Valencia FC 0 v FC Barcelona 1 | November 30 | Estadio Mestalla

Valencia FC vs FC Barcelona
Location : Estadio Mestalla
Competition : BBVA La Liga
Time : 14:00
Date : 11/30/2014
Jornada : 13

FC Barcelona, 2nd in table with 28 pts (9-1-2)
Valencia FC, 4th in table with 24 pts (7-3-2)

Things to watch:
Just wtf Lucho does to prove he is worth being our manager.
Mathieu returns to face his former team for the first time.  
Can Suarez nab his first ever La Liga goal against an old rival

Hard fought 2-1 win for barca. Suarez and messi.

If we lose this one, we can kiss the title goodbye.

Deja Vu wrote:If we lose this one, we can kiss the title goodbye.

santa clause is yet to come with his gift

should be an epic game ...Valencia's fine form took a toll in last 2 games with a draw and a loss...but they are the team with least goal conceded(11) in la liga after us (6)

One thing they don't have though is that one red hot striker/attacking player that can set things off like Celta, R Madrid or Sevilla have. They are more so scrapping and hustling as a team, and spreading the goal's out however and whoever can get it in. But stats wise I don't think they even have anybody over 4 goals on the entire team. So when you can shut down the hustle, they struggle to find a guy that can step up and score for them and get them out of a bad situation (which is more so what happened to them in the last two matches). That alone should give us a pretty good advantage in this match with our ability to hold the ball

And yes, if we lose this match we can kiss the title good bye lol. I mean you have to figure we will lose/draw at least one/both of the Atletico games. Then you still have another match with R Madrid and the random matches we should get a result but won't as the season goes on.

can we stop this "good bye title" nonsense.....Its a league of a full season and we are not at half the mark yet.....if you say title is gone because of 4 points gap and hardest games still to play, you either just like to think that way or are too emotional....league is not won by winning big games (some scholar said   )

Irony: not so long ago when real lost 2 consecutive games and people expecting worst from them this season under carlo...all of a sudden we took that place...i mean whatever happens in the end there will be plenty of drama in between....thats why league is more enjoyable...

well I wouldn't call that irony; I mean just look at our forms and you can see we are actually not being that unreasonable

If you start off looking bad, then get it together and go on a record breaking run (real madrid), that's allot better than starting off good then looking hot/cold/good/bad literally every other half hour of every match since the PSG match (us).

So yea, I can say we have every right to feel like if we continue that same path we have reason to believe we can lose the title this early. This is La Liga, and we all know that one of, if not both of, R. Madrid and Barca are likely to win a ton of games and if one of us falls behind early then the other will likely gradually just stay ahead for the rest of the season.

its a la liga and a two horse race. but taking an early lead and loosing it nearly the end also a common trend in la liga. you can find that example in not too distant history....it happened and will happen....we just need to focus on us and not winning tuitle at the moment...
we are going through mixed patch but for many reasons. some of which surely can settle down in course of time...

1. Suarez factor.....dont you think we would be a more stronger team if he could start the season with us. No matter how talented he is, you can see everyone needs time to adopt. Neymar taking a year is not to forget...

2. Xavi - he remained because Lucho convinced him, but look at the start of the season, when we were in good form, he was benched and he showed this discomfort as well. we nearly played a new formation in all of our games then....It seems better now that we are using Xavi when we need to ...

3. same goes with defense , we could have made a good CB partnership and we had that. instead we were looking for out of position options . we started many game with variety of defensive pairs...to cover weakness in FB we introduced problem in CB......now if we can stay with Bartra/Mathieu regularly that will be enough for la liga teams....

4. iniesta - out of form for so long that i cant remember when he was such last time....but a player of his caliber only needs time to come back....

5. Lucho...clearly no where near pep in terms of coaching talent and he messed up with many things....but a series of defeat will teach him some and i can only hope for him to improve...he still have no idea how to play NMS though....

6. Messi....troubled with records and awards psychology....the first problem is solved ...the next will also be once ronaldo recieves the ballon d or...I am sure he will be again in a great form...

