Barcelona - Levante | La Liga Matchday 1

5 W easy.

I would of preferred if we took out Xavi rather then Pedro or Sanchez.
no reason to keep him playing the full 90 minutes.

Donuts wrote:I would of preferred if we took out Xavi rather then Pedro or Sanchez.
no reason to keep him playing the full 90 minutes.

Probably because he won't start against Atletico in 3 days.

I rather rest him against Levante and play him against Atletico either way
but still odd to sub out a young winger for an older CM who doesn't really have an established replacement or sub other then youth S. Roberto.

futbol wrote:Martino: "I discussed with Leo the needs to rest every now and then. Of course, when the game is tight, not even the biggest fool subs him."

This gives me great hope. This is actually the first time Messi has been subbed out in a La Liga game without having an injury since 2010. No way Martino will run his players into ground like Bielsa IMO.

Where is Jiopsi's son/multi that said in regards to the Messi sub that that would "never happen again"?

Looks a bit foolish now

CBarca wrote:

futbol wrote:Martino: "I discussed with Leo the needs to rest every now and then. Of course, when the game is tight, not even the biggest fool subs him."

This gives me great hope. This is actually the first time Messi has been subbed out in a La Liga game without having an injury since 2010. No way Martino will run his players into ground like Bielsa IMO.

Where is Jiopsi's son/multi that said in regards to the Messi sub that that would "never happen again"?

Looks a bit foolish now

Can you stop being an insufferable idiot? We heard you the first three times you made the same reference...

CBarca wrote:

futbol wrote:Martino: "I discussed with Leo the needs to rest every now and then. Of course, when the game is tight, not even the biggest fool subs him."

This gives me great hope. This is actually the first time Messi has been subbed out in a La Liga game without having an injury since 2010. No way Martino will run his players into ground like Bielsa IMO.

Where is Jiopsi's son/multi that said in regards to the Messi sub that that would "never happen again"?

Looks a bit foolish now

Hey maniac stay on topic stop insulting people

I said he agreed with messi. And thats what Tata said

God I love you guys <3

Donuts wrote:I rather rest him against Levante and play him against Atletico either way
but still odd to sub out a young winger for an older CM who doesn't really have an established replacement or sub other then youth S. Roberto.

I'd rather experiment with the Iniesta-Fabregas combination now against a decent side in a meaningless cup which is being played over 2 legs to see if Fabregas can replace Xavi. If

LW Messi RW
Iniesta Cesc
Busquets

delivers, we're golden. If not, we haven't lost anything except maybe the first leg of a meaningless cup. At least that's what I would try now.

We've already established that Fab can't replace Xavi. Let's not ruin the fact that Fab actually played well today.

CBarca wrote:We've already established that Fab can't replace Xavi. Let's not ruin the fact that Fab actually played well today.

I'm not sure that's really an established fact. Cesc certainly can't replicate what Xavi does. Doesn't mean we can't play a midfield 3 of Busquets-Cesc-Iniesta. We did that once against Valencia and won 5-1: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/523277/Live

At least I don't see the problem. What exactly is lacking in that midfield 3? If you look at other top teams, why is Carrick-Cleverley-Rooney or Alonso-Khedira-Özil or Schweinsteiger-Kroos-Müller (under Pep) working but Busquets-Iniesta-Fabregas wouldn't?

hey guys. splendid team performance today. the 4th/alves goal from messi's pressing had me f--kin teary and pumping my fist. tata is a winner, already addressing several issues we have been crying out for 2 years. most impressed with alexis, pedro, fab and masch.

i don't think alexis has taken 2 years to adopt to barca's system, i think barca has taken 2 years to have a coach playing a tactical system that might get the best out of alexis, and on the same token pedro and neymar. from pep's experiments to tito's v2.0, "barca's systems" constantly evolved but none of them favoured our wingers, they were just messicentric.

alexis and pedro were clearly unleashed today. to me it looks like alexis has been given specific instructions on where to dribble to, to create instantaneous space that are more purposeful, and shape other players' runs. it was astounding how many successful dribbles he had in the first half. and he also produced some lovely passes as a result.

pedro from memory had less dribbles going at the defender, but had some vintage off the ball runs and all-around great awareness. very psyched to see a new pedro vs the big teams.

fab played a near perfect no.10 role and was the most consistent and decisive passer in the final third for me. seems also fabregas has been instructed to retain possession at speed and spend a minimum amount of time in midfield, leave it to xavi and co and focus on timing his runs to create final passes. when i was watching this, my concern was how much this refined role will take it away from iniesta when the two are paired for midfield.

anyone thought masch had a decent match? covered well and the crowd was loving it. dude looks pumped.

