Surrounding Neymar with Dmc Masch and Mc Rafinha is asking for 0:1 defeats at home.
Come on man... you are the one going into circles, making assumptions like that based on pretty weak
correlations.
None of them were directly or indirectly responsible for our home defeats. And I guess the same also applies to away defeats, but I am too lazy to research.
You have nothing, I repeat, NOTHING to support your case.
Each player brings something different, and each player plays better paired with different players and with each player on the field, our team will have more/less control/automatism and more/less vision/magic/dribbles.
Well, this is just the obvious and I couldn't agree more. Just the very basics of squad depth.
Your point would be perfect if you stopped right there. But you insist to go further and to create ~facts~ out of nothing, like your previous statement.
That's it, in a nutshell. It's clear the Pep/La Masia players bring more control to the game, which is quite useful against some opponents, and adds some balance when mixed in.
It is obviously useful and I also love our old tiki-taka controlling game, but is not "easy" anymore to keep this type of game.
I even doubt we are able to sustain HALF that level of intensity.
We need our dynamo (Xavi) in full throttle mode and, most important of all, a weak or desperate enough opponent to still get fooled.
Lucky Pedro he had this two conditions yesterday and he could benefit from it, not lucky Barca we had him to build the tempo.
And even though one can suggest individual instances that led to losses, one cannot ignore the context of the games. For instance, the team is more likely to make mistakes the more often they lose control of the ball: 1) the other team has more opportunities to force a mistake, 2) players get more tired by having to chase box to box more, and 3) are more likely to be caught with fewer outlet options to protect the ball. Or, if Neymar kills Barça attacks by ball-holding, that means the other prongs of the Barça attack see less of the ball than when the ball is recirculated. Etc, etc.
About Málaga loss, please point me WHAT CONTEXT I am ignoring:
- in a mistake made by Dani around
minute 6 of the first half, after a long ball reposition by Málaga's keeper;
- with Barca having fucking
73% of ball possession;
- with Barca making
579 completed passes and
88% of accuracy, against only 138 passes and 57% accuracy by Málaga;
- with Rafinha accomplishing
90.6% of passing accuracy, even though with only 32 completed passes;
- with Neymar accomplishing
87.1% of passing accuracy AND being
third most passer with 70 passes;
- with Pedro not having God Xavi to make he shine, doing only 10 passes (0.41 p/min against 0.51 from Rafinha and 0.77 from Neymar);
- in a great opportunity lost by Pedro after a very good setup from Neymar;
- in a outside shoot from Rafinha blocked on the line by Málaga's defender.
About Celta loss, please point me WHAT CONTEXT I am ignoring:
- in a failed attempt from Dani to beat Nolito in a body challenge, after ANOTHER long ball reposition from keeper;
- in a magisterial and one-of-a-kind backheel assist from Nolito, fooling ALL 3 defenders around him;
- with Barca having
67% of ball possession;
- with Barca making
477 completed passes and
82% of accuracy, against only 178 passes and 63% accuracy by Celta;
- with Barca hitting the post 3 times (1 from Messi, 2 from Neymar - one being a GREAT shot from outside the box);
- with Álvarez making 6 great saves, 5 being just incredible (2 from Messi, 2 from Neymar, 2 from Suárez);
- with Celta's defender blocking a Messi's shot almost above the line, hitting the post after that.
* tbh, both Xavi and Pedro made more passes/min than Rafinha and Neymar, but this only prove their controlling impact on the game, not Rafinha and Neymar blame on the defeat because of a supposed lack of control, as seen above in possession and passes statistics, not to mention the missed opportunities.
- - -
What MAGICAL context could possibly blame Neymar, Rafinha or ANY OTHER PLAYER presence and impact on the pitch, beside Dani of course, for BOTH defeats?
I rest my case.
