Copa del rey [ Quarter-Finals | 2nd leg]: FCBarcelona vs Real Madrid

Di Maria not on the left on the right.

Alves got pinned by Callejon, who I think was doing mostly defensive work.I think maria can pin him down = Run at him.....as we as tuck in and look for the final ball when Ron and Benz look to go wide.

We are effective in exploiting the full width of the pitch.I think Callejon is just the wrongplayer to put on that wing......we can clearly get alot more from a left footer who is able to dribble and moreso in Maria's case who can both cross and play a fine through ball.Especially with Benz occupying spance on the wing stretching you gall when that through ball should come.

The Pique error in the first minute lol.....he let that roll way too long.....Pinto should've called it but I dunno, he could've cut it out.

I thought Busi's was deliberate.....

Ramos was good, what were you watching lol?. People call him that because they get excited and because he does it excellently against everyone who dosen't have as great pressers as you do but defensively his organization of the back line and his own individual defensive work was excellent.

In the 2nd half he even became more confident with his passing....played a couple good passes with some decent movement to keep the ball and advance it.

But in a 442 your midfield would be too exposed. In terms of pressing it will serve you well, but you cant press for 90 minutes...not even for 50 minutes...once Barca get through that press, the lack of an extra mid will cost you. Especially if one of them is Alonso.



Oh, yes of course. Yes, that Piques error..I thought you meant something else. It didnt lead to a goal, so of course Puyol gets more blame as does Busi.

Busi never did it on purpose, no chance at all. He wasnt even looking at the ball...anyway, we will have to agree to dissagree I guess.

I wasnt talking about Ramos defensively, it goes without saying he is good defensively as a centerback. Its with the ball in which he was crap, I should of made that clear.

He gives it away under any sort of pressure or hoofs it as I said, it was no surprise he did that less in the second half. Once you pulled a goal back, we stopped pressing other than deep throw ins and goal kicks.

Ramos is nice and comfy with noone on him, but with pressure he doesnt show composure.

That's why it's Di Maria.He has about 4 spare lungs.He can occupythat central space whenever necessary and still make the adjustments in both defense and attack to be effective.

As for the Ramos thing.

I understand where you're coming from but you have to understand it's not his passing under pressure that get people excited.His distribution at the back is good...(as it was today) but there are two main points that lead people to give him the praise they do.(People being me lol)

1.His anticipation.- It's difficult for him to showcase this against you guys due to you slow and almost flawless build up and passing.Normally though with most teams , he is allowed to gamble and cut out plays much higher up putting him in the position to initiate attacks with 0 pressure since all the attacking players are usually behind him or at least not around him at this point.

2.His long ball- It's quit similar to Piques....except he dosen't take a few steps forward before playing it, he just looks for it and has ago.

Overall.....I think he rarely hoofs...he always looks for a legitimate passing option.Possibly he gives it away against you lot, but that can be attributed to how tight you guys stay on our players off the ball as much as his inability to pick the right pass.

I also have to mention I was a bit disappointed with Puyol's initial shove on Casillas.

It's a sad day when someone like Puyol feels the need to do that to Iker.

Its just not possible, I have to dissagree. Yes, he has a great engine to get from those positions but the ball travels faster than any player.

Look at Man Utd-Barca last year, they tried that same thing with Valencia and I think Park doing exactly that. They tried hard and did well, but they got caught outnumbered and Carrick surronded by 3 players. Its too much an ask. Ill go take a look back at the tactics of that game to see, but thats my gut feeling right now.


I understand the Ramos, but praise he gets isnt nearly as much as the insults. But...the "great ball playing centerback" and "better than Pique on the ball" is frankly a joke. Im sorry, but he doesnt even have the composure of Abidal.

Puyols shove on Iker? Refresh my memory, I dont recall that.

But speaking of bad sportmanship, I was dissapointed (and Dani Alves touched on it) the relunctance to give the ball back when Cesc was down after being hit in the face (accidentally) by Pepe. I must say I was annoyed with that.

Dunno who says he's better on the ball than Pique but I could care less about that.

He is just so amazing defensively, i'll praise him till I die. The way he organizes the defense lately is something I haven't seen from someone in a long time, and often he does it ahead of the play looking back making it even more unique.

He'll learn composure.....he's alot more composed than Pepe...yet another reason why People say such things.I don't think he lacks composure for a CB I mean I actually think his composure is quite good for a CB.

Soon it will be "Varane is more composed than Pique" so don't worry.

Puyol shoved him when he tried to separate the crowd of players from around the referee.Very sad.

Didn't even notice that, I remember the incident but I thought he got back up and started playing.Don't recall him being on the floor for long.

Oh yeah I remember. Yeah, Puyol was angry and rightly so.

Lass should of been shown a second yellow and the ref didnt do nothing...so the Barca players came in to say wtf. Iker came in trying to stop them in fear of the ref crumbling under the pressure and Puyol wasnt going to have that.

