FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao

Gotta say money well spent by Florentino though. Fernández Borbalán did well to rub Barcelona 2, 3 goals up until the 79th minute

As soon as Barca scored, referee started to be fair, it's going to be the motto of the season.

Neymar finally putting his scoring shoes on for Barca. Now imagine 3 scoring threats instead of 1 25.10.14 onwards.

Matheiu had also fine game.

Yea that ref was trippin all game.

That Messi x Neymar partnership from last year continues! Let's hope they both continue to get even better together and both stay healthy. Both are so creative and link up so well together.

I like Rakitic, brings allot of hustle and speed, defends and attacks all game....but I hope we start to bring in Xavi more late in games. With Rakitic, he gets the ball and it's like a ping pong. It's like he just gets it and bounces it somewhere and starts running. Xavi controls the tempo with the ball. So bringing in Xavi late will make it so hard for teams to even have the chance to get the ball back.

Would like to see Neymar-Messi-Munir be our front line until Suarez returns. Pedro can gtfo

Lets hope for a draw in the Madrid derby today. Or a straight loss for R. Madrid lol

I am happy with Munir.
For now the missed chances is only a matter of experience. I'm only expecting him to improve. THe fact that he's in every dangerous play (unlike a certain Pedro) tells me he has the instict and he can grow.
Also the ref was a joke.
Overall very happy with the 3 points

windkick wrote:I would of rather kept Alexis than Pedro, but didnt Alexis make allot more and at this point of his career would demand to start while Pedro makes less and is ok rotating? Plus they were probably tryng to balance the books after getting Suarez and Alexis would of got us more money. I think that had allot to do why the club didn't decide to have a player of Alexis's caliber on the bench once Suarez returns.

Plus come on....what are Real Madrid? We don't need super start players on the bench. Adama and Munir can come in and run around like a chicken, miss sitters, look amazing only every other 4 games and pass back like Alexis and Pedro do (Pedro actually doesn't even look amazing at all anymore...).

Shit at this point I am happy with Munir developing and him becoming the automatic 4rth forward on the bench with Messi/Neymar/Suarez being the first 3 to start. This would leave Pedro the 5th option. The only reason we are seeing Pedro so much is because Suarez is suspended and Neymar has been picking up knocks. Plus Deulofeu will return next season and we can sell Pedro then. Leaving our forward line being Suarez/Messi/Neymar/Munir/Deulofeu/Adama  

Not bad

Alexis was a pointless player, because he couldn't finish. I think he was also a worse passer than Pedro. We practically traded Alexis who couldn't finish and Fabregas who couldn't play properly the latter half of the season to a all around great player. If Suarez can act like he has done in other teams, we'll be golden. Nice to see him in the stands living the moments.

Pedro better passer than Alexis? Maybe for 2 meter on the ground passes otherwise Alexis is a far better crosser/long passer of the ball than Pedro has ever been. Not to mention that Pedro lacks the creativity and vision of Alexis when delivering passes. And are passes all we care about these days? What about the confidence to beat your man and physicality, both of which Pedro lacks in his play and Alexis has in abundance?

If the problem with Alexis was that he couldn't finish, then I could say the same about Pedro these days. Besides Alexis shouldn't have been signed to become a primary goalscorer. He never was that at Udinese and the fact that he's been the top scorer at Arsenal is mainly because the rest of their strikers are shit at finishing

Bsszzhhhhahaha, Alexis and the confidence to beat a player. First time I've heard that.

Alexis payed Suarez which will be great thing if he can produce the goods.

Alexis is exactly like Pedro, run million miles and hope something good out of it. Now it works in England were there is no defense, but it doesn't work with Barcelona because everyone parks the bus. We practically sold Pedro for 30 Millions, great business.

Maybe you should have watched Barcelona's matches last season or watch Arsenal this season. He took on players all right and he is doing it more often and with more confidence this year. Also regarding the work rate they're both tireless except Alexis actually dispossesses opponents with his physicality rather than have half hearted challenges like Pedro to which often result in fouls.

danyjr wrote:Maybe you should have watched Barcelona's matches last season or watch Arsenal this season. He took on players all right and he is doing it more often and with more confidence this year. Also regarding the work rate they're both tireless except Alexis actually dispossesses opponents with his physicality rather than have half hearted challenges like Pedro to which often result in fouls.

