Barcelona - ManC, Champions League Round 16

The abuse at Alba.... wtf. I bet that if he scores in a couple of games everyone would love him again   

BarcaLearning wrote:The abuse at Alba.... wtf. I bet that if he scores in a couple of games everyone would love him again   

Not really because he's a crap defender, if anything crap is being nice to how awful he is at defending.

Every time he plays he either costs Barca the game or the opposition see his weakness and constantly aim their attacks down his side.

Adriano is 100x the defender Alba is and quite frankly is better going forward than him in every imaginable facet except for overlapping the LF and there isn't a great deal of difference there.

He shouldn't even be playing for a team like Barca to begin with ( hell i wouldn't even want him ) but the fact he's starting is an utter joke.

He can score 20 goals a season for all i care it won't change anything, he's simply not good enough.

So a number of people in the GS think that Pelle erred his tactics. What's the consensus here?

grrrrr soo annoyed my man pique#9 didnt get that goal   

BarrileteCosmico wrote:So a number of people in the GS think that Pelle erred his tactics. What's the consensus here?

Well I felt like they did have the intention to pressure us. However, we rather easier navigated the pressure.

I like the break the pitch into 5 sections and in my theory the closest section you are in to the opponents goal, the more sustained possession in that section will give the opponent trouble to counter attack and trouble at stopping chances.

In our best days, we often had sustained and ongoing possession around the opponents box. This is devastating to teams because it brings all their players back and destroys their counter attacks because the distance it takes to join the striker is so large. And in our best days, we did this quite often and still penetrated teams.

Dont happen as much now and in big games is rare. Last year against Bayern we had alot of possession, but none of it in sections 4 and 5 (in my imaginary split of the pitch) and at best in section 3 (roughly 15m either side of the halfway line).

The reason for my explanation is that if we get into section 3 usually the ends the opponents high pressing game (if that was their plan) and we did that vs City. And then when we got it further forward it took City back further and allowed us to control alot of the action (albiet without creating many chances pre Red card) but more importantly disconnected Negredo from the rest of the team.

I think Pelle got it right not going for Negredo and Dzeko, I said it before and I am sure of it now. The increase of chances post red (when City had to play a midfield 4 rather than 5) convinces me because Fernandinho and Yaya simply cannot cover Busquets and/or Xavi deep while still being aware of Cesc, Messi or Iniesta behind/coming inside.

The tactics themselves were okay from City, not the most proactive, I thought there pressure wasnt incredibly intense...but did anyone really expect it to be? Navas, Kolarov, Silva, Negredo...that doesnt really scream high pressing game to me.

The selection I wasnt sure about. I expected if he wasnt going 442, we wouldnt of seen the double leftback of Clichy and Kolarov...we hardly play with a rightwinger (Alexis offers runs similar to that of a 9) and I think at Kolarov would of been fine at leftback. I guess Nasri was not fit, but still I think having Milner out there would been better. His energy and toughness would have given Dani Alves a tougher ride.

Or another way to go would have been Silva, who would of come away from the flank and given Busquets problems in the middle. Dani Alves has a tendency to get sucked in to things and as it was we had trouble with a advancing leftback down that side because Alexis was pressuring for Messi in the middle, but Messi was not covering the leftback either so often he went unchallenged and we saw that when Clichly got in. Kolarov in that type of position would of been alot more dangerous and that came about I believe when Nasri had come away from the flank as Silva would have if started there.

Kolarov isnt a threat to someone like Alves, he is a fairly stock player and tries to either cross, shoot or run on the outside...Dani can deal with that. Its movement off the ball which would give him bigger issues.

Replacing Silva inside you could of gone with Milner, who has a ton of energy and again might of give Busquets more problems when pressing than Silva.

Also could of gone with Yaya, free him of defensive duty all together and our mid being quite physically weak I could see him going on more than the 1 trademark run from deep. To do so means bringing in Javi Garcia deep next to Fernandinho..perhaps a defensive move at home, but not more so than the double leftback idea.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:So a number of people in the GS think that Pelle erred his tactics. What's the consensus here?

