EL CLASICO 2015

CBarca wrote:
Pique scoring the fifth would have been incredible.

I so wanted that. It would have been such a fitting lesson for the way he's been treated.

eelir wrote:The first goal build up play is orgasmic

Yes and there is also that magical pass by Iniesta that Sergi Roberto couldn't do much with but had it fallen to Neymar or Suarez ...

Sergi Roberto has to be the biggest surprise of the season. Not really a right back, but plays well and provides good enough service when asked too. Does same in midfield, and now does the same at right forward at the Bernabeu.

I'll be the first to say I was wrong about his quality; I have been very harsh on my assessment of him since the moment he was promoted from the B team. I still wouldn't want him to be a regular starter in our midfield, but he is really turning into one of the most versitle players on the team that can play many positions in emergency situations, and never complains about his playing time or what position he is asked to play in. Really turning into the perfect type of player to have on the bench.

messixaviesta wrote:

free_cat wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:All I really want out of this game is for there to be no terrorist attacks. Wouldn't want to be in charge of the bernabeu security right now.

C'mon, it's impossible there are terrorist attacks. Terrorists wouldn't be so foolish as to strike one of their sponsors. We're safe.

I like making fun of Madrid just as much as anyone here but please let's not hit below the belt. Remember long back there was a crazy Madrid supporter at the forums and he made references to Franco etc. How bad you, I and some others had felt! Then there were supporters in Espanyol's stadium holding 'Die Tito' banners long before his untimely demise. There were those who brought up our thrashing against Bayern even on the day that Tito left this world. The bottom line is that there are douche bags of the worst kinds but let's not sink to the level of such people. The fight against terrorism is the fight of entire humanity against those who have no business being among human beings. It's far beyond any football club rivalry, even Barca and Madrid.

Dude, I was talking about US.
Look at the front of our shirt!

And I don't think my comment is offensive to anyone, maybe only to Fart and his board, and they deserve it.

futbol wrote:Also I don't understand how people can claim we're playing "hoofball" or not "according to the Barca philosophy", "not building from the back" etc. under Enrique.

http://twitter.com/barcastuff/status/668172452686622720

We aren't. We were under Martino, but with Luis Enrique we always tried to build from the back. Difference is that if we have a counterattack option, we try to take advantadge of it, while before we used to stop the counter often, especially when Xavi was playing.

Really glad about our result and the good performance, but for some reason I'm not elated.

Perhaps it's the fact that it's harder to hate this not-so-evil Madrid that doesn't kick and agredes our players, with their incompetent and respectful manager, and many technical and unagressives players.

Or perhaps this game was too early into the season and in a too comfortable situation for us. Also I couldn't see how we could lose this, as I said early in this thread.

We have to give credit to Luis Enrique to keep improving this team. We started both this and last season badly, but we improve gradually and right now we are better than last november. And we know what it came after new year's eve.

Still, claiming Luis Enrique is the best manager in the world is far fetched IMO. He probably has the best forward line of all time and the best 4 or even 5 players in the world. No manager, even Pep, had this amount of talent at his hands.

@linetty
Stop partying now brah its been two days now ffs. Please return asap need to focus on CL now

I'm here lol

Just realized CL is tomorrow already ffs still havent gotten over el clasico lmao

Its been an epic weekend

Thankfully the RM game hasnt been really demanding, we didnt have to catch up with the result or worry much. Should be fine playin Roma only 3 days after

That was nice training we got against RM imo. Warmed up for CL tbh

Yeah thats what i meant but i wanted to put it in a way nicer manner so that you wouldnt take it as i'm taking the piss out of madrid but yeah pretty much

Amazing game and performance. But I am a bit like Free, im not elated....but I am very proud of the team and I admire the difference in their quality between themselves and their eternal rivals. Watching us crush them was simply special.

Madrid are "cursed" with their best players, a front 3 who do nothing in the defence, a midfield which I still dont believe in and totally outnumbered. A team broken in attack and defend and now thankfully a lame coach who seems to have no power. They have great best players, but they are a level below Barca's best players, since Ronaldinho prime untill now, this is the case, we have better best players than them and if we put the other things in place (sensible tactics, reliable role players, coach who makes good decisions) we come out on top, either in quality, result or both.

The tactics of Benitez helped us greatly, if he picks the team or not, if he feels he must players the names instead of a team which works I dont know...but I could not think of a more suitable opponent than these guys in that moment. Leaving spaces between lines, half hearted pressing and a defence isolated against 2 of the 3 cracks.

And yes, Barca played from the back EXCELLENTLY, this is the Barca I am happy to see. But lets also not pretend we play like this in all matches.

