Just a month away, probably our biggest match so far. We are in a pretty good form, should get better over time and when everybody is 100% fit we could beat this current Real Madrid with some nice numbers. Prediction? Possible starting 11? Tactics?

You would imagine Varane would be back for them, which will improve them at the back alot, because Pepe is in terrible decline and Ramos is just plain awful.

I think the same as recent games though. Two things must happen for us.

We have to evade their pressure and get the ball in the pressure area and maintain possession in that area. We have had possession against them in our own half and half way line area, but we wont fatigue them there and we are not dragging their team back far enough to hinder their counter attacks. We must drag them back into their defensive third, making their counter attacks 30-40 bigger starting distances.

Secondly, we for the love of god have to attack their fullbacks. Nothing more frustrating than watching them getting away with Arbeloa, Essien and scrubs at fullback while we play narrow and dont ever play 1 v 1 in the wings. I have more faith we will do it this time, with Neymar especially. I feel like, is he plays like he can, and we do the first thing well, we have a great chance.

They look bad no question, but it would be foolish to expect anything but a hard game.

Benzema, Cristiano and whoever they play in the center of midfield with Modric look horribly off form, but all these negatives, you cannot expect to count on.

This thread kinda early no?

We still have Celtic, Valladolid, Osasuna, and AC Milan to face before we got to this thread/match. So much can happen from here to there

Its never too early to talk about a match against the evil ones. Last year the classico topics also opened about a month before.

After today I would go with

Valdes
Alves - Pique - Bartra - Adriano
Xavi - Busi - Cesc
Alexis - Messi - Neymar

That being said if Puyol is good enough I wouldn't think twice about playing him. But I have a hard time believing he's well enough for a match of this importance. I think Pique strongly needs a benching.

Alexis again? Didn't you have enough with him vs. Milan? No, no, Alexis has to hit the bench against Madrid. Let the non big game flops play.

I think we should play with
VV
Alves - Bartra - Puyol - Adriano
-----Song - Busquets
Pedro - Cesc - Neymar
-----------Messi

Impossible, I know.

Alexis did more vs Milan than Pedro did vs Osasuna.

The Franchise wrote:Alexis did more vs Milan than Pedro did vs Osasuna.

Not really and it doesn't matter, because one can deliver something vs. big teams, the other can't.

Pedro hasnt truly delivered against a big team in ages, because he relies on everyone else doing what they do, otherwise he is useless.

Your back to thinking he is the player of 3 years ago or something.

Last season he gave us the ticket to the semifinals slaughter. Thats just like 15 games away and only 3 big games he has played. Look how little I had to look to disprove your claim.

Yes, he scored a goal vs PSG...the only thing he did the entire game, just like all the games he plays. He doesnt do anything other than score even on his good days, and those good days are so rare, thinking you can rely on them is just bizare to me.

Also the PSG goal still comes under the category of " relies on everyone else doing what they do " He's just one of those players who fit entirely into a fabric of a team and when they are struggling he struggles.

Always been the case even at his best and in any case.... PSG didn't park the bus so i dunno what Free is on about.

He's usually garbage at park the bus teams since Pep left.

The Franchise wrote:Yes, he scored a goal vs PSG...the only thing he did the entire game, just like all the games he plays. He doesnt do anything other than score even on his good days, and those good days are so rare, thinking you can rely on them is just bizare to me.

Not really rare:

Scored 1st goal vs. Madrid in the 5-0, scored the goal that sealed the league at Bernabeu (0-2), scored the goal that sealed the qualification to the 2011 Champions league final vs. Madrid, scored two more goals vs. Madrid I don't remember, scored in 2011 Champions league final, scored the winning goal in a European supercup final, scored in a CWC final to give us the chance to win our first CWC ever, scored vs. PSG, scored twice in the Cup final vs. Atletic Club.

