UEFA Champions League First Leg : City 1 x Barca 2

What a crap ending by Messi. 3 away goals and this shit is done.

If City show up like they did this second half (with Yaya in midfield and Lucho as our tactician) and things might not end well for us.

Could have put the tie to bed.

Still, there is only like a 3% chance City goes through at this point tbh.

Especially if Barca play the way they did in the first half.

Also, Rakitic was fantastic.

That was terrible, should've let Suarez taken it to get the hat trick man is too predictable weren't all his PK saves on the right side?

Anyways good result, after the return leg we have Madrid, so I'm not going to sleep on this yet.

That was how many bad performance from Alves in a row?

Also Neymar was complete shite, if he doesn't step his game up in important games, it will cost us.

Winter is Coming wrote:That was terrible, should've let Suarez taken it to get the hat trick man is too predictable weren't all his PK saves on the right side?

Anyways good result, after the return leg we have Madrid, so I'm not going to sleep on this yet.

It was an important penalty.. personal glory (hattrick) should never matter in such a situation.
However Messi isn't really great at taking penalties so probably someone else should just be first choice. I don't know. Suarez did well for us but that was a poor league and how many did he take since he left? I don't know but certainly not a lot if any.

True Zigra.

On the side note these last few months watching these defenders makes me appreciate Pique/Masche more Kompany today, Chellini slips, Luiz LOL, Dante etc

Pique has actually been solid since the turn of the year. Nothing extraordinary, but much better than in the last 3 seasons.

It's a true mystery why Pique started performing after having to earn his spot back in the team

Harmonica wrote:That was how many bad performance from Alves in a row?

Also Neymar was complete shite, if he doesn't step his game up in important games, it will cost us.

1) I didn't think that Alves was bad at all tbh. Showed hunger and did well to pressure and win the ball back. Didn't think he was very susceptible defensively either. If anything he was poor in the final third today the most.

2) What are you on about? Neymar has been fantastic in just about every big game for us. Not only that but while he didn't play too well today, he could have had one (at least) or two assists easily. Suarez scores that 1v1 and Messi doesn't get blocked by Demichelis and people would be praising Neymar for another good performance in an important game. While I don't think it was because of Neymar's defending/work rate necessarily but because of tactics, Neymar's presence meant that Zabaleta got absolutely nothing on Neymar's side.

Which is important against a poor defender in Alba and considering he plays an important part in the City attack, at least in the PL.

Pique was good, Masch was good in parts but made some absolute bonehead moves like usual. Masch is still a liability in big games, he's never really stopped.

Busqeuts I thought was mostly pretty good but he needs to stop playing with it so much in the back. Gave up a dangerous chance once and almost did again but for a foul. You cannot play for a foul like that at the back simply because refs will make mistakes and you're liable to give up a ball every once in a while without getting fouled. Don't care how good you are.

Thought this was one of Rakitic's best games for us. Looked confident and went past players at time like they were nothing--something a player like Rakitic shouldn't be able to do. Had some Xavi-esque touches and managed to move the ball around well as well. As soon as the first goal went in I was commending Rakitic. He pressured Man City into having to give up a throw in deep in their own territory allowing us to pressure City up the field, and then he himself proceeded to win the throw in that lead to us scoring. Great example of hard work earning us a goal, and I hope I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Messi and Suarez of course, were fantastic.

Rakitic did have some sublime touches. He even pulled a backheel sombrero. Need a Harmonica gif of that (Edit: here it is: http://vine.co/v/OQYbJ3tDEzm ).

Comfortable win, should have been 4-0 in the first half alone, but my word, how badly organized can a top 2 Premier League team be? Ever heard of the concept of pressing? Pique and Mascherano were dribbling through their entire midfield at times.

The missed penaldo will cost Barca the league title IMO. City won't win 2-0 or 3-1 in Camp Nou but 2-1 still gives them some hope to go for it and push Barca. 3 days later is the Clasico whereas Madrid have a whole week of rest. No chance of winning that one IMO.

Madrid are shite tho, I'm not worried.

If the result was ManCity 1-3 Barça, then I'd be completely satisfied to be honest. Suarez could have scored at least 1 more goal and I know many would say that penalty at the very last stage of the game should have been given to Suarez, as if it was a guaranteed goal if he would take it.

I wish LM would score from that spot kick but I won't blame him for missing that. I believe that the pressure in penalty kicks is more on the penalty kick taker rather than the GK (certainly not underestimating GKs) because it is always expected from the kick takers to score goals and GKs aren't expected to suppress/save the kick every time that much, although if they can do it they are highly praised.

I'm concerned that is this streak of missing penalty kicks creating any negative impact on LM's confidence of taking penalty kick?

stats saying messi has missed 5 of the last 10 pens... which, lets be honest, is shit house conversion rate. Needs to call cr7 up and ask for advice imo.

3-1 would of been the ideal result, specially with clasico 4 days after. Happy we won , looked good for most part of the game but defence is still bit shaky.

