11:00 EST | 16:00 GMT | 17:00 GMT

No Xavi, no Puyol, no Valdes, no Messi, no Neymar, and I think Adriano is out too, right?

Puyol out for "technical reasons" aka old.

Plus side is Dani Alves is back.

Squad is : Pinto, Olazábal, Montoya, Piqué, Fàbregas, Pedro, Iniesta, Alexis, Mascherano, Bartra, Sergio, A. Song, Jordi Alba, Tello, Adriano, Dani Alves, Sergi Roberto & Dongou.

Somewhere between what I expect and hope.

As in I expect Cesc will play as a 9 even if I hope he dont, but I dont expect Sergi Roberto to start in midfield but hope he does.

I would play:

Pinto
Alves Pique Bartra Alba

Busquets Roberto

Pedro Cesc Tello
Alexis

But I think Tata will play Cesc as striker again.

Pinto
Montoya Bartra Pique Alba
Busquets
Song Iniesta
Alexis Cesc Pedro

is what's going to happen. Maybe Alves instead of Montoya although I wouldn't do it as Alves hasn't played football the past 4 weeks or so.

Question: Why is it that when Messi is not played Alexis always plays RW and Pedro LW? They both play better the other way around. I can see the argument being made that Pedro needs to cover for Alba's defensive flaws, but Alba has only been playing lately.

The Franchise wrote:Puyol out for "technical reasons" aka old.

AKA Puyol is after his job

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Question: Why is it that when Messi is not played Alexis always plays RW and Pedro LW? They both play better the other way around. I can see the argument being made that Pedro needs to cover for Alba's defensive flaws, but Alba has only been playing lately.

Questioned it for the longest time, way before Tata.

I can only assume Alexis has the misguided belief that he is better on the right, because that's more or less where he has spent his career (or at least tended to drift to that side in games) and its hard to argue with his performances/goals/etc this season from that side.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Puyol out for "technical reasons" aka old.

AKA Puyol is after his job

Incredible lmao

Sanchez is better at stretching the play than Pedro. If Alexis played on the left side he'd naturally drift inside onto his stronger foot all the time and Pedro never stretches the play anyway (on either side ). He carries the ball a few meters and passes it back to midfield 9 out of 10 times. We would have to rely on our fullbacks to provide all the width.

The dynamics of the team are so that Neymar can come inside and Alba overlaps while Sanchez stays wide.

RealGunner wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Puyol out for "technical reasons" aka old.

AKA Puyol is after his job

Incredible lmao

Best captain of all time.

Thats true, but originally (pre Alba, pre Neymar) it was still that way and it hindered Alexis individual game because though he received the ball wide, he didnt have the confidence to consistently do anything productive with it. Again, its not the case any more so it doesnt really matter.

Afaik Alexis played on the left side at first. Under Pep I remember a curling golazo against Rayo from the left side. Don't remember if he played more on the right or left since Pep also played him in the middle a lot and changed formations ever week. But afaik it was Tito who ultimately put him to the right for good. Not sure if it was because of Alba or because he didn't want him to cut inside all the time when his finishing was so atrocious last season.

He got I think 3 games on the left, never a 90 and I think 2 of them were cameo 20-30 minutes. Including that goal. Which I believe where me, BC and others at the time noted how much better individually he was on that side than the right.

But yeah, Alexis been moved around a bit but now it seems, the right is where he will stay. And if we do buy a 9, its completely over because that will make like 4 players who are going to play middle ahead of him and Neymar on the left is iron clad when available.

The Franchise wrote:He got I think 3 games on the left, never a 90 and I think 2 of them were cameo 20-30 minutes. Including that goal. Which I believe where me, BC and others at the time noted how much better individually he was on that side than the right.

Oh. My memory.

Looks like the forward line will be Tello - Alexis - Pedro

------------Pinto---------
Alves--Bartra--Pique--Alba-
---------Busquets--------
------Cesc---Iniesta-----
-Pedro---Alexis------Tello

Is what I hope for. I hate seeing Cesc in the false 9 role. Sick of it and I don't ever want to see it again. Tello is better on the left and Pedro the right, and I'd like to see Alexis in the middle personally. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

Wouldn't mind seeing a

---------Song--------
--Busquets--Iniesta--

midfield either. I'm still obsessed with the idea of Busquets playing the Xavi role, because I bet he could do a fantastic job of it!

Prdro is as good on both flanks really. And futbol description of Pedro is way off as usual.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Puyol out for "technical reasons" aka old.

AKA Puyol is after his job

simply awesome....kudos to tarzan   

a very very tough game.....we are without key players and Athletic has already in taken the lead......i hope we don take any pressure....
I never feel comfortable playing Getafe away from home...Hope it would be a great game

Why are Xavi and Neymar not in the squad?Are they injured or just being rested?

Xavi had some sort of muscle problems over the week and even though he recovered he was not called up as a precaution. Martino gave Neymar early vacations on account of him getting very little summer vacations.

official:

---pedro------cesc------alexis-----

-------iniesta---------roberto-----

-------------busquets---------

alba----masc------------pique----alves

Down 2-0 SMH

FC Pedro

Pedro GOAT