Watching Alves with the ball frustrates the shit out of me. He and Alba basically cost us the game. I wish the former left, last summer.

Also, a disappointing performance by MaTS. He was at fault for the 2nd goal, and while he wasn't for the 3rd, you could argue he could have intercepted the cross as it was pretty much within his reach but I could be wrong.

As neutral fan, gotta say I was underwhelmed and a bit confused by Iniesta and Rakitic performance. It seems like their role is specifically support Alves and Alba who were not that effective going forward. Especially Rakitic whose 1st instinct was always pass to Alves. I rarely saw those two connected with each other hence the midfield in front of Biscuit was stretched out and Messi ended up drop back occupy it.

It looks like Lucho tactics since Xavi did the same when he replaced Rakitic. If it's tactic from Lucho, I don't really like it.

When a team presses high, their design is to recover the ball high and immediately transition to the attack. Barca does it and so does PSG. To say the PSG goals were "avoidable" is not accurate if they are the reault of the primary tactic of the opposing team... it means they just executed their plan. The counter argument too is that Cavani should have scored a couple if he weren't such a clutz and Pastore also had chances... not to mention others. Also, Barca have sucked at set pieces since forever. That is also a tactic against them.

PSG outplayed Barca. It could have ended 3-3, but it easily could have been 4-1 or 5-1 as well. On the Neymar goal, it was a floating cross by Alves that 3 PSG defenders somehow missed with only Messi in the area and it fell to Neymar's feet. By your logic, that was the most avoidable of the goals.... a random high cross against 5 defenders and only Messi/Neymar in the box should never lead to a goal.

Anyhow.

The goals are avoidable because the Barcelona players failed to pass it out of the back properly and instead dribbled themselves into problems. We also failed to deal with Marco f*cking Veratti on a CORNER.

I could go into more detail, but regardless of what you say about high pressure...that doesn't change the fact that these goals were entirely avoidable from the Barcelona perspective.

Not really sure what you're on about, to be honest.

oh and *bleep* this result

Every goal is avoidable  that's my point.  But to say that they were 100% a result of Barca not doing its job is completely false...  PSG's tactics were designed to specifically cause the errors that Barca made.  Namely, put high pressure and force the defenders to make passing/dribbling decisions as opposed to the midfielders BECAUSE defenders are more error-prone with the ball.

As far as the Verratti goal...  there were 4 PSG guys on the far post for only 1 Barca defender and the keeper.  It wasn't a 1on1 mistake... it was a complete zonal mistake.  It just happened to land on Verratti as opposed to the others.  BUT AGAIN, everyone knows that Barca is weak on set pieces.  Been like this for years.  So they emphasize getting FKs and taking advantage of them.

To me, something is reasonably avoidable if it's mostly random.  None of the goals by PSG were random.... not one. Other than Ter Stegen badly coming off his line and having a better chance of saving Verratti's header if he didn't, the rest were a result of PSG taking advantage of Barca's specific areas of weakness.

matuidi , a pub footballer ? Gil

Blaise would walk into that chelsea midfield and start 38 premier league games .

Nah Sports, dunno if you watched the game or not but it was nothing to do with tactics. Pressing is one thing, but when Dani Alves is taking 5-6 touches in his defensive third, any player worth his wages is going to put him under pressure.

Getting dominated by the likes of Matuidi and Verratti is not a 'big shame'. They are top class players.

@gil besides Matic there is not Chelsea player that would get in Barca's team except for the defense. Matic would be a big, big improvement over Busquets.

That's just Barca and Madrid arrogance thinking that every loss or goal conceded was "avoidable" and the opponent wasn't just better...

Did anyone even watch the game here?

Verratti was invisable and Matuidi didnt do much but foul. Besides their goals, they didnt even play well, both are MUCH better than they showed.

The Franchise wrote:

Did anyone even watch the game here?

Verratti was invisable and Matuidi didnt do much but foul. Besides their goals, they didnt even play well, both are MUCH better than they showed.

