FC Barcelona - Villareal | La Liga Matchday 16 | Sat Dec 14th, 2013

Musacchio was a beast at the heart of defence for Villarreal. I hope Sabella is watching. Trigueros also looks like a good prospect, but he certainly didn't see much of the ball today.

Barcelona's pressing was very good. Regarding playing from the back, with Pinto I think he is more comfortable with his feet and likes to play from the back. But I have to say he is very shaky on long balls.

Sánchez was very good given that he had Montoya behind him, but he missed a good chance. Played with confidence, dribbling, tracking back, pressing and playing some slick passes.

Fàbregas had a horrendous display, but in the end his exquisite pass gave Barcelona the 3 points.

Iniesta did very well in defence, very aggressive and didn't mind getting a bit physical.

Personally think the reason for Martino sending Song up front is to press. He is not concentrated when he is pressing in midfield so in order to utilise him for pressing it is best to have him up front where you can just be a headless chicken and still do your job Further back you need players pressing/marking with more intelligence and he's just incapable of that. Just my two cents.

Montoya is sh!ttt,i 've had this opinion for sometime now and he's not getting any better despite getting enough chances, not barca quality at all,we definitely need a better deputy for Alves.

I like that tata used Xavi as a supersub, he completely changed the game when he came on and we regained control of the game, had he started I doubt he'd have the same effect on the game.

Neymar  
Alexis missed a sitter but still 

I wouldn't go as far as calling him shit, but his decision making is really slow. It's not that it's bad, but he takes ages to make up his mind..

Maybe not shit but he's nothing better than average, both in defense and attack and his first touch is probably the worst in the whole squad.

I can't believe Montoya didn't set up Neymar for the hat-trick. He was wide open in the box. Second half was fantastic from Barça, good match overall. The handball call looked a bit shady, but I never saw a good replay of it. I'll make my judgement later.

Pippo wrote:I can't believe Montoya didn't set up Neymar for the hat-trick. He was wide open in the box. Second half was fantastic from Barça, good match overall. The handball call looked a bit shady, but I never saw a good replay of it. I'll make my judgement later.

It was a handball, but the call can be questionable if anything.

danyjr wrote:Was Cesc getting booed as he came off?

Yea. Whistled at least

I don't understand how Cesc's passing quality fluctuates so much. Today he tried a simple pass to Alexis (or Montoya? I don't remember) who was just 6 or 7 yards away from him on the right touchline, without any pressure whatsoever, and it resulted in a throw in. It doesn't make any sense. Moments later he plays the most difficult diagonal ball ever from the half field which sets up the second goal.

futbol wrote:Today he tried a simple pass to Alexis (or Montoya? I don't remember) who was just 6 or 7 yards away from him on the right touchline, without any pressure whatsoever, and it resulted in a throw in. :lol:It doesn't make any sense. Moments later he plays the most difficult diagonal ball ever from the half field which sets up the second goal.

He passed to the space between Montoya and Alexis I think some of it was more of a case of communication between Montoya and Sánchez in who's to receive it but yeah, poor passing generally by Francesc.

Montoya is missing his chances, but he creates a lot of danger with his overlap. When he improves his finishing of the play, he will be a great attacking asset. He could teach Alves how to overlap to create danger instead of already being there as alves does.

Alba's overlapping was something I missed, Adriano is superior then him in defense but not by too much in my honest opinion.
Xavi coming in changed the whole game, not just him with passes but his presence alone

and free, please Montoya can't teach anything to alves, not after tonights display, he did nothing right in terms of attacking, was very sloppy, Giovanni ran circles around him.

Donuts wrote:Alba's overlapping was something I missed, Adriano is superior then him in defense but not by too much in my honest opinion.
Xavi coming in changed the whole game, not just him with passes but his presence alone

and free, please Montoya can't teach anything to alves, not after tonights display, he did nothing right in terms of attacking, was very sloppy, Giovanni ran circles around him.

He can if you understand football, not that I expect that from you. He can't if all you see is Montoya being too slow in the decision/control. Also, Giovanni didn't run any circles around him, Giovanni played as CF and the only good play he made was from our left side, not Montoya's wing. Don't invent stuff.

Btw, last games show that our defence is not any better than last season, we just were scoring less because we had Valdes in superhuman form. Valdes gets injured and we concede every game and vs. Ajax twice.

CBarca wrote:

I don't know why Cesc is false 9. He's not one, he won't be, stop playing him there. I'm not sure what is up with Song playing CM and why he is playing just as high up or higher than Iniesta. There was a stretch of 2-3 minutes in the half where Song was playing as forward and Cesc was in the midfield...

Tata explained he played Song because he expected Vilareal to play 2 forwards and so Busquets would drop deep and Song play as DM (!) and Cesc as CF because he thinks that Cesc operates better with little space than Neymar (!). He has no clue really.

free_cat wrote:

CBarca wrote:

I don't know why Cesc is false 9. He's not one, he won't be, stop playing him there. I'm not sure what is up with Song playing CM and why he is playing just as high up or higher than Iniesta. There was a stretch of 2-3 minutes in the half where Song was playing as forward and Cesc was in the midfield...

Tata explained he played Song because he expected Vilareal to play 2 forwards and so Busquets would drop deep and Song play as DM (!) and Cesc as CF because he thinks that Cesc operates better with little space than Neymar (!). He has no clue really.

Is this true? What an absolute moron. I am speechless. Happy Neymar is doing well. I reckon he can be as good as Ronaldinho tbh.

free_cat wrote:

Donuts wrote:Alba's overlapping was something I missed, Adriano is superior then him in defense but not by too much in my honest opinion.
Xavi coming in changed the whole game, not just him with passes but his presence alone

and free, please Montoya can't teach anything to alves, not after tonights display, he did nothing right in terms of attacking, was very sloppy, Giovanni ran circles around him.

