Paris Saint-Germain vs F.C Barcelona

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.

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.

I kept up with things as they unfolded and that's not what it seemed like to me.

As far as what I was reading, Lucho wanted to simply use MaTs and Masip, and the board wanted to bring in Bravo to be the back up, ala Pinto, until Mats got his feet on the ground. Lucho wanted to use Masip as the new Pinto as Masip had a great season at Barca B. So from the start Lucho was more than happy to roll with Mats and Masip.

What ruined everything for MaTs was that he got injured right before the season started and Bravo had to start. By the time Mats was healthy again, Bravo had already accumulated nothing but clean sheets and great saves so the it made it tough on Lucho to justify bringing in MaTs while Bravo was still playing good. In the long run I still think it's MaTs job, it's just that now it's difficult to simply insert him in, and him giving up our first loss doesn't help him (even though it wasn't his fault)

Barca have a personnel issue at fullback... both fullbacks are just awful defenders. If Barca can maintain 65-70% of possession, chances are it won't get exposed. But once Barca face a team that can get the ball and use it properly often enough, it is going to get picked to death.

As RG mentioned, the best solution may be to play Pique at CB and move Mathieu to LB. But i'd also replace Alvez with Montoya... he can't be worse.

I always felt Alba was poor... but man, last night was just a horror show. A lot of credit has to go to Lucas. But as a former defender, i just saw no adjustment by Alba. If the guy rapes you 2-3 times in a row, ffs make an adjustment. Take away the wing or the middle; but don't give the guy both all game long

46:50: Alves trying to play a one-two with Rakitic when the latter is having a man breathing down his neck. I guess with Xavi it would have worked out. With Rakitic not so much. Causing a counterattack.

47:00: In the same counterattacking move Pastore is running with the ball and playing a throughball in behind Mascherano to Cavani who does his little sideflick which tricks Mathieu but when he's attempting to shoot Mascherano is already back tackling and blocking the shot.

47:10: Rakitic again losing the ball under pressure by 2 men after the ball is passed to him in the buildup by Alves.

47:50: This is getting very noticeable now. Alves is always playing passes to players who are under heavy pressure. Passing to Pedro when he has Luiz marauding down his neck. Causing a counterattack where inevitably the flanks are switched aaaaand ...

... 48:00: Lucas owns Alba.

52:40: Pastore ruins Alba's life with a nutmeg move.

53:20: The 3th PSG goal. At this point I'm convinced Barca have the worst fullback pairing in world football right now. VdW entering the completely empty zone where Alba should be, a standard cross across the 6 yard box and Alves as per usual fails to stop his runner. Should MAtS have done better? Well, with 0 match practise who knows?

58:35: Alves mispasses the ball directly into Motta who quickly passes to Cavani who messes it up and has a weak shot to ter Stegen from an angle.

75:15: This is when Barcelona are starting to push for the 3-3 and giving up any sort of defensive shape. Mascherano is now on the right wing (!) trying to win the ball back together with Alves (who once again passes the ball to the opponent). Unfortunately Pastore knocks the ball past Mascherano and is into oceans of space. This is the situation where Pastore trips over his own feet though and Mascherano recovers the ball.

82:40: From here on we have taken off Alves for Sandro: out-and-out 3-4-3. Anything that follows from here on is worthless analysing as Barcelona are in gung-ho mode.

sportsczy wrote:Barca have a personnel issue at fullback...  both fullbacks are just awful defenders.  

This is true. Alba is awful with and without the ball. Alves is mostly awful with the ball these days. I think when Mathieu replaces Alba we can cope with only Alves' brainlessness though.

Gifs to some of the corresponding minutes following soon.

Well i'm giving you the opinion that PSG were tactically superior yday and funneled Barca into the areas they wanted defensively and made a concerted effort to attack the wings and try to get corners/FKs when available...  on the Verratti goal, Pastore could have saved the ball and centered without  a defender being close.  He lifted his head and saw that it was only Lucas and Cavani in the middle.  So he let the ball go out of bounds because he knew that it was a more dangerous option.

Other than Messi doing his thing (which nobody can really stop when he's on), i didn't see anything that wasn't contained by PSG defensively.  The 2nd goal they conceded was a defensive mistake...  only Messi going for a high cross and 3 defenders converge on him in the air + Motta missed his clearance that went to Neymar.  That was a reasonably avoidable mistake.  Nothing they could do about the 1st one.  Just a good combo by Barca.

