Champions League Group Stages: FC Barcelona vs Spartak Moscow

Collblanc wrote:el puto crack song !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only a cameroonian would make a comment like this when Song was OK but not much today.....

After the 3-2, Camp Nou started chanting "In-Inde-Independence" in an unprecedented display of independentism by Barça fans. This has never happened before in Camp Nou, although I already witnessed something similar in the Copa del Rey final:

All we need to do is go into the classic with 8 points. It doesn't matter who we have in defence, its not a cup final.

Isnt the classic almost 3 weeks away anyway? Pique and iniesta could be back.

Mixed bag.

Busquets and everyone forward of him, for me, played very well. Alexis off the bench was a excellent spark also.

Pedro was excellent even if he didnt score, his dribbling was great and he rarely gave the ball away. Tello was going past his man very often, great goal and get move for Messi's goal.

Xavi played some great passes and did what he does, Cesc was decent if not spectacular. He was a little quite at times but at least he moved well without the ball and we didnt suffer in terms of having options.

Busquets is just fantastic. Nobody makes a mockery out of players like him. Its becaue he has no physical skills whatsoever, but he is just so intellegant. I will continue to steal his moves.

Messi wasnt really good to be honest. His freekicks and corners were horrible...as bad as it can be to be honest. He scored 2 goals and made some good passes, but it wasnt a good performance really. He also didnt press much, alot of walking around. It really stands out when he is walking while Pedro and Tello are busting their ass off around him.

Alexis was a spark like I already said.

Where were struggled was down the other end. Pique going off hurt us bad.

For the goal, Mascherano's positioning again was horrible. He makes one of these positonal mijudgements a game at least. Song should of cut the ball out, but failed and Dani Alves didnt react in time. Dani Alves played a good game, he even did a great pass to Messi who was just closed down at the end. Adriano was more quite and didnt cover himself in glory for the 2nd goal. But to be honest it was a excellent counter attack by them.

We showed great spirit and im happy with the performance. However, the defence was bad and I think Madrid are going to score at least 1 goal...probably more to be honest. The game will hinge on how effective Messi is in general play I think. If he plays well he can win, if he doesnt...its going to be difficult.

Masche looked like he was injured at a point but decided to suck up the pain. Anyone know if we're expecting any downtime or if it just looked worse than it actually was?

I hope Tito and company are FINALLY realizing that after all these years we ACTUALLY have to get a real CB. Watch them turn around and sign another defensive mid to cover at CB ffs

Good result, bad performance. Pique out is a massive blow. He was just hitting decent form and definately looks much more comfortable than what he was last season. Barta is inexperienced though Granada would be a great test for him to gain experience. For me, if Fabregas doesn't make those attacking runs, he would be a decent midfielder. When Villa came on, he switched to be a creative midfielder meaning less attacking runs and more positioned in the center of the pitch, picking out passes. If he does that all game then I can see some decent performances from him. When he makes those runs, it provides us with less options and its a key reason why we sometimes don't controll the game as much as we do when Cesc plays.
I didn't like the Villa-Tello subsitution. Tello was pretty much getting past the defense every single time he had a touch on the ball. It would have been a wiser option if Villa came on for Pedro though even Pedro was looking good and it would be foolsih to take off Xavi or Cesc as we wouldn't create many chances and less controllability of possession and the game. Sanchez played well when he came on though wasted a great opportunity that he could have had a decent shot on goal instead tried to be tricky and play a backpass. He could actually take on a player which slightly impressed me.
Song was average. His passing was accurate though positionally wise, I wasn't impressed as such and well one could say, he could have done better with the cross. He needs time no doubt and with Pique and Puyol out, Tito will have the choice to experiment him as a centreback.

Give Bartra a chance in the next match ffs!

Tello, well done...He was MOTM

Oh...more injuries.Its come to the point that were playing with 6 starting team players.

I'm sorry but Mascherano+Song are so going to get raped by Madrid.

Also regarding the conversion of a DM to CB. No, Song was never a DM. Not a good one that is. Last night he was absolutely poor positionally, not to mention he failed to clear a simple ball any good defender would have cleared. But his positioning and decision making was really the highlight of the match, or should I say lowlight? Pushing for balls leaving gaps behind him, leaving the centre and being dragged way wider than a CB should ever go. Horrendous.

Far from horrendous actually.

We need Bartresi in defence against Mudrid. With Song+ Masch we are going to concede and probably more than one too.

I rather play Busquets and Mascherano in the centre of defence if I were you. Put Thiago or Song in DM position instead. I know losing Busquets as DM is a big blow but not as much as having Song as CB. Trust me.

Busquets at CB?
Have you at least watched some Barça matches?

He played CB last season and season before that when needed.

More importantly have you seen Song play CB?

He did play CB, and Busi was atrocious there.
Song has played a game as CB. Let 's not kneejerk and give him more time before ruling him out.

Whats the Song vendetta about?

He wasnt poor. He made one mistake for the goal and commited one silly foul.

Both Song games people have invented someone imaginary "out of position" arguement to say he has bad.

Busi at CB.....really?

IMO Busquets at CB should not be an option, he's way too important in midfield. If the choice is between Song and Bartra, I'd say let's test them out first. But after Granada we have Sevilla, Benfica, RM, so maybe play Bartra vs Granada and then compare.

But I would go with Bartra because he won't be sucked forward infield looking for the ball and leave huge gaps at the back. I think the reason we see this in Masch and Song is their midfielder mindset.

Safe to say Mascherano is going to start whether we like it or not