Re: Barcelona v Mallorca

by danyjr Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:52 pm

I'll mention some negatives since most have covered or will cover the positives:

Bartra, committing too much to recovering the ball and unaware of runners going behind him completely unmarked. Otherwise pretty solid in air and passing the ball

Thiago is still guilty of playing fantasy at the wrong moments. A few too many mistakes for a CM. Otherwise some of the long balls he played were absolutely Shocked

Not Alonso standards pace-wise but he can curl the ball with such accuracy it is almost Özil-like.

Montoya made some very weird, amateur-ish decisions. Such as when a wingback is pressed, football 101 says never cut inside but he did on a couple of occasions and lost the ball in a very dangerous area.

Finally Song was given a little room to do some of his signature 2011-12 Arsenal 'hollywood' passes. Laughing

Piqué showing he can't direct a header to save his life (Tello's cross).

Alexis is really not a striker. How many chances does he miss every match. He just hesitates too much to take a shot.

And may I finally add Manzano is the most overrated, shittiest coach I've ever seen in La Liga. Don't understand how he gets employed.

PS: That cheering in Camp Nou for Abidal. Did any one cry?

by BarcaLearning Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:52 pm

I think I should know this but I forgot.... if a player of team B is promoted to team A for a game, will he need to stay with team A for a certain amount of time, or can he go back to team B for the next game?

5-0 Cesc hattracik, Abidal appearance, clean sheet, perfect Smile

by gondov Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:53 pm

This has to be one of my best Barca moments, Abidal coming on and having his first touch of a football Proud

...kinda made my eyes water a bit.

by Donuts Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:54 pm

Was very very pleased with Bartra, he did amazing every corner, free kick he is one of the few on the team who actually seems to be able to clear balls from set pieces.
whenever his defence was sloppy he would get the ball back right away.
Thiago was good but towards the end he got abit sloppy.
JDS didn't do so bad, at times he looked like Xavi with the team trusting him and passing him the ball very often.
Song did well some good tackles and Montoya had an off game but is expected he is better as a RB.
Tello has much to offer for the team, his speed is a huge benefit and adds a lot of threat despite not scoring.

by Donuts Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:56 pm

oh and of course Abi :wub:

I really hope we win the champions this year so we can see him lift the cup again.

by gondov Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:09 pm

I just realized Dos Santos was playing against his brother today Laughing

by danyjr Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:18 pm

gondov wrote:
I just realized Dos Santos was playing against his brother today

lol what were the chances...

by Harmonica Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:18 pm

Song with 116/123 passes. hmm

by The Sanchez Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:28 pm

This was quite a memorable match and at the same time was quite a insignificant one.

Cesc scored a hat-trick, Abi came back & Deulofeu got some time in the middle and that makes it memorable for me.

In general, considering Messi will not start on Wednesday, Cesc being on good form is very good. Cesc can at least play in his best position. Flanked by Alexis & Villa gives us good enough front line.

I also feel that Bartra is coming up ok.

Well, this got out of way, now we can focus exclusively on coming Wednesday.

Really thought Song had a great game. His passing, tackling, pressuring was spot on. Bartra had a good game as well though too many times he unnecessarily came out of his position to mark a player that Song/Thiago could have been marking instead. Could be risky against PSG. Great to see Abi back and playing. Though started with 3 long passes Laughing

Just a short one to Montoya or Pinto or Song son but I don't blame him.

by Collblanc Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:40 am

BarcaLearning wrote:I think I should know this but I forgot.... if a player of team B is promoted to team A for a game, will he need to stay with team A for a certain amount of time, or can he go back to team B for the next game?

5-0 Cesc hattracik, Abidal appearance, clean sheet, perfect

You can switch between the teams. As long as you are in the selection.

by BarcaLearning Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:51 am

danyjr wrote:I'll mention some negatives since most have covered or will cover the positives:

Bartra, committing too much to recovering the ball and unaware of runners going behind him completely unmarked. Otherwise pretty solid in air and passing the ball

Thiago is still guilty of playing fantasy at the wrong moments. A few too many mistakes for a CM. Otherwise some of the long balls he played were absolutely Not Alonso standards pace-wise but he can curl the ball with such accuracy it is almost Özil-like.

Montoya made some very weird, amateur-ish decisions. Such as when a wingback is pressed, football 101 says never cut inside but he did on a couple of occasions and lost the ball in a very dangerous area.

Finally Song was given a little room to do some of his signature 2011-12 Arsenal 'hollywood' passes.

Piqué showing he can't direct a header to save his life (Tello's cross).

Alexis is really not a striker. How many chances does he miss every match. He just hesitates too much to take a shot.

And may I finally add Manzano is the most overrated, shittiest coach I've ever seen in La Liga. Don't understand how he gets employed.

PS: That cheering in Camp Nou for Abidal. Did any one cry?

Harmonica wrote:Song with 116/123 passes.

Agree with a lot of the above, Song played a top game, he seemed like even a better playing or suitable for Barcaq than even Thiago from this games showing, Thiago is more adventurous and less safe passing than Song, and I worried how Song had to cover the defense and go out to the wings to defend often, out numbered chasing 3 different opponents at times...

As we know this was against a weak team who were poor defensively, I dont expect at all Cesc able to do this vs PSG for example when they got T.Silva and co Razz

Collblanc wrote:
BarcaLearning wrote:I think I should know this but I forgot.... if a player of team B is promoted to team A for a game, will he need to stay with team A for a certain amount of time, or can he go back to team B for the next game?

