Rayo - Barça, today at 20:00

Im not being funny, but are La Liga refs racist or something?

Song is getting the Yaya/Keita treatement.

Bigger/stronger/blacker = foul

Neymar gifts Pedro his hatrick, thats game.

Neymar and Messi combine fantastically for a Messi chance.

Neymar will make barca happy....shines are there

3-0 and still bartra bench warming....

Cesc scores, after some high pressing forced Rayo into a mistake.

Cesc there....can we see first manita from Tata

well, Rayo are clearly tired.....

cesc is your second best player, and best CAM in the world.

No and maybe.

both of our FBs deserve some mentions ...negatively though

REWB wrote:cesc is your second best player, and best CAM in the world.

laughable...

I thought we should not go for possession blindly, but we should be able to have at least 55% with teams like Rayo.

Casciavit wrote:Rayo 53 % possession, Barca 47% possession

^ 1st half

I'm watching Barca for the first time this season and oh my, how things have changed.

Bayern Munich (39% possession) 4-0 Barcelona (61% possession) - which one you'd rather be?

Barcelona were very direct and tried to capitalise on the vast amount of space Rayo were leaving in their midfield and backline by playing quick, direct long balls. I don't see any problem with it. It was messy, it didn't look good on the eye but that's 3 points for you. And if you don't call 4-0 a convincing win, you've become just like Madrid fans.

PS: Rayo have the highest possession (average) after Barcelona in La Liga.

Valdes is having the season of his life  

Maybe he is just unlucky and every time he plays, the leftwinger is a good dribbler..but everytime Montoya plays, it seems like he struggles with whoever is playing leftwing.

danyjr wrote:

Casciavit wrote:Rayo 53 % possession, Barca 47% possession

^ 1st half

I'm watching Barca for the first time this season and oh my, how things have changed.

Bayern Munich (39% possession) 4-0 Barcelona (61% possession) - which one you'd rather be?

Barcelona were very direct and tried to capitalise on the vast amount of space Rayo were leaving in their midfield and backline by playing quick, direct long balls. I don't see any problem with it. It was messy, it didn't look good on the eye but that's 3 points for you. And if you don't call 4-0 a convincing win, you've become just like Madrid fans.

PS: Rayo have the highest possession (average) after Barcelona in La Liga.

If not for Valdes, this game would have been completely different due to our "great directness".

danyjr wrote:

Casciavit wrote:Rayo 53 % possession, Barca 47% possession

^ 1st half

I'm watching Barca for the first time this season and oh my, how things have changed.

Bayern Munich (39% possession) 4-0 Barcelona (61% possession) - which one you'd rather be?

Barcelona were very direct and tried to capitalise on the vast amount of space Rayo were leaving in their midfield and backline by playing quick, direct long balls. I don't see any problem with it. It was messy, it didn't look good on the eye but that's 3 points for you. And if you don't call 4-0 a convincing win, you've become just like Madrid fans.

PS: Rayo have the highest possession (average) after Barcelona in La Liga.

Flawed, Rayo are no Bayern.

We can beat Rayo in our usual style, without going long and gifting them possession and then chances.

4-0 is great on paper, but we could of easily let in 2 goals if not for Valdes. Relying on our goalkeeper to save us vs teams like Rayo to that extent is not acceptable, not just for Barca, bt any great team.

I think Song had a very good game. Man of the Match for me.

Valdes Man of the Match for me. Game could of gone a whole new direction if not for Valdes being lights out

Song also had a great game and should get a shout out. Good to have some muscle from time to time in the midfield

And last - Good to see us put 4 in and Messi not score any of them. The rest of the team needs to score

Valdes, Pedro and Messi were really good, Cesc and Neymar slightly improved in the end. Frustrating match with that kind of referee.

The Franchise wrote:Flawed, Rayo are no Bayern.

We can beat Rayo in our usual style, without going long and gifting them possession and then chances.

4-0 is great on paper, but we could of easily let in 2 goals if not for Valdes. Relying on our goalkeeper to save us vs teams like Rayo to that extent is not acceptable, not just for Barca, bt any great team.

Barcelona missed a lot of chances too. You shouldn't complain after a 0-4 win away from home.

What a game.

1. So much for the 2 team league theory. If that's the worst team in La Liga...

2. What kind of drugs is Valdes on and why is he not sharing with the rest of the team? Stupendously good performance yet again.

3. Anybody else gets the feeling that if Tata has his way we'll end up playing 4-4-2 on the counter with Messi as left winger?

4. Pedro got a hat trick scoring 3 quite easy goals. The million dollar question however: How many of those would Alexis somehow manage to miss had he been playing?

5. Song better than Busquets for the style Tata is playing. There, I said it.

6. Tata's style is bad. Don't care if it brings results. Plenty of teams have good results playing poor football. This is Barca and that guy has to gtfo before it's too late.

Stejo wrote:What a game.

1. So much for the 2 team league theory. If that's the worst team in La Liga...

2. What kind of drugs is Valdes on and why is he not sharing with the rest of the team? Stupendously good performance yet again.

3. Anybody else gets the feeling that if Tata has his way we'll end up playing 4-4-2 on the counter with Messi as left winger?

4. Pedro got a hat trick scoring 3 quite easy goals. The million dollar question however: How many of those would Alexis somehow manage to miss had he been playing?

5. Song better than Busquets for the style Tata is playing. There, I said it.

6. Tata's style is bad. Don't care if it brings results. Plenty of teams have good results playing poor football. This is Barca and that guy has to gtfo before it's too late.

You mean right winger. I did not see Messi on the left, though my stream was not top quality, so i might have missed something.

I am hopping this game is a reflection of a team going through changes and the final outcome is not what we witnessed tonight. I want us to play possession football (tiki-taka) but not be blind by it. This game tonight does not appeal to me at all.

For the 1st time since 7 May 2008 (vs Madrid at Bernabeu), Barcelona have less possession than their opponent! [316 official games]

Rayo 51% vs 49% Barcelona

That hurts my heart

We are officially past our prime