3-1 would definitely be far better than 2-1 but saying, that would help us focusing on madrid game, is funny. may be you, as a fan, can focus your concentration on madrid game but no way players and staffs can rely on 3-1. Thats just for the sake of professionalism.
for me, that does not make much difference. this is a toothless EPL team. Not only Barca, any big team should defeat them comfortably over the 2 legs.
But upset with the fact Messi missing 5 out of last 10 pens. whats wrong with him. he should hire psychologists for this issue alone. is there any other top player who misses so many penalties. how can he not take advantage of such an easy way of statpadding.

two great goals from suarez. just the kind of striker you want. the instant reaction from the missed header for the first goal and then the 2nd goal. other than mesmirizing run from messi what i liked in the second goal was Alba's perfect cross. he was calm and took time for the players to come, checked it and then crossed. i hope he does this more often rather than taking first time crosses all the time.

Overall very good performance.The start to the second half was a bit disappointing.Admirable that we went for the kill but we could have been a bit more patient.
We should have played a more patient passing game,pulled them in and then picked them apart.We rushed our passing and as a result gave away possession a lot in the second half.
Still very good performance.

yea I'm not too crazy about how we played the 2nd half. And I know it's easier said than done but we could of easily knocked in a third goal on many occasions.

And this has to be statistically Messi's worse season as a PK. Crazy because it seems like his free kicks improved dramatically since that loss to Chelsea, but his PK game has been very hot and cold.

Neymar over the past 3 or so games has been very out of form as well. Not as effective in any aspect of his game as he was earlier in the season (again this is by his standards, dudes still good)

Nerman needs rest, that's clear since the Villarreal game, but these guys act like primadonnas when subbed off, like Alves yesterday. Shaking his head, making clear in interviews that "no one likes to get subbed off" etc. Lucho has become soft since the "Messi incident" and plays the front 3 all the time now.

I agree the issue is fatigue with Nerman. We need to give him this weekend off. We will unleash Pedro on Granada like a vicious titan.

I would rest him vs Granada, play him vs Villarreal and Rayo, then rest him vs Eibar, then play him vs City off the bench...then start him in the Clasico. That way he comes in with energy vs City, and starts the game as fresh as possible vs Inferior Madrid

Please. If he were benched vs Malaga the press and even some people here would have flipped out and blamed LE completely for the defeat. Neymar should be benched but no one can blame LE for starting him over the weekend.

If anyone missed the match (like myself), here's a stream:

http://cdn.phoenix.intergi.com/18465/videos/3369648/video-sd.mp4

I'm not complaining about anything, just saying he looks like he needs rest.

I understand people would of flipped out, that said he had a horrible game vs Malaga so your dammed if you do dammed if you don't.

Fußball wrote:Nerman needs rest, that's clear since the Villarreal game, but these guys act like primadonnas when subbed off, like Alves yesterday. Shaking his head, making clear in interviews that "no one likes to get subbed off" etc. Lucho has become soft since the "Messi incident" and plays the front 3 all the time now.

On the other hand, I liked Alves' reaction.

Dude is a *bleep* winner. You might talk about Lucho being soft but that reaction (the opposite of a soft reaction) from Alves is the kind of reaction I like to see from time to time instead of the players being all soft.

The kind of attitude a guy like Suarez has also brought which I think has been good for us.

As long as he's not causing problems in the dressing room I don't see what's wrong with it.

Good game by the team but still a little disappointed they didn't get the 3rd goal. Suarez had a couple of excellent chances in the 1st half to get his hattrick. It was kind of like the Villarreal tie. I don't think the team stops trying but when they're up 2-0 and playing well, but subconsciously they switch off just a little bit and the performance level goes down a notch. Part of it is tactical of course, but I feel they should have pushed a little harder in the 2nd half. Gave too much respect to a city team that doesn't deserve it.

On the players, Pique was oustanding. He didn't put a foot wrong until the Aguero goal, which I'm not even sure how it happened. He's been great this season, and the competition from Mathieu and Bartra and has really motivated him I think.

Messi was sublime, and I love his playmaking but sometimes I wish he would play more as a 9, in the center, making runs off the ball. You don't see those trademark Messi shots from the center (just outside the box) anymore. We are probably a more complete team this way but we don't have any penetration down the middle, and I think it really hurts us against PTB teams. This could still come back to haunt us. I think Suarez playing on the right and Messi playing more as a 9 in the center should also be part of our strategy, depending on the opponent. Suarez has great passing and I actually like him on the right side.

Neymar was pretty bad but luckily we have Suarez who stepped up. It's really nice to have a balance up front. Remember the season we lost the title to Madrid? Messi had like 50 goals, and in second place it was Villa with only like 11 goals and pedro with 7 or something. Madrid had Ronaldo, Benzema, and Higuain all contributing. We won't have that problem anymore.

Oh, and Alves, the guy is atrocious. I mean, he can't do anything right anymore, especially offensively. He continues to put in useless crosses and his all around play is shit. Up until now, I thought we should keep him due to a lack of better options, but after today's performance I've had enough. I say ship him off.

I agree if Neymar was benched vs Malaga, many of us would be furious. But now he is highly fatigued and a rest is must. we desparately need him in Classico. we know how much he likes to score vs Madrid
Actually we controlled the game very well right after our 2nd goal. but i agree, as someone suggested, that it partly due to the psychological switching off mode that costed us the grip on the game. btw, am i wrong to say that since pep left we are winning comfortably on english soil