Club Atletico de Madrid - FC Barcelona | Spanish Supercup Leg 1

Agree that Alba criticism for the goal is a bit harsh.But Alves cant be faulted too.He was pressing and trying to win the ball.
You cant expect him to press high up and also expect him to be in position.More times than not he wins the ball by pressing.
Either he is tasked with pressing or asked to stay in position.Cant be expected to do both.

Actually both Alba and Dani Alves made mistakes in that goal.

Villa passed the ball into the channel, at the moment of the pass Dani Alves was 2m behind him. Villa sprinted to the box, Dani Alves did not.

Alba as a leftback should cover over from his side behind the centerback in the situation he was in. There was no danger behind him.

However, Dani was indeed pressing. Alex is correct in saying you cant ask him to be in two places at once.

Also, while Alba could have covered because he was marking nobody, its a long way across to where Villa got the ball, so its not a natural movement..especially of someone who isnt really a defensve minded player.

But, Alba is not getting criticised for his role in the goal, which is what Free is ignoring for some reason. His criticism was his over performance, one in which Diego Costa picked on him consistently and caused him a myriad of problems.

Alba had 0 fault in the goal. It was a collective goal with atletico doing a great job and US not defending good enough. But if someone was to blame it was Alves for not recovering fast enough and pique for unmarking villa.

Zero?

Come on now, he is standing there marking noone while Pique has his back turnt clearly not able to see Villa.

I think we can all see its mostly Pique's fault, but all 4 players in the backline made errors there.

I too think that Alba's role in the goal is exaggerated and Pique should get most of the blame for it. Doesn't stop Alba from being pretty bad though.

Villa is standing in the right edge of the box when he shoots. No way the LB has to go there to mark a player, it's miles outside his area. Would have left all the center and the left flank empty for a long pass ending too in a goal and then he would have rightly been blamed.

I could be wrong, but has anyone even put any blame on Alba for the goal in this thread? Minus, what I just said in response to Free?

Because I only saw people talking about his overall performance, not the goal itself.

Also I want to stress that not always a goal is scored there are big mistakes. That was great football from atletico.

free_cat wrote:Villa is standing in the right edge of the box when he shoots. No way the LB has to go there to mark a player, it's miles outside his area. Would have left all the center and the left flank empty for a long pass ending too in a goal and then he would have rightly been blamed.

Just watch Alba the entire play and tell me he couldnt of done more.

After flapping around with Diego Costa and Costa ending up on the floor, he goes to mark space when the danger is behind Pique.

If Diego Costa is standing up and is anywhere near the goal, no question there is nothing Alba can do, but he is on the ground, there is no danger.

I don't know, I've seen people criticize him and as I don't even know what he did wrong I asked, because goal aside its not like atletico had many chances.

Watched it and I see alba marking Diego Costa and afterwards positioning himself perfectly in the center of the box, where the FB has to be when a cross comes from the other flank.

Well I dont know about others, but I think Diego Costa just "got the better of him".

Costa likes to dive, then be rough, then dive..makes life difficult and gets under your skin. He seemed to do that with Alba.

And then in terms of actually playing the game, he kept running to Alba's side on counters to relieve Atletico pressure and even though Alba is faster, Costa more than a couple times beat him to the ball just by physically holding him.

Basically to me, Alba was a target they used quite successfully.

Then with the ball he didnt impress either. Not alone in that to be fair to him, but when you see Adriano's game last week people of course cant help but compare their current levels.

EDIT: Yes, its perfect positioning if there was someone at the back post. But a smarter, better defender would of recognised the situation and seen Costa (or anyone) was no danger to collect any cross. The danger is in front of him, because Pique has lost Villa completely.

Your really saying he couldnt do anything more in this play?

Not only that, I maintain he did his job perfectly in that play. Its pique who runs away foolishly with no reason whatsoever from his zone. Alba has no time to reach Villa after pique moves away andeven doing so would Havre been a possible mistake leaving the center and all the left side empty for a pass if atletico calms down the play.

Alrighty then. Lets just move on.

I already said its Pique's fault (if anyone) and its not Alba's fault. But I dont agree at all he couldnt of done more.

Of course he could have done more, but like almost player in our tean could have done more to avoid that goal. That goal comes because of several tiny decisions like Alba not going to cover Villa, or Busquets pressure being avoided by Atletico, etc that I wouldn't even call mistakes. And two very small mistakes from Alves and Pique.

I dont put Alves "mistake" on par with Pique's, its just as big as Alba's. Both could of been in a position they were not in...Alba not in his because of a decision, Dani Alves because either fatigue or decision, its hard to tell.

Did someone else feel a bit bad about Villa celebrating the goal?
I felt bad.Its an unwritten rule among professional footballers not to celebrate scoring against former teams(unless the player is Adebayor).
Villa won 2 leagues and a CL with us.We allowed him to leave to the team he wanted practically for free.
Didnt expect such a boisterous celebration from him.Am a bit disappointed.

TBH I didnt even notice at the time.

But looking now he does seem to be pointing to someone in the crowd.

He said before he would celebrate against us, as he does against all his previous teams. But yeah there was definitely a bit of vindication/vengeance in his goal and his post-game statements ("Busquets should've been kicked out").

my two cents what bothered me most in the goal was how it got to happen in the first place. meaning messi losing the ball and comfortably sitting there complaining. I know he wasn't able to do something to prevent it but I just hate it when it happens

The Franchise wrote:But, Alba is not getting criticised for his role in the goal, which is what Free is ignoring for some reason. His criticism was his over performance, one in which Diego Costa picked on him consistently and caused him a myriad of problems.

This. End of story really, at least from my point of view.

alexjanosik wrote:Did someone else feel a bit bad about Villa celebrating the goal?
I felt bad.Its an unwritten rule among professional footballers not to celebrate scoring against former teams(unless the player is Adebayor).
Villa won 2 leagues and a CL with us.We allowed him to leave to the team he wanted practically for free.
Didnt expect such a boisterous celebration from him.Am a bit disappointed.

alex, I echo your sentiments but he said in the media beforehand he would do it. I think it's strange behaviour from one who I consider one of the classiest players around.

Although I agree with you about villa celebrating, I can look past it.
So many people have said he was through and over and received so much undeserved criticism after scoring an amazing goal like his I don't blame him celebrating