Copa del Rey | SF (Second leg) | FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid

Donuts wrote:I refuse to believe it's due to his age and more about that minor injury he recently got I don't think it's fully healed and playing him constantly isn't helping.
but that might be my inner fanboyism making me say that :p

Good point

RealGunner wrote:Milan all over again but this time the opposition had better players and an even better manager.

Arguable. Milan's victory is more impressive due to their squad compared to the squad Mou has.

If I'm not posting recently then it's safe to say I shot myself. This doesn't hurt near as much as the Milan loss though. It's the CDR and with Barca's form I was expecting a loss so really instead of hurt and depressed I really just feel fairly apathetic to this all.

Ugh, that's not true . F**k this team

danyjr wrote:Actually I don't think so. Better players, yes. Better manager, no so much. Don't forget Milan completely nullified Barcelona's attacks while Barcelona had a few good opportunities in this match.

Barca underestimated Milan in that game... besides, that was at Milan. This game was at Camp Nou with elimination on the line.

Personally, CDR is a mickey mouse trophy to me. It doesn't really impress me much. My happiness is that we beat Barca 3-1 away and won the tie. The only real trophy Madrid is after is CL. That Man U second leg is the biggest game of the year so far for us.

messixaviesta wrote:Hardly anyone had a decent game for us spanky. You rightly say Puyol is aging but I hope finally all agree that Xavi is aging too. Tell me when was the last time we saw the maestro in a match in which he was utterly anonymous. How many times did he touch the ball today?

i agree, xavi hasnt been his self for a very long time now and i said this last season, because he started playing noticeably very bad after the balon d'or award ceremony and just hasnt recuperated since.

Honestly guys, this day was coming. Xavi and Puyol are old now and there's an extreme over reliance on Messi. My feelings about our overuse of the false 9 are well known here so I won't go into it, but it's time to revamp. No more buying tricky wingers just to relegate them to back up support for Messi like Alexis, no more playing a striker out of his natural central position like Villa, no more buying players we don't need like Cesc.

If were going to buy Neymar, he better damn well not be forced to become another extra in the Messi Show. We need our 08-09 edge back, we are stale and toothless. This team is reminding me more and more of the 06-08 disaster, alot of the players here were part of that disaster, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised about history repeating itself.

Tito, we love you man, but you cannot make team selections from half way across the world. We need a proper manager, not a novice assistant that you left behind. We were never going to get lucky with promoting within a 3rd time.

When was the last time someone scored 3 goals against Barcelona at the Nou Camp?

It is easy to blame things after everything seems to go wrong on a toothless Messi, a slow Xavi and a past-his-best Puyol alone. For me personally, Barcelona's biggest problem has been themselves and the rigidity of their style of play. Teams have figured Barcelona out, simple as, and in order to stay on top you have to evolve and change things. You have to realise that Barcelona's system, regardless of the many trophies it has won, has had its fair share of problems. From the season you won the sextuple, you choked against Chelsea, then Inter, then Madrid, then Celtic, then Milan. It is a pattern for everyone to see, but for some reason your management has refused to acknowledge that. They have made the same mistakes over and over again, tactically, management, and also how your squad has been 'strengthened' over the years, or shall we say weakened? Add the fact that players who have won it all are simply less hungry for more. I could name tens of other reasons, but I'll leave that to others. Just don't blame individuals. Its cheap.

danyjr wrote:It is easy to blame things after everything seems to go wrong on a toothless Messi, a slow Xavi and a past-his-best Puyol alone. For me personally, Barcelona's biggest problem has been themselves and the rigidity of their style of play. Teams have figured Barcelona out, simple as, and in order to stay on top you have to evolve and change things. You have to realise that Barcelona's system, regardless of the many trophies it has won, has had its fair share of problems. From the season you won the sextuple, you choked against Chelsea, then Inter, then Madrid, then Celtic, then Milan. It is a pattern for everyone to see, but for some reason your management has refused to acknowledge that. They have made the same mistakes over and over again, tactically, management, and also how your squad has been 'strengthened' over the years, or shall we say weakened? Add the fact that players who have won it all are simply less hungry for more. I could name tens of other reasons, but I'll leave that to others. Just don't blame individuals. Its cheap.

This is a good post.

Blaming individuals is going to get us nowhere. The whole team was bad. In addition, there are other factors such as management who don't want evolve our game to counter teams who "figure us out".

Board has been pathetic. Not getting a CB, 22 million for Song who we werent going to play often if he didn't play CB... Taking in Roura who has no experience at this level.

I just hope Tito recovers well enough so he can start coaching. We need him so desperately.

Next market we need a CB for sure plus a winger. No doubt about it.

Hey fellas... tough luck. Disappointing.

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1-3 loss not 0-3 loss!!!

So I did end up watching the second half.

Some comments:
- Note how the Camp Nou was chanting Villa even before this one had to warm up.

