Time: Right now.


Bench: Valdes, Pique, Alba, Song, Xavi & Tello

Getafe:

No Dongou on the bench

what happened to Neymar? is he injured?

free_cat wrote:what happened to Neymar? is he injured?

he is sick

Oh yeah, just some stomach problem, he'll be fine.

We are playing extremely well, just unlucky not to score again.

And now penalty, Pedro is on fire.

Messi is back

Honestly hate these are 2 legged matches.

Fabregas what a player

Great result, as there is now one tough game less to play, or to worry about. Messi really looked fitter than he ever did in last year, sharp passing, dribbling and shooting. Could have had two assists, don't know what Tello got scared in the through ball.

The king is back!

RealGunner wrote:Fabregas what a player

Indeed. Although for some reason, with us, he starts strong but around february he slows down, ALOT. I hope he improves on that, seeing as I belive that he will be very important for us at the end of the season..

I think Martino doesn't understand the purpose of cup games, this may be because in Argentina we've never had a domestic cup until like 2 years ago. Granted, Sergi started and some first team rotation players featured, but I would really like him to start testing younger players, especially when we're already up 2 goals and there's little risk.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I think Martino doesn't understand the purpose of cup games, this may be because in Argentina we've never had a domestic cup until like 2 years ago. Granted, Sergi started and some first team rotation players featured, but I would really like him to start testing younger players, especially when we're already up 2 goals and there's little risk.

I think he wanted everyone sharp for Atletico. For example Busquets had not played for almost a month. Pique and Alba rested. Messi got some game time. Xavi rested. All in all okay. Maybe Tello could have played but he sucks anyway.

I think we took the foot of the pedal after about 30 minutes. Second half was more or less keep ball training. Almost no off the ball runs and everyone trying to feed Messi.

Martino: "Cesc was our best player tonight. You all know Saturday's line-up is a big problem for me..."

I want to win a sig bet against Franchise so badly.

He's back

Hope we go with the Barca B team for the second leg...

this year, we have everything in our ability to win.
there is no excuse of bad schedules, or unmanageable.
no excuse of forwards not helping out messi
and hopefully no excuse of injured messi.

now is up to our guys to keep up the good work and for Tata not to mess it up.

Our defense is still garbage tbh

the champions league final in 2011 was won with Mascherano - Pique defense, and half fit abidal.
thats no excuse.

Ok let's not compare the 2011 team with our team here. Some massive differences between the two, the biggest of which is our pressing game which was fantastic then and is now...something else altogether. Which would obviously have noticeable effect on our ability to defend. Pique and Masch have regressed since then as well, and Abidal half fit or not is a very good defender. The team was firing on all cylinders and I struggle to think of many players from that team who are playing better now than they were before. Not to mention our coach at the time.

Different team. One we won't see again for a long while most likely.

CBarca wrote:Ok let's not compare the 2011 team with our team here. Some massive differences between the two, the biggest of which is our pressing game which was fantastic then and is now...something else altogether. Which would obviously have noticeable effect on our ability to defend. Pique and Masch have regressed since then as well, and Abidal half fit or not is a very good defender. The team was firing on all cylinders and I struggle to think of many players from that team who are playing better now than they were before. Not to mention our coach at the time.

Different team. One we won't see again for a long while most likely.

+1

i said our defense was the same, Mascherano regressed? he was never better, neither was Pique infact i don't believe anyone got worse (bar Xavi) just our strategy changed.
there should be no excuse this year if we fail was my point.
every team could use an improvement, ours needs defense.. others need better forwards etc etc.

And my point is that our defense is still garbage.

Bringing up the 2011 team doesn't disprove that and they are very different teams regardless.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I think Martino doesn't understand the purpose of cup games, this may be because in Argentina we've never had a domestic cup until like 2 years ago. Granted, Sergi started and some first team rotation players featured, but I would really like him to start testing younger players, especially when we're already up 2 goals and there's little risk.

In Argentina there wasn't a cup competition?   And what did small teams play for...? and there were no midweek games except libertadores...?
Is it considered a relevant trophy now that there is one?

Donuts wrote:this year, we have everything in our ability to win.
there is no excuse of bad schedules, or unmanageable.
no excuse of forwards not helping out messi
and hopefully no excuse of injured messi.

now is up to our guys to keep up the good work and for Tata not to mess it up.

I think Man city will give us the defensive certificate. Just wait a month to conclude your comment. This season i have seen City quite a few games and i think with our SPECIAL defense they will not send us back with empty net. We don need to be tested a better opponent(say Bayern), if we can stop us conceding leass than 2 vs Man city in Etihad, i will agree with your comment....

Messi

CBarca wrote:And my point is that our defense is still garbage.

Bringing up the 2011 team doesn't disprove that and they are very different teams regardless.

really? If our defense is garbage, what should we say about the 94 teams from Europe's top 5 leagues who conceded more goals per game than Barcelona [including 83 teams with more than 1 goal per game].

Barcelona are 4th with 0.66
1- Lille 0.48
2- Roma 0.56
3- Atletico 0.59

Our defending has improved, and you should give credit to the players and Tata. Stop all this non sense. Yes, the defense is our weakest line and we have to improve especially when defending set-pieces but its not garbage.

The team has also improved in terms of pressing. Not yet as well as 2009-2011. Yet, they are improving... Also, I expect them do be at peak in April-May.

Especially, if we reached UCL Final we'll have enough rest. Barcelona will only have 4 games in May [1 week rest between each game]. That's perfect to allow players to press in each as they'll have enough time to rest between each game. Its difficult to expect them to do so in Jan-FEb, where they'll have to play a game every 3-4 days [even in Pep's era the team used to suffer in this period of the season].