Perfect game...
Glad to see Pedro, Alexis and Cesc playing very well!

dream departure wrote:hey guys. splendid team performance today. the 4th/alves goal from messi's pressing had me f--kin teary and pumping my fist. tata is a winner, already addressing several issues we have been crying out for 2 years. most impressed with alexis, pedro, fab and masch.

i don't think alexis has taken 2 years to adopt to barca's system, i think barca has taken 2 years to have a coach playing a tactical system that might get the best out of alexis, and on the same token pedro and neymar. from pep's experiments to tito's v2.0, "barca's systems" constantly evolved but none of them favoured our wingers, they were just messicentric.

alexis and pedro were clearly unleashed today. to me it looks like alexis has been given specific instructions on where to dribble to, to create instantaneous space that are more purposeful, and shape other players' runs. it was astounding how many successful dribbles he had in the first half. and he also produced some lovely passes as a result.

pedro from memory had less dribbles going at the defender, but had some vintage off the ball runs and all-around great awareness. very psyched to see a new pedro vs the big teams.

fab played a near perfect no.10 role and was the most consistent and decisive passer in the final third for me. seems also fabregas has been instructed to retain possession at speed and spend a minimum amount of time in midfield, leave it to xavi and co and focus on timing his runs to create final passes. when i was watching this, my concern was how much this refined role will take it away from iniesta when the two are paired for midfield.

anyone thought masch had a decent match? covered well and the crowd was loving it. dude looks pumped.

Regarding this.

Do you guys remember when we won the UCL last, and we were all blown away at how well Masch was playing as a CB? Then once the pressing stopped being as heaving, he started to look exposed? I wonder if now that the pressing is coming back as a full team effort, that Masch will start to look beast mode like he did that first season with us as a CB.

Pique also had a great game btw. Had that sliding tackle in the fist half to prevent a fast break in which he got grilled in the stomach and he just got up. The team as a whole looks extremely confident, and I hope it can be kept to this level in the big matches. One thing we must all admit about Tata; he might not have European experience....but he does have experience. World Cup, Copa America, and what not. It's been ALONG time since we had a manager come in with that type of experience and maybe that will start to pay dividends. He already talked to Messi about the fact he will be subbed off from time to time when before that was a sin. Even Pep didn't have that type of experience when we got him, he just had segunda experience. So maybe this is something positive and his experience will flow down to the players in a way they haven't had taught to them in a while. Plus all the players as of now have said nothing but good things about him.

windkick wrote:One thing we must all admit about Tata; he might not have European experience....but he does have experience. World Cup, Copa America, and what not. It's been ALONG time since we had a manager come in with that type of experience and maybe that will start to pay dividends. He already talked to Messi about the fact he will be subbed off from time to time when before that was a sin. Even Pep didn't have that type of experience when we got him, he just had segunda experience. So maybe this is something positive and his experience will flow down to the players in a way they haven't had taught to them in a while. Plus all the players as of now have said nothing but good things about him.

yep very good point.

dream departure wrote:i don't think alexis has taken 2 years to adopt to barca's system, i think barca has taken 2 years to have a coach playing a tactical system that might get the best out of alexis, and on the same token pedro and neymar. from pep's experiments to tito's v2.0, "barca's systems" constantly evolved but none of them favoured our wingers, they were just messicentric.

alexis and pedro were clearly unleashed today. to me it looks like alexis has been given specific instructions on where to dribble to, to create instantaneous space that are more purposeful, and shape other players' runs. it was astounding how many successful dribbles he had in the first half. and he also produced some lovely passes as a result.

pedro from memory had less dribbles going at the defender, but had some vintage off the ball runs and all-around great awareness. very psyched to see a new pedro vs the big teams.

fab played a near perfect no.10 role and was the most consistent and decisive passer in the final third for me. seems also fabregas has been instructed to retain possession at speed and spend a minimum amount of time in midfield, leave it to xavi and co and focus on timing his runs to create final passes. when i was watching this, my concern was how much this refined role will take it away from iniesta when the two are paired for midfield.

anyone thought masch had a decent match? covered well and the crowd was loving it. dude looks pumped.

