Neymar was excellent tonight. His link up play, running oppositions, movement. All were very good and he played some sort of part in nearly every goal. Him and Sanchez both were probably man of the match worthy however i liked Xavi's performance better than both of theirs. Maybe because ( might just be me ) his last few performances were not as good as they usually are but thought tonight he was as good as ever.

Great performance from Alexis, Bartra and Neymar.
Xavi was good also.
I was checking stats after the game, Song completed all of his passes (102/102)!

Xavi was majestic.

Still can't get over that touch he had for Neymar's goal. Absolutely amazing.

So I was playing around in excel and compared the first 12 matches of the previous season to this one (2 supercup + 2 CL + 8 league)

In the previous season we scored 33 goals, conceded 17 and had 3 clean sheets. In this one we scored 34 goals, conceded 7 goals and have 7 clean sheets. Last season I believe we had 10 clean sheets in total, so we're only 3 away from meeting that.

In the league against the same teams in the same stadiums last year we won 6 games and drew 1, scored 19 goals, conceded 5 and kept 2 clean sheets. This year, without counting the Almeria match, in the league we won all games, scored 26, conceded 6, and kept 3 clean sheets. So we actually conceded 1 goal more this year than last.

Brilliant performance and I thought everyone played well barring Tello.For some reason he just doesnt seem to play well when given starts.
Its refreshing to see Alexis play with such freedom.Taking players on,not afraid to take shots,link up play,passing,movement and workrate.He is finally showing why we paid so much money to get him.Neymar continues to impress.Not the best of finishes from him tonight but everything else was excellent.Passing,dribbling,link up all was top notch.

Son was again brilliant.Really impressed by him.Good recovering skills,excellent under pressure and passed the ball quickly and effectively.I dont know about others but I dont want him sold.
He is a great player to have.Wont get a better backup DM and he has all the tools to play CM too for us if needed.Dont want him sold at all.
Alves had another good game.Won countless balls and it was him recovering the ball that led to Alexis second goal.Bartra continued his run of form.For a player who has not played much and whom the coaches have not shown a lot of faith in,he has a lot of confidence.Just hope he doesnt go back to the bench once masch gets fit.Kid deserves an extended run in the team.

And Xavi continues proving free wrong.   
Another majestic performance.Its almost impossible to rob him off the ball.Even under extreme pressure he manages to shield the ball and find a safe pass.Controlled the game and as usual some of his one touch passing was sublime.All those 2 m horizontal passes 
Excellent passing in between the lines to find the free man.How many pre assists does he have this season?Must be a ton.

The only downer was Madrid managing the Houdini act again. But they wont be able to do it every time.Sooner or later they will drop points.Their play is just dire.

A few quick thoughts:

– Song is where statistics can be deceiving. He started out strongly, then proceeded to degenerate into crap, before (apparently) getting a talking to for the second half. Kicked ass again.

– Bartra. Eff me sideways. Third great match in a row. Thankfully, he wants to renew with the club. Would be MOTM were it not for ….

– Neymar. Our YouTube sensation is simply an absurd player. I know that people STILL don’t rate him, call him a diver, etc. Fact of the matter is that all three times in the box, he received contact sufficient to put him down. Particularly the second one. It isn’t a question of reputation. It’s a question of a ref opening his eyes and seeing what actually happened. Appalling.

Anyhow, passing, movement, first 10 steps …. I wondered how he would do in the center of the pitch, and got my answer today. He and Sanchez (and Xavi) were dynamite together.

– Iniesta looked as good as I have seen him during his stint.

– I am not sure why people are still so down on this club. All it does is keep winning, and scoring beautiful goals.

– Dani Alves vexed the life out of me in this match, both on attack as well as on defense. In the “garbage in garbage out” theory, if he closes down on the Valladolid man instead of letting him make the pass into the box, no Bartra corner, no Valladolid goal. Adriano also verrrry weak on the header defense.

– This team looks exceptionally confident without Messi, something that I really like to see. No team should be so dependent upon one player. Rosell got it right, it would appear.

– Sanchez! Though he was playing much better with his shorts hiked up. He should just hire someone to permanently take them up for him before each match. Would take 10 minutes with a portable sewing machine.

our starting forwards when all fit should no doubt be Neymar -- Messi -- Sanchez, not that Messi or Nerman were up for debate but Sanchez has been much more consistent then Pedro, little Pedro has only really had one above average game and it was his hat trick one, other then that practically invisible as Tello.

No Messidependencia in the past couple of matches and Barcelona have been playing like a team. I genuinely think Barcelona have made Messi too big a player that the players are always looking for him on the pitch. Without him, they play more balanced.

Neymar was great. I was the first person who thought he'd not fit in Barcelona but he is proving me wrong. His finishing has been consistently poor though. I'll save the judgement for when he performs against a top team.

Adriano should have done better on the corner. Bartra was good considering he hasn't got many minutes this season. He does overcommit too much to pressing sometimes, he needs to understand he has to stand his ground sometimes and be patient. But he's been quite good on one-on-one situations, something he can teach his senior Piqué.

Song was very good defensively and in terms of distribution but also lazy at times in offering himself to his team mates. He has improved greatly since his Arsenal days overall.

Alexis was excellent throughout the match. I think he should have got a hat trick instead of passing to Neymar. He made life harder with that decision.

Xavi was excellent for the second consecutive match. He should be rested though.

Btw Barca reached 3000 goals in La Liga, two more than Real Madrid with 2998 for those who care!

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

billy_gr wrote:I don't know if Neymar is declining in your eyes but for me he's a huge upgrade for Barca.
Constantly involved in creation, hard worker and the defenders area actually feeling him.
MotM performance along with Alexis who seems revived this year

Who said he's declining? only Cesc and Totti have more assists in league play.

Probably should be scoring more though granted.

in reply to Ganso's post above mine

Adriano has played like 5 games in a row!!!!!!!! : 

Juas, alexjanosik get a grip. Xavi isn't provig me wrong at all until now. He would need to show he can dominate big teams as before, something he hasn't done this season in super cup or pre season. Or show he can break park the bus teams, something he hasn't done in his career, doubt he will start now.


Oh, and you were wrong when you said that Cesc can't create vs parked teams, remember the penalty vs Chelsea? The goal vs Cèltic? the chanves he had at Chelsea? and that in just 2 seasons and beig benched when facing most park the bus top teams. Clearly better than xavi when the opposition parks it. Unless what you are looking for a draw.

Also, Xavi was good, far from majestic. If it was Cesc, you would say that 'all he did was score a goal and a nice pass'.

Xavi is proving me wrong because he played well - far from majestic - vs a declined Real and Valladolid at home. Nice joke.

Atletico Madrid x 2 and Celtic stil waiting for Xavi to come and play.

Khaled wrote:I was checking stats after the game, Song completed all of his passes (102/102)!

First Barcelona player to do such thing in league.

Have to agree with free here. While he was good, Xavi was far from majestic.

About Xavi, I think hes again regained some of his form, I dont understand the say he hasnt break down park the bus team in his career???

I think so many have said hes declined for so long, but time and again hes proved ppl wrong, its great to see. So many great players last for so long, well into their 30s Hes been much more effective than Iniesta whos having a quite season compared with the others I think.

The non Messi dependent has long been evident and and especially with Neymar now thats even more the case