Two captains defending their team, I dont think its a big deal.

Yeah, Cesc was down and you guys keep passing it forward. At least 5 passes. The only reason it stopped was because of the ref. Anyway, its not a big deal but we did put the ball out for you guys when someone (I forget who) was down.

I hate to use this line but...

AS A REFEREE...

NO
NO
NO

That Busquets 'handling' will never ever in a million years be a penalty. His hands were clearly at his side. When you look for handling, you look for a couple things- is he trying to make himself bigger through the positioning of his arms (i.e. putting your arms way out like a basketball player), are the arms in a natural position, is he deliberately trying to play the ball with his arm to disrupt the natural course of the ball.

Busquets did none of these. You want to see a perfect non-call? That right there is it. Referee instructors, get a replay of that. His arms were tucked nicely right by his side deliberately to not get a penalty even if it hit his arm.

Well played, Busquets. Well played.

As for the game. Pretty poor game overall by Barcelona to be quite honest. There is certain arrogance to the Barcelona team, and I don't like it. Just because you are 2-0 up (4-1 aggregate) doesn't mean you can fool around. The only time that was ever acceptable was the 5-0...

Good on Pedro for a goal, hope that bolsters his confidence, the little guy shows up all the time when we need him. Cesc is still really below standards, and Alexis' other than his great movement was poor as well.

Madrid as always...nothing really new to say. Mourinho... how anyone can like him is beyond me.

Man.. still so stressed i think my meat whistle has actually shrunk by about 5cm's...

Decent match, apart from reff obviously, Madrid finally came to PLAY.. and as it happens it was on the same day were we probably had the most MISSPASSES in a 90min period.

But how could you not love each goal (bias not included) ?

We shouldn't get into the Lass red vs Ramos no goal issue violently as it would only disturb and not solve anything.

(Well done Madrid, history might be evil and wont give a damn about who played well..etc. but id like to give a fair handshake.) with love xxooxx

CBarca wrote:I hate to use this line but...

AS A REFEREE...

NO
NO
NO

That Busquets 'handling' will never ever in a million years be a penalty. His hands were clearly at his side. When you look for handling, you look for a couple things- is he trying to make himself bigger through the positioning of his arms (i.e. putting your arms way out like a basketball player), are the arms in a natural position, is he deliberately trying to play the ball with his arm to disrupt the natural course of the ball.

Busquets did none of these. You want to see a perfect non-call? That right there is it. Referee instructors, get a replay of that. His arms were tucked nicely right by his side deliberately to not get a penalty even if it hit his arm.

Well played, Busquets. Well played.

As for the game. Pretty poor game overall by Barcelona to be quite honest. There is certain arrogance to the Barcelona team, and I don't like it. Just because you are 2-0 up (4-1 aggregate) doesn't mean you can fool around. The only time that was ever acceptable was the 5-0...

Good on Pedro for a goal, hope that bolsters his confidence, the little guy shows up all the time when we need him. Cesc is still really below standards, and Alexis' other than his great movement was poor as well.

Madrid as always...nothing really new to say. Mourinho... how anyone can like him is beyond me.

How dare you. It's obvious his hand was stretched to breaking point trying to keep that shot out...

I'll watch the game later but I'm pretty sure there was some extension of the hand at the last moment.

Either way it's common knowledge that as a defender you put your hand behind your back to avoid situations like that.

Case and point would aby of you deny a free kick outside the box on the same play?

Abidal one......not sure....I've seen a similar one given off Puyol.....but I don't think that's a penalty.

ragbirjosh wrote:I'll watch the game later but I'm pretty sure there was some extension of the hand at the last moment.

Either way it's common knowledge that as a defender you put your hand behind your back to avoid situations like that.

Case and point would aby of you deny a free kick outside the box on the same play?

Abidal one......not sure....I've seen a similar one given off Puyol.....but I don't think that's a penalty.

My stream's half time analyst was Rafa Benitez and some other guy. The other guy argued points similar to yours, but Rafa specifically said that the arm was so tight to the body that it would not influence a decision either way.

Didn't get the pleasure of watching the match after the first 25 minutes but

WE KNOCKED THEM OUT OF THE COPA!

It is clear that from the start they never cared about the copa, they merely cared about injuring players so that they could win the league. Messi survived, Iniesta and Alexis didn't...

BarrileteCosmico wrote:It is clear that from the start they never cared about the copa, they merely cared about injuring players so that they could win the league. Messi survived, Iniesta and Alexis didn't...

Thats not true.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:It is clear that from the start they never cared about the copa, they merely cared about injuring players so that they could win the league. Messi survived, Iniesta and Alexis didn't...

This.I am sick and tired of the disgusting pigs and their disgusting club get away with murder because that bafoon Perez has the league eating out of his pocket.
The pigs know that no matter how well they play,they will never ever be one tenth as good as Barca.So they resort to trying to end our players careers and ofcourse with the refs and the federation eating out of Perez's hand they get away with it.
Its time we gave back as good as it gets.

