Barcelona x Almeria | 4/8/2015

Barcelona x Almeria discussion

The 18 players named for the game with Almería at the Camp Nou this evening are: Ter Stegen, Claudio Bravo, Montoya, Piqué, Rakitic, Xavi, Pedro, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Rafinha, Mascherano, Bartra, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Dani Alves and Mathieu.

That means no places for Douglas and Masip, while Sergio Busquets is suspended and Vermaelen and Jordi Alba are injured.

Starting 11
I know it's Almeria but this 11 leaves allot to be imagined. And whats with us using Sergi in the DM spot? Should of used Samper or Masch, and used a real defender next to Bartra.

--------Bravo
-Alves-Bartra-Masch-Adriano
---------Sergi
----Xavi--------Rakitic
Messi---------------Pedro
--------Suarez

At work but getting the score updates. Bartressi goal and assist, the new Ramos

bad game by messi's standards but still scored a beauty.
suarez and dani alves were great today.

pedro mehhh

xavi bossed it.

Missed it due to school, unfortunately. Looks like we got it done though.

Good to hear Xavi played well. I think Xavi has a larger role to play than he's been given lately. I still think he is a pivotal player for us at times, we could have used him from the beginning against teams like Celta Vigo for example. Tough away games when we need someone who can control the midfield, and Xavi still has that ability.

Bartra

CBarca wrote:
Good to hear Xavi played well. I think Xavi has a larger role to play than he's been given lately. I still think he is a pivotal player for us at times, we could have used him from the beginning against teams like Celta Vigo for example. Tough away games when we need someone who can control the midfield, and Xavi still has that ability.

Just no. In tough away games is when Xavi has to play the least. Or you want us to go back to beatings at PSG or Real Madrid at the begining of the season? However, in home games against park the bus scrubs, he can be very useful.

Pedro had a good game, not a "meh" one. Better than Neymar lately for sure.

windkick wrote:Starting 11
And whats with us using Sergi in the DM spot? Should of used Samper or Masch.

Sergi Roberto at DM spot is brilliant. Been calling for this a long time. It's his position. He doesn't have enough quality to play as CM for us, but he has most of the needed qualities to be a very good DM as he is good defensively and has enough quality to play there.

Now if they oblige more on my opinions and make Adama trarore a RB, we'll have the team sorted out for next season.

Bartresi again proving he is being mistreated. It's a shame. He'll be 25 years old and still be waiting in the bench. And the truth is that if he was given 10 games in a row as a starter, he would improve so much still!

free_cat wrote:

CBarca wrote:
Good to hear Xavi played well. I think Xavi has a larger role to play than he's been given lately. I still think he is a pivotal player for us at times, we could have used him from the beginning against teams like Celta Vigo for example. Tough away games when we need someone who can control the midfield, and Xavi still has that ability.

Just no. In tough away games is when Xavi has to play the least. Or you want us to go back to beatings at PSG or Real Madrid at the begining of the season? However, in home games against park the bus scrubs, he can be very useful.

Pedro had a good game, not a "meh" one. Better than Neymar lately for sure.

windkick wrote:Starting 11
And whats with us using Sergi in the DM spot? Should of used Samper or Masch.

Sergi Roberto at DM spot is brilliant. Been calling for this a long time. It's his position. He doesn't have enough quality to play as CM for us, but he has most of the needed qualities to be a very good DM as he is good defensively and has enough quality to play there.

Now if they oblige more on my opinions and make Adama trarore a RB, we'll have the team sorted out for next season.

Bartresi again proving he is being mistreated. It's a shame. He'll be 25 years old and still be waiting in the bench. And the truth is that if he was given 10 games in a row as a starter, he would improve so much still!

Did you watch the game against Celta?That was a tough away game and we were getting owned in midfield.Xavi came on and immediately restored control.
Or the game against Mehdrid. Again getting schooled until he came on.
He has been our best midfielder this season.Iniesta is a 10th of the player in this scrub system Scrubrique employs. Rakitic hustles but is an average passer(compared to our standards) and cant control games.
Xavi has shown numerous times that even though Scrubrique's system limits him and does not allow him to completely dominate,he can still influence the game and control the midfield far more than Iniesta and Rakitic.
And do pray tell me what the PSG and Mehdrid losses had to with Xavi?
On the match itself,not much.After watching Mehdrid getting owned in the first half against Rayo,I was hopeful of Rayo doing us a favor. Alas,it was not to be.I guess we will have to do it the hard way.
I think Suarez needs to be given the free kick taking duties. He is the best in the business and Messi has been poor at them all season long.He missed thrice yesterday also. Suarez needs to be first choice and Messi second.

I must admit Scruberto impressed again at DM.I was of the opinion that we should ship him off in the summer.But considering our dire midfielder situation and the fact that we cant sign anyone,maybe he could stay.Unlike free,I dont think think he is a brilliant DM.But I think he could be a useful option to give Busquets rest against scrubs.
But Samper is also coming up so dont want Scruberto to eat his minutes.

Xavi against Celta? Celta were already tired out when Xavi came on, he changed nothing. And again against Almeria he did nothing until Messi opened the game up.

He did stuff like this however again



Xavi has no starting business against tough teams, when they are tired and trailing he's the perfect sub.

