Barcelona - Athletic 21:00 CET

We have utter garbage like Pique and Mascherano in defense.
We aren't even top 50 pressing team.

We are conceding less goals than Arsenal, Real Madrid, Chelsea or Dortmund and the exact same amount as Barca 09/10 after 15 games. Because *bleep* logic.

Some statistics:

Barca 09/10 vs. Barca 13/14:

Shots conceded: 8.6 vs. 9.8
Short passes per game: 560 vs. 590
Crosses per game: 22 vs. 16
Long balls per game: 61 vs. 56
Shots conceded from inside the box: 57 % vs. 54 %
Positional statistics - playing in opponent's half: 28 % vs. 31 %
Overall possession: 68.4 % vs. 65.6 %

So we are playing more short passes, playing less crosses, playing less long balls, conceding more shots but also more from outside the box, we are playing higher up the pitch and we have about 3 % less possession which are being sacrificed for faster transitions.

Some hipster will come out and tell me that this is all bollocks and the short passes and possession he sees with his own eyes is the truth, not the actual numbers, and Stokecelona is making the balls sail over Xavi's head.

Xavi passes per game 09/10: 83.9
Xavi passes per game 13/14: 92.8

Xavi in recent ESPN interview after Milan game: "I feel more important than ever. I touch the ball more than ever, I participate more."

Barcelona can't press that way for 4 years. Not happening. The players look leg less. Ffs if Pep couldn't get them to do it you think Martino will every week? The team ñeeds to phase out players. That's the truth. The core is still the same. If they brought Martino in they should gave refreshed the team with new personnel. In that Bilbao game busquets was always alone vs 2 Bilbao players. Xavi dies not gave the legs. How Thiago was let go us beyond me. Don't know which is worse, that or our Pogba situation...

Anyways the team needs to refresh and start bleeding in new players

good luck showing the door to some of those legends Jibers, if it back fires, you are dead. And they are very proud players as well, if they are fit enough to play, i doubt they want to sit on the bench to see those young guys who have won nothing play ahead of them.

That's why i always laughed at the idea that Thiago would succeed there when they signed Cesc, even he had to bully his club using Utd to get some reassurances. Some thug of war ish

In some ways, Rosell was very brave to bring in Neymar, to freshen up the squad and the offense, you can see how impactful he will be for them in a year. they need more of that tho.

Mr Nick09 wrote:oh i am sure you understand it, like i said, a lot of people understand it, mourinho understand it, does that mean mourinho can rig his teams to play that way? i dont, and it's not even something he believes in.

Talking about belief, that's what makes a world of a difference between pep's mind and Tata. Pep was literally obsessed about enforcing his style on your team, which started with passing from the back, slow build up in possession etc... He enforced it, made sure you didnt just clear the ball under pressure as you are currently doing.

Clearly, Tata does share the same beliefs, or a least not to the same degree. Because he is allowing your players to take the easy route out, and they do. Pep in his early days would have killed you for it, that's a pretty big difference to me.

I dont disagree with you, but saying that he has his own way is pretty the same as saying that he cant.

No Mourinho cant. If he knew more, you would see parts of it implemented within his Madrid team...not the struggling mess we did see. Or more accurately, rather than "cant", his intentions are on other things , therefore likely not taking the time to construct such plans.

I dont know why people think what Barca do is some rocket science, its just football using common sense.

Bottom line here, nobody is saying Barca have to play the way Pep did. I (and I guess others) are simply complaining that we are not playing common sense football.

Iniesta giving Alexis cross field passes already marked is not common sense football.

futbol wrote:We have utter garbage like Pique and Mascherano in defense.
We aren't even top 50 pressing team.

We are conceding less goals than Arsenal, Real Madrid, Chelsea or Dortmund and the exact same amount as Barca 09/10 after 15 games. Because *bleep* logic.

Only one of those teams play in the same league as us, and that team have Ramos, Pepe, average fullbacks and no defensive qualities in midfield.

