The "Invincible Barca" is finished.

is Barca on decline?

yes

my spider senses tell me we have a bandwagonner on board...

We will be back; but for now other teams are the 'better'. After two/three years playing the same tactics other teams know how to play against you. Also, our defense isnt that fresh and young as it was in 2009/2010. 90% of the teams we play against now park the bus or man-mark the shit out of the attackers so there is no room for tiki-taka. Pep gets outplayed tactics wise, so he tried a diff. formation with only 3 defenders. Now other teams counter the *bleep* out of you. Barcelona still has the best players in the world, together with RM, but the tactics are dated and other teams know how to play against us. We need some updates at the defense. Also, some players need to get back in form and lose our injury-streak. So 1 year being the 2nd/3rd in the world isn't that back. Gives you some space to get back on track without pressure and try out new things.

I really dont care that RM will take CL and the Liga. I congratulate them, they had a great season and some serious talent and skills this season. Crazy performance. We know Mourinho will stay at RM so we need a good coach. I hope Bielsa will join Barcelona, I think he can give Mourinho a hard time.

Actually, our tactics are still good as we still create chances.

Agree with everything else Collblanc!

Dont want Pep to leave though.

I dont know, the tactics are good yes but not effective. So you have to think about doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe let other teams have the ball more so you force them to create some space. Now this is not possible because our defense isnt top-notch.

Collblanc wrote:I dont know, the tactics are good yes but not effective. So you have to think about doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe let other teams have the ball more so you force them to create some space. Now this is not possible because our defense isnt top-notch.

It is effective as it creating chances. We are not able to finish them off and that is down to luck and fatigue. Luck is averaged out, but tiredness is an issue that will take some time to get resolved.

I dont really agree. Look at posession versus goals scored against us.

Best defenses in the top 5 European leagues atm:

1.
18 - Juventus Turin (32 matches)

2.
20 - Bayern Muenchen (30 matches)

3.
22 - Borussia Dortmund (30 matches)
22 - Borussia M'gladbach (30 matches)


Other top defenses:
23 - Barcelona (32 matches)
26 - Manchester City (33 matches)
26 - AC Milan (32 matches)
28 - Manchester United (33 matches)
28 - Real Madrid (32 matches)
28 - Toulouse FC (31 matches)
29 - Montpellier HSC (31 matches)

Again, we did not lose because we conceded. We lost because we failed to convert our chances. Our defense is actually quite good considering those numbers. High possession is a form of defense.

Offcourse we lost because we conceded. That is the only way to lose points. Yes we failed to convert our chances but you can only lose points when you conceed goals. Very few matches that ended 0-0.

stop with this kinda thread.. the past 2 games they have played doesnt change the fact that they are the best in the world.

Off form iniesta. I always thought that he is the main engine in the midfield for Barcelona. Plus Barca really really need ST classical one triple Messi and the other get lost.

lol settle down. this team is far from dead. madrid have gotten better yes but that loss is no indication that theyre going to be in their shadow for the next couple of years like barca have done to them. they shouldnt worry about the chelsea game. that was 95% luck.

Collblanc wrote:We will be back; but for now other teams are the 'better'. After two/three years playing the same tactics other teams know how to play against you. Also, our defense isnt that fresh and young as it was in 2009/2010. 90% of the teams we play against now park the bus or man-mark the shit out of the attackers so there is no room for tiki-taka. Pep gets outplayed tactics wise, so he tried a diff. formation with only 3 defenders. Now other teams counter the *bleep* out of you. Barcelona still has the best players in the world, together with RM, but the tactics are dated and other teams know how to play against us. We need some updates at the defense. Also, some players need to get back in form and lose our injury-streak. So 1 year being the 2nd/3rd in the world isn't that back. Gives you some space to get back on track without pressure and try out new things.

I really dont care that RM will take CL and the Liga. I congratulate them, they had a great season and some serious talent and skills this season. Crazy performance. We know Mourinho will stay at RM so we need a good coach. I hope Bielsa will join Barcelona, I think he can give Mourinho a hard time.

