FC Barcelona vs Paris SG (2nd leg CL)

The Franchise wrote:

Tello not even on the bench.

Motta and Veratti for them, pretty decent.

All of a sudden, not so happy.

Who would you remove from the bench dani - Song or Montoya?

Why do we need Song on the bench? I dont see what for.

edit: Any of them JD it dont matter.

Adriano, Alba and Alves cover the fullback positions very easily. Whats Montoya for?

Song? What is he going to do off the bench? The only possible use is set peice defending.

Tello might actually score a goal or create one....I dont forget what Afellay did off the bench vs Madrid not that long ago with direct running at pace.

When we bought Song it was said he can play as center back as well. Playing Adriano instead of him tonight emphatically proves how misguided this transfer was.

Agree completely dani that Montonya is not needed since Adriano is anyway there. Since Barta does not start he too could have been left out with Song "covering" for two positions. Nice mention of what Afellay did.

I would have preferred Bartra partnering Pique. And Alexis for Pedro. I am confident though, the only team to beat us in Camp Nou in recent times is Madrid if I am not mistaken, and that happened when we were really out of shape.

And I really love how the team looks like the Spanish NT in midfield + attack

Well...looking at the bright side, if we lose tonight, at least 2 WC CBs will be purchased this summer.

i doubt any coach in the world would put bartra in such an important match when he even dint get minutes in liga games including vs smaller teams.
But i agree that it is pointless to put both Song and Montaya on the bench leaving an option like Tello in front of TV. is it possible that like many of us the management also thinks Adriano getting injured again has a high possibility

Its first time i see how important Messi is to the team. Team is not the same without Messi. not even at a single thing (even in possession)

Our pressing is pathetic. Regardless of what happens, we aint winning this title with this level of pressing.

No organasation at all, midfield contantly late and slow, Maxwell is free at every turn.

Alba been good positionally, but he cant handle Lucas at all..then again noone can.

I can see them winning this 1 nil at this rate, or at least them scoring and us getting into desperation mode.

Messi might help, but thats not even the biggest problem right now so I dont care lol

Even if we go through, its gonna be a Batra-Song partnership at the back for the semis, assuming Pique gets booked in the 2nd half.

Adriano has been okay so far, too bad he'll miss the next match.

Poor first half. Not enough control. Not enough tempo. Ball lost in our own half quite a few times. As a fan this is clearly worrying. As kizz pointed out in the previous match Xavi wasn't looking fit. He is not looking fit tonight either. Valdes has been our best player.

PSG have done better. Better at passing, better movements, better marking. I can't believe this Barcelona team has had a week to rest. They look jaded.

the problem is that cesc and villa play in center and we have no winger in right to overlap with alves.

As soon as PSG get the ball out from their defence they have acres of space in front of them to exploit. Barcelona's midfielders are caught out in the middle of nowhere where neither they can press nor have the pace to mark up the many, many runners escaping behind them.

Oh and Pedro

The first 5-10 was pretty good, but since then, down the toilet. No pressing, people jogging in midfield, cant even blame the forwards.

Also Villa playing down the middle and Cesc deep leaves the right wide open, they are escaping the little pressing we are doing down there easily.

likeastar wrote:It's not about Messi, "a worse Barca" (without Alves, who for me is the 4th most important player) won 2 Euros and the WC. It's a tactical problem, 2 years ago it was very hard to get the ball in Barca's half.

Very well said.

The Franchise wrote:we aint winning this title with this level of pressing.

Bayern. Having watched the matches yesterday and today, they really are one step ahead of everybody else.

danyjr wrote:

The Franchise wrote:we aint winning this title with this level of pressing.

Bayern. Having watched the matches yesterday and today, they really are one step ahead of everybody else.

Probably. The press far better than we do consistently, they defend better...they can keep enough of the ball and the attack the channels.

Only thing really stopping them is , choking, ref decisions and luck.

The absence of Xavi and Busquets is very noticeable this game. Not quite sure who are replacing them but they're nowhere near Barca standard.

Welll..... f*ck. Time to sub in Messi, Thiago and Alexis.

thats great...now we concede a goal and let Messi play....funny!!!

and as always Adriano manages to get injured

I take back everything bad I've ever said about Pedro

Very little to celebrate, crawling over the line like wounded dogs.

Sorry, I cant help it. Aint been this upset about getting to a semi ever, perhaps because I know we wont win playing so pathetically.

Somehow I felt sorry for PSG. Who would of thought it.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I take back everything bad I've ever said about Pedro

He did nothing apart from that goal. Iniesta had to become a winger because he was too always wide, and often unmarked. I didn't see Pedro making a single diagonal or behind the defence. Also the goal Barcelona conceded was because of his abysmal play. I genuinely think Tello is better than him.

Very good play by PSG. They deserved more from this match. Some of their passing and movements were class, almost reminder of the 'old Barcelona'.

We do love to dig a hole for ourselves, don't we. Once again we have managed to come out of it though. We could have gone through more easily if we had played the first half properly but alls well that ends well.