Date: Thursday, 01/10/2013 21:30

Competition: Copa del Rey

Stadium: Camp Nou

City: Barcelona

Capacity: 99786

Television: TV3 and Marca TV

Referee: Hernández Hernández, Alejandro José

Cops Del Rey again...

Pinto, Montoya, Mascherano, Barta, Adriano, Song, Thiago, Fabregas, Villa, Alexis, Tello

------------------Pinto-------------------
Montoya--Barta--Mascherano--Adriano
------Thiago----Song-------Fabregas---
---Tello---------Alexis---------Villa------

Though I'm expecting Fab to be probably rested with either Roberto or JDS playing instead of him and possibly Messi starting though I think it's wise to let him have a run after an hours play...

---------------------Pinto-----------------
Motoya-------Barta--------Mascherano-----Adriano
---------------------Song
---------Sergi Roberto-------Thiago
-Sanchez--------------Villa--------------------Tello

Cuenca will hopefully get playing time along with JDS and maybe Gerard D.
I think Tito will rest the main stars for Malaga away, we need to keep our record.

I have been dissapointed with our cup outings, the games have been incredibly dull.

The reason being that the first team guys who play obviously arent very motivated for it and we produce performances which are just "enough".

I wish we played as many B team guys as possible honestly, they actually would care and im sure they would make it more intresting.

While I'd like to see B players mixing it with the first team, players like Bartra, Montoya, Song, Thiago, Tello, Villa (who seems in this position sadly) etc. need to be given minutes too.

Sure, I agree, but last time Messi, Pedro, Alves, Pique, Alba, Mascherano and Xavi all started.

Jordi Roura has stated that he is taking this game as well as every single per cup game very seriously therefore I'm gathering that some first team players will indeed play...
Iniesta, Pedro, Xavi and Piqué quill be rested for this match...

Wow, its only Cordoba, but we are playing awesomely well. Song seems to have learned a lot, he is moving the ball extremely fast and Thiago's goal was thanks to that for instances. Awesome performances from Villa and Thiago too.

Only one is not playing very well is Alexis, I'm a bit sad for him, hope he can score and regain his confidence. Go Alexis!

free_cat wrote:Wow, its only Cordoba, but we are playing awesomely well. Song seems to have learned a lot, he is moving the ball extremely fast and Thiago's goal was thanks to that for instances. Awesome performances from Villa and Thiago too.

Only one is not playing very well is Alexis, I'm a bit sad for him, hope he can score and regain his confidence. Go Alexis!

my thoughts exactly... happy to see Song playing samrtly

Sergi Roberto injured a pity. Jds came in for him and is playing well too. We are playing extraordinary. Nice Alexis scored from a header! that's something he does very well.

Dammit, Alexis scored. Now he will continue to bench the more deserving Villa.

lolexis

Córdoba were sick by the way, I'm going to start supporting them from today.

Awesome performance from Thiago. MOM without a doubt.

Villa also had some kind of muscle injury, hope it isn't serious. We should have played more B team players instead of Cesc, Puyol, etc. and be able to give some rest to Villa...

What do you mean with "Cordoba were sick" danyjr?

Happy with many people today,
Thiagoat our whole defence line, song Villa and Sanchez even made me have some little hope for him.

Also like to add that in the past two games
Pedro x2 in 1 game
Sanchez x2 in 1 game
Villa x2 in 1 game
Messi 1 in 1
new year? more scorers lets hope this keeps going as much as I love Messi scoring I prefer the whole team scoring

I feel sorry for Alexis, he is destined to not do well.

Song played very well and despite danyjr opinion, I think he is a great backup to Busquets and more suited to Mascherano at DM for us.

The question is if we really needed him or we could have coped without him and playing Bartra, Mascherano or Sergi Roberto when we needed to replace Busquets. Or if it would have been better to sign a CB instead.

free_cat wrote:What do you mean with "Cordoba were sick" danyjr?

I liked their courageous performance, always tried to play the ball and work their way forward. Obviously coming against a top side, you barely going to make it but they tried. Their fans were also fantastic both home and away. Big ups to them.

Agree Thiago was fantastic. I think the whole midfield played very well. Roberto showed very good awareness and Song's one-touch play was very good.

free_cat wrote:Song played very well and despite danyjr opinion, I think he is a great backup to Busquets

A player's worth is measured in big matches. Let's see if he turns up against a big opponent.

Also regarding Alexis, while he did very well to get into good goalscoring positions, his general play and finishing was absolutely woeful and, frankly, not good enough for a team with Barcelona's standards. He reminds me a bit of Gervinho, one of those players with absolutely piss poor decision making in the final third. As much as like Sánchez, it is hard to see him succeed at this club.

I wouldn't really criticize his decisions in the final 3rd so much as the lack of execution of those decisions...

Thiago was great and JDS was too when he came on. I only saw the 2nd half though tbf.

danyjr wrote:
A player's worth is measured in big matches. Let's see if he turns up against a big opponent.

The thing is that, unless Busquets is injured or suspended, he will never play in big games.
(Unlike Keita).

Cordoba was brave, but bravery killed them a bit to be honest.

CBarca wrote:I wouldn't really criticize his decisions in the final 3rd so much as the lack of execution of those decisions...

Thiago was great and JDS was too when he came on. I only saw the 2nd half though tbf.

Well... the decision of giving yet another touch after dribling the GK and having all the open goal to score was not great. He then slipped.

I think Song is a good back up, WAY better than Mascherano at the holding midfield position.

Of course, I would of preferred we bought a centerback but its too late now we have Song.

I still don't like Alexis.

I seriously got so past at Alexis missing so many 1 on 1. He has pace to get around defenders but he drops balls when the keeper comes out or in front of goal. Takes the shot too quickly instead take his time like Thiago did and place the ball in the back of the net. It got me happy that he scored twice but still needs to improve. Hopefully these two goals will boost his confidence like Pedro and Villa.
Thiago and Roberto were amazing. Short fast passing and their dribbling was amazing!
Villas goal Dat skill to get around the defender for the first goal

I hear Mascherano was the best defender?

free_cat wrote:

CBarca wrote:I wouldn't really criticize his decisions in the final 3rd so much as the lack of execution of those decisions...

Thiago was great and JDS was too when he came on. I only saw the 2nd half though tbf.

Well... the decision of giving yet another touch after dribling the GK and having all the open goal to score was not great. He then slipped.

Fair enough. If it wasn't for extreme bad luck this would be just another decision that didn't make a difference, but I guess you can say it was a bad decision, yes- due to the fact that the bad luck did indeed happen.

Anyway, good win. Hope whatever happened to Villa is fine (I'm sure it is) and he gets back out there more often than not from now on.