UCL 2nd Leg: Barcelona v Chelsea

I've said this a couple times.

But Pedro is one of the most elements of your attack.I don't know what happened, whether Pep felt Sanchez could replace him , or Cuenca and Tello offered more, he was plain wrong to not start the guy who has showed up in every big game you guys played last year.

I mean.

It's inexcusable.

No. Pedro's form is inexcusable. The players who are playing best must start. That is not Pedro. He has some serious confidence issues, no doubt from his long cycle of injuries and perhaps the competition provided by Alexis.

Pedro had his chances. Pep really wanted him to get back and he's given him the opportunity. I think with the season winding down he might get more chances yet. It would be pretty crappy if he regains form for the copa final, after we've been "knocked out" of the two main competitions.

If not though, then Pedro better start playing well next season or else he's probably gonna go.

I hope Afellay comes good. We need him to shoot from outside the box cause nobody from our team seems to want to do that anymore

Chelsea had 3 chances on goal over the entire 2 legs and scored 3.
We had countless chances and scored just 2.

It doesnt feel right.We completely and utterly outplayed them over the 2 legs and yet they go through with these disgraceful tactics.The beautiful game has lost.

On the game,all of us had hoped that this time our best chances would fall to Messi.This time they did and he couldnt put them in the back of the net.
Besides the assist and 5 minutes at the beginning he was atrocious. On a night when the rest of our team turned up,our best player went missing.
I think after 4 years of playing at a ridiculously high level seen never before the guy is gassed.I dont think he has anything left in the tank.Which is why he has been so lethargic in games.Guy barely ran tonight.
He carried our attack in 2009-10,in the second half of 2010-11 and throughout this season.
And he almost managed to pull it off this season too.Just ran out of gas at the wrong time.
Part of me wants to blame him for missing the penalty but the other part realizes everything he has done for us.
Messi
Just glad that he will get a full vacation in the summer.He really needs it to recharge his batteries.

At 2-0 up and with Chelsea a man down the game was done and dusted.
Masch has performed admirably for us over the course of the season but come crunch time he has been found out.
He is playing the CB in a 3 man backline.There is simply no need for him to come out and leave a huge hole at the back the width of the pitch.Busquets tried the cover the space but Ramires was just too fast. If he comes that far out he has to get the ball.
He has been brilliant but he has cost us massively the last 3 games.
I think it just shows that he is not a natural CB and no matter how brilliant he did its just not his natural game.We were deceived by his terific performances throughout the season but crunch time he was found out.
I wont blame him as he has been terrific and did his best but just shows that a world class CB is a priority in the summer.

Wont say much else.We were the far better team and deserved to go through.It wouldnt have felt bad had we lost to a better team over 2 legs.But that wasnt the case.We were far superior.

I thought Cuenca played an excellent game and was our best player.
Kid has a lot of potential.Technically very good,lots of skill on the ball,can play on either wing and a good passer.Once he adds goals to his game and movement to stretch the defender I think he can be a very good player for us.
No idea why he was taken off.

alexjanosik wrote:Chelsea had 3 chances on goal over the entire 2 legs and scored 3.
We had countless chances and scored just 2.

It doesnt feel right.We completely and utterly outplayed them over the 2 legs and yet they go through with these disgraceful tactics.The beautiful game has lost.

On the game,all of us had hoped that this time our best chances would fall to Messi.This time they did and he couldnt put them in the back of the net.
Besides the assist and 5 minutes at the beginning he was atrocious. On a night when the rest of our team turned up,our best player went missing.
I think after 4 years of playing at a ridiculously high level seen never before the guy is gassed.I dont think he has anything left in the tank.Which is why he has been so lethargic in games.Guy barely ran tonight.
He carried our attack in 2009-10,in the second half of 2010-11 and throughout this season.
And he almost managed to pull it off this season too.Just ran out of gas at the wrong time.
Part of me wants to blame him for missing the penalty but the other part realizes everything he has done for us.
Messi
Just glad that he will get a full vacation in the summer.He really needs it to recharge his batteries.

