Osasuna - Barça. Saturday at 20:00 CET

Don't know the called up players yet. It is likely that Piqué will rest as he has some problems. Don't know if Messi will start or not. Very unpredictable lineup this time.

Oier, Alves, Piqué, Alexis, Afellay and Cuenca not called up.
Puyol, Mascherano and Messi are back.

Possible line up:

Valdes
Montoya - Bartra - Puyol - Adriano

Xavi - Busquets - Cesc

Pedro - Messi - Neymar

I think Mascherano will play instead of Puyol as he's been off just few weeks. Cesc has to play, and in attack we should go with the best choices and sub Tello to eat tired defense.

Yeah, it's hard to say who will play, Puyol or Mascherano, but I think it will be Puyol as he already had 45 minutes of practice match vs. Sant Andreu some days ago, while Mascherano just recovered from injury.

Let's hope Messi stays fit till the end of the season this time. If he is not 100%, we should play with Neymar in the middle and Tello on the left.

I haven't watched Osasuna yet this season, anybody got anything on them, or are they about the same as they were last season (which judging purely on the table so far it seems it)?

Fully expecting a win but then again...FIFA virus is always something to look out for.

we are lucky Osasuna seem incopetent in front of the goal

When our best chance is on a corner you know we're playing like crap. FIFA virus at it again.

Xavi and Iniesta nowhere near their best. Xavi misplacing passes and Iniesta's touches failing him...what? Fabregas has contributed a couple overplayed through balls and a yellow. Montoya is not Dani Alves, and Adriano has been meh.

Haven't noticed Pedro much, and Neymar is coming very central leaving the entire left flank to Adriano because he wants to have an influence in the game and I commend him for trying but it's not quite there yet.

Would love to see Alexis come in and either play centrally or, preferably, go out on the left and Neymar take the middle spot permanently.

Bartra has been good and so has Puyol. Not too much to say of the back line imo but we are too slow up front and lacking a cutting edge, we do miss Messi here, we're taking too many touches and look out of ideas. Credit to Osasuna as they are playing well defensively and are well organized but we aren't doing the trick right now and something needs to change offensively.

We were such shite. Didn't deserve a win.

FIFA virus strikes again.

Well that was rather easy money. Cesc was god awful, and Neymar should really stick in left, if he plays left.

Mehdro and Cesc, Montoya had a horrible game.

Pedro, Cesc and Montoya were the worst. I thought Tata should have subbed Cesc off earlier in the game. Iniesta was also not up to his best. However, I am not so sad about the result, as soon as we bounce back. It is the fifa virus.

Iniesta has been meh for a while now

We should of really started the match with Alexis who was in such good form, should of brought in Dani Alves as-well..

Very very frustrating match for Barca fans. Why is fabregas played in that position when he has proved it 100 times in the past that he can't play there. Why not play neymar there in messi's absence. What was fabregas trying to do when he gifted the ball to the keep by doing a 1 ft chip?? Terrible play from him. Montaya except for his physical build up is not a good defender. Iniesta wasn't at his best and neither was messi. The best player of the match was for me,Neymar. A pretty bad way of dropping 2 points.

Montoya was like the most dangerous man in attack... and defensively he didn't concede any chance or made any big mistake. ... how was he horrible?

It was a miatake not to play neymar as cf with tello and pedro in the wing.

Our defense giving the lead in La Liga. What a nice change, and Puyol and Masch back it suddenly feels like the strongest part of Barca.

Cesc is toothless at false nine and after all his other toothless performances in this position I thought Tata would opt Neymar today but obviously he doesn't trust Tello on the left...
Was hoping Xavi to get a full match rest but it seems we are nothing without him. He will really need to work his socks off the next two games... Our creativity without him is very piss poor
Montoya didn't really confirm his place in this team with that performance today. Made some decent runs forward but his delivery into the box and decision making was poor... Decent defensively against a team that rarely attacked
Two crucial matches ahead and I'm not sure whether we can keep with this up!

1. Had it not been for the purpose of experience, I'd put Bartra above Piqué.
   
2. Montoya performed what I'd call the worst performance from any Barcelona player this season. Despite having a couple of good overlapping runs, his performance was plagued with poor decision making, moments of nervousness as well as making mistakes in defence.
   