The day that Barca is able to consistently defend set pieces, i'll write those goals off as reasonably avoidable.  But since Barca have been horrible at it forever, then goals coming from those are a tactical win for the opponent.  It's not just a Barca problem btw...  Brazil NT have the same weakness and its been there forever too.  

Same goes for wing defense...  if the opposition attacks the fullbacks both on the attack and with pressure defense KNOWING that both these guys are bad defenders and reckless with the ball = tactical win for the opposition.

That's how i look at it.  There was absolutely nothing random about how PSG attacked, defended and scored.

Alba has been horrible since he arrived, but it doesn't get talked about much because he will get the goal/assist here and there and people think he is good. He was actually used as a LM/LW at Valencia prior to us getting him....he really isn't a defender. Adriano when in form is superior, but lately hasn't been in form either.

At right back, Alves is still our best player (as crazy as that sounds). Montoya is just bad....like really bad. Douglas actually looked better in his one game than Montoya..which isn't saying allot.

Mascherano shouldn't be playing at center back anymore. I find it funny height was always our issue, we get two tall CB's and we still use Mascherano.

Honestly, our best bet would be to use Math as a left back ala Abidal...which was to stay back and just be a pure defender as oppose to what Alba does which is mostly provide with attack but leaves his flank wide open (which means Iniesta has to stay back to cover for him).

Everyone here shits all over Pique, but in big games 9 times out of 10 usually delivers. No way Mascherano should of benched him. Mascherano should of came off the bench for Busquets, not start.

-----------Bravo/Mats?
-Alves---Pique--Verm/Bartra--Math
-------------Busquets
------Xavi-----------Rakitic
-Messi-------Neymar--------Iniesta


The Xavi-Rakitic game the other week worked great imo, which had Rakitic as a CAM and Xavi controlling the game. Maybe we should consider that lineup I posted up top until Suarez can play. Neymar isn't that good on the right, and Messi can play there and just have Messi/Neymar rotate as the game goes...same with Rakitic/Iniesta with Xavi controlling the game. Rafinha can be our back up CM. Cause Pedro shouldn't start....ridiculous Munir and Sandro make Pedro look so bad and are literally kids. I think we can all agree Pedro hit his peak already.

I'm just throwing that out there for our attack/mid...but I def think that should be our back line.

Funnily enough Mascherano didn't do anything wrong. He got outmuscled by Luiz and later on when Lucho told him to become a right winger Pastore knocked the ball past him but whether Bartra who is a stick and has no physicality would have handled that situation against a tank like Luiz much better I don't know. What happened beyond the 75 minute mark was pointless as Barca threw everything forward.

I just want to see him in the midfield, not in defense anymore. he makes me nervous...his definition of defending is to hack. Plus is small and can (did) get out muscled in the box. We have defenders now..so lets use them.

I don't see why Mascherano couldn't bench Busquets... Masch was insanely good as a DM in the WC and Busquets has been very underwhelming in almost all the recent big games i've seen. It might act as a wakeup call for Busquets too.

I agree, even though i don't think Busi has been as subpar as you may see in your opinion.

I actually think he has been our midfielder this season, minus the game vs PSG which he had a stinker. Moments like this is when Masch should of come on for him.....Busi right now has no competition for his role. He needs to feel that in order to stay on top of his game

Busquets hasn't played well in the big games i've seen (don't watch the rest)... namely, the Atleti and Madrid games last season and the PSG game this season.

He was always challenged with speed... but he seems even slower. I think he's lost his sense of anticipation from what it was.

well it's unfair to use last season as a guide as nobody was pressing, or really doing much of anything under Tata. Pretty much everyone looked below par under him, especially in the second half of the season.

But I can see why you would think the way you do, it's understandable and I do think he needs some healthy competition...and at least Mascherano can bring athleticism that he can't. Would be a change of pace

he has looked really good this season, imo. Been very involved and been our best midfielder imo

windkick wrote:I just want to see him in the midfield, not in defense anymore. he makes me nervous...his definition of defending is to hack. Plus is small and can (did) get out muscled in the box. We have defenders now..so lets use them.

really? He was one of the only working defensive pieces vs PSG and you're choosing this match to hate on him?