Verratti was very good what are you talking about ?

Rewatching the game right now. Making notes for all individual defensive errors. Finished with the 1st half so far:

3:35: Busquets owned, trying to be cute and milk a foul, gets his pocket picked in his own half - this ain't LOL Liga, brah.

7:50 Alba simply owned by Lucas.

8:10 Alves owned, trying to dribble players at the edge of his own box, turning the ball over for the freekick which results in the goal.

12:10 Mathieu passing out of the back directly into the feet of Lucas.

12:20 Busquets owned again similar to the first one trying to be cute, just boot it when 3 men are harrassing you, lad.

25:15 Alba owned, trying to dribble the ball, Lucas just takes it off him lol. This ain't LOL Liga, brah.

31:30 Alba owned, dribbling forward again directly into a tackle by Motta and causing a counterattack.

33:50 Alves brainless cross. Not a defensive mistake in this context but I had to note this down anyway because DAT cross. Gif will follow later.

Of course you also have the 2 set piece goals (Mascherano marking Luiz and Rakitic marking no one). But overall PSG surprisingly didn't create much apart from the set pieces and both Barca fullbacks battling each other in who has less brain cells.

Deja Vu wrote:Also, a disappointing performance by MaTS. He was at fault for the 2nd goal, and while he wasn't for the 3rd, you could argue he could have intercepted the cross as it was pretty much within his reach but I could be wrong.

What do you expect after this weird decision to have the more experienced goalie play weekly and get proper practice, while having the youngster who never played CL before play CL only and not get the chance to properly gel with the defense?

Shouldn't Enrique have noticed that this didn't work properly for Real either, and there they had two experienced goalies with good standing?

Valkyrja wrote:

The Franchise wrote:

Did anyone even watch the game here?

Verratti was invisable and Matuidi didnt do much but foul. Besides their goals, they didnt even play well, both are MUCH better than they showed.

Verratti was very good what are you talking about ?

Did nothing special. Had a "normal" game. Perhaps not invisible, but nothing to talk about.

Verratti was fantastic... many of the counter attacks started because he was calm with the ball under pressure from Barca players and made a clean and good pass forward. Matuidi was very good too... he was hounding the left side of the pitch and closing gaps.

Not sure why you didn't think so Dani. I thought both played very well... and Matuidi hadn't been that good until this game tbh.

Fußball wrote:Rewatching the game right now. Making notes for all individual defensive errors. Finished with the 1st half so far:

3:35: Busquets owned, trying to be cute and milk a foul, gets his pocket picked in his own half - this ain't LOL Liga, brah.

7:50 Alba simply owned by Lucas.

8:10 Alves owned, trying to dribble players at the edge of his own box, turning the ball over for the freekick which results in the goal.

12:10 Mathieu passing out of the back directly into the feet of Lucas.

12:20 Busquets owned again similar to the first one trying to be cute, just boot it when 3 men are harrassing you, lad.

25:15 Alba owned, trying to dribble the ball, Lucas just takes it off him lol. This ain't LOL Liga, brah.

31:30 Alba owned, dribbling forward again directly into a tackle by Motta and causing a counterattack.

33:50 Alves brainless cross. Not a defensive mistake in this context but I had to note this down anyway because DAT cross. Gif will follow later.

Of course you also have the 2 set piece goals (Mascherano marking Luiz and Rakitic marking no one). But overall PSG surprisingly didn't create much apart from the set pieces and both Barca fullbacks battling each other in who has less brain cells.

The second goal, the corner. What were the circumstances which lead to Alba giving it away? Only thing I forgot.

And can you also confirm that indeed it wasnt any special pressing by PSG, simply we made awful amateur level decisions?

But RWO...  Iker was extremely good in CL other than the 1 blunder in the final.  In fact, i thought both Lopez and Iker were good last season.  The drama was that the media and Spanish fans want Iker to remain a legend + Iker was unhappy with the situation.  Those off-the-field issues didn't really affect the game performances imo.