3. Poor tactical choice by introducing Tello. Not only it should be noted that all his performances on the right have been poor during his career, Barcelona's right side officially stopped working with Montoya and Tello as the duo on the side.
   
4. Fàbregas, oh Fàbregas Same old Lost Lamb, played a few good through balls but missed a couple of very good chances.
   
5. Neymar was bright, but faded out towards the end. Expected, considering he played a match in midweek.
   

Now Barcelona will go into clásico with a bit of nerve. They'll certainly need Messi to be back on form next weekend.

There also blame on Neymar here, he was also the reason why Cesc didn't get enough ball in the middle, he also disrupted the center, and didn't keep wideness of the team. Here's heat map



Now tell me that's heat map of left winger?

well no matter what happens next week we are still tied for first..
atletico madrid lost today so i guess that made today more lenient.

Every through ball Fab played was overplayed from my recollection, maybe one good one. Not to criticize him much for it, good through balls were few and far between. I'm glad he got into positions to score unlike Pedro but he missed the best chances Barca had Bartra's header aside. I know it's typical for me to criticize him when I can so I'll stop there, he had as much an off day as many others. Montoya was terrible. That one moment where he collected the loose ball in defense, went on the outside and had a lot of time to clear...hesitated, THEN tried clearing allowing the forward to close it down, it went up in the air and he tried to head it out and simply headed it to the left outside mid...oh deary me.

Jiopsi trying to discredit Neymar because he presents a threat to his jewel Messi. Unsurprising. Neymar was probably our best player on offense and it's too bad that he was put on the left side because he was getting absolutely no service out there. Perhaps he should be more disciplined but I can't blame Neymar for trying to come inside and actually have an influence on the game where Xavi, Iniesta, and Cesc were failing. Should have had an assist when his run and pass set up Montoya with a beautiful opportunity, and was our best creative outlet.

Wasn't impressed with Tata either here as he didn't at all correct the issue of the middle of the field being quite plugged up. He didn't tell Neymar to stay more wide, nor did he address the issue by substituting Cesc and putting either Tello or Alexis on the left (something I very much was calling for in the chat), and at the end he complicated the issue further by substituting Xavi for Messi, adding another influence in the middle further up. The last one doesn't bother me as much as it forced Neymar to stay a bit wider but the middle was still too clogged with Cesc and Messi in there.

Tello for Pedro on the other hand was simply exchanging one under performing player for a player that likely wouldn't perform considering how bad he is on the right. Only difference between the two was fresher legs.

Anyway, I think this game is simply FIFA virus at its best and I'm not that worried.

Valdes didn't have to do much this game
Montoya couldn't keep it together he did well attacking but.. barely and everything else from him was terrbad.
Bartra had a solid game not too many mistakes wish he scored that header though.
Puyol also solid game, made one or two small errors nothing came from it though.
Adriano misplaced many of his passes, and that's just about it..
Xavi had a average game to be honest nothing spectacular or horrible
Iniesta dribbled amazing this game but some of his passes were meh
Neymar was great all game until he got the slight injury or pain in his hip
Cesc.. my god he was bad in every department, slowed play, couldn't shoot, or pass.
Pedro.. invisible.

CBarca wrote:I haven't watched Osasuna yet this season, anybody got anything on them, or are they about the same as they were last season (which judging purely on the table so far it seems it)?

Fully expecting a win but then again...FIFA virus is always something to look out for.

I havent either, but in this match they were very good. They defended very actively and smartly without ever switching off. They have beaten us once and held us once or twice at their staidum for the past 4 seasons I think so they are familiar with doing it.

When I saw our lineup I thought it looked weak, back and front. I guess its just one of those we werent at our best and hungry enough....

Real won and Atletico lost, so its more evened up again.

I dont like how everyone jumps on Cesc again though, its clear he played a poor match but hes often proved clinical, not this match and other times obviously, but still, its unfair to criticize him every time he doesnt do enough.

I didnt see Messi play for Argentina so anyone know why he didnt start?

BarcaLearning wrote:I didnt see Messi play for Argentina so anyone know why he didnt start?

Coming back from an injury so the coach is trying to ease him back in the squad for what I foresee to be a very tough week for Barcelona.