Official: 18 players called up for Valencia game, Masip, Douglas, Montoya, Sergi Roberto and Iniesta are not included

[1/2] Squad (vs Valencia): Bravo, Ter Stegen, Alves, Pique, Bartra, Mascherano, Mathieu, Adriano, Alba, Busquets

[2/2] Squad (vs Valencia): Rakitic, Xavi, Rafinha, Pedro, Munir, Messi, Suarez, Neymar

Mathieu and bartra should be used as a cb pairing constantly. Meanwhile messi should be used more on the right with neymar in the middle and suarez on the left (as strange as it might seem). This would not affect messi's performances as he's still the teams talisman and our go-to player, meaning he'll still see a lot of the ball. Suarez on the other hand should be played on the left. He's a player that while a genius, is too wasteful in front of goal generally, even from his time in l'pool. He isnt the main guy in this team where he can expect to atone for his every miss with another 15 opportunities in a match as chances are going to be very few and far in-between. Moreover he's very dangerous and energetic to play in the left position (just look at his goal against apoel). Finally neymar should be used in the centre. Neymar is a player i've followed and watched live time and time again, and from the much i know, Neymar knows how to stat-pad even more than the great cr7 (trust me) this guy knows the art of stat-padding. And going by neymars career statistic for his age & country, it'll be a let down to his talent if he doesn't play in the centre at some point this season. Just look at neymars best games for barca against valladolid, celtic, espanyol, villareal, the interchange with messi for his 3rd against sevilla. That guy is made to score goals. Just take a look at his record. 200 plus goals and 100 plus assists at 22, compare against any player his age group, they barely even scratch 90 goals ffs. But being human, i might be wrong but its definitely worth a try..IMO.

Nerman might score goals if played in the middle but he won't offer the same threat with back to goal, link up play and physicality to tussle with defenders. Suarez always looks to combine and play give and goes and pushes the centerbacks back. Nerman takes the ball and tries to dance and beat his marker. Bad idea IMO. It should be Nerman left, Suarez middle, Messi free role RW.

@fussball. you have a valid point. But isn't actually scoring a goal more important than how one does it? I understand what u mean (especially about the free role thing with messi), its just that i don't know why that question keeps ringing in my heart, (yet my head tells me you're right).

I agree with fussball on this one even tough Bankz has a solid point.

I would go with

---------Ter Stegen
-Alves--Bartra--Math--Alba
---------Busquets
----Xavi---------Rakitic
Messi----Suarez----Nerman

To note I would have Messi and Suarez in an alternating role, with Nerman being asked to hug the line and come to attack when given the chance instead of having his usual free role. I think he would still get allot of chances and wouldn't have a confined role ala when Pedro plays on the left

Key subs :
Masch on for Busquets
Pedro on for Nerman if we are leading. If not, I would bring in one of Munir/Sandro late for one of Nerman/Suarez (depending who's more fatigued)
Rafinha on for Xavi (if Iniesta is healthy enough and ready, I would bring him on for Xavi, and move Rakitic to the CM role and move Iniesta to his usual CAM role)

Bankz wrote:@fussball. you have a valid point. But isn't actually scoring a goal more important than how one does it? I understand what u mean (especially about the free role thing with messi), its just that i don't know why that question keeps ringing in my heart, (yet my head tells me you're right).

Suarez facilitates better team flow and thus chance creation besides his goals. Even if say Nerman managed to score 30 goals in the middle and Suarez 20 (and that's a big if anyway, Suarez is a better finisher right now, he'll just need a bit of time to find his groove again and adapt) the rest of the team will still be better off with Suarez in the middle. Suarez is always available for the one-two. If Messi has the ball he can always look up to him and play off of him. Against APOEL he was always navigating to the left and right and creating triangles. Just watch his very first move here from 0:05 onwards for the chance Alba created as an example of what I mean:



He'll also make the correct runs to either drag defenders away or get himself into many goalscoring positions. He's also a pressing machine. Nerman is more of an individualist. In fact I have a lot of criticism for his overall game this season but his goals are winning games and we have really cried out for someone who can consistently take the scoring burden off Messi so he gets a pass for now.

Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Mascherano, Busquets, Xavi; Suarez, Messi, Neymar

Wow is Lucho trying to break the record for most different starting 11's in a single season? How is the team suppose to gain consistancy like this constantly starting on random days in diferent positions?

And if he is using a double pivot with Masch and Busq then why also play Xavi? Rakitic would of made more sesne as the link up to the attack (where he shined with Sevilla

Doesn't trust Rakitic in the biggest games. Rightfully IMO. Once Iniesta is fit again he would play instead of Xavi anyway.

Question now is: Is this 4-3-3 with Busquets playing more advanced or 4-2-3-1 with Xavi playing the most advanced infront of Bisquits and Mascherano?

I just don't like the inconcistancy

Could be a 3-4-3

So far we don't look stable

30 mins in, we have had one shot. Also, Mathieu, Pique and Alba all have yellows.

#Saveusmessi

Meh. This doesn't work. Busquets and Xavi out, Rafinha and Rakitic in.

Dude Lucho is a damn moron.