Re: Draw against Espanyol Rage thread

[free_cat]

We will win all the matches in the next month or month a half though: Keita is out to Africa, finally.

[Prometheus]

Why are people surprised?! It was against Espanyol away from home!!

The same Espanyol who could be about to get relegated with no points in any of their other games and yet will play the game of their lives against us!!

maybe its just me but remembering how uncomfortable and tense every other game against Espanyol away has been for the last 3 years, il take the point and be happy!!

yes the team played absolute crap but while thats partially their fault, partially the tactics fault, a lot of it was down to the Espanyol players!! they know how to disrupt and discomfort the barca players and tactics as well as anyone!!

anyway its a long way to the end of the season, we always have a rough patch in january and february, keep the faith guys, Real arent all that either!!

[matpol]

free_cat Pedro is in terrible form and definitely doesn't deserve to start. Hs first touch is the worst in the team. He has 100% opportunity to score a goal but he made terrible first touch and made weak shot which would went to o goal kick if not defender handball. Pedro is shit in this season and doesn't deserve to start, Sanchez had one bad game, Pedro had a lot of awful games, for example last two Copa matches.

[guest7]

I actually thought Pedro was looking lively and dangerous as soon as he got in. The fact that he didn't get a goal was down to the handball, so not really his fault.

[Pedram]

Yeah Pedro showed some sign of getting back on form. i think Pep should start him more often, need to regain his confidence.

[matpol]

Yeah, by Pedro standards in this season that was his best game. But he doesn't deserve to start, he is atrocious in this season, terrible first touch, no finishing. Pedro from last season would controll this ball properly and score a goal, Pedro from this season made terrible first touch and shot a ball that would went to a goal kick if not handball. Poor shot, way off the target. We need old Pedro, when will he wake up? Cuenca in this season >>>>> Pedro, Sanchez >>>>> Pedro. Cesc is fantastic transfer, if not him, we would be out of race for the title now. He scored a lot of important goals.

At last, Real Madrid will win La Liga, time to deal with it. I hope we will concentrate on Copa del Rey and UCL. Hopefully Pep will put VV in the goal in Copa Clasico. If he put Pinto, we will be knocked out by RM.

[jontsu]

I was so dissapointed in Sanchez. He could had decided the game in 1st half but he totally chocked. Overall all the key players were quiet when they should not.
A win in clasico and the lead is 2pts. Im also certain madrid wont take every point from their incoming matches. Corners & air game seems to be our weakness.

[the xcx]

Some of the cules are already giving up the hopes? Half of the season isint even over yet .
Obv. to say that Messi deserves the criticism but imo Alexis was just as wasteful as Messi, he had few opportunites to kill of the game, when he made himself space to shoot, but instead he chose to sidepass to Iniesta who couldnt done anything with the ball . And Fabregas apart from the goal, he was nowhere to seen throughout the match. Btw I thought Puyol had a good game, was pretty much solid overall.

[alexjanosik]

I agree with free here.I think La Liga is almost lost.I appreciate the confidence of some of you guys,about how its just a 2 point game.You all are forgetting something.
Our away form has been atrocious this season.And Madrid dont look like dropping points anytime soon.So if anything I think its more than a 2 point game(assuming we win Clasico).

This is precisely why I asked the question 'Whether we needed to buy a forward in Jan?
Cause its clear to me that the league will be won against the smaller teams and Madrid have a clear advantage there.
The reason for that is also simple.
Madrid have 3 elite top class goal scorers in there team.They are just going to outgun every single team out there(barring us) home or away.
Barring our 08-09 forward line I cant remember another team that had 3 elite goalscorers(each guaranteed to score 30 plus goals with one touching 50) like Madrid have right now.

While we have just one elite goal scorer.For the past 2 seasons we have been far too reliant on Messi to score the goals.
In 09-10,Pedro chipped in a bit and it was enough to just get us over the line.
In 10-11,Pedro and Villa chipped in a bit and we again won.

This season Pedro has been pathetic and Villa is out injured.And for some strange reason Messi is not taking his scoring boots to away games.
So we are dropping points.
I know Fab has chipped in a bit(else we would be even worse off) but its not enough.
We need Pedro to rediscover his goal scoring instincts(which given the way he has played this season is not likely) or we need to buy a goal scoring forward.
A one chance one goal forward who will pick up the slack when Messi is not scoring.
And dont ask me who,cause I dont know.

Before someone mentions the 100 goals scored and Messi only scoring 30 of them,those stats have been heavily skewed by some routs.The goals are not as spread out over games as they were last season.

[billionmillion]

as most of you said they were playing for 1-0 win and saving their energies. i felt it after espanyol scored their goal. In last 3 minutes barca created 2 real chances. they should have played like this whole game

but the lessong never taken, it happened 2-3 times this season

[DV7]

Today I had to take loads of sh!et from my buddies because of the game yesterday.

Im still pissed off at Pep for taking off Fabregas for Keita. Seriously wtf...
Fabregas scored our only goal and actually did something, why did he had to go off? If Pep really had to sub him off, why for Keita and not Mascherano or maybe Thiago or Adriano?

Mascherano has been awesome in the back for us and has saved us many times with his perfect tackling and yet, Pep chose to play the useless Keita. And as some people here already pointed out, when Keita came on against Arsenal we got our asses fak'd. He gets on against Getafe, you know what happened... And against Espanyol it happened again. Maybe he wasnt responsible for the goals, but still this has happened many times. He is just useless. Mascherano should have been subbed in.