At 2-0 up and with Chelsea a man down the game was done and dusted.
Masch has performed admirably for us over the course of the season but come crunch time he has been found out.
He is playing the CB in a 3 man backline.There is simply no need for him to come out and leave a huge hole at the back the width of the pitch.Busquets tried the cover the space but Ramires was just too fast. If he comes that far out he has to get the ball.
He has been brilliant but he has cost us massively the last 3 games.
I think it just shows that he is not a natural CB and no matter how brilliant he did its just not his natural game.We were deceived by his terific performances throughout the season but crunch time he was found out.
I wont blame him as he has been terrific and did his best but just shows that a world class CB is a priority in the summer.

Wont say much else.We were the far better team and deserved to go through.It wouldnt have felt bad had we lost to a better team over 2 legs.But that wasnt the case.We were far superior.

yea if he doesnt run much it means he will not have a great game. messi with full batteries never misses

I also noticed that when we are really charged up and in great form we take more shots outside the box. Manchester United final last year certainly comes to mind. We peppered VDS's goal if you re-watch that match. Most of them were on target too. I remember in 08/09 even Iniesta would take shots from outside the box even when there was a pass on(Iniesta as we know, doesn't seem to want to score goals for some reason).

Idk, I just think we can be so much more dangerous if we're not trying to pass it into the net all the time

This season we just haven't gotten into that kind of form

We missed Pique for sure. Im sure he could have done better than what Puyol did for the Ramires goal...

It seems a few of you have praised Cuenca. I'm not saying he wasn't good, but often in these matches I find it hard to actually analyse performances as I'm too emotionally engaged. So I can't really remember much of what he did or rate his game. Can somebody point out what he did well?

All I remember was failed attempts to beat Ashley Wall and crosses which didn't often find the target. Did he provide the cross for Busi? I wasn't sure if it was him or Cesc... Still, I don't completely buy the Cuenca hype. Good player, but not someone I want as a starter yet at all. I still prefer Afellay.

Imo, the only thing he did was set up the goal for Busquests... As you said, he would not be the ideal player to have as crossers are useless when you have 9-10 Chelsea players in their contesting a ball with 3-4 Barca players, you know who is going to win everytime. He didn't get past Cole that much and well he produce the skills that he shown today. Like you, I do prefer Afellay though whether he would make a difference is another question

2 games, 4 woodwork shots... so much bad luck...
Pep's deccisions....


Ah so much rage right now...

Im really mad right now and most of what i had to say has already been said.I just need to say one more thing.The thing I have notcied for the past year and a half.Even when we play against small teams our defence has been awful.Puyol has lost it,He still puts his heart and soul for us But he's getting old and we need to find a replacement,I cant count how many times Drogba got past him over the two legs.Masch is a great Cb but he's way too error prone.He isnt a natural Cb and we have all been deceived by his fantastic tackling ability.He comes out and leaves Holes in the Defence.And Pique well I'd say if he was still on the field we would have comfortably won the game.He was playing like Beckenbauer out there.I think we should have 2 prioroties in the summer.A world class center back and a decent defensive left back.Also after the game at Stamford Bridge everyone was complaining about how Messi was the only one doing something.Well in this game Most of the players were having a great game and he didn't step up when we needed him.He seemedout of energy or uninterested in playing.

The team and particularly the defense knew they had to perform a 10/10 with 3 men at the back and well I found disappiontment with the goal from Ramires.

Brady2Moss wrote:Did ya'll see the Ramires goal? Told ya'll that something needs to be done on counter-attacks, because Busquets and Puyol are both equally slow. Nearly every counter-attack this season has been a goal against Barca...hope Pep actually brings in a quick tall CB.

Not only are u a troll but you also seem to be clueless about the game.
Do us all a favor and pls dont post on this section.
On here we expect a minimum level of understanding of the game.

Friends, I will say something that you all will probably disagree with. Bear with me. It's just a thought in my mind now and I could easily be wrong.