The Franchise wrote:
And yes, Barca played from the back EXCELLENTLY, this is the Barca I am happy to see. But lets also not pretend we play like this in all matches.

I think we try, but sometimes they press us better than the slow "jog & press" (Botric quote) Madrid did, and we then resort more to long balls from the GK. However, differently than from Tata's era, we never set out to directly hoof it from the GK or defence.

@The Franchise

We dont play like this in all matches because not many teams are prepared this badly to a game as the current RM side. Even Rayo would have caused us lots of problems and Madrid basically played to our strenghts (as you pointed it out in detail- lots of space between the lines etc.)

For gods sake, they made Roberto look like prime Zico and thats being polite.

Also cringed when Messi started warming up... "That moment when you're losing 0-3 and see Messi is only about to come on" loool

free_cat wrote:

The Franchise wrote:
And yes, Barca played from the back EXCELLENTLY, this is the Barca I am happy to see. But lets also not pretend we play like this in all matches.

I think we try, but sometimes they press us better than the slow "jog & press" (Botric quote) Madrid did, and we then resort more to long balls from the GK. However, differently than from Tata's era, we never set out to directly hoof it from the GK or defence.

I agree with you, Madrid's pressing was horrible. As bad as we was couple years ago with Xavi running front the midfield to the wing and other non organised movements. That made it alot easier.

I dont think we set out to hoof it either, but we also have some games where the players make very horrible decisions. Some times for no reason Pique hoofs it when he has time (because the opponent has been pressing previously) or Mascherano plays a diagonal ball for a 50-50 or Alba insists on passing it forward when he can pass it to the side and that guy on the side can play to the other side which is more free.

linetty wrote:@The Franchise

We dont play like this in all matches because not many teams are prepared this badly to a game as the current RM side. Even Rayo would have caused us lots of problems and Madrid basically played to our strenghts (as you pointed it out in detail- lots of space between the lines etc.)

For gods sake, they made Roberto look like prime Zico and thats being polite.

Also cringed when Messi started warming up... "That moment when you're losing 0-3 and see Messi is only about to come on" loool

Like I said, no question about it. Madrid were horribly organised.

But we make some poor decisions. Its not their fault only, Mascherano/Mathieu dont have the composure of Marquez or even Puyol. And Alba certainly doesnt have the composure of Abidal. Nor do we emphasis use of the goalkeeper we we did previously.

But yes, many teams press and give much more difficulty than Madrid. But there are ways to play out of pressure, there are movements we can do (depending on the opponant) to keep the ball down and playing to the free side.

Thankfully, Suarez gives us a secondary option if we fail, which we have not had for ages. This is great, but its not as fun to watch as short, quick passing in small spaces and then a quick change to the space to make them pay for their pressing.

Sooner or later we will come up against a team who figures out they shouldnt press us. A horrible tactic for this team, leaving the space behind for this front 3. Hopefully we have an idea to counteract this which isnt crossing. But before then, I will be happy to see a Barca who do everything to try and keep the ball down on the ground, even when its difficult.

LA liga President Tebas : "It was hard watching CLASICO "
Bet ur sweet ass it was!

Lol does he have to be so transparent with his preferences, it's hardly a professional behaviour

Only in La Liga man. Ridiculous.

I have no issue with him being a fan. Do you tthink someone who is involved in football federation is not a fan of a team. He is at least not trying to pretend.

free_cat wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:

free_cat wrote:


C'mon, it's impossible there are terrorist attacks. Terrorists wouldn't be so foolish as to strike one of their sponsors. We're safe.

I like making fun of Madrid just as much as anyone here but please let's not hit below the belt. Remember long back there was a crazy Madrid supporter at the forums and he made references to Franco etc. How bad you, I and some others had felt! Then there were supporters in Espanyol's stadium holding 'Die Tito' banners long before his untimely demise. There were those who brought up our thrashing against Bayern even on the day that Tito left this world. The bottom line is that there are douche bags of the worst kinds but let's not sink to the level of such people. The fight against terrorism is the fight of entire humanity against those who have no business being among human beings. It's far beyond any football club rivalry, even Barca and Madrid.

Dude, I was talking about US.
Look at the front of our shirt!

And I don't think my comment is offensive to anyone, maybe only to Fart and his board, and they deserve it.

Oh I see. Thanks for clarifying. Sorry for having misunderstood and said what I said.

The Franchise wrote:Amazing game and performance. But I am a bit like Free, im not elated....but I am very proud of the team and I admire the difference in their quality between themselves and their eternal rivals. Watching us crush them was simply special.

Madrid are "cursed" with their best players, a front 3 who do nothing in