Alexis wasted 2 very good chances where he could shoot but he didnt... Was he scared to miss or what? Im ok with that he was subbed out because he wasnt that good actually but to take Fabregas was wrong and the thing that makes it 100 times worse is because it was no other than the almighty KEITA who came on.

Alexis also drew many fouls on him. The Espanyol players massacred him ffs. I dont know but if they werent so hard on him, I think he would have had a better game.

Imo Pep should have kept Alexis and Messi and then he could have subbed Xavi for Pedro and we could have gone to our 4-3-3 or Messi could drop a lil deeper and play passes like Xavi does. In that way we keep our attackers/goalscorers. But no, Pep has to let Keita play because otherwise the gods will be pissed and the world will go to hell.


Its weird that when we come to the Bernabeu to face the players of Madrid who are in the best form of their life and win them comfortably and then when you look at how we have played our other away games... Its a disaster.

Also agree on that we should buy a good goalscoring forward. I dont know who really but Rossi was pretty damn good last season, dont know how he will do from now on because of his injury. Then there is Di Natale (who I think is awesome) but he is too old maybe, but atleast his price wont be high .

[windkick]

We played like shite and we got what we deserved.

Keita...seriously I am so sick and tired of seeing him out there on the pitch. Also i was never a fan of Alexis being brought here for so much and honestly he has failed to impress me. Why we didn't try to sign Kun over him is beyond me

[the xcx]

By now Pep should realise that the team needs a proper striker, not to get one from the B team. Any candidates?

[The Franchise]

No, we dont need anyone.

You dont sign people to replace injured players.

We score goals at home, but not away, thats not a personale problem, its a mentalilty one.

[the xcx]

No, we dont need anyone.

You dont sign people to replace injured players.

We score goals at home, but not away, thats not a personale problem, its a mentalilty one.

Im just saying that a loan spell wouldnt hurt anyone. Upfront barca has Messi, Alexis and Pedro, Thats a good offensive force, but it lacks a cf..I can add fabregas too since hes more of a "striker" than midfielder. For sure barca trio is good but judging from yesterday game, barca clearly lacked a striker, all those bottled chanches, and sidepasses in 18 yard box, they looked pretty clueless for me.
What can a player from B team do any better than more experienced striker?

[The Franchise]

We havent had a cf since Etoo, we dont need one.

Loan? Who?

We didnt waste lots of chances..we didnt create alot. Sidepasses? We do that everygame.

[Albiceleste]

No, we dont need anyone.

You dont sign people to replace injured players.

We score goals at home, but not away, thats not a personale problem, its a mentalilty one.

Im just saying that a loan spell wouldnt hurt anyone. Upfront barca has Messi, Alexis and Pedro, Thats a good offensive force, but it lacks a cf..I can add fabregas too since hes more of a "striker" than midfielder. For sure barca trio is good but judging from yesterday game, barca clearly lacked a striker, all those bottled chanches, and sidepasses in 18 yard box, they looked pretty clueless for me.
What can a player from B team do any better than more experienced striker?

Cesc and Messi are our CFs, why do we need a third?

[BarrileteCosmico]

That's not entirely true Dani, I'm watching the game as we speak and in the first 14 minutes Alexis could have scored 4 times, and probably should have twice.

Also, surprised no one mentioned Valdes' superb save

[guest7]

I agree with Dani the problem is not CF

If you want "goalscorers" upfront then you've both Messi and Cesc. Messi can score, but had a bad mentality for the game.

Pedro, is also one, but needs match fitness, which is bound to happen. Sanchez will probably learn with time.

In the end, the problem was the mentality and in no way the striker.

[Albiceleste]

That's not entirely true Dani, I'm watching the game as we speak and in the first 14 minutes Alexis could have scored 4 times, and probably should have twice.

Also, surprised no one mentioned Valdes' superb save

I mentioned it in the game thread

[DV7]

Most Barcelona games since Guardiola is coach: Messi 185 - Xavi 182 - Alves 179 - Valdes 174 - Keita 169

Took it from Barcaforum, didnt know he (Keita) had so many games under his belt :O

[Ganso]

[The Franchise]

That's not entirely true Dani, I'm watching the game as we speak and in the first 14 minutes Alexis could have scored 4 times, and probably should have twice.

Also, surprised no one mentioned Valdes' superb save

4? I am thinking 2 he should of scored. One where Xavi did a long pass which he couldnt control and another when he tried to round the goalie. What others?

I dont think we literally didnt create any chances, but there was one point late in the game I noticed we have 5 shots on goal and they had the exact same. Thats not Barca like at all.

[The Franchise]

I agree with Dani the problem is not CF

If you want "goalscorers" upfront then you've both Messi and Cesc. Messi can score, but had a bad mentality for the game.

Pedro, is also one, but needs match fitness, which is bound to happen. Sanchez will probably learn with time.

In the end, the problem was the mentality and in no way the striker.

I agree. Nobody would say anything about a striker if we won this game, and we would of won this game if Messi and co showed up.

We didnt lack a finisher, we lacked a performance.

[The Franchise]

Most Barcelona games since Guardiola is coach: Messi 185 - Xavi 182 - Alves 179 - Valdes 174 - Keita 169

Took it from Barcaforum, didnt know he (Keita) had so many games under his belt :O

I might cry...thats outragous...

Dont care if Iniesta and Puyol have been injured, this is insane.

More games then Pique....considering it only took Pique like 3 months to become a starter I am lost for words lol

[Omniscient]

Anyone have stats for the % of games Barca has won with Keita involved as opposed to without him?

Should be interesting.

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