I think our fate last night was a case of 'Death By Fear'. In the first half we played quite well and eventually got the deserved reward when we were leading 2-0. It seemed to bring back some of the confidence and spirit that had been drained by the last two losses. However just then Chelsea scored. This somewhere broke our morale big time. I mean if I were to put myself in the shoes of one of our players the thought must have been God what's happening. They get one chance and they score. We just can't afford to give them any more chances. Some of you have said that we needed to shoot more often but I was having a somewhat different thought about the second half. Why couldn't we stop playing Messi deeper and position him somewhere near the edge of the box? Then whenever he gets the ball he needs to run at the defense and dribble like only he can. The difference would be that if he were to dribble in the box they would not find it that easy to tackle him for fear of conceding a penalty. Now if Messi alone was somehow handled then have Iniesta do something similar but perhaps from a slightly deeper position. At the same time have a forward on either wing try to run behind the defense at every given opportunity. If we had done all this would we really be that toothless against the parked bus? So that led me to wondering why we didn't do so. Here's my conclusion. The players feared that if they tried to run and dribble with the ball, sometimes they would lose it and invite a counter attack. Seeing that we are so vulnerable from counter-attacks they just didn't want to risk that. So what they did was play a patience game and look for the right moment to strike. Unfortunately that moment hardly ever came and when one or two times it did luck was not on our side. As time went on and the end approached panic started to set in. This resulted in the Torres goal and then it was all over.

Messi has to have the patience to stay in between the lines, or edge of the box, but when there are that many players its impossible JD.

There was times, especially when it went out wide to Alves, he went on the edgge, got it, and linked up. He did it a few times, created the penalty, hit the post, had another shot, had a few misplaced passes. He stayed there at times.

Other times he came deeper, trying to force men to him and then lay it off for someone to take advantage of the space.

They tried, I dont think there was anything fudementally wrong with the approach. If Messi scores a pen, we dont have this discussion.

You cant dribble 3, 4 men in such a tight space..no matter who you are. One minor mistep and you lose the ball. Its just the way it is.

Its smart football to not try and dribble too much, look to get one of their defenders thinking they can steal the ball from a pass and then take advantage.

All that makes sense dani but there are questions. In the entire 45 minutes in the second half how much did we stretch the ten men parked bus and how uncomfortable did we make it for them? Do you really think there's nothing we could have done differently and/or better? Also as has been said by others Messi was lacking energy when we needed him at his physical best. Some other players also looked tired. Their defenders hardly bothered to chase Messi to midfield or steal any pass of ours. They just maintained their positions. It might have been the most extreme example of a parked bus that I have ever seen.

alexjanosik wrote:

Brady2Moss wrote:Did ya'll see the Ramires goal? Told ya'll that something needs to be done on counter-attacks, because Busquets and Puyol are both equally slow. Nearly every counter-attack this season has been a goal against Barca...hope Pep actually brings in a quick tall CB.

Not only are u a troll but you also seem to be clueless about the game.
Do us all a favor and pls dont post on this section.
On here we expect a minimum level of understanding of the game.

clueless? really? Just because im not biased like you does not mean im ignorant, everything I said came to light last night. Where was your 4-0 prediction? :lol!:

Brady2Moss wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

Brady2Moss wrote:Did ya'll see the Ramires goal? Told ya'll that something needs to be done on counter-attacks, because Busquets and Puyol are both equally slow. Nearly every counter-attack this season has been a goal against Barca...hope Pep actually brings in a quick tall CB.

Not only are u a troll but you also seem to be clueless about the game.
Do us all a favor and pls dont post on this section.
On here we expect a minimum level of understanding of the game.

clueless? really? Just because im not biased like you does not mean im ignorant, everything I said came to light last night. Where was your 4-0 prediction? :lol!:

Freaking hell I hate you...
Anyway... no point wailing now, got to shake off the dust and continue on. Madrid lost anyway to Bayern so at least they don't win the trophy...

brady, I dont know why your laughing.

You have no value here. Either you post with a degree of sense or dont post at all.

messixaviesta wrote:All that makes sense dani but there are questions. In the entire 45 minutes in the second half how much did we stretch the ten men parked bus and how uncomfortable did we make it for them? Do you really think there's nothing we could have done differently and/or better? Also as has been said by others Messi was lacking energy when we needed him at his physical best. Some other players also looked tired. Their defenders hardly bothered to chase Messi to midfield or steal any pass of ours. They just maintained their positions. It might have been the most extreme example of a parked bus that I have ever seen.

I dont really recall how many JD, but we had a pen, hit the post, Alexis had a header.

Stretch them? Where? They was in their box..we had nowhere to pull them to.

They didnt come out, didnt come wide. Its not within our control.