5-0 Cesc hattracik, Abidal appearance, clean sheet, perfect

You can switch between the teams. As long as you are in the selection.

Thats great flexiblity to have for us Cool

by CBarca Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:02 am

I heard Cesc played well for once?

Good job!

Also, nice to see Alexis doing well. Both assists and goals were well taken. I hope he can keep it up.

Because playing well against Mallorca's defense and playing well vs anyone elses defense is a large and very distinct difference.

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:29 pm

The Franchise wrote:Intresting stat...I thought he carried us and we were nothing without him?

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:31 pm

Donuts wrote:whenever Messi doesn't play I see Barcelona more as the Spain team, less risky, less entertaining, and slower.

Fair point but still quite capable of getting the desired result.

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:41 pm

gondov wrote:
After Messi, fabregas is the most important player for barca..
.......in his mind

And in the minds of many of the advertisers in my country. In the last few weeks I have been sick and tired of some ads which when presenting Barca show Messi first and after that Fabregas ahead of not just Iniesta but also Xavi. These guys have taken sucking up to the EPL to an altogether new level.

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:53 pm

Fabregas playing so well even though it was against arguably La Liga's weakest team at home has almost definitively made it clear that he must leave Barcelona to save his own career.

The contrast between how well he plays in midfield, whether it be in Xavi's or Iniesta's position, and how well he plays in the forward line is staggering. Now I think we agree that he cannot play as one of the two wing forwards for us. This means that the only position he can play for us is the false number 9 which is Messi's position. No one on earth beats Messi for anything leave alone for his playing position ( if you don't believe me you could ask one Mr. Zlatan Ibrahimovic Smile

) and with both being the same age and quite young, the possibility of being an understudy is also ruled out. Instead if Cesc could go to a team where he gets to play second striker he could work wonders and soon be back among the best players in the world. For once he needs to think with his head and take a strong decision. Staying too long with the wrong team can destroy your career - just ask one Mr. Kaka. Sad

by free_cat Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:00 pm

I disagree, Fabregas played well in midfield until december. He might as well be regaining his form and play good as CM as well as false 9.

However, it is obvious he is more suited to being a pure AM than a CM, but this doesn't mean we can't use him as a pure AM in the future turning to a 4231 with Busquets - Iniesta and Fabregas as AM.

He needs to be more consistent and accept his rotation role until Xavi leaves/declines, that's all.

Of course, I wouldn't rule out selling him, but only for a huge offer.

by Harmonica Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:22 pm

It's rather depressing to talk about selling players after performance like this. Sad

I think in the first season, Fabregas also played great for the first half of the season, and then disappeared the second half, like this season. Would be nice to know reason for that.

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:42 pm

cat, I think that even in the period where you mention Fabregas played great, his tendency was always to go forward and release the final pass or try to score a goal. He rarely did the other things that a central midfielder is expected to do. I don't think that would work against quality teams. Using Iniesta on the left and having him drop into midfield solved this problem somewhat but soon created an even bigger one with our left flank becoming the one smart teams would exploit easily.

As for changing formation to 4-2-3-1 its an interesting thought but there are a few problems. Messi likes being the false 9. He may not take kindly to being asked to be the conventional center forward or go back to the right wing. I am not ruling it out though.

Overall I maintain that its best for us and for Fabregas that he leaves but that does not mean I am not even open to what kind of possibilities can develop in future which can perhaps make it work for him here even though it seems unlikely as of now.

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:46 pm

Really curious to know who got the arm band when Iniesta was substituted. Hope it was Dani Alves. Can anyone shed some light on this?

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:47 pm

free_cat wrote:I disagree, Fabregas played well in midfield until december. He might as well be regaining his form and play good as CM as well as false 9.

However, it is obvious he is more suited to being a pure AM than a CM, but this doesn't mean we can't use him as a pure AM in the future turning to a 4231 with Busquets - Iniesta and Fabregas as AM.

He needs to be more consistent and accept his rotation role until Xavi leaves/declines, that's all.

Of course, I wouldn't rule out selling him, but only for a huge offer.

Problem is that you can't play him there because in a 4-2-3-1 it would be messi who would play in the AM spot.

I don't mind keeping Fabregas if he has no problems playing second fiddle to messi

by messixaviesta Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:52 pm

alfred, good point. Other than false 9, AM is probably the only other position Messi would be pleased with. After all that's the position he plays for Argentina.

by Harmonica Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:56 pm

messixaviesta wrote:Really curious to know who got the arm band when Iniesta was substituted. Hope it was Dani Alves. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Pinto.

by CBarca Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:43 pm

Oh yeah as much as I'm not a fan of Fab, if he wants to play second fiddle to Messi I'm absolutely ok with keeping him. In fact I like the idea.

But if he wants to play, and obviously so does Messi...he needs to go.

They cannot coexist. We learned this with Guardiola.

by danyjr Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:09 pm

Why not rotate him? Does Messi really have to play every match? I don't think he's a good athlete if I'm honest so why not keep him fresh for bigger games and make sure he contributes to pressing.

by gondov Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:09 pm

Cesc is the first Barcelona player not being Messi to score a hat-trick since Keita in Oct 2009 #fcblive Since then Messi scored 20.

Keita, barca legend :bow:

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