Pedro's favorite victims are Madrid and Espanyol with 5 goals each. How can't you love him when he scores mainly against the most hated teams ever?

Laughing at you guys saying the goal vs. PSG is "given by the team". It was a difficult shot.
And laughing also at PSG not parking the bus. Good joke mole. They played the same as Milan did.

free_cat wrote:Alexis again? Didn't you have enough with him vs. Milan? No, no, Alexis has to hit the bench against Madrid. Let the non big game flops play.

I think we should play with
VV
Alves - Bartra - Puyol - Adriano
-----Song - Busquets
Pedro - Cesc - Neymar
-----------Messi

Impossible, I know.

Assuming that Tata continues with the inverting tactics between Messi and Alexis, I'm not convinced that Pedro can play as a 9. So I'm just expecting him to start Alexis based on the tactical flexibility that provides him with.

If thats the case I agree, Alexis should play as a 9, but then we should drop Cesc and play Messi as a 10.

free_cat wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Yes, he scored a goal vs PSG...the only thing he did the entire game, just like all the games he plays. He doesnt do anything other than score even on his good days, and those good days are so rare, thinking you can rely on them is just bizare to me.

Not really rare:

Scored 1st goal vs. Madrid in the 5-0, scored the goal that sealed the league at Bernabeu (0-2), scored the goal that sealed the qualification to the 2011 Champions league final vs. Madrid, scored two more goals vs. Madrid I don't remember, scored in 2011 Champions league final, scored the winning goal in a European supercup final, scored in a CWC final to give us the chance to win our first CWC ever, scored vs. PSG, scored twice in the Cup final vs. Atletic Club.

Pedro's favorite victims are Madrid and Espanyol with 5 goals each. How can't you love him when he scores mainly against the most hated teams ever?

Laughing at you guys saying the goal vs. PSG is "given by the team". It was a difficult shot.
And laughing also at PSG not parking the bus. Good joke mole. They played the same as Milan did.

Mate, those goals were (in football terms) ages ago. Why cant you see that Pedro doesnt exist anymore?

Pedro scored a fine goal vs PSG, but Alexis scored an even better goal against Madrid.

I dont understand your justification that Pedro is some big game performer in recent times, its just not true.

Neither of them have done anything consistently against the best teams, in fact the entire team has suffered against big teams for a while now. Nobody has won the cache to claim they have some kind of big game abilities if we are living in the present.

I prefer Alexis also. Whatever the reason pedro seems to reserve his best performances for the national team games. It could be a system issue, I don't know. In any case I'd rather have alexis playing at the right wing and sub pedro sometime in his or Neymar's place

The Franchise wrote:

free_cat wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Yes, he scored a goal vs PSG...the only thing he did the entire game, just like all the games he plays. He doesnt do anything other than score even on his good days, and those good days are so rare, thinking you can rely on them is just bizare to me.

Not really rare:

Scored 1st goal vs. Madrid in the 5-0, scored the goal that sealed the league at Bernabeu (0-2), scored the goal that sealed the qualification to the 2011 Champions league final vs. Madrid, scored two more goals vs. Madrid I don't remember, scored in 2011 Champions league final, scored the winning goal in a European supercup final, scored in a CWC final to give us the chance to win our first CWC ever, scored vs. PSG, scored twice in the Cup final vs. Atletic Club.

Pedro's favorite victims are Madrid and Espanyol with 5 goals each. How can't you love him when he scores mainly against the most hated teams ever?

Laughing at you guys saying the goal vs. PSG is "given by the team". It was a difficult shot.
And laughing also at PSG not parking the bus. Good joke mole. They played the same as Milan did.

but Alexis scored an even better goal against Madrid.

In which world did this happen? In a world where a goal in a spanish supercup 2,2 years ago counts more than a goal in a champions league semifinals 3 big games away?

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Also the PSG goal still comes under the category of " relies on everyone else doing what they do " He's just one of those players who fit entirely into a fabric of a team and when they are struggling he struggles.