That said, it's typically not a good idea to rotate keepers.  Like CFs, confidence and that extra edge plays a huge part of their game.  If they aren't in optimum conditions, i don't expect them to play at their best.

That said, i think Bravo has beaten out MaTS and Enrique is trying to keep MaTS involved in the season.  What Enrique should do is to just let Bravo have the job...  MaTS should be using this as an opportunity to gain ground on Brave, which he didn't yday obviously. If things were done in a typical way, he'd never play other than cup.

sportsczy wrote:Verratti was fantastic... many of the counter attacks started because he was calm with the ball under pressure from Barca players and made a clean and good pass forward. Matuidi was very good too... he was hounding the left side of the pitch and closing gaps.

Not sure why you didn't think so Dani. I thought both played very well... and Matuidi hadn't been that good until this game tbh.

What pressure? We was all over the place trying to press. We used this totally alien 442ish shape and Verratti was often free.

And I dont think they did anything special because I dont think PSG did anything special as a unit. Lucas ruined Alba, Pastore had a couple good moments, Cavani made some good turns inside and around the box and there were half a dozen good defensive moments from Marquinos, VDW and others but nothing special and I dont think PSG won the midfield battle at all, let alone dominate it. Nobody won it, none of our midfielders played well (in fact, all played poorly) and PSG's did alright. Nothing to really talk about, nothing special done in this area.

I can't believe you can can say that PSG didn't create much when Cavani flubbed 2 great opportunities and 2 other half chances + Pastore shooting a 1v1 right at the keeper + Pastore forgetting the ball on a breakaway. Plenty (and i'm not even mentioning some) chances other than the FKs. Heck, Lucas had 2-3 chances too but his final ball was poor.

PSG just owned Barca tactically and it should have been 4-2 or 5-2 if Cavani had any form... That's just reality. You can try to sugarcoat it. But the neutrals from even the OM boards, who HATE PSG with a passion, conceded that they played a very good game and thoroughly deserved the victory.

I thought Lucas, Van Der Wiel, Verratti, Luiz, Marquinhos and Matuidi all played very good games. Pastore was mostly good. Motta and Maxwell were inconsistent. Sirigu didn't do much of note. Cavani was just poor.

That was my take.

sportsczy wrote:That said, it's typically not a good idea to rotate keepers.  Like CFs, confidence and that extra edge plays a huge part of their game.  If they aren't in optimum conditions, i don't expect them to play at their best.

Exactly that is the problem. IMO Enrique does MAtS a grave disservice by playing him irregularly in high profile matches as he will likely ruin MAtS's confidence as he just can't be at his best if he doesn't have regular practice.

As much as I like him, I have to agree that it would be better atm to have him play only CDR and let Bravo play the rest, as he can't gain confidence the way things go now (and if you add the shark-pool of the Spanish media).

I'm really saddened that things turned out like this for MAtS, but then, he couldn't know that the coach who wanted him would be gone once he arrived and the other coach would get another goalie he prefered.

There was nothing tactical about the victory at all

Barca made just as many chances, looked just as dangerous.

PSG scored 2 goals from set peices, nothing tactically special.

It was an even match which PSG deserved to win because they made less errors. Simple as. No need to turn it into rocket science.

I dont care what other French fans say, with all due respect. I dont know what level of knowledge they have and in fact the majority of posters on here I dont care what their opinion is because I dont trust what they are seeing. I respect the opinions and am willing to listen, but that's about it. Brutal perhaps but it is what it is, I dont take anyone else's opinion as fact or proof of anything.

When RG comes and tells me, PSG were tactically superior and it had nothing to do with individual errors, then Ill listen. Random French fan X? Not so much.

The Franchise wrote:

Fußball wrote:Rewatching the game right now. Making notes for all individual defensive errors. Finished with the 1st half so far:

3:35: Busquets owned, trying to be cute and milk a foul, gets his pocket picked in his own half - this ain't LOL Liga, brah.