I don't think I can say he "erred" with his tactics. He put out a well thought out lineup intent on not giving anything to Barca, and when you take a look at the first half, all we had was that Xavi long shot- which, while a good shot, was never going in. We had some nice play in front of the goal a couple times but we never broke through. City had much of the same going forward, minus a Negredo chance which was due to some bad communication between Pique and Mascherano.

Had the red card not have happened, I'm not sure we would have broken through. The game most likely would have been 0-0, though it's possible City could have nicked a goal, or us too. That's not too bad a result for City, and I don't think Pellegrini would be so upset. Probably planning to try and nick an away goal and park the bus at the Camp Nou (is Aguero going to be back?).

Defensively it was fantastic. However, the team never really got going offensively. This is the only place where I think you could say he erred- if he was set on going 4-2-3-1 vs Barca, he could have any number of more attacking options- playing Milner out wide instead of Kolarov, keeping Silva in his spot. Putting Silva out wide with Jovetic behind Dzeko, even going 4-4-2 with Dzeko/Negredo (though I wouldn't personally go 4-4-2 against Barca with those two). Instead he persisted with Kolarov, clearly concerned about Dani Alves/Alexis and the fact that his LB is awful. I personally would have preferred Milner, even though I'm not the biggest fan of him. Milner offers enough defensive work to cover Alves/Alexis and would likely have given more problems to Dani Alves than Kolarov.

At home with a team that has been very free scoring, perhaps going with a more offensive lineup is what he should have done- Pellegrini showed fear. This is what I thought at first. After a couple more looks, I think the way he set his team up is quite fine- and I would disagree that Pellegrini did much wrong other than not putting out a very offensive lineup- which I guess is the way he wanted to go.

Good to see Alex thinks Dani Alves was MotM as well. Thought I was the only one.

Was pretty clearly the man of the match for me- by some distance.

CBarca wrote:Good to see Alex thinks Dani Alves was MotM as well. Thought I was the only one.

Was pretty clearly the man of the match for me- by some distance.

Me also, but didnt want to say it because I supposedly have some kind of strange bias towards Dani Alves and refuse to see he is clearly finished now.

Sell him to PSG, like every year, then start Montoya.

Interesting thoughts. Both CB and Dani think that that Milner could have been used rather than Kolarov but iirc there were rumors about Milner picking up a knock before the match and this might have influenced Pelle's thinking. Perhaps he was not fit to start. I can see why he is criticized for not being more attacking but at the same time he probably didn't expect Barca to play Iniesta on the LW making the possession so one sided.

The game was really tight tbh. The red card changed everything, but they did play a lot better with 10 men and when they bought on Nasri. Maybe if they played the game like that from the start it they could've scored.

Was I the only one who thought Busquets had a good game and could also arguably have a claim for MOTM?

The Franchise wrote:

CBarca wrote:Good to see Alex thinks Dani Alves was MotM as well. Thought I was the only one.

Was pretty clearly the man of the match for me- by some distance.

Me also, but didnt want to say it because I supposedly have some kind of strange bias towards Dani Alves and refuse to see he is clearly finished now.

Sell him to PSG, like every year, then start Montoya.

He was the official MOTM as well. Which to me personally just indicates how lackluster the rest of the team was. The left wing was dead and the middle was concerned to pass it safely to prevent counters. Alves was tactically the only one instructed to give us some verticality and he showed urgency in his play. Certainly very energetic and lively performance. A great game though? Meh. I can just repeat what I already said before. Wayward passes in his own half directed at Busquets but ending up at Nasri's feet, clumsy tackles and early booking, 6 attempted crosses, 0 accurate and a missed chance from that Alexis one-two. The goal at the end and the fact that he was the only one providing any verticality on the winning team did it for him. Real MOTM David Silva. Must have created a dozen chances. I'm just looking at the highlights and it's basically a Silva vs. Barca video. And you got to ask "why" when your gameplan is to flood and dominate the middle?