I couldn't watch Celta's game unfortunately, so I can't tell. But from what I've read and the highlights, the game was boring and we didn't play very well, even when Xavi came in, so it doesn't really say much in Xavi's favour. Against Madrid, when he came in we were already winning 2-1 and they were destroyed physically. He didn't really have an impact. And of course PSG and Madrid losses away have much to do with Xavi: he started in both games and we were beated comfortably with a non existent midfield.

Also, Rakitic is a fantastic passer (look the pass he made yesterday to pedro with his left, just awesome), what he lacks is the out of this world touch and ability to keep the ball under pressure Xavi or Iniesta have.

On other note, I don't think Roberto is a brilliant DM, just that his attributes are brilliantly suited to be a DM and not a CM, that's what I meant. But he can be a very good DM backup IMO.

Finally, we should really rotate in the free kick department. Free -kicks for a left footed should be Messi's (long range Mathieu's perhaps), and the right footed should rotate between Suarez and Neymar, and some central ones Messi too.

How did Pedro had a good game? I don't remember anything memorable from him other than the 4th goal assist. By the way it's a shame almeria's goal didn't count. Amazing goal

Lets agree to disagree on Rakitic and Xavi.
On Roberto I agree with you.My worry is Samper.If we keep Roberto as back up DM,wont that affect Samper's development?
By all accounts Samper is the far more talented player.Or do we push Samper up to CM.
I am still unsure on Bartra and dont think he deserves to start over Mathieu.I think he is better than Masch but not Mathieu.
I think Bartra has the same tendencies as Masch.He gets drawn to the ball and goes looking for it needlessly. In this game too,there was an instance when he went out looking for the ball,got made and looked foolish.
In that sense,Bartra and Masch is a poor combo.If Bartra plays,he should play next to Pique or Mathieu.

alexjanosik wrote:I must admit Scruberto impressed again at DM.I was of the opinion that we should ship him off in the summer.But considering our dire midfielder situation and the fact that we cant sign anyone,maybe he could stay.Unlike free,I dont think think he is a brilliant DM.But I think he could be a useful option to give Busquets rest against scrubs.
But Samper is also coming up so dont want Scruberto to eat his minutes.

I like Samper in that position more than Sergi. Sergi had a good game against Almeria, but thats about as far as I think he can go. I don't see him blossoming into much more. That said I acknowledge he had a good game, but would still rather ship his arse out in the summer and promote Samper.

alexjanosik wrote:Lets agree to disagree on Rakitic and Xavi.
On Roberto I agree with you.My worry is Samper.If we keep Roberto as back up DM,wont that affect Samper's development?
By all accounts Samper is the far more talented player.Or do we push Samper up to CM.
I am still unsure on Bartra and dont think he deserves to start over Mathieu.I think he is better than Masch but not Mathieu.
I think Bartra has the same tendencies as Masch.He gets drawn to the ball and goes looking for it needlessly. In this game too,there was an instance when he went out looking for the ball,got made and looked foolish.
In that sense,Bartra and Masch is a poor combo.If Bartra plays,he should play next to Pique or Mathieu.

Yea I agree on your points of Bartra. I think the odd person in all of this is Mascherano. The guy came in to be a back up DM, ending playing CB because Puyol kept getting injured, and since then he just kinda stayed there because the club never bothered to actually buy a Puyol replacement. No one denies his hustle, and has great leadership qualities and gives his 110% every game but also has some serious faults for a CB. He always makes me nervous he is going to get wreckless and either get himself a red or cause us a PK. Plus he is short, and we have always had a hard time defending set pieces because of it. And for all this talk of Mathieu being old, he is actually only one year older than Mascherano so it's not like Masch is that much younger. Plus Mathieu has proved to be a better pairing for Pique, and has the height and speed to defend for us, and has great arial presence.

So as of next season, I would actually finally give Bartra a shot at being the third choice CB behind Pique and Mathieu, and finally move Masch to only play a back up role to Busquets or a back up role to CB behind Bartra. This way Bartra gets ALLOT more playing time, he gets to develop more, and we don't run Mathieu and Masch to the ground since they are older and will be needed in the big games down the stretch. And if Bartra just ins't cutting it game after game, we can at least use the first half of the season to judge him and decide to if we need to replace him or not in the January window (or the summer or whatever)

The problem is Mascherano, I would feel bad having to ask the guy to just be a back up after all the help he has been for us. Plus we actually need him on the team, it would be dumb to sell him next year (maybe the summer after at the soonest)

billy_gr wrote:How did Pedro had a good game? I don't remember anything memorable from him other than the 4th goal assist. By the way it's a shame almeria's goal didn't count. Amazing goal

your talking to free cat here about pedro.. no reasoning

pedro had good runs, but his first touches ruined so many good chances.
only positives to say about pedro this game only was his defensive efforts and few runs... oh and the 4th meaningless assist.

hence I think we dhould convert him to a RB

no, we need pedro unless we buy his replacement. he is our best backup forward. you cant expect neymar and suarez to play all games. and we already saw neymar gets fatigued too quickly.we have already used munir and as a backup i would still prefer pedro over him.

I partly agree with free on Xavi. even if he stays i doubt he will have the ability to play big mins. vs. big teams. he might be a good sub after 60 mins or so on in tough games based on the situation but cant see him starting half of those.