Always been the case even at his best and in any case.... PSG didn't park the bus so i dunno what Free is on about.

He's usually garbage at park the bus teams since Pep left.

Any team Barca plays below par against=park the bus

M99 wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Also the PSG goal still comes under the category of " relies on everyone else doing what they do " He's just one of those players who fit entirely into a fabric of a team and when they are struggling he struggles.

Always been the case even at his best and in any case.... PSG didn't park the bus so i dunno what Free is on about.

He's usually garbage at park the bus teams since Pep left.

Any team Barca plays against=park the bus

There, corrected for you.

free_cat wrote:

The Franchise wrote:

free_cat wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Yes, he scored a goal vs PSG...the only thing he did the entire game, just like all the games he plays. He doesnt do anything other than score even on his good days, and those good days are so rare, thinking you can rely on them is just bizare to me.

Not really rare:

Scored 1st goal vs. Madrid in the 5-0, scored the goal that sealed the league at Bernabeu (0-2), scored the goal that sealed the qualification to the 2011 Champions league final vs. Madrid, scored two more goals vs. Madrid I don't remember, scored in 2011 Champions league final, scored the winning goal in a European supercup final, scored in a CWC final to give us the chance to win our first CWC ever, scored vs. PSG, scored twice in the Cup final vs. Atletic Club.

Pedro's favorite victims are Madrid and Espanyol with 5 goals each. How can't you love him when he scores mainly against the most hated teams ever?

Laughing at you guys saying the goal vs. PSG is "given by the team". It was a difficult shot.
And laughing also at PSG not parking the bus. Good joke mole. They played the same as Milan did.

but Alexis scored an even better goal against Madrid.

In which world did this happen? In a world where a goal in a spanish supercup 2,2 years ago counts more than a goal in a champions league semifinals 3 big games away?

Neither mean anything, thats surely the point. Your really choosing players because one scored a single goal while the other did not?

Why are we even talking about goals, we should talk about performances. Where Pedro has been just a poor, actually worse.

M99 wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Also the PSG goal still comes under the category of " relies on everyone else doing what they do " He's just one of those players who fit entirely into a fabric of a team and when they are struggling he struggles.

Always been the case even at his best and in any case.... PSG didn't park the bus so i dunno what Free is on about.

He's usually garbage at park the bus teams since Pep left.

Any team Barca plays below par against=park the bus

19 out of 20 teams that Barca plays, parks the bus.

While PSG didn't really park the bus the entire game, the moment Messi came in, THEN they parked the bus..

People talked about that alot after the game. How a half fit Messi scared PSG so much that they had to parked the bus.

With our form, and our back line, I say we lose 2-1. Just being realistic

I would go with

-----------Valdes
Alves-Pique-Bartra-Adriano
-----------Busi
------Cesc-----Iniesta
-Alexis-------------Neymar
---------Messi

Also, I am getting sick and tired of Messi practically playing where Xavi usually plays, slightly infront of Busi on far right. That means that leaves Iniesta to drift in as our 9. Messi is our best goal scorer and it if hes goes to be playing there from now on, then we might as well start to consider actually getting a 9 and moving him to a new spot on the field.

As amazing as Neymar has been, he isn't a big goal scorer. At least not yet. So even with his great runs, our problem that we have to relay on Messi hasn't been solved yet from last 2 seasons because we have Pedro/Alexis on the right who can't finish a sandwich and Neymar running around making great runs but scoring 0 goals. Thus still leaving the scoring burden on Messi who seems to be injured every other week

Both Pedro and Alexis are scoring nicely so far.

Don't know what happened with Neymar's finishing. He used to be a very good finisher with Brasil and Santos, wasn't he?

He is a great finisher, I think he just need to get one and im sure he will return to "normal".

Both his goals have been tap in's, so obviously you dont increase the sensation that you can finish more complex chances.