He can if you understand football, not that I expect that from you. He can't if all you see is Montoya being too slow in the decision/control. Also, Giovanni didn't run any circles around him, Giovanni played as CF and the only good play he made was from our left side, not Montoya's wing. Don't invent stuff.

Btw, last games show that our defence is not any better than last season, we just were scoring less because we had Valdes in superhuman form. Valdes gets injured and we concede every game and vs. Ajax twice.

"he is if you understand football" aka i have no reasons but lets just insult someone.
the only thing Montoya is better at Alves is POSSIBLY jumping/heading, other then that the kid is not fit to tie his laces, he has not had one above average game since the pre-season has started
also if you had eyes and stopped looking at the formation sheet, Gio started all his runs from the left, aka Montoya. (excluding the last 10 minutes when the team got desperate and all roamed)

Some users kept asking why Martino keeps starting Xavi in almost every game and I think today it showed why. We are a different side with him in the team and Martino is very aware of our Xavi-dependencia.

Alexis motm, his touch for the second goal was great

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Some users kept asking why Martino keeps starting Xavi in almost every game and I think today it showed why. We are a different side with him in the team and Martino is very aware of our Xavi-dependencia.

Alexis motm, his touch for the second goal was great

I've been saying that for a long time. Del Bosque, Pep, Tito and Tata know his importance to the team. All though I believe he should be rested in a few games, especially against fodder teams.

Alexis was great to as well, but he did miss a sitter today.

Not a great game from us.Villareal parked the bus and we struggled.Still we won and Madrid only drew and thats all that matters.

Its still a concern that we cant control the flow of a game properly without Xavi.The last couple of games have showed why he is till vital to our team.Dominant against Celtic and brought control and purpose to our game as soon as he came on today.Watching Thiago today made me realize again how stupid we were to sell him.He resembles Xavi in so many ways.Most importantly he can dominate and control a match.None of our other midfielders can do so to the same level. Roberto might be good but he is a direct player like Cesc.

On our players,Neymar and Alexis were the standout. Alexis set up all our chances and was the MOTM.Cesc was clueless but had a great pass that set up the winner.Iniesta's form continues to be a concern.
Montoya's delivery and decision making was poor but he overlapped well as free said.Busquets had a great game.
He has this uncanny danger to snuff out danger before it even begins and he showed that today.

Overall not a great performance but 3 points are welcome.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Some users kept asking why Martino keeps starting Xavi in almost every game and I think today it showed why. We are a different side with him in the team and Martino is very aware of our Xavi-dependencia.

Alexis motm, his touch for the second goal was great

We certainly looked a different side with Xavi in the team, I completely agree.

free_cat wrote:

CBarca wrote:

I don't know why Cesc is false 9. He's not one, he won't be, stop playing him there. I'm not sure what is up with Song playing CM and why he is playing just as high up or higher than Iniesta. There was a stretch of 2-3 minutes in the half where Song was playing as forward and Cesc was in the midfield...

Tata explained he played Song because he expected Vilareal to play 2 forwards and so Busquets would drop deep and Song play as DM (!) and Cesc as CF because he thinks that Cesc operates better with little space than Neymar (!). He has no clue really.

http://0.tqn.com/h/humor/1/H/m/M/-/-/Wat.jpg

Uhh...

Also, on Cesc's passing. I agree. Although the instance that was talked about was more about miscommunication between Montoya and Alexis IMO. However, in this game there was a similar pass that was a bit longer, probably 10 or 15 yards- to Alexis which was intercepted. Cesc had no one on him and it wasn't a particularly difficult pass. His pass for the second goal was sublime though.

MOM:

Busquets #1
Alexis #2
Neymar/Iniesta #3


You're being so harsh on Montoya, he had a good game overall, but he should be faster in releasing the FINAL pass... he will improve...

Montoya: "I attack a lot but I have to improve my last pass. And I also hope to finally score." #fcblive

Martino: "Alex's match was ok. It was my fault that he had to play an uncomfortable game." #fcblive

Martino: "I thought the boos for Cesc were because people weren't happy he was taken off".”

TATA <3 defending his players! #BOSS

Khaled wrote:MOM:

Busquets #1
Alexis #2
Neymar/Iniesta #3


You're being so harsh on Montoya, he had a good game overall, but he should be faster in releasing the FINAL pass... he will improve...

harsh? no
just because he isn't better then Alves doesn't mean he is terrible, just find it funny that Free thinks montoya could have something to teach Dani Alves.

Khaled wrote:MOM:

Busquets #1
Alexis #2
Neymar/Iniesta #3


You're being so harsh on Montoya, he had a good game overall, but he should be faster in releasing the FINAL pass... he will improve...

Surely Musacchio deserves to be in the top 3?

How is Musacchio? I've only seen him a few times. Could he be a player in out back line?

Winter is Coming wrote:How is Musacchio? I've only seen him a few times. Could he be a player in out back line?

I said two years ago that, if he could improve his ball playing he can become a very good CB. And I think he's done that. That's for a guy who spent last season playing in Segunda.

Physically he is a monster, great in air (ask Bartra ), has good speed. He is not the most intelligent player I've seen but he doesn't lose concentration and tackles extremely well (reminds me of Pochettino a bit). Plays good long balls too every now and then. I don't think he's going to cost a lot of money so he's a gamble worth taking in my opinion.

But this season I've only watched him three times. I will watch him more of course.