Excellent post.

futbol wrote:

CBarca wrote:We've already established that Fab can't replace Xavi. Let's not ruin the fact that Fab actually played well today.

I'm not sure that's really an established fact. Cesc certainly can't replicate what Xavi does. Doesn't mean we can't play a midfield 3 of Busquets-Cesc-Iniesta. We did that once against Valencia and won 5-1: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/523277/Live

At least I don't see the problem. What exactly is lacking in that midfield 3? If you look at other top teams, why is Carrick-Cleverley-Rooney or Alonso-Khedira-Özil or Schweinsteiger-Kroos-Müller (under Pep) working but Busquets-Iniesta-Fabregas wouldn't?

The Madrid one doesnt work and is inherently flawed because Alonso cant defend by himself, the Man Utd one is widely criticised (unfairly) but none the less they arent trying to circulate the ball in midfield so it has no correlation to us and the Bayern one has barely played together for us to get a handle on what flaws they may have.

I'd like to adress the comments that Alexis is a "new player" made by the press and some people here. He was clearly making huge improvements at the end of last season, and recovering his confidence. It's true that Tata might have given him more freedom to express himself but I think even if Tito had stayed he would still be having a great preseason and fist games.

Dont care about the scoreline or the opponent.
But if we play like that for the rest of the season,with that intent and hunger,then the rest of Europe has to beware.
To quote from Rocky 3,we had that Eye Of the Tiger look in our play.We had been missing that for a long time.
And when we play with that Eye of the Tiger look,no one can stop us.

The advantages of pressing well are two fold and we saw that yesterday.
Firstly by pressing,we win the ball back early,catch the opposition off guard and create golden chances.We scored 2 goals yesterday by pressing and winning the ball early.Before yesterday,when was the last time we scored through pressing and winning the ball back?

The second advantage is that it puts less pressure on our defense.Thats absolutely imperative with the players we have at the back.Yesterday Levante didnt get anywhere near our box and the defense was very comfortable.
Now some may argue that it was just Levante.But last season even scrub teams were creating loads of chances against us.We couldnt keep clean sheets even against scrub teams.Its very simple.We dodnt press.The other team has more possession of the ball in our half leading to more chances against us.

Messi vomited at half time http://mobile.ole.com.ar/xml/OLEIMA20130819_0069_306x237_1.gif

I'm sorry, but yes there are isolated cases where Fab has played well in the Xavi role. I say isolated because that's what they are.

I think it's clear to everybody that's not his role. He can't play it, he's not a CM in the classical sense. We've seen this for 2 years, we don't need to see it anymore. As for whether that midfield trio can work. I just don't think it's a good idea to play Fab as a CM in that sense at all, especially with Iniesta. Fab simply isn't a CM, he's not mobile enough, he's not tactically aware enough, he's sloppy at times (while he played well yesterday I remember him missing numerous passes, including one near our box), the list can go on.

Can Cesc play in an advanced role, a little more like Iniesta's position in a midfield 3? Yes he can, like he did yesterday, but who is going to play the CM who will circulate the ball? Thiago? LOLNOPEHE'SGONE...Busquets? It's awful hard for him to complete both his typical duties and try to be Xavi as well, especially from his position.

Yes you could completely overhaul the midfield system, but I'm not sure it even works without that one player like Xavi who will play that type of role in Barca. It's worth tinkering with I guess, I just don't see it happening.

Perfect time to sell Malexis.

free_cat wrote:Perfect time to sell Malexis.

When he's improved rapidly and looks like a good player with confidence finally? Not only that, but also after receiving a new coach who instructs us to press high and intensely where during a full season to avoid fatigue we'll need the depth?

I think this is the absolute worst time.

free_cat wrote:Perfect time to sell Malexis.

I lol'd

He is finally starting to play well.Why sell him now?