Copa del Rey Semi Final; full discussion : Barcelona v Villarreal

Official line ups.

Barcelona
G : Ter Stegen
D : Alves
D : Pique
D : Mathieu
D : Alba
M : Mascherano
M : Rafinha
M : Iniesta
F : Messi
F : Suarez
F : Neymar

Villarreal
G : Asenjo
D : Gaspar
D : Musacchio
D : Ruiz
D : Costa
M : Pina
M : Jona dos Santos
M : Cheryshev
M : Bruno
F : Vietto
F : Gio Dos Santos

Quick note, this is our upcoming schedule for February

2/11 : Barcelona v Villarreal (Copa 1st leg)
2/15 : Barcelona v Levante
2/21 : Barcelona v Malaga
2/24 : Manchester City v Barcelona (Champions 1st leg)
2/28 : Granada v Barcelona

is it just me or are barca playing 3 teams 3 different times in 2 months at 3 week intervals each? Elche, Atletico, Villarreal? lol
BTW, when is the second leg vs Villarreal in the copa?

2nd leg of Copa vs Villarreal is on 3/4/2015
2nd leg of UCL vs Manchester City is on 3/18/2015

Marcelino (coach Villarreal): "We'll try to score, but we won't jus tattack or try to win possession. We can't do that so we won't"

Bus incoming.

Barcelona line-up (official): TerStegen - Alves Pique Mathieu Alba - Rafinha Mascherano Iniesta - Messi Suarez Neymar #fcblive

Rafinha.

lol...this will be a dull 1-0 win or a nil draw..
*facepalm*

Rafinha was amazing last time he played vs Villarreal. I hope he can keep that kind of form up; that was easily his best game for us to date.

even though I will say I am interested in seeing the kind of midfield play we can get out of a trio of Masch-Iniesta-Rafinha.

I like his subtle (or not so subtle) rotations. Rakitic rested against Villarreal in La Liga then Iniesta rested against Athletic now Busquets rests against Villarreal in the Copa.

And big ups to him for not using Sergi anymore.

First half of the season we would see that Brady Bunch looking mofo way too much.

lol @ biscuits legs in the pic above.. my gahd!!!!

Rafinha

Very disappointing performance by Ter Stegen. A goalkeeper needs to be more confident, more vocal and get his defenders to focus but he doesn't even show that he is focused on his game. The goal was a result of him caught sleeping and then he had another quarter hearted attempt to come out at a corner and punch the ball which was disastrously comical.

I thought Vieto was absolutely superb from Villarreal. He is so quick, clever and efficient and was a pain for Barcelona defenders to contain him. Moreover he barely lost the ball.

Musacchio had a poor game by his standards.

Neymar has been missing at least one clear goal scoring opportunity every match since last year and this match was no different. He missed the penalty and his body language was like as if nothing happened. You can't be so casual.

10 wins in a row.

and what's worse is that the pos neymar still missed a pen even after having he's worse game in a barca jersey versus Bilbao...

danyjr wrote:Very disappointing performance by Ter Stegen. A goalkeeper needs to be more confident, more vocal and get his defenders to focus but he doesn't even show that he is focused on his game. The goal was a result of him caught sleeping and then he had another quarter hearted attempt to come out at a corner and punch the ball which was disastrously comical.

How do you expect a young goalie of just 22 years of age to properly develop and gain confidence if you only give him irregular playing time? If MAtS regresses, you can thank the weird goalie rotation model of Barca.

I didn't watch the game, but we had a penalty awarded that Neymar missed? Why was Neymar taking it and not Messi?

hey Dany who's the guy in your AV?

windkick wrote:I didn't watch the game, but we had a penalty awarded that Neymar missed? Why was Neymar taking it and not Messi?

hey Dany who's the guy in your AV?

Nerman was having a bit of a stinker so Messi probably wanted to cheer him up à la Zlatan 2010 against Zaragoza. GK saved the penaldo though.

Nermans dip in form has come right around the time his case was brought up again

Nerman

On another note. It's ridiculous how fast Barca is reacting to conceded goals these days. It's like full on assault mode after conceding. Hit back 2 goals within 15 minutes today. Hit back 2 goals within 5 minutes against Athletic. Hit back 2 goals within 4 minutes against Villarreal in La Liga. What happened to this team all of a sudden?

I swear Zubi was stinking up the place not only at transfers but also on matchdays. His presence must have been like a fierce, stinky fart that doesn't want to go away.

windkick wrote:hey Dany who's the guy in your AV?

Joaquin Correa

Was at work for the match but that 1st goal. Suarez the Super Plan A We Always Needed

I'm reading that this was Mascherano 's best game for us as a DM. How true is this?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I'm reading that this was Mascherano 's best game for us as a DM. How true is this?

Overreaction. He had a good game but he played like this many times. It just looks spectacular because he does a lot of last ditch sliding tackle stuff and it always comes off with him. lol

One thing is for sure though. Getting Song was the most bizarre decision ever made when there was already Mascherano in the squad.

Remember that Song was signed to play CB.

Which makes it even funnier.

I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth because of the penalty miss.

I just do not understand the decision to give Neymar the penalty. He was having a very poor game (especially in the 1st half) and I just KNEW he was going to miss it. You DON'T give a penalty to a player who is playing poorly. If anything, give it to Suarez, who needs the confidence in front of goal. It's not like 3-1 is a huge lead in this tie.

Neymar just gave away too many balls in the first half and every time he tried to dribble, I knew he was going no where. He lost too many balls. It felt the same way as Pedro when he gets the ball, you know he's going no where.

Overall I thought it wasn't a very good performance, and the team still struggles to break down buses as they're lacking penetration. We created some nice chances after the first goal, but we couldn't carry that momentum throughout the game. I just hope that stupid penalty miss doesn't come back to bite us in the ass. Remember, villarreal score in every game they play.