I've watched every game, Spain no space, England space for your grand children.

Madrid

This game confirms a couple of things....

Bravo wont stop starting in La Liga unless he gets injured or we loss points.

Mathieu is our starting centerback probably has his place more secure then Pique

Munir has had a good month despite some inexperienced mistakes he was always in the right place right time, and had a legit goal disallowed.

Bartra has no place in this team... 5th choice centerback.

Neymar - Messi combo is legit

We better pray Douglas is legit because Montoya sucks

Pedro is straight up shit.

Lucho is legit.

Yea, at this point in looks like our CB priority line up is this..

1. Mathieu
2. Mascherano/Pique toss of the coin for Lucho
3. Vermalean
4. Bartra

So it will take a few injuries or suspensions for Bartra to even get a shot. And surely the board must see that Pedro is utter shit. It's too late now though, we either promote Adama or just stick with Pedro since we can't make any more moves until 2016.

and LOL at Madrid. Last 2 games = 0 points

--------Neymar-----Suarez
---------------Messi

backups :

-------Deulofeu----Munir
--------------Rafinha

never let pedro play ffs he offers nothing to the team

also fun fact, the goals today started with buscuit intercepting a ball and laying a pass to messi.
and people think he's overrated.. what he contributes to the team is amazing but often overlooked.

Enrique putting a lot of faith in the youngster. That alone satisfies me.

Donuts wrote:also fun fact, the goals today started with buscuit intercepting a ball and laying a pass to messi.
and people think he's overrated.. what he contributes to the team is amazing but often overlooked.

If anything Busi gets criminally underrated.

"Sergio Busquets is a genius on the pitch." - Jupp Heynckes

Donuts wrote:--------Neymar-----Suarez
---------------Messi

backups :

-------Deulofeu----Munir
--------------Rafinha

never let pedro play ffs he offers nothing to the team

Would love that...but that won't happen until the soonest next season. Hopefully we sell Pedro next summer. Adama is getting promoted so either Deulofeu or Pedro are for sure leaving.

Luis Enrique: "Line-up? I've many options, it's like picking tomatos. Won't explain my choices here, rarely explain them to players either"

Luis Enrique: "Messi is not only the best player in the world for the goals he scores, but also for the assists he gives."

Luis Enrique: "Satisfied with both defense and attack. The attitude of the players was excellent."

Luis Enrique: "I see Messi training every day and he does things you can't even see in Captain Tsubasa (animation series) or on PlayStation"Luis Enrique: "Rakitic more on the wing? We have different options. I'm not that stupid that I will explain here the reason for my choices."

Luis Enrique: "We can play more on possession, wa can be more vertical. Sometimes we are too vertical, but that doesn't bother me too much."

Luis Enrique: "The tactical awareness of Busquets has surprised me. He knows what to do at every moment. Best in the world at his position."

kinda worrying that he doesn't really explain his lineup to his players wonder whats going on through Bartras head now.

Donuts wrote:kinda worrying that he doesn't really explain his lineup to his players wonder whats going on through Bartras head now.

Well, he can't straight up say "you're not as good as xy", can he?

No but I am assuming Bartra only really stayed with us or signed his contract after being told he had a chance to play for us.. now he doesn't even make match squad.
and Mascherano will never be better then a natural centerback in the cb role.

Meh, this "natural CB" discussion is pointless. Mascherano is playing CB for 5 seasons now at the highest level. What he did more than 5 years ago is irrelevant for me. I mean you could just as well dismiss Mathieu for the same reason. He's only really started playing CB last season. Apart from aerial deficiencies Mascherano is a legit defender. Difference is that whenever he makes mistakes his past is being pointed out as the reason for that.

Suarez be like: "I would have scored 5 by now."

