Luis Enrique

[Flavia]

You can all speculate as to why Atleti happened to suck that day but the fact remains is that it was not their most capable performance, not even close. There's no taking credit from the way Barca played because it obviously took them by surprise and worked. However, that doesn't mean that this Atleti side was fully prepared and at the highest level on the day yet still unable to slow us down. We're not that "unstoppable".

Atletico are fully capable of playing sides with vertical/quicker attacks, their successes against RM in the past 3 seasons bear proof of that. Yet when we played them at the Camp Nou they weren't set up to do so and their individuals were not performing at an adequate level. I'd expect Simeone to not make the same mistakes again and anticipate our new system this week, which will likely make this game more difficult. Even if they can't stop us outright, their defense will probably be much harder to break down. You can argue with Bertus/zanela/Hamzah all you want but would you honestly disagree that it'd be more difficult to pummel Atletico again this time around?

The talk that atletico didn't perform because this or that is what I don't buy. They started better that game, but once Barça took control, they were lost in the pitch. In the second half things were more even, so I really don't think they underperformed. Barça was just really superior for the most part. This time around it will obviously be more difficult, but not because of the rm game they played. A performance like that is difficult to repeat, it's the cdr, and atletico will be motivated to erase that game from their memory, and to prove a point.

 

[Kohe321]

They started very good the first minutes and looked very dangerous until we got the match under control by meeting their intensity, that's true. Had the same bullrush tactic that they had against Madrid recently, where they scored within the first minute in both halves.

 

[DinhoR10]

They started very good the first minutes and looked very dangerous until we got the match under control by meeting their intensity, that's true. Had the same bullrush tactic that they had against Madrid recently, where they scored within the first minute in both halves.

Our defense is better than Madrid's I guess

 

[Siberia]

Imo it is. Real lack a real defensive midfielder. Kroos is a good player but is realy vulnerable in defense against strong oppositions

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Imo it is. Real lack a real defensive midfielder. Kroos is a good player but is realy vulnerable in defense against strong oppositions

Yup. We would have at least exploited this more last year had we not had Mathieu opening up the right side for Madrid.

I think what was clear from the Atletico game was how vital Courtois and Luis were to their defense. Filipe Luis shut down Messi on the RW last year while Messi ran riot last week. That's why I'm still not doing back flips over us yet, this is a weaker Atletico compared to last year so even if we get a result against them in the CdR, it isn't indicative of this team really making progress and being at the level they need to be to top Europe.

Individuals don't win titles, systems do and I don't see enough right now to be confident in saying we are "unstoppable".
Torres will also be in the picture and you all remember the dagger in 2012 he scored.

His match up against Piqué/Bartra will be fascinating to watch.

 

[pacp_96]

Yup. We would have at least exploited this more last year had we not had Mathieu opening up the right side for Madrid.

I think what was clear from the Atletico game was how vital Courtois and Luis were to their defense. Filipe Luis shut down Messi on the RW last year while Messi ran riot last week. That's why I'm still not doing back flips over us yet, this is a weaker Atletico compared to last year so even if we get a result against them in the CdR, it isn't indicative of this team really making progress and being at the level they need to be to top Europe.

Individuals don't win titles, systems do and I don't see enough right now to be confident in saying we are "unstoppable".
Torres will also be in the picture and you all remember the dagger in 2012 he scored.

His match up against Piqué/Bartra will be fascinating to watch.

Weaker or not. They still beat Real 2 - 0 the other week, whereas we ran riot.

Not saying we are unstoppable but in that form we could probably take on any top team and not come off badly.

 

[DinhoR10]

Yup. We would have at least exploited this more last year had we not had Mathieu opening up the right side for Madrid.

I think what was clear from the Atletico game was how vital Courtois and Luis were to their defense. Filipe Luis shut down Messi on the RW last year while Messi ran riot last week. That's why I'm still not doing back flips over us yet, this is a weaker Atletico compared to last year so even if we get a result against them in the CdR, it isn't indicative of this team really making progress and being at the level they need to be to top Europe.

Individuals don't win titles, systems do and I don't see enough right now to be confident in saying we are "unstoppable".
Torres will also be in the picture and you all remember the dagger in 2012 he scored.

His match up against Piqué/Bartra will be fascinating to watch.

Messi wasn't really on the wing last year, theres a difference between going to the byline every 25 mins and actually playing RW. Our RW consisted basically of Alves last year.

 

[Icarium]

Players with 2,000 minutes already among top teams
R Madrid: 9
Juve: 7
Chelsea: 6
Arsenal / City / PSG: 5
Atletico: 4
Bayern: 2
Barca: 1

Real players will be tired at the end of the season. Bayern and Barca will be relatively fresh.

 

[linetty]

Players with 2,000 minutes already among top teams
R Madrid: 9
Juve: 7
Chelsea: 6
Arsenal / City / PSG: 5
Atletico: 4
Bayern: 2
Barca: 1

Real players will be tired at the end of the season. Bayern and Barca will be relatively fresh.

Criticize Lucho as much as you want but these 'crazy' rotations will work in our favour when the business starts.

 

[Hamzah]

Yeah. Albert ferrer was saying that Lucho's crazy rotations first half were normal as he was trying to use all combinations of players to find the best eleven. It will also keep us fresh towards the end of the season.

Real Madrid will be tired like last time as has been said already.

 

[Chainsaw]

Being merely physically fresh doesn't mean everything works 'in our favor' at the end.

 

[Icarium]

Being merely physically fresh doesn't mean everything works 'in our favor' at the end.

Yeah duh...... at least we don't have tired players (relatively) in march fighting for liga and CL right? Chelsea and Real use the same 11 almost every match, they will face the effects of it soon. Real will mostly show those effects in liga leaving an opportunity for us to take over them if we can utilize it properly. As chelsea have a good lead in PL (assuming they win against city) then they might ease up in league and concentrate on CL. Real can't do that, we will be pushing for title too and they still have a match at calderon and Nou Camp.

 

[instinct]

Barcelona's friendly match in Qatar scheduled for February 4th has been ruled out [md]

 

[linetty]

Barcelona's friendly match in Qatar scheduled for February 4th has been ruled out [md]

Wise decision...

 

[serghei]

Real Madrid will be tired like last time as has been said already.

RM being tired doesn't mean they won't win at least 80% of the games they play. Lucho's rotation were not the problem, the problem was the way he rotated, resting important players in difficult games and playing them in easy games.