Not hating, I am saying I would of liked to see him in midfield for Busi who was getting run down. I know Masch would of brought grit and speed,
Something Busi doesnt.

Some gifs:

Alba's lack of a brain (this is how the 2nd goal comes about):



Thinks he is Maradona:



Dani "if Alba is Maradona I'm Pelé" Alves (1st goal):



Sergi "what about my Cruyff turn then" Busquets:



Alves' hoofing the ball upfield (I refuse to call this a cross even):

LOL Messi gives Alves a look like wtf are you kidding me?!

The lack of brains is tragic. I still can't decide who wins the competition: Alves or Alba?

I would actually agree with sports that Busquets has been off form for quite some time now. I'd say it dates back to the Confeds Cup where he was playing through a hernia injury. But obviously the lack of collective pressing doesn't help his cause either. You can be prime Vieira. When you play as the lone pivot in a team that utilizes a high line without pressing properly (there was a scene where PSG could just play it out of the back in style which highlighted everything that is wrong with Barca's pressing right now) you will be exposed. Still no excuse for this annoying habit of his to try and milk fouls when he could just pass on the ball.

Alba should never ever play in a big game. Seriously. He can play all the La Liga game (including Real Madrid, Bale doesn't do much anyway) but in the CL he needs to *bleep* off. If the team doesn't want to press properly then Mascherano needs to play alongside Busquets. Pedro should have been sold long time ago. At first he was just invisible and only passed it back. But now he's breaking up attacking moves. So he's gone from doing nothing to doing wrong things which is even worse.

Lucho needs to stop being a dick and choose a GK for every competition and not play the most unmatchfit one in the toughest game of the season. MAtS faced only 1 less shot on target yesterday than Bravo in 6 games. Just *bleep* off with that.

That was not even Alves' worst cross of the match

Alves: "This will be my last season at Barcelona. Next year I move to England. I'm going to play where football was born." [o globo]

Luis Enrique faced the press after Barça’s first loss of the 2014/15 season, saying that “PSG took their chances and made the most of our mistakes. … I’m not in the slightest bit bothered about losing the lead. I’m worried about getting back the good feelings for the next few games … We made mistakes getting the ball out and that gave away set pieces. When you’re behind in a game, it’s very hard to turn it around,”

He added that “PSG were able to cope with our pressure. We couldn’t find the way to cause real damage until the last 30 minutes and I think we could have drawn.”

He also preferred to divert criticism away from his players, saying that “I am the person responsible for this defeat. It wasn’t my day for getting things right. I’ll try not to do it again or at least do it less … Favourites have to prove that they are favourites on the pitch.”

As for PSG winning, Luis Enrique said “it was no surprise to me. As I’ve said, they’re one of the favourites to win the Champions League”.

Fußball wrote:Alves: "This will be my last season at Barcelona. Next year I move to England. I'm going to play where football was born." [o globo]

Yup, his contract ends at the end of the season. It's been known we are letting him just run out his contract and leave for free. The way Zubi loves to do it

If i had to guess i would say he is headed to City.

City have Zabaleta and Sagna too

seriously , nobody is gonna adress Gil calling Matuidi a pub footballer ?

it's like you all agree you POS's

If everytime Gil said something absurd we all had to denounce it so as not to seem to agree, we'd have not much time for anything else

Mats should be used for the cl and la-liga games (its high time, regardless of what happened/happens), Mash should be used in place of biscuits to serve as a wake-up call, alves is still our best right back (sue me), alba should be benched in place of matt (who can actually stay in defence and defend), verm and pique should play cb's, (batra should keep his snail ass on the bench), as long as rak starts(which is a given at this point) xavi should pair him, messi and neymar are constants, munir to compliment the 3 man attack (pending when el vampito arrives)..iniesta should/can be interchanged with xavi..this should pretty much be our line up..*NOTE* Alba is just plain horrible even moreso than alves, and that says alot. On the game, its normal, there'll always be reasons we lost no matter how we try to paper rectify it, thats just life, it has not goten to the stage where its become an issue this season. it was just one of those games, no big deals there! meanwhile special shout-outs to messi, neymar, & mash. Congrats to psg, who are no slouch's either!