Why do people compare things which dont make any sense lol

We concede less La Liga goals than Arsenal condede PL goals.....means diddly squat.

More useless stats smh

The mere fact Adriano's "long ball" vs Bilbao in the build up for the goal and Marquez spraying a 60m ball directly to the chest of Henry are counted as the same thing makes the stat completely pointless.

The Franchise wrote:

I dont know why people think what Barca do is some rocket science, its just football using common sense.

Bottom line here, nobody is saying Barca have to play the way Pep did. I (and I guess others) are simply complaining that we are not playing common sense football.

Iniesta giving Alexis cross field passes already marked is not common sense football.  

But isnt that common sense inspired by what pep has done? because the comparison keeps going back to that specific era of your team.

sure iniesta making cross field passes to a marked alexis are mistakes, but i do recall cross field passes to neymar where he was open on his side of the field and had chances to be more effective if he wasnt slipping or diving all over the place.

No, why is it?

I dont think people even expect us to play like Pep's team at this point. They just want us playing to our strengths and like I said, using common sense.

Nobody will complain about longer passes when they are on, I was praising them earlier in the season and even said, I have some patience when it goes wrong because the team is still trying to get to grips with what Martino is looking for.

Sometimes the team doesnt realise when they should be playing these balls and shouldnt, Martino isnt asking for hoofball, he is asking for variations, to change between posession and direct balls depending on the situation.

Thats cool.

But I said this 2 months ago? 3 months ago?

How long must we see the same thing going wrong? We are not seeing improvement and thats really the crux of it.

There is no reason to be playing directly against teams who are offering us an (relatively) open game ala Ajax.

The Franchise wrote:No, why is it?

I dont think people even expect us to play like Pep's team at this point. They just want us playing to our strengths and like I said, using common sense.

Nobody will complain about longer passes when they are on, I was praising them earlier in the season and even said, I have some patience when it goes wrong because the team is still trying to get to grips with what Martino is looking for.

Sometimes the team doesnt realise when they should be playing these balls and shouldnt, Martino isnt asking for hoofball, he is asking for variations, to change between posession and direct balls depending on the situation.

Thats cool.

But I said this 2 months ago? 3 months ago?

How long must we see the same thing going wrong? We are not seeing improvement and thats really the crux of it.

There is no reason to be playing directly against teams who are offering us an (relatively) open game ala Ajax.

I agree, The team is not playing to its strengths. Nick I agree, every great team switched players after sustained success at the highest level, Milan did it, United did it, Juventus under Lippi did it, Barcelona are not immune. Xavi as the Xavi we know is finished. People need to accept it, although he is not helped by his team playing pointless long balls and bypassing the mf. Barcelona are not pressing, The team just looks physically below par, which begs to question wtf where they doing in pre season?

but at which point do you factor in the fact that you are missing messi, alves, alba etc..., and the fact that you have an obviously aging cast, with players like iniesta and xavi playing a step slower than they used too. I am actually even surprised that Xavi is not imposing himself on the way this barca team should be playing.

At no point honestly.

Because the quality is not the only problem, sure we miss those guys, but its compounded by playing this terrible style.

I will also say, this style is also physically demanding because there are more turnovers, transitions and long spells without the ball. Thats probably a factor in

A. Us looking bad physically (other than us being a medicore team physically anyway) and running less KM. I reckon more of the runs are sprints and because of this we tire faster and therefore cover less total ground. Plus we have the ball less, therefore not allowing players to rest while we maintain periods of possession.

B.  Missing those players. We are down to 2 fullbacks now, one of whom sucks, we have limited squad options generally and this more physically demanding style wont do the smaller group any favours.


I think Xavi is playing loyal role model and captain. Complaining, moaning and causing public disruption (especially so early with us being top of the league) wont do any real good. Or maybe he genuinely is fine with, I dont know.

so are you throwing the blame on Tata?

For the way the team is playing and the lack of improvements, yeah, he has to take that.

I also blame Zubi for so poorly updating this played out squad.