- In spite of all, we always play bad in February, this February was the perfect storm with quite a few decisive matches against top opposition and the lack of mgmt

- In retrospect it seems quite clear we should've gotten an interim manager. Luis Enrique? With Tito not coming back for a month, is this still a route worth considering?

- The most disappointing thing about this match is that we simply don't learn from previous mistakes. The same symptoms as always, which were made perfectly clear to everyone at the Malaga cup games

- Someone needs to talk some sense into Lionel "I don't need to rest" Messi.

- I'm concerned about the impact that this and a probable Milan defeat would have on our league campaign.

- I really miss having a coach

We need to sell Alves,Sanchez,Song and Fabregas.We should get at least £70 million for them 4.

Buy a RB who is more defensive minded,like Abidal used to be to compliment Jordi Alba on the other side.This will give the team better balance like it used to have and give Alba more freedom to attack and less defensive responsibility.

Buy a World Class CB.

Now either buy Neymar or buy a proper striker depending on which system we will play next season.If we buy Neymar,no playing him as a foil for Messi like what Sanchez and Pedro have become.We need another magician in the team as well as Messi who will score at least 20 a season.

If we want a proper striker then buy Falcao or Cavani, preferably Falcao as I think he is technically better than Cavani.Maybe even Aguero but he is dominant in the air like the other two.

Rotate Xavi,Iniesta,Thiago and Sergi Roberto etc

Do this and we will be the best team in the world again.

im soo fking pissed off that Villa didnt start, wtf is roura thinking. if i was villa id probs wouldnt even think about signing a year extension. and shit performance by everyone

Why should we sell Alves?
Fabregas is also not going anywhere, and with Xavi only getting older it doesn't make sense to sell him.

Sanchez I agree with. Song has done nothing wrong but it depends on whether he's satisfied with his playing time.

Also Falcao? I can't think of anyone less suited to our game. His passing is terrible by Barca standards. Worst than Masche.

Talking about transfers and team overhauls after defeats is rarely advisable btw. Especially when the problems are so clearly tactical.

Hardly worth talking about our philosophy when we continue putting Iniesta on the left and Fabregas in the midfield...

People taking this defeat as proof of the Barca philosophy not working

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Why should we sell Alves?
Fabregas is also not going anywhere, and with Xavi only getting older it doesn't make sense to sell him.

Sanchez I agree with. Song has done nothing wrong but it depends on whether he's satisfied with his playing time.

Also Falcao? I can't think of anyone less suited to our game. His passing is terrible by Barca standards. Worst than Masche.

Talking about transfers and team overhauls after defeats is rarely advisable btw. Especially when the problems are so clearly tactical.

Falcao is the best striker in the world,I don't give a *bleep* if he doesn't have 95% pass completion,he will put the ball in the net.

You lot are all living in the past,thinking the false 9 with 5 midfielders will work forever

I felt embarrassed today when I seen Messi standing by the Centre Circle with none of our players in the box,we will become history if we fail to adapt.

Falcao would make this team much harder to defend against.

but we never had a 5 man midfield o,o...
this is new having iniesta on the wing
our usual tactics is 4-3-3 with two proper wingers.

Alves shouldn't go anywhere atm. Fab probably won't go either. Tbh, it didn't make sense signing him in the first place should have got him closer to when Xavi was getting older and the possible chance of retirement.
Sanchez has lost it. Didn't even make the bench today and proof that he will go in the summer. Save up for a CB and a Inside Forward.

Hummels and Neymar/Aguero would be ideal to me

I'm not going to kneejerk here and demand half the team be sold. There are some obvious things we need to work on and they must be addressed this summer, that's for sure.

Cesc is the main issue here. He was never bought to replace Xavi, or at least I don't think that was the idea. As he doesnt really play the same role as Xavi, that's why Iniesta gets moved for Cesc and not Xavi. Thiago is the one that starts for Xavi. So buying a attacking midfielder the quality of Cesc to rotate with Iniesta who is in his prime was just *bleep* retarded.

Then the MAIN issue, is the club bending over for Cesc. Tito started the season with the right idea, of having Cesc only rotate with Iniesta and having Tello start as our LW. Then, Cesc complained about playing time and instead of the club telling him tough luck, they dropped Tello and moved Iniesta back to the wing-like Pep did last year. That ruined everything for Villa when he was healthy and ready to go.

and seriously, wtf was Song bought for? This guy has played like 3 games all season. We all saw how slow and unreliable Puyol is getting. We should of invested in a Center Back.

A team like barcelona always need a strong physical player ours is Song and Pique, song is meant for tactical games or atleast that is what we were told o,o.

Worms I'm not sure if you are a Barca fan or a troll but you and your hatred against the false 9 and love for a poacher need to go somewhere else...idk, Arsenal or something, they could use a good poacher and they don't use a false 9.

Selling Alves
Buying Falcao
Team overhaul after a couple defeats

lmao, yea not to mention the trouble started when your Coach when down. Maybe we need a new coach, not a new TEAM, lol

well to be fair, our main problems is the wingers and defence.
and that has been a problem since Tito has been here.