Enrique's team plays absolutely nothing like Pep's team.Anyone who says so needs to watch our 3 league games again.After the first game,I suspected that Enrique's style was different from Pep's.After the second game,that suspicion was strengthened.This game just confirmed my suspicions.There is a lot of difference between the philosophies of Pep and Enrique and I dont like Enrique's philosophy.

In this game,I was looking out for a few things to confirm my suspicions.They are:
1) How far apart on the field were Iniesta and Rakitic playing compared to Xavi and Iniesta during the Pep years?
2) Continuing on from the first question,how many passes did Iniesta and Rakitic exchange during the match?
3) How many times did Iniesta and Rakitic cross over into each others zone and were they ever found together in the same zone?More specifically what was the positional freedom allowed the central midfielders compared to the Pep years?
4) How many passes were exchanged between the triangle of Busquets,Iniesta and Rakitic?
5) How many passes were exchanged between the triangle of Iniesta,Rakitic and Messi?
6) How many times did the midfielders combine with the forwards compared to the Pep years?
7) How often did we try intricate passing patterns through the middle compared to the Pep years?

The answers are:
1) Iniesta and Rakitic were playing at least twice as apart as Xavi and Iniesta during the Pep years.I noticed this problem in the first game itself.I noticed it in the second game with Rafinha and Rakitic and again in this game.Clearly the 2 midfielders are playing far more apart than in the Pep years which leads to the problem mentioned in point 2.
2) Iniesta and Rakitic exchanged a grand total of 4 passes during the entire game!!!!!!!!!4 passes over the entire 90 plus minutes of play.Xavi and Iniesta would exchange that many passes in 30 seconds.Hell combine the passes exchanged between the CM's in all 3 games this season.Xavi and Iniesta would have exchanged thrice as many passes in 20 min of any random game from the Pep years.
3) Not once did Iniesta and Rakitic cross over into each others zone and never were they found together in the same zone.Iniesta stayed left and Rakitic right all game.Just like in the first game and just like against Villareal.The message is quite clear.The CM's wont have any positional freedom.They are to stick to their zones at all times.Again a stark contrast from the Pep years when Xavi and Iniesta enjoyed a lot of positional freedom.
4) I didnt one pass exchanged amongst the triangle of Busquets,Iniesta and Rakitic namely because there was no triangle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The 3 played pretty much in a straight line.Iniesta to the left of Busquets and Rakitic to the right.It was a very straight line midfield 3 instead of a triangle midfield 3 as under Pep.And because there was no triangle,there was no intricate passing in midfield to advance the ball.
5) Not one pass exchanged amongst the triangle of Rakitic,Iniesta and Messi as there was no triangle!!!!!!!!!!!
Iniesta and Rakitic were very far apart and Iniesta was far apart from Messi.Iniesta barely excahnged 3 or 4 passes with Messi the entire game!!!!!!!!!!Again not triangle and no intricate passing to advance the ball in the final third.
6) The midfielders barely combined with the forwards.Their primary job seems to be to cover the fullback,maintain position and provide defense.
7) No intricate passing patterns through the middle of the pitch.

dani mentioned in the last game how Neymar seemed to have more positional freedom.Well it maybe true.The forwards do seem to have more freedom.But it has come at the expense of the freedom of the midfielders and their play.
The genius of Pep was that he realized the uniqueness of Xavi and Iniesta and allowed them the creative freedom to explode.He let them have positional freedom within limits knowing that they were intelligent enough not to make mistakes.And by giving them this freedom Pep took midfield play to a level never ever seen before and probably never ever will.The quartet of Busquets,Xavi,Iniesta and Messi combined to create magic in the middle of the pitch.In fact the entire front 6 had a lot of freedom.And what made it work was the great pressing.

Enrique's system is different.He wants his midfielders to stay in position and protect their zone at all times.Iniesta one of the all time greats has been reduced to covering Alba.I would like to see a heat map of the team.I can bet that Iniesta played in the same line as Busquets.There were plenty of times when he could be found even deeper than Busquets.Thats no way to utilize the genius of Iniesta.I understand that last couple of seasons we have been exploited a lot from the wings when the fullbacks pushed up.But the solution isnt to constrain the midfielders and especially Iniesta.

Have a lot more to say but will do after I get a few responses.