Why are some people assuming that Pep will leave ?? he is still the best but of course he has to improve on tactics , not that he is bad but teams are catching the way to block us. Also too much reliance on messi to score so in my opinion , afellay or pedro have to go , and with the money buy a goal scorer ala Klose or a good winger . do you guys want neymar ??
And i definitely believe that Xavi is going to fade away so another concern here , plus the defense ( but i don't worry 2 much here , there are good defs on the market )

i still rate them the best in the world

Bénin wrote:

Collblanc wrote:We will be back; but for now other teams are the 'better'. After two/three years playing the same tactics other teams know how to play against you. Also, our defense isnt that fresh and young as it was in 2009/2010. 90% of the teams we play against now park the bus or man-mark the shit out of the attackers so there is no room for tiki-taka. Pep gets outplayed tactics wise, so he tried a diff. formation with only 3 defenders. Now other teams counter the *bleep* out of you. Barcelona still has the best players in the world, together with RM, but the tactics are dated and other teams know how to play against us. We need some updates at the defense. Also, some players need to get back in form and lose our injury-streak. So 1 year being the 2nd/3rd in the world isn't that back. Gives you some space to get back on track without pressure and try out new things.

I really dont care that RM will take CL and the Liga. I congratulate them, they had a great season and some serious talent and skills this season. Crazy performance. We know Mourinho will stay at RM so we need a good coach. I hope Bielsa will join Barcelona, I think he can give Mourinho a hard time.

Why are some people assuming that Pep will leave ?? he is still the best but of course he has to improve on tactics , not that he is bad but teams are catching the way to block us. Also too much reliance on messi to score so in my opinion , afellay or pedro have to go , and with the money buy a goal scorer ala Klose or a good winger . do you guys want neymar ??
And i definitely believe that Xavi is going to fade away so another concern here , plus the defense ( but i don't worry 2 much here , there are good defs on the market )

I dont get it, wasnt Cesc suppose to help fill in the role of Xavi, to help Xavi relax more and give Barca somethiing little different?

if you have players like Thiago sitting on the bench, players who would make it to other teams in the top leagues, why not play them instead

Thiago was touted as a hybrid of Ronaldinho and Xavi, what happend to that?

Barca have the variety to add to their game, they should use it

We were never immortal in the first place.

Barca's problem at present is that only Messi is capable of taking chances when they matter

in the last two games Messi hasn't had those chances which have fallen to the likes of Xavi, Cesc, Alexis, Tello etc etc who have all bottled and missed great chances

this will obviously affect the team and the results

if half of the chances that Barca have created in the last two games had been taken they would be pretty much guaranteed a CL final spot and might not have lost to RM

which would mean that this thread probably would not exist

Pedro & Villa were so vital to Barca when they were putting chances away

ffs Arsenal beat them in the first leg last year that doesn't mean anything since they lost to Chelsea, if they get knocked out from Chelsea then we'll talk.

a loss against RM is not as big of a shock as everyone's making it out to be.

TBH madrid really wanted it more...and desire is a strong drive for success. I still think(as a fan) that we are the best team in the world. However I never thought we were invincible.

You lose some you win some. This loss was just extra painful since it was your rival at your home stadium(considering how well we rule the barcabeu)

Not surprised we beat them.. A few times we played them under Mou we were better but were unlucky.. Not to mention last years semi final where we were even up until the bs Pepe red card.. They are still a great team but this was has been coming

VivaStPauli wrote:TBH even if Barca are the world's best team, the run up until nowish was already kind of a fluke. Even the greatest teams usually don't go that long without eventually having incredibly bad luck, Barca were overachieving before, now they're drawing level with what they are: one of the best five teams in the world, maybe still the best.

But you can't just dominate everyone year after year, there's too many good teams out there to do that. Had to end eventually. Doesn't matter if they get past Chelski or not, it's just a simple fact of football: you can't expect prolonged dominance of any team, ever.

You are right.We are finally drawing level with what we are.
Over the past 4 years we have only been one of the top 5 teams in the world.

IDK about this thread. I know we have been regarded extremely highly the last 3-4 years but rightfully so. But immortal???? We lost the CL in 2010, the Copa del Rey in 2011 and now, likely the Liga in 2012. If we were "Immortal", the first 2 wouldn't of happened and we're still somewhat likely to be the first team to win back to back UEFA CLs. Whether were on a decline remains to be seen but calling Barca immortal is just like saying they're unbeatable. They're not. Still, I have my doubts about Messi's planetary origin.