Elche - Barcelona | Copa del Rey | Thursday Jan 15 16:00 EST / 21:00 GMT / 22:00 CET

Thursday night at 10pm, expect all of 12 people to show up.

First leg was 5-0 for Barca so we can expect several Barca B players to get a start. Halilovic is rumored to get his first senior start.

will prob see

-----------------MaTS
montoya--bartra---mathieu---adriano
----------------Samper
------Halilovic------------Rafinha
--Munir--------Sandro---------------Pedro

LoL

Why is this game even being played? lol

Fußball wrote:Why is this game even being played? lol

Getafe says "Hello".....

MATS our undisputed cup player why dont we try Masip in this game

because masip has no future in this club, why bother even giving him any minutes.
but i wouldn't put it past lucho to play him.. we've been playing sergi roberto for a while afterall.

2015 says hi to getafe.

Why doesnt Masip have a future?

Because we are set for the next 10 years with Bravo and MAtS, I presume.

Can't see that. One will leave after being frustrated with limited game time. Most likely Bravo. Masip can be no 2 to MTS

The Franchise wrote:Why doesnt Masip have a future?

because he is our third option goal keeper at the age of 26 behind bravo and a 22 year old prodigy who will most likely be in barcelona for another 9+ years

also we have Fabrice Ondoa who is rated as one of the best keepers we've produced in the longest time who is just 20 years old and has been starting for cameroon since the age of 18..
unless you consider a third keeper a real role in a big team then i guess he does have a future.. somewhat.

[1/2] Squad (vs Elche): Ter Stegen, Masip, Douglas, Montoya, Ie, Pique, Diagne, Bartra, Mathieu, Adriano

[2/2] Squad (vs Elche): Gumbau, Rakitic, Rafinha, Sergi Roberto, Halilovic, Adama, Pedro and Munir

Won't Travel: Bravo, Alves, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez and Neymar

Dafuq is Ie?

Edgar Le is a 20 year old CB from Guinea-Bissau who plays for the Portuguese youth NT

rafinha had a pretty decent game shows promise

Atletico is gonna be no joke. We get past them and we should be home free

Of course they are no joke and I don't expect the next game to be as easy as the last one but I'm confident now. Even when Atletico were unbeatable for Barca last season with strange tactics (Neymar on the right) and bucketloads of injuries (Valdes, Pique, Messi, Neymar all were sitting out against them at some point) it was still 5 draws in 6 games and never conceded more than 1 goal, so very very close encounters. Mehdrid somehow match up worse against them. DAT psychological block.

Fit and improved Neymar who actually plays in his best position + Suarez + better tactics (no 4 midfielder bullchit) + improved set piece defending + better pressing under Lucho should really tip it in Barca's favour. Curious to see how Simeone will try to effectively counter Neymar on the left and Messi on the right now that he's seen what they can do first hand.

do we know where we play the first game?
away or home?

we are playing at home first....plenty to see in the first leg...it seems we have broken our deadlock.but still think Simeone is a smart guy and will learn much more than anyone one else from the last game. it remains to be seen what he can do...

No guarantee we will play the A team though. The only time we have played the starting line up in the cup was during the first elche match and that's because we were in crisis mode. With that past us, LE might choose to reward the people who have been playing the cup so far, as Pep would have done.

Well if we play a B team we will get slaughtered. We are going to have to mix in some of the first team guys. Also depends how tough are matches are around that time

i have little doubt that we will play with best team. lucho always had the confidence issue. look at him playing suarez in his first game vs R. madrid and full team vs Elche when in crisis. dont think he would risk loosing the lifeline he has got now after winning last game. he knows what it means playing a B team vs this athletico madrid team. i mean every single win right now is very important for him. why would he not take the chance. specially when defeating athletico means half of winning a title (though less meaningful)

yeah we're most definitely going to play our best team against atletico.
we need to win the first match 2-0 especially if we're home their players will lose confidence on the second round.

Donuts wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Why doesnt Masip have a future?

because he is our third option goal keeper at the age of 26 behind bravo and a 22 year old prodigy who will most likely be in barcelona for another 9+ years

also we have Fabrice Ondoa who is rated as one of the best keepers we've produced in the longest time who is just 20 years old and has been starting for cameroon since the age of 18..
unless you consider a third keeper a real role in a big team then i guess he does have a future.. somewhat.

And Bravo is 32 years old and who knows what happens with MATS if he never gets the chances?

Ondoa is a great talent, but again, who knows what happens..injuries, lack of chances, poor coaching decisions.

Just think your being a bit presumptuous.

The Franchise wrote:

Donuts wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Why doesnt Masip have a future?

because he is our third option goal keeper at the age of 26 behind bravo and a 22 year old prodigy who will most likely be in barcelona for another 9+ years

also we have Fabrice Ondoa who is rated as one of the best keepers we've produced in the longest time who is just 20 years old and has been starting for cameroon since the age of 18..
unless you consider a third keeper a real role in a big team then i guess he does have a future.. somewhat.

And Bravo is 32 years old and who knows what happens with MATS if he never gets the chances?

Ondoa is a great talent, but again, who knows what happens..injuries, lack of chances, poor coaching decisions.

Just think your being a bit presumptuous.

keepers can go on till their 35s, bravo will be a good backup whereas masip will have to be pretty dumb to want to stick out the rest of his career on the bench.
i think in a season or two he'll demand to leave and we'll happily let him go.