Luis Enrique
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
L
linetty
Guest
Mascherano is responsible for poor midfield display. You can be calm.
I hope Atleti kicks RM out of the Champions Leauge though because they're still incredibly dangerous.
I
instinct
Guest
lel.
Fatigue was a factor, the player themselves admitted that.
Please don't forget that we faced Real Madrid yesterday. Matches vs them are mostly very very difficult since they have world-class players on almost every position.
The first and most important factor of our midfield problems was Mascherano. Everyone knows that he is not at the same level as Busquets when it comes to controlling the ball and pass it to a teammate without giving it away. Ancelotti is not a fool, he knows that and told his players to press Mascherano which they successfully did. Rakitic is not great under pressure as well. Our midfield consisted of 3 players. 2 of those are not made for keeping posession under pressure which made it very difficult for us.
Busquets and Xavi changed everything. Of course Real were tired in the 2nd half but Xavi and Busquets don't care if anybody presses. They pass the ball to every target without giving it away which we lacked in the 1st half. Lucho's adjustments were correct. The timing was great as well IMO.
Before juding the team's performance and therefore Luchos' decision, we should always take into consideration that we faced a world-class team. Our poor first half was not only because of a bad tactics or individual errors (although they played a part). I think it was rather down to their very effective approach of this game.
Interesting observation: All goals against Man City and Real M were scored by recently acquired players and our 'new' goalkeepers both did a great job along with the increasingly solid defense.
- RAKITIC
- MATHIEU & SUAREZ
scored our 3 goals.
Conclusion: Club did a good job signing players that fit in and contribute.
LE deserves credit for creating a well functioning team, in particular a much improved defense.
- RAKITIC
- MATHIEU & SUAREZ
scored our 3 goals.
Conclusion: Club did a good job signing players that fit in and contribute.
LE deserves credit for creating a well functioning team, in particular a much improved defense.
i_bleed_blaugrana
Senior Member
Yes and no. I would like to think that a Thiago Silva or a Marquinhos or a Benatia would have put that header away, hell even Bartra, if it was them instead of Mathieu and while I understand why we bought him and he has performed adequately this season, first off I don't think he is any better than Bartra and secondly we should have signed a true world class CB ages ago. Him and particularly Vermaelen were nothing more than stopgaps and most importantly, we could have been at this level two even three seasons ago had we gotten it right in the market then.
The only good signings this club have made in recent memory are Rakitic, Suarez and Villa. No disrespect to Neymar but the way we handled his transfer was shockingly distasteful and any other big signings have been average at best in the last 5 years. Sorry, but give credit to Lucho and the players, not to our transfer policy lol.
+1
The bolded parts are what I want to highlight. Ever since the beginning of the season when Madrid sold Alonso and replaced him with Kroos, Ancelotti has been playing an extremely offensive midfield that puts emphasis on circulating possession to either wings, overloading a side and creating a crossing opportunity to Ronaldo or Benzema. While not quite as fluent and cohesive as Pep's tiki-taka here, its similar with its design and how heavily they press in the center, they only difference is they look to score more through the air or from a layoff, while we pass and dribble more to finish our moves.
I didn't get a chance to post before the game but I was going to suggest a MF of Iniesta-Rakitic-Xavi particularly because it would have been the best combo with Busi not 100% to cope with Madrid's pressure. Not enough people highlight Xavi's impact on this team still, he simply brings control and coordination through the center whenever he is on the pitch and you cannot underestimate how much that makes our game work. Especially against Madrid, to beat them you have to be constantly forcing them to back peddle and bring the ball from out deep, their game starts working when they win the ball in the center third of the pitch and that's why they started taking the game to us a bit at the end of the first half. Rakitic is a great all around midfielder but he isn't maestro, a tempo dictator and without either Xavi or Busquets in the team, we lack that element in our MF.
Just on paper, Modric-Kroos-Isco is more offensively equipped than Rakitic-Mascherano-Iniesta, so it wasn't surprising to see them winning through the center. This is why I think Xavi should be in the top starting 11 in this run in specifically because of what he can still bring. He influences our game right now way more than Iniesta does and I think its Iniesta who needs to be rotating for Xavi and Rakitic, he simply isn't creating or scoring enough on his own in MF and he lacks the ability right now to control the tempo which is what our MF needs more than anything right now.
We really need to find a tempo AM in the market this summer in my opinion and for me its always been either Thiago or Oliver Torres. They have the youth, the technical ability, the vision and the mental understanding of how to position that is needed to make Xavi expendable. Maybe Rafinha can get there in a year or two but he lacks control at times.
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Good comments instinct and i_bleed regarding midfield/Xavi/Busquets.
TornAndFrayed
Banned
I agree and liked that the players themselves seemed to be aware of it.
Masche's comments about Busquets a few days before the clasico point in that direction.
I'm not sure that Xavi could do better than Iniesta in his position for 90 mins though.
LMAO!
KingMessi
SiempreBlaugrana
serghei
Senior Member
I liked Lucho's move with a double-pivot to break Real's attacks. I think we have a great solution in Busi-Mascherano for quick counters when we're leading. I could see us playing something like that in the future when we need to defend a lead and hit on the break quickly.
Alik
Moderator
I liked Lucho's move with a double-pivot to break Real's attacks. I think we have a great solution in Busi-Mascherano for quick counters when we're leading. I could see us playing something like that in the future when we need to defend a lead and hit on the break quickly.
Why would you sub off Rakitic if you want to defend a lead?
serghei
Senior Member
For the same reason Lucho did. Both Mascherano and Busquets are superior DMs to Rakitic.
serghei
Senior Member
The problem with the 4-3-3 is that it's success depends a lot on the front trio. For example, in the first half, they've done very little to help our midfield, and we've found ourselves often dominated by Real's midfield. In the 2nd half, the front three started to move more and give more in terms of workrate (especially Messi and Neymar) and we started to control the game better.
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