Athletic Bilbao vs. Barsa

JD, I would say we played decent. We scored 2 goals in difficult conditions away to a very strong team. However, I think at both ends of he pitch we didn play well enough to win.

I dont agree at all with that commentary. When have you ever seen a Barca play give away the ball on purpose like you would with kicking it out for a throw? Because it wen wrong this time means the idea is bad?

Playing football in our way is a mindset which dictates what you do every moment your on the pitch, nothing changes and rightly so. You cant turn on and off your mindset.

I agree about Pique, he was unlucky because he was having an outstanding game for me. He has a tough time with Llorente and you could see how hard he had to work.

For me the most striking thing about the game was the pace at which we played the game.
We played at an EPL pace and I suspect the rain had something to do with it.
Perhaps Pep instructed the players to play at a very first pace.
The last game we played this fast was at the Emirates 2 years ago when Xavi put on a masterclass.
And I am proud of our players for playing the way we did under such atrocious conditions.
Some of the passing at breakneck speed was excellent.Couldnt ask for more.

Alex, what did you think about Pep´s starting 11 and shape?

Was waiting for you to arrive, you are the master tactician here.

I personally didnt like it, especially the front line.

Superstone Mariomintsch wrote:Dear Senyors de Cules,
I humbly requested your opinion upon this matter: https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t11645-this-is-water

Gracies

I have lurked through this section many times in the past and I notice there are many brilliant tactically-adept posters who posted spot-on arguments in here, even the atmosphere was largely hospitable. Then, I looked at this thread and many were noticing at how rain was somehow complicating the game, thus I asked for input regarding this matter. But woah! Several posts have gone in which people talked largely about several other stuffs and 40something posts have gone in the section, not one respond???

Is it because I'm not a prominent poster or not given full allegiance to Barca? Is it even in real life that you follow the tiki taka philosophy of passing the balls/posts between yourselves that others would not get anything regarding that or due to the fact that Barca are by far the best team in the world cruising victories through dominating fashion, that a small member is not even regarded a bit? /rant finished

Anyway, I saw that after my post there are still many posters mentioning about the rain, the game is truly different than usual right? That's why I just want your opinion regarding the matter as rain would always happen at least several times every year in this planet and it has quite an affect to the way the game is played. I remembered that Barca like the pitch to be watered down a bit so that the ball circulation would be more flowing, but the shower of nature seems to have opposite effect, so once again in this shameless post I ask for you Senyores de Cules to please give some input regarding, ugh this:
https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t11645-this-is-water

Once again, Moltens Gracies

Well, personally, I read the post and was not quite sure what to make of it. (I was also mad busy at the time, and tired, so I didn't want to decipher it either). If you had just asked the question 'how do you guys think the rain affected the game yesterday?' I'm sure plenty of people would have responded. It has nothing to do with who you are at all, just the medium of your message.

The rain has been discussed within posts, we have talked about the conditions.

I dont think people want to repeat themselves in a separate thread.

Okay fine, thanks for the responses. I actually did ask about "how do you guys think the rain affected the game yesterday?" whilst also specifying in how it seemed to trouble Xavi and in terms of final ball Iniesta. And also as rain will always appear at some moments I thought it could be a good discussion as how it affects the game in the know-how and how should be played area. That's it really, anyway thanks for clearing up as I felt that I was tremendously ignored here, hahaha... Peace then :dance:

@Superstone Mariomintsch i do not know if you noticed, but most of good Barca posters avoid the general discussion thread. Not because we "pass the chat" between ourselves, but because there is a majority of "you know who" fans, who cant wait to troll or act like but-hurts. For instance, if I say anything positive about Barca or its players, i will get at least three trolls and about 5 but-hurt replies and about 2 decent posts.

General thread IMHO is anti-Barca territory. I am on this forum since the last days of goal.com forum and i never felt i could have a decent discussion in the general section.

Cheers!

Haha of course I notice I have lurked this forum from the genesis of the 2nd generation, GoalVbull... Yeah in some certain ways, pass the chat does prevent the threat.

ReCheers!

Yeah, I should defo come here, more often. Trolling is close to zero here. And the Valencia Thread is pretty much a wasteland .

dani
I agree with your observation that we lacked runners in behind.
Villa should have started.Dont think Cuenca should have stared though.
From what I have watched of him he is not someone who makes off the ball runs a lot.He likes link up play and putting crosses.
Villa should definitely have started in place of Fab.
Starting Adriano I can understand.He has been brilliant for us this season.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I would have started Villa in place of Fab.
The shape I would have kept the same,4-3-3.

Dont want to fault Pep too much.I thought we played extremely well under the circumstances.We lost the game because of 2 defensive mistakes both of which were rain induced and by Masch.Masch has been brilliant for us at CB and I dont want to criticize him for the mistakes.

Villa's finishing is a real worry for me.His confidence seems to have been shot.
In the match there was one instance where he was put through.
Didnt have the confidence to finish,looked for a pass and ultimately the chance went away.

harhar11 wrote:

In the first goals mascherano was comming first to the ball or atleast close enough to make a clean tackle but in the last second he slipped and that gave athletic bilbao alot of space to utilise. In the 2nd goal... yeah, Mascherano should have kicked the ball for a throw in and than a own goal happend.

Agreed. I don't think Mascherano would have slipped if not for the surface.

The Franchise wrote:JD, I would say we played decent. We scored 2 goals in difficult conditions away to a very strong team. However, I think at both ends of he pitch we didn play well enough to win.

I dont agree at all with that commentary. When have you ever seen a Barca play give away the ball on purpose like you would with kicking it out for a throw? Because it wen wrong this time means the idea is bad?

Playing football in our way is a mindset which dictates what you do every moment your on the pitch, nothing changes and rightly so. You cant turn on and off your mindset.

I agree about Pique, he was unlucky because he was having an outstanding game for me. He has a tough time with Llorente and you could see how hard he had to work.

1. I can agree dani that perhaps we didn't play all that well. It's just that the effort in very trying circumstances I thought was commendable.

2. I have to disagree about the throw point though. Yes we won't sacrifice our style and people will make such passes. However there is something about having the presence of mind to adapt to the situation. When you see that even Xavi's passes are not working that well because of the ground and weather conditions, you won't try a long pass yourself. Normally it doesn't matter but if a team refuses to adapt to circumstances and in a crucial game faces a situation that is totally unexpected it could spell their doom. Not that I am blaming Mascherano but I feel there is a takeaway here for all our players.

3. Without Pique we would have probably lost. His aerial ability was absolutely crucial in this match.

alexjanosik wrote:Villa's finishing is a real worry for me.His confidence seems to have been shot.
In the match there was one instance where he was put through.
Didnt have the confidence to finish,looked for a pass and ultimately the chance went away.

This is exactly what I was trying to say when dani insisted Villa has been playing very well. His confidence as a striker is much lower than what it used to be or for that matter should be to justify his ability.

Interesting.

I agree about Cuenca, not much of a inside runner as yet. Like to hang wide and give a cross.

I was certainly hoping for Villa, both from the start and as early a sub as possible.


JD, I agree about the effort. Normally after a bad result, I can help but look for people to blame. But after this game, I wasnt angry at any one player or even the team collectively. I have to admit, I was annoyed with Peps decision.


Still dont agree about the throw in. He was only doing what he has been told to do since his arrival, try and play, try and keep the ball. I think every single player would of tried that.

Interesting dani. I agree that Pep's selection was baffling but we will agree to disagree on that throw in matter.