I dont think we could have done much better, maybe having Pedro on instead of one of Mascherano/Busi/Puyol just to have another body in their but its a minor point.

Do our players train shooting at trainings? I don't think so. Wherever I see pics from training there are fun activities with the ball, sitting Messi on the ball, players touching their hands etc etc No shooting. Maybe that's why our finishing is so crap. In 09-10 vs Arsenal at Emirates it should have been 5-0 after 20 minutes, but we couldn't finish. Last year we lost at Emirates due to terrible finishing, then at CN we could go out if Bendtner finish their only chance (Arsenal without a shot and yet we still could be eliminated). Now Chelsea tie. Something is wrong. IMO players think that they are so good, that they don't need to finish a chance, like they will score anyway with the next chances. Stupid lobs, chips instead of strong shoot into the goal. I miss Eto'o. Hopefully nextseason our disgraceful attitude and thinking 'we are so great, that we don't have to put 100% on every chance, because we will score anyway" will go. Congrats Barcelona, you missed +10 100% chances in both legs vs Chelsea and lost to average team.

Dont be so silly.

Of course they practice shooting..do you really think you see everything, or even, really anything they do seriously?

Sometimes the ball doesnt go in, stop being so dramatic.

The Franchise wrote:brady, I dont know why your laughing.

You have no value here. Either you post with a degree of sense or dont post at all.

My bad.

However, I do find it amusing that a person can call me "clueless", yet make silly predictions themselves. Guess what? If I have no football knowledge whatsoever, what does it make them?

Anyway, you gotta appreciate what Chelsea did, essentially shutting down a team that's touted as the best offense in Europe (although I don't think Barca is) with 10 men in the CAMP NOU! To be honest, it didn't come as a suprise to me that Barca would struggle against an ultra defensive side like Chelsea. The same thing that happened against Chelsea in 09, Inter in 2010, AC Milan in 2012 is the same thing that happened on Tuesday night...Barca simply ran out of ideas against a quality defensive side as Chelsea.

You simply cannot go against teams like that with only a single REAL goal threat (Messi), otherwise, you only make it easy on them. Limit Messi's movement and everything will crumble.

Foresight teaches gently but error teaches brutally, just hope Pep learns something from those kind of games.

paxtonpale wrote:
Freaking hell I hate you...
Anyway... no point wailing now, got to shake off the dust and continue on. Madrid lost anyway to Bayern so at least they don't win the trophy...

You shouldn't let things that you have no absolute control get you down like that.

Brady2Moss wrote:

The Franchise wrote:brady, I dont know why your laughing.

You have no value here. Either you post with a degree of sense or dont post at all.

My bad.

However, I do find it amusing that a person can call me "clueless", yet make silly predictions themselves. Guess what? If I have no football knowledge whatsoever, what does it make them?

Anyway, you gotta appreciate what Chelsea did, essentially shutting down a team that's touted as the best offense in Europe (although I don't think Barca is) with 10 men in the CAMP NOU! To be honest, it didn't come as a suprise to me that Barca would struggle against an ultra defensive side like Chelsea. The same thing that happened against Chelsea in 09, Inter in 2010, AC Milan in 2012 is the same thing that happened on Tuesday night...Barca simply ran out of ideas against a quality defensive side as Chelsea.

You simply cannot go against teams like that with only a single REAL goal threat (Messi), otherwise, you only make it easy on them. Limit Messi's movement and everything will crumble.

Foresight teaches gently but error teaches brutally, just hope Pep learns something from those kind of games.

Im not talking about predicitions, im talking about your comments.

Barca fans here criticise our team, our players and so on, but we try our best to do it constructively. Of course some times that doesnt happen and some do it more than others.

However, your posts, nearly all of them, are not constructive. And, its not like your a Barca fan so you opinion is going to rile people up and we do not need that here.

And your comments, even if constructive lack accuracy and when debated on that, you ignore the relavant points.

So I ask, what are you here for? Are you here to criticse Barca? Well your not doing it constructively at all.

Are you here to make a point and observations about the games? Your not doing that either because your refusing to listen to others points.

Your talking here about Barca struggling against a packed defence..but you continue to ignore all the chances made and just how close Chelsea were to losing. Your making points, getting countered and ignoring these counters.

It doesnt make for great debate or discussion.