7:50 Alba simply owned by Lucas.

8:10 Alves owned, trying to dribble players at the edge of his own box, turning the ball over for the freekick which results in the goal.

12:10 Mathieu passing out of the back directly into the feet of Lucas.

12:20 Busquets owned again similar to the first one trying to be cute, just boot it when 3 men are harrassing you, lad.

25:15 Alba owned, trying to dribble the ball, Lucas just takes it off him lol. This ain't LOL Liga, brah.

31:30 Alba owned, dribbling forward again directly into a tackle by Motta and causing a counterattack.

33:50 Alves brainless cross. Not a defensive mistake in this context but I had to note this down anyway because DAT cross. Gif will follow later.

Of course you also have the 2 set piece goals (Mascherano marking Luiz and Rakitic marking no one). But overall PSG surprisingly didn't create much apart from the set pieces and both Barca fullbacks battling each other in who has less brain cells.

The second goal, the corner. What were the circumstances which lead to Alba giving it away? Only thing I forgot.

And can you also confirm that indeed it wasnt any special pressing by PSG, simply we made awful amateur level decisions?

The circumstance is just Alba trying to dribble forward for no reason and Lucas taking the ball off him easily. 25:15 is the move. I'll make gifs later.

Also I can confirm, nothing special by PSG. When I'm finished watching the 2nd half (takes some time repeating sequences and writing down) I'll write more and make some gifs. Players (particularly the fullbacks) have just turned off their brains really.

Also all the supposed great Cavani misses only really come after Barca go gung-ho with a 3 man backline I think. Because so far in the 70th minute I don't see PSG creating chance after chance through their own greatness or much from Cavani for that matter.

Nice one.

And yep, Barca went to 3 at the back to try and get the 3-3 and left a ton of space which Cavani used. Before that, he had a couple moves inside the box on Mathieu but Mascherano covered well but its as you say.

Personally I didnt even find PSG to be that impressive (compared to what I know of their qualities), maybe because I wasnt one of the ones saying how poor form they are (like that mattered) or missing Ibra would be a big deal. They have many quality players and nobody for them had a bad game.

And in fact without Ibra it allowed Cavani to run the spaces better (than Ibra would have) and Cavani saved a possible goal by tracking all the way back into his own box to stop Neymar, Messi or Iniesta..I for the life of me cant remember who. I think Messi. Something Ibra obviously would have never done.

Like I said, not taking anything away from PSG as they deserved the win but were gave them alot of help and I saw no tactical master stroke in anything they did.

rwo power wrote:

sportsczy wrote:That said, it's typically not a good idea to rotate keepers.  Like CFs, confidence and that extra edge plays a huge part of their game.  If they aren't in optimum conditions, i don't expect them to play at their best.

Exactly that is the problem. IMO Enrique does MAtS a grave disservice by playing him irregularly in high profile matches as he will likely ruin MAtS's confidence as he just can't be at his best if he doesn't have regular practice.

As much as I like him, I have to agree that it would be better atm to have him play only CDR and let Bravo play the rest, as he can't gain confidence the way things go now (and if you add the shark-pool of the Spanish media).

I'm really saddened that things turned out like this for MAtS, but then, he couldn't know that the coach who wanted him would be gone once he arrived and the other coach would get another goalie he prefered.

It wasnt another coach that wanted him, I highly doubt Tata Martino had any idea who MATS was. I think it was a club decision to sign MATS, especially from Zubi (sporting director) being an ex goal himself.

As for the circumstances, I think most of here said at the time how stupid it is to sign Bravo and it wont do anything positive for MATS, this season anyway.

That being said, I dont understand why there is criticism for MATS from yesterday's game. He MIGHT have been better to stay in his goal for the cross in the second goal, but at the same time its an accepted "rule" that anything which is inside the 6 yard box the goalie should be coming to. Overall, its a mistake which goalies do all the time and it only so happened to get caught because Barca defend set peices so terribly.

3rd and 1st goals he is blameless as far as im concerned.