Can madrid fans please let barca fans discuss in peace here ?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:It is clear that from the start they never cared about the copa, they merely cared about injuring players so that they could win the league. Messi survived, Iniesta and Alexis didn't...

This, it's straight from the Mourinho's playbook. They can't match Barca at playing football, and frankly they had already lost the tie in home. A perfect opportunity to kick the shit out of Barca players, so that would hinder Barca in the league, and rest of the season.

Ah, I forgot something.

Madrid changes to a narrow on Ozil's size 442 after their changes. Leaving Granero and Alonso in the midfield, Ozil rightside, Cellejon left, Benz and Cristiano centeral with movement and alternating.

I think Pep made a mistake in not countering the change by pushing Busi back to form a 3 man defence.

They were not playing with a number 10 anymore, just Busi could of gone to the back and been the spare man. It would of helped us pass our way from the back better and defend better.

Cristiano and Benz could now be picked up by Pique and Puyol without any fear of leaving space for someone else with Busi now covering.

Abidal and Dani Alves as wingbacks can track Ozil and Callejon no matter where they go. Now, this would leave their flanks open but Arbeloa cannot attack well and Pedro would have no problems following his runs with his work rate. Sanchez always a hard worker would of tracked Coentrao.

Deep in the midfield, I like our chances of Alonso and Granero vs Cesc, Xavi and Messi.

I think Pep didnt really react to their changes well, which of course is very rare for him.

Well i'm not surprised from the result, i was expecting the Draw before the match.. there is something about this Barca [ this season], recently, whenever we have a lead in 1st leg going to 2nd leg, we don't play our best, we try too much to slow the tempo inorder to save energy [injuries/small squad, we have to play a match every 3 days], we lost concentration, which lead to lots of Stupid mistakes in the defense, its not the first time we lose a 2goals lead this season, vs real sociedad, realbetis at camp nou, 1-0 vs espanyol..

IMO, it wasn't Just about realmadrid or mourinho's tactics, yes they played a very gd game, compared to their performance in previous 2 clasicos at the bernabeu..
but the way people are talking about the match, as if realmadrid dominated the match with much more chances..

~ Match Stats:
- Possessin: 59% Barca
- Shots: 10(5) RealMadrid vs 9(4) for Barca..

Barca & Real both dominated some parts of the match, with very close number of chances.. it was Even..

In first half, RealMadrid had 4 goalscoring chances vs 3 for Barca..
Two of the 4 chances came from mistakes from Barca defenders.
- Alves & Pique, [ Higuain missed a 1 on 1 vs Pinto].
- Pinto miss pass, again Higuian missed the chance..
- a half chance for Cristiano Ronaldo, shot saved by Pinto
- A long-distance shot from Ozil hits the post. Luck? i'm not used to see Ozil scoring such goals from this distance, scoring it could be considered Luck, not the other way around! lol
At least Alves is used to score such goals, he did it this season vs mallorca.. + he's responsible for the free-kicks, from long distances at Barca & Brazil..

On the other hand we had 3 chances in 1st half, scored 2.. its called Efficiency not Luck! lol

Saying that Real Madrid dominated is bullshit, they were much better than the 1st leg, but didn't dominated !
------------------

So imo, the reasons why we didn't perform as usual is simple..
- we came to the match with a lead, 2 away goals..
- no enough motivation, Real Madrid had nothing to lose, played without pressure, & were much more motivated !!

- The real test will be in the Camp Nou, League match where Barca needs a win, & when we need a win, we give our best, while yesterday a draw was enough to qualify, which made us lose the focus especially after 2-0 lead [4-1 on agg.], slowing the tempo too much, and making stupid mistakes in the defense!

~ If u remember, after the super cup tie, & the very gd performance from realmadrid especially at the bernabeu, lots of football fans though that realmadrid finally can beat Barca.. but again, when it mattered [ at 0-0 ] when Barca wanted the win, they got & in the bernabeu !!
The Camp Nou clash in the League, will be Much different!

- Real Madrid are supposed to be the 2nd best team in the world behind Barca, so no surprise if we had an off game again them, especially after a big performance in 1st leg..
after all its the 14th match between the 2 teams in the last 3 seasons, Barca record (9W, 4D, 1L), having an off game is very normal, u can't win and dominate all matches, especially that your playing against the 2nd best team in the world.

Visca el Barca ♥

Ballboys...were where they? Ive asked this before in GS, but didint get an answer for it, so I came here perhaps someone can explain why there were none of them, and Madrid players were forced to get the ball by themselves, resulting a big timewaste......No troll, just curious

Legend.

Keep running Madrid....keep running.

GIFSoup

Where is this myth coming from that Madrid dominated? Similar shots on goal, similar scoreline, Barca more possession. Deluded much?

They are so used to getting completely owned if the game is even, that means they dominated.

Its not just their fans, I seen "neutrals" say the same.