Getafe - FC Barcelona | Copa del Rey Eights | Jan 16th, 2013

Neymar injured from his ankle...

Neymar looks like he's in a lot of pain, hopefully it's better than it looks.

I really knew this will happen as soon as I saw both of them in lineup

I thought he had an ACL when it happened, but on tv they say it's a twisted ankle, and probably nothing broken.
A couple of weeks and new.

As long as he's ready for City. Wish him a speedy recovery

We usually don't do transfers in January, but we are quieter than usual this time around don't ya'll think?

stupid reason to play both messi and neymar..
although glad Messi scored one of his signature goals was rather pointless and now we lost Neymar.

Neymar and Messi have been rested for a while, they need match fitness.

Injuries can happen even in training, Tata made the right decision but Neymar was just unlucky!

injuries happen in training, yes but to risk him in a match that is completely pointless..
I rather him injure himself against Levante this weekend then a meaningless match.
his position could of also been used for youngsters.
the only criticism I have for Tata this year is his lack of rotation with the B teams in games such as these.
I mean seriously it's not like Getafe were going to score 5 goals against us..

Messi:"I'm match fit but lacking in rhythm, and the only way to get it back is to play more". Fact is Messi and Neymar have to play to get back to where they should be, but I agree that they didn't both need to start vs Getafe. And it'd be nice to see Martino start giving some of the B guys a chance.

Barca B guys? Why? This is not charity. Lots of players like Song, Tello, Puyol, Adriano, Roberto who are usually sitting on the bench need minutes under their belts to stay sharp. If we play our best team in important games and Barca B in scrub games, when are the bench players going to get some game time? Messi and Neymar were both out for quite some time so they started to catch some rythm. Alves started because he too played like 2 games the last 2 months and he's also suspended next game. Predictable lineup all-around. No need to mess around the team dynamics right now with Barca B players.

I say Barca B to the players not every single one of them but to the positions we do not need to play our stars in.

Cesc, Xavi, Sanchez, Dani Alves do not need rythm they have played practically every single game this season..
I understand Song/Tello/Sergi Roberto/Puyol but the rest cmon now..
as for Messi and Neymar they can get their minutes in with Levante or the next La Liga team why risk further injury on a pointless match is my only question.

whatever though it's done and over with.. soon enough we will be playing two games a week, come the copa de rey / champions league / la liga where we will be forced to play our big stars and then look back and say well shit why didn't we rest them against these stupid games.

Xavi only came on for his 700th cap tbh. Playing Alexis wasn't planned.

Alves hasn't played much. Getafe before Christmas and Atletico were his only games the past 2 months. He needs rythm. Also he is suspended for the next Liga game so playing Montoya didn't make sense. Imagine Montoya getting injured.

Levante is a game to win points, not to get match fit. Let's not underestimate them. Especially away they can cause lots of problems.

What did you think the lineup should have looked like?

Why can't we mix the Barca B players with the bench? This way you keep bench players sharp while also giving the youth a chance.

Losing to Getafe by 4 was never going to happen.

As for first team players...well they'll always be sharp- they're first teamers. The only reason they wouldn't be is fatigue, so perhaps leaving the majority out of a game like this is good.

And I certainly agree with that. I wouldn't object to Neymar and Messi each getting 30 minutes, but I didn't agree with starting them in such a meaningless match, and I still don't- that goes for others too, like Cesc.

futbol wrote:Xavi only came on for his 700th cap tbh. Playing Alexis wasn't planned.

Alves hasn't played much. Getafe before Christmas and Atletico were his only games the past 2 months. He needs rythm. Also he is suspended for the next Liga game so playing Montoya didn't make sense. Imagine Montoya getting injured.

Levante is a game to win points, not to get match fit. Let's not underestimate them. Especially away they can cause lots of problems.

What did you think the lineup should have looked like?

-----------------Pinto
Adriano-----Puyol----Bartra----Carles Planas
--------------Javi Espanosa
-----Alex Song--------S. Roberto
-Adama--------Dongou---------Tello

is just one of the random lineups we could of gone with combining b team with bench players.
later 30 minutes of game time to Alves / Messi / Neymar (even though i disagree but everyone else thinks they need some time)

I am not underrating Levante but i think everyone is exageratting the fact that our team needs more minutes to mix well with each other..
Messi has played with everyone in this team minus Alexis and Neymar since he was a kid what more rhythm does he need? same goes to majority of the team.
mind you we didn't just come back from a big break our starters all played against Atletico Madrid just a couple of days ago.

Donuts, it appears that you overestimate the B side and also underestimate the team familiarity factor. What you have there is completely new team that never played together. It might have actually ended in a bad loss. And even if we would have qualified, a bad loss is never good for team moral, no matter who plays.

But having just Adama or Dongou instead of Messi/Nerman would have been my pick.

never played together? my lineup for example.. only 4/11 players have never played together (I'm counting Adama because he only had a short sub moment)
a bad loss? puyol / Bartra / Adriano / Pinto would have to be really really bad that game to let a getafe (who already knew they were not going to win and didn't really try) score 5 goals.

Maybe I understatement the team familiarity factor but it's not like this is our only chance to get minutes.. Levante is no real threat to us I mean hell we beat them 7-0 our first game of the season with a team that practically had no practice with a new head coach.

I agree with eelir.

I also remember when people were upset we didnt play a B side vs Ajax and then we got rick rolled. We should never underestimate our opponents

But the ajax game also did not matter we only really needed 1 more point of two remaining games to get first place, with the chance of second place drawing and thus not requiring that match.

That's why people didn't really care about the loss against Ajax.

I think we are very very lucky with the schedule this year as February is not tough for us, nor is March, but if we had a schedule like Madrid and Tata did not rest or rotate more for pointless games this would not be acceptable.

No one is saying we should have fielded Barca B, but when we are winning 6-0 the coach should use that opportunity to rest some first team players and give the youth some experience with first division teams.

The coach did rest some first team players. Valdes, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis/Pedro didn't start. They are all part of the first XI. Bar Messi and Neymar it's practically the entire starting XI that didn't play.

He gave youth playing time as well. Sergi Roberto, Bartra and Tello all played.

I don't get the problem at all but whatever.

An already defeated Getafe are hardly an Ajax team trying to qualify for the next stage of the CL.

Completely different situations and levels.

Also, the actual B team guys im sure would love a chance to play at the higher level and show what they can do when around even more talent.

How do you think Tello, Bartra and Roberto and co got their chances in the first place? Part of it was playing in the cup games.

I dont get the argument. Barca for a long time have included a host of B players, ESPECIALLY when the tie is done. This 2nd leg was different in selection.

We should've given more time for youth and perhaps saved Xavi 700th appearance for the home game.

Pep's lineup in 2010/2011 in the return leg against Real Betis (the first leg was 5-0):

Afellay Messi Bojan
Keita Xavi
Mascherano
Maxwell Milito Pique Adriano
Pinto



All DEM B players. B players everywhere.

Even though I agree we should of added more B players (check my suggested line up in the first page), I don't blame us playing Neymar to his injury. I think the used line up was fine

There can be question about how many first teamers should of started, but for me starting Neymar is completely justified and any manager would of done that considering recently he did not have much game time....

Why dont you also mention that game vs Betis was a quarter final and Betis were strong enough and confident enough to beat that team 3-1?

Or more importantly that Barca B had played an away game just 3 days earlier?