done that. Some (own)goals we scored were lucky, that's true but I think we were the better team in all of our games so far except for maybe the Getafe one. But then again, you also have to win games when you're not playing good. RM has done that for years.

So people can be concerned about our play if they want but I'm not because I believe in Valverde and this team to improve in coming weeks/months and be at their best when that will be needed. For now, I'll just take wins.



Deu played RW against Olympiacos.




Why should we press and waste energy in a game we don't need to do that?

Yeah sorry, RW. As for the rest, ok then. I’m well aware that you can’t win pretty all the time but lazy effortless performances are a no no.

This lackadaisical approach you’re so content with is what causes you to drop points. What if Malaga had scored? Because they did have good chances to...

And I’m not happy with what he has done apart from getting results. His selections and tactics have been questionable.

 

[MessiCam]

Didn't look to me we saved energy at all. Iniesta played entire match, Roberto was running his heart out, Suarez did his best to score.
We also played bad football and created little.

What I saw was a team that just let Malaga dictate to them with the little possession that had. It’s little wonder that Barcelona started looking better when Roberto was moved to midfield, Paulinho came on and Rakitic played DM.

 

[gun-powder]

Valverde such as stupid. when he realise that Sergio Roberto is Middlefield player and when he will give a chance to Denise Suarez plus putting Paulinho as starting line up ...

 

[LeeRomeno]

You don’t get it do you... The starting 11 doesn’t have to be your worst 11 and the tactics don’t have to be score and defend and play counter attack football. Paulinho was more of an attacking threat in midfield in 14 minutes than Rakitic was in the entire 90 minutes. Rakitic didn’t release the ball to Messi on time on numerous occasions and left him completely isolated upfield. Roberto, with all he has to offer shouldn’t be playing as a right back and if it’s not obvious by now Suárez has no business starting in his current form.

We had like 1-2 counterattacks entire game. Don't know what game you were watching. For most of game we had like 75% possession and only after scoring second goal, we started playing poorly as everyone felt it was over and Malaga also got their only chances then. We are undefeated, so claims that our starting lineup is wrong have 0 backing. Also why is it so hard to comprehend that having options from bench is a good thing.

 

[gun-powder]

we dont want to wait untill we get beaten so badly, the team performance is so weak and yet we didnt played good teams yet

with this level, we will be beaten from madrid or other strong team in Europe easily