FC Barcelona vs Celta Vigo
Location : Camp Nou
Competition : BBVA La Liga
Time : 1400
Jornada : 10

FC Barcelona, 1st in table with 22 pts (7-1-1)
Celta Vigo, 6th in table with 16 pts (4-4-1)

Things to watch:
How will the team react to it's first league loss of the season.
This will be the first home appearance for Luis Suarez.
Andreu Fontàs, Nolito, Sergi Gómez, and Carles Planas, all ex Masia players on Vigo's squad.

Vigo players to watch : Larrivey with 6 goals on the season, and Nolito with 4 assists, they have been the two most potent players on this Vigo team.

Barca injuries : Iniesta out, Adriano out.

Now that Bravo's clean sheet record is over the future #1 should be between the sticks.

Don't want to see Pique anywhere near the starting lineup.

Want to see Mascherano in midfield, instead or alongside Busquets.

Front 3 picks itself.

To go along with that, get Mathieu back at CB. That's his position from now on.

Nice OP btw windkick, nice info there.

Thanks

I would like to see Mathieu at CB as well. Maybe something like this...

-----------Ter Stegen
--Montoya-Bartra-Mathieu-Alba
-----------Mascherano
-----Rafinha---------Rakitic
--------------Messi
-------Suarez-------Neymar

Ter Stegen needs a shot at starting in the league already
Alves is out of form, give Montoya a chance (face it, he will be our starter next year so we might as well get used to it)
I would give Mascherano a shot at DM
Bartra needs to get some game time and develop, especially with Pique being so shit
I would start Rafinha, he hasn't played in a while and I'm sure he would love to play vs his team of last season (and his hometown). If not I would play Xavi with Rakitic as the attacking midfielder
Messi, Suarez and Neymar are a no brainer as starters

Montoya being a starter next year is a joke.

I know, wtf was our board thinking getting DOUGLAS this summer. They should of sold Alves or Montoya (or both) and bought Danilo from Porto. I would of even been happy with Hugo Mallo from Celta, tbh
Rumor has it that they are thinking of converting Adama from a right winger to a right back next season. Which again, I don't think makes much sense. And we all know Adriano is not good at all on the right, plus is always injured.

Our back line situation is such a joke.

-----------Bravo
Alves--Pique---Mathieu----Alba
-----------Masch
----Rakitic-------Rafinha
--Suarez---Messi-----Neymar

we have an away match vs ajax midweek so we probably will rest xavi and buscuit
don't think we'll stop seeing bravo starting in la liga tbh i see MATS playing champions league + copa de rey.

Pique not included in the squad. Neither is Montoya - once again. Seems dead certain that Montoya will be out soon. He doesn't even make the 18 man squad for the umpteenth time. Lucho's recent presser doesn't give much hope either:

Lucho: "I feel bad for him [Montoya]; he is behaving in an exemplary manner. I admire him and respect him, but he has to wait for his moment... if it comes."



So what's the plan exactly with Alves leaving and a transfer ban? Douglas?

Alves to make 2 delightful assists today and we all praise him and think all is well again..smh

Maybe the rumor they plan to convert Adama next season to a rwb is true.

Good to see we can't pass it out of the back anymore

From a goalkick? Seriously? lol

Not terribly worried. We really could've finished this game 4-0 up by HT. Our collective finishing boots were not in today, but there's no reason to think this will be a recurrent problem.

IT'S OFFICIAL - Barcelona will win *bleep* all this season!!!

the skill is there but the luck isnt.

also alves.. lol
our midfield sucks because they are too busy covering our horrible wingbacks and even then it still fails.

That save by their keeper against the Suarez shot at the end was unreal.

Hapless_Hans wrote:That save by their keeper against the Suarez shot at the end was unreal.

or the stop from messi's first time top left shot was also unreal.
tbh he had the match of his life that keeper.

lol I'm so done. How many chances can you waste?

You can blame Enrique as much as you want but when your players are missing basic chances and making the worst decisions, it's hard to do anything as a coach.

Messi, especially, made me really angry. Coaches can easily knock him out of the game when he can't even shoot.

Donuts wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:That save by their keeper against the Suarez shot at the end was unreal.

or the stop from messi's first time top left shot was also unreal.
tbh he had the match of his life that keeper.

I only saw the second half, but yes missing that many chances and that many hits on the bar is a freak incident.

One of those matches where you reload your save game on FM out of sheer frustration. 9 shots on target, 4 hit the wood work, really unlucky stuff mixed with poor finishing.

Alvarez had possibly the best match of his career.

Unlucky, really.

Still, I found our overall play worrying. Conceded one and could have (should have) conceded another against Celta Vigo. Many a time we simply lumped it up the field hoping the Neymar-Messi-Suarez trio would do something, and too often the midfield was simply bypassed.

Missed the Xavi/Thiago type today.

Ever since Pep doesn't seem like any of are other coaches can motivate Messi it doesn't help with some of the aging players he has to rely on but I expect a little more from him.

what are you guys even on about?
how is messi getting blamed here, he would of had two goals if not for a spectacular save and not for the crossbar only AFTER a defender rebounded it, also could of scored from the free kick which just touched the bar.

he was unlucky, neymar had a bad day but even then he was unlucky to hit the bar after a spectacular shot..
suarez also missed an easy header and had two shots amazingly stopped.

tbh our problem was just luck and alves.

mascherano killed it today.

Maybe it's our turn to finish third in the table this year.

My main gripe is the fact we are using Suarez in the same mold we would use Pedro or Tello. What I mean by that is, that we are obviously asking him to spread the defense and stay close to the out line. Who the hell has a guy like Suarez to just play him wide? He should be deployed in a more central roll the entire time.
The way Messi is playing, I even wouldn't mind asking Messi to play wide right and have Suarez in the center. Or....switch to a  4-2-3-1 with Messi as the 10 and Suarez as the 9. Neymar on the left and Pedro/Munir/Sandro on the right. Mascherano and Rakitic (I know it's a disaster waiting to happen) as our 2 pivots. At this point Messi has been playing as a attacking midfielder for some time now, and we still don't have a striker in front of him. Before he was our striker...now he plays as a midfielder. And yes...I know this game we had the chances and just had bad luck/faced a good goal keeper but still I think this is an issue with messi's new role from first a right winger, to then a false 9 to now a true 10. He is playing like a 10 and we are still forming up as if he is playing as a forward/9...when he really isn't.

We practically have this out there (which explains why we have been scoring such few goals this year compared to years past)

----------------Bravo
--------Masch----Math-------
---Rakitic----Busi-----Iniesta
Alves--------Messi--------Alba
Suarez------------------Neymar

How does that make any sense? We need a striker to play in front of Messi and that should be Suarez. I figured that was the entire point of signing him. If that's the case we should of signed a legit winger or kept Alexis.

btw..I like how only 3 people voted pre game, and now that the result is official, 4 more people have voted with the correct answer lol.