Alba or Montoya being worse doesn't mean much to me. It doesn't make Alves perform better. But I'm repeating myself. Alba actually had a mature performance with some important interceptions. One of those caused by Alves passing it wayward and Negredo almost getting through on goal if it weren't for Alba. We can just disagree and move on though, no biggie.

Winter is Coming wrote:Was I the only one who thought Busquets had a good game and could also arguably have a claim for MOTM?

Busquets is playing his worst season for me. Surely his main job should have been to limit the danger coming from Silva as Silva was the direct opponent in his zone yet Silva was creating lots of chances.

He isn't having a good season, but I think he's been pretty solid in the past few games. Even tho Silva did get the best of Busi I do believe he had a hand in playing Messi on side, which led to the red and PK and changed the game for us.

"Bayern are the best team we played here,Against Bayern, for 60 minutes we did not touch the ball. They are the best team, Barcelona are not. If it was not for the penalty, it was 0-0. Bayern was not the same." - Nasri

another one filling tanks with tears. why you bother whether Barca best or not. you got trashed and will be again in camp nou..............................

On topic, why Alba must play does not make sense to me. I was completely surprised to see him in the lineup. Adriano did his best just the previous game. Moreover Adriano and Alba mentality completely opposite. Adriano has a killer mentality which you can read in his face. And alba is completely feared. the only thing i like about him is his very fast overlapping run that can cheat the defense. But we did not use that tactics last night. then why he was needed.
For me, as long as adriano fit we should use him......

Well lets see he's right Bayern currently are the best team, but they played a 2-4-4 against them with Negredo/Dezko upfront, had they played that against us it would've been the same. Lets not forget they tried to attack more in the Bayern game and made a few clumsy mistakes leading to the goals. In our game their first half was really well for them, but they did have a defensive tactic and we didn't even get out of second gear.

Bayern are better? OK great...but your still gonna get eliminated by us at this rate

Attempting to hurting us with words because you couldnt on the pitch.

Manchester City vs FC Barcelona analysis (0-2)
http://on.fb.me/1bQ8IKA

The Franchise wrote:

Sell him to PSG, like every year, then start Montoya.

I know you say this for me, but as I said in another thread, I never said we should start Montoya over Alves.

I agree that it would have been better to start Adriano in this game. However, why is people attacking Alba? He had a solid game, no mistakes, nothing to complain about really... or did I miss something?

Actually it wasnt. Your not the only one to say this...Khaled for example also did.

Perhaps not also saying to start Montoya, but keep him around and not Alves.

jugster wrote:Manchester City vs FC Barcelona analysis (0-2)
http://on.fb.me/1bQ8IKA

i really miss watching foorball on SKYsports specially for the analysis.......

I would be on board with selling Alves to PSG if we got an offer of 30m+
he is aging, it'd be a good business deal, the problem would be finding a suitable replacement along with a cb and our board is almost incapable of doing either.

Selling Alves would need buying a new player of Abidal's style so that we can use Alba in attack and fearing he'll screw up too much on defense.

Edit:

When I think about it, we need a player of Abidal's style regardless if we sell Alves or not!

I would rather sell Pique than Dani Alves. He cares less, he further past his best and we could actually get more money from him.

Never heard anyone say they would like to sell him though.

I also aint sure simply buying a "Abidal style rightback" will solve the fullback issues. Dani Alves in his prime (and still can now) defend, regardless of what Abidal did. Alba cant defend...having the fullback on the other side being great defensively wont save him. No question I agree 100% we would have superior balance though.

I prefer balance over individual skill though..
I too like Alves but if a offer like 30-40m+ came around which probably wont it would be kinda dumb not to sell, unlike Madrid / City we do not have infinite money.