La Liga: FC Barcelona vs Real Sociedad

I told you guys, were gonna play much more direct football from now on. Song and Neymar would fit perfectly.

The Evolution continues

Villa playing and making crowd fap as-well

Messi has been poor this game. Sloppy passing and all

Messi's first half was amazing, beginning of second wasn't bad but till he got his foot hurt he seemed to settle down.
Villa, Puyol score which is great to hear and Pedro seems to be regaining form.
Tello had a pretty okay game many mistakes but helped out alot.
Defense was average and Alves had just 1 mistake which costed a goal.

Dat baws Piqué. Apart from that moment at the end of the game where he lost possession he had some really nice tackling and positioning.

Villa

Sociedad parking the bus and failing. It's been said, the way to get past the bus is too go through it, not around it.

Direct football ftw

Not sure why Barcelona fans have become advocates of direct football. In my opinion this type of football drains you more in the long run, you won't have as much possession and you are also going to be more vulnerable to counters.

Having said that I don't expect Barcelona to play like this against tougher opponents. Against teams like Sociedad you can afford to be direct with the quality of players Barça have because the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin. Against top teams the story will be different.

I think Barcelona played well offensively, lots of movements off the ball, Sociedad didn't do much wrong, they just came up against a much better side. Let's see if they can keep in the top flight for the 3rd consecutive season. Wasn't impressed by Barcelona's defending to be honest, Alba's positioning wasn't particularly good for example and it wasn't his boldest performance either. Alves too, fantastic going forward but defensively very impatient. Piqué looked quite good after...a year? Still not impressed by Fàbregas, a few dangerous misplaced passes and can't impose himself as he did in Arsenal.

We weren't really that much direct. We played our regular game. It was only that when la Real was losing for 1-2 goals, they conceded more space. Also, they didn't park the bus at all, tried to attack, so there was space. We always play more direct if there's space, but it was our regular style and the posession was huge for us.

Very happy to see how Tito is doing things. I feel like me and Tito have known each other for a long time, we think alike . It seems he will kill the 343, will give minutes to Pedro again, won't play Iniesta on the wings and probably wants to sell Afellay. All stuff I supported.

Great game from Tello, man of the match. It seems I nailed it when I said in preseason that he seemed to have progressed a lot. Hope he renews! Alexis doesn't have any excuse with his poor creative game when a youngster like Tello does what he did today.

PS. Pedro haters:

MVP is back baby.

Great game, perfect start for the season. Pretty much everyone looked good or great. Only negative thing that I noticed was Alves's sloppy defending at times.

defence was kinda worring at the start but that's all that bothered me.
Loved Tello and always great to see Pedro and Villa contributing goals.
Also we can all see it 4-3-3 is the way to go.
Congrats to the players

Where is Dani these days?

Fulltime Highlights:




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Tello assist for Pedro's goal

Le Samourai wrote:Where is Dani these days?

Was wondering this myself.

And yeah Tello did well.

Iniesta assist

Am I the only one who found the performance underwhelming?
Hate to say it but our defense was pathetic.Masch doesnt seem to have learnt his lessons.Still gets attracted to the ball like bees to a hive.Went looking for the ball on the Sociedad and messed up the line.Very poor performance from Masch and got outjumped on every single high ball.
Alves too was uncharacteristically shaky.Cant remember the last time he had such a poor game defensively.
Alba
4 fouls within a matter of minutes all near the left touchline.As if our lack of height on setpieces wasnt enough,this guy goes and concedes 4 fouls in exactly the same area in a few minutes.Has a lot to learn and needs to do so quickly.First thing he needs to learn is to not give away stupid fouls.
Busquets had his poorest game in a long long time.Positionally poor and sloppy passing.But since its Busquets I dont think I will have to say that again for the next 5 years.
Fabregas Still doesnt know how to move and make himself available for a pass.Xavi looks up and where is Fabregas?
Ofcourse the lost lamb is static and being screened by a Sociedad player.
Doesnt have the sense to move to make himself available for a pass.No surprise that our midfield passing became much better once the Don came on.Xavi had a great game.He looks sharp and fresh.And loved the Xavi-Puyol 1-2 combination to start off the season.
Messi had a poor game.Dont think he got out of neutral.Was coasting the entire game.But then he is so lethal that still managed to score a brace.
Pedro looked like the old Pedro.Full of energy,drive and movement.Excellent combination with Messi and a well taken goal.
Tello was terrific.Looks like he has really worked on his decision making. Unlike last season,he didnt do the same thing every single time.A well composed game.
Finally Villa
What a comeback.I was so happy to see him back and score.
Overall not too impressed with the performance but Villa's return more than made up for it.

Defence looked extremely worrying.We need a centre-back before the window ends but its not happening.More direct football against teams that do not pose much threat on the counter is one of the things I thought Pep was doing wrong last season and although Soceidad were dangerous on the counter we simply had too much for them to handle.

vivabarca38 wrote:Defence looked extremely worrying.We need a centre-back before the window ends but its not happening.More direct football against teams that do not pose much threat on the counter is one of the things I thought Pep was doing wrong last season and although Soceidad were dangerous on the counter we simply had too much for them to handle.

And with SuperCopa around the corner, this is indeed a worrying sign. I felt after this game that Madrid would have to worry though with the defense we produced today shows how much we could be in trouble. I hope Tito places Pique and Puyol together. I would also like Adriano at left back though Alba will be fine. Sadly, I find that Song will be our centreback this season...

Alex... I think you are the definition of spoilt Barca supporter. Its our first game... what do you expect? Perfection? We won 5-1, there were loads of promising signs and in my opinion absolutely no player deserved to be called poor or facepalmed.

Defence looked shaky, but defence is always something you need to work on early. Particularly as we are accommodating a new player.

Don't think Fab was amazing but not crap either.

And describing Messi as 'poor' is just another example of being spoilt by him. I was thinking at the time people would criticise him, he gave the ball away a lot and was a bit sloppy. However, he still performed better than almost any player in the world could lol... I mean come on...

Just saying this is the first match... no need to be so negative. Plenty to get excited about in my opinion. Looking at the positives:

-Messi looked so damn hungry... some amazing link up play.
-Pedro is back!
-Villa is back and I thought he looked really sharp and motivated.
-Xavi was on fire.
-Iniesta was incredible... just toyed with them. Definitely 2nd best in the world, only thing CR has on him is goals.
-Alba's link up play and penetration was just
-Tello showing improvement
-Then there was the few decisions from Tito that Free outlined... all excellent for me

i'm with Kizz.
Certainly more possitives than negatives in this game and certainly not an underwhelming display. at least not in the total of the game. IMO Pique needs to be a starter whether he pairs with Puyol or Masch. He was a boss when he entered and it's about time he develops some leadership skills.
All in all from the mid onwards we were prety good, even with Messi not being flawless and cesc not being awesome. Tello, Pedro, Villa... I hope they keep it this way.

P.S. I am also expecting much from Alexis this year

Agreed with Billy and Kizz. Yes, we conceded too many chances and counter attacks. Alves and Alba showed some problems in the counter as expected, and at times our pressing seemed to be not as effective as usual. As Kizz says, we hopefully can improve our defence and pressing a lot, although I fear that the Alba - Alves discompensation will be an all season problem.

However, you also have to consider the opposition: they are not handicapped people. Chori Castro, Greizman and Prieto are good players that can cope under pressure and launch a counter. Especially Chori always shines vs. us.

Aside from that, all players looked at least OK and the team overall was vastly superior.

BarcaKizz wrote:Alex... I think you are the definition of spoilt Barca supporter. Its our first game... what do you expect? Perfection? We won 5-1, there were loads of promising signs and in my opinion absolutely no player deserved to be called poor or facepalmed.

Defence looked shaky, but defence is always something you need to work on early. Particularly as we are accommodating a new player.

Don't think Fab was amazing but not crap either.

And describing Messi as 'poor' is just another example of being spoilt by him. I was thinking at the time people would criticise him, he gave the ball away a lot and was a bit sloppy. However, he still performed better than almost any player in the world could lol... I mean come on...

Just saying this is the first match... no need to be so negative. Plenty to get excited about in my opinion. Looking at the positives:

-Messi looked so damn hungry... some amazing link up play.
-Pedro is back!
-Villa is back and I thought he looked really sharp and motivated.
-Xavi was on fire.
-Iniesta was incredible... just toyed with them. Definitely 2nd best in the world, only thing CR has on him is goals.
-Alba's link up play and penetration was just
-Tello showing improvement
-Then there was the few decisions from Tito that Free outlined... all excellent for me

More than spoilt,I think its JD's pessimism rubbing off on me too.LOL.
I agree that there were some positives and I forgot to mention one.
Pique looked terrific.If he plays like this,looks a fine fine player.Just hope this Pique turns up all the time.
But my pessimism aside,you cant deny the specific defensive points I raised.
Masch doesnt seem to have learnt his lesson.I counted 3 times yesterday when he came out searching for the ball instead of holding position,thereby leaving Puyol exposed.
Its alright to press and look for the ball but a CB has to pick the moments.
And especially in our system,when Masch does go looking for the ball then he has to 100% get the ball or prevent the player with the ball from releasing a free player into the space just vacated.Masch was again caught in No Man's Land thrice yesterday. He simply has to get the ball when he goes on those wild goose chases.
And with Alba and Alves being very attacking FB's,its even more of a worry.
No wonder Busquets looked positionally weak yesterday.
Masch improved in the second half but still its worrying and further reiterate the point that we needed to sign a WC CB this transfer window.

on another note the alves, puyol, masc, alba quartret worries me on the aerial department. I hope Tito won't play them against towering teams

How the hell are we going to get a WC centre-back?I know its not going to happen,but we need a top 10-15 centre-back.It also has to be someone who sticks in his position.Maschete does the mistake everytime of not tracking his man.

vivabarca38 wrote:How the hell are we going to get a WC centre-back?I know its not going to happen,but we need a top 10-15 centre-back.It also has to be someone who sticks in his position.Maschete does the mistake everytime of not tracking his man.

I guess Agger, Kosc. Vermelean, Sahko out of the equation. Probably even Dede..

We are not signing anyone else, Zubi said it.
Song will be the 4th CB. Let's hope he can adapt. I think he can do a good job there, Song has showed he is capable of learning and adapting.

I haven't seen football like that from Barca since Pep's first season.

Possession ideals but with a direct approach, i like.

Also the pace on the flanks was ridiculous

Tello, Pedro, Alves and Alba it will be a lot more difficult to park against Barca with 2 attacking fullbacks as well as the wide forwards such as Tello, Pedro, Villa and Sanchez.

Although more vulnerable defensively, Busquets will have to drop back as a 3rd CB more often than usual.

Hopefully this style of play will make Sanchez come out of his shell as he looked limited at best last season and nowhere close to anything like he can.