The Franchise wrote:First thing I will say is I only saw the 2nd half, however what I saw I was VERY proud of the team and thought they did excellent given some very hard circumstances.

The pics of the pitch, I now believe, it was horrible..a shocking pitch..the grass was VERY long and you could see so many of our passes slow down far too much as they approach the target.

As for our opponants...you will rarely hear me say this, but I hope they get relegated. Constant fouling...that foul on Pedro was filth and he wasnt alone.

Thier sportsmanship was equally poor..Thiago puts the ball out at the hlaf way line with noone around him because on of their players was rolling on the floor. He didnt even have to put it out seeing as it wasnt a head injury, but he did anyway. And what do they do? Give it back to us deep in our defence half and then press full!!

Then you get the big bully Aranda being tough and physical, but as soon as he doesnt come away with the ball he throws himself on the ground lol

Postiga comes on and his first action is to burst into the box and have his legs collapse under him..

Just 60mins on the clock and I was already disgusted by their approch, from their actions to the condition of the pitch. I really hope they get relegated.

Given these situations, I was very proud of the way we played and I felt everyone did well. I wont single anyone out too much, but I really feel everyone did very well. I am glad Pedro got his goal, he didnt do much, but it was good to see him finish well and with confidence.

Messi's run to the left, cut back, second cut back and then through pass to Pedro or Adriano (I couldnt tell) was playground stuff...I was off my feet.

Sanchez is a strange man..he really is..one of the worst pitches and now he thinks its a good time to show his trademark aggression I am used to seeing..this was the Chile Sanchez I know..great performance and effort. His crosses and pass for Messi were fantastic, he took people on without a second thought and worked his tail off.

I know it will come up, so I will get the only negative thing connected to him out the way now.

He shot when he was in on goal from a bit of an angle...Cesc thought he should of recieved a square ball and Messi indicated he should of squared to Cesc too...I disagree..I think.

I saw the reverse angle and I felt that pass was on, for perhaps a split second at best..it was a difficult ball with a defender right there. Maybe he could of tried it, maybe not..but I felt it a big harsh for them to sort of berate him for not squaring it...Perhaps I need to see it again, but the reply I saw, I felt that pass wasnt on like they seemed to think.

And I did sort of laugh at the irony of Messi saying he should square it, like Messi would of done it himself lol

The Franchise wrote:
He shot when he was in on goal from a bit of an angle...Cesc thought he should of recieved a square ball and Messi indicated he should of squared to Cesc too...I disagree..I think.

I saw the reverse angle and I felt that pass was on, for perhaps a split second at best..it was a difficult ball with a defender right there. Maybe he could of tried it, maybe not..but I felt it a big harsh for them to sort of berate him for not squaring it...Perhaps I need to see it again, but the reply I saw, I felt that pass wasnt on like they seemed to think.

paxtonpale wrote:Thankyou for stating the obvious. We all knew from the start of the season that Cesc wasn't going to be dominant and control the midfield. He wasn't the worst player on the pitch and he improved immensely throughout the game (especially when Busquests came on) and played a better role as the CAM not CM. Kieta or Thiago was worse and well there denying that we need to be thinking of someone to replace Xavi as its clear that either Thiago or Fabregas cant. Arteta is an option some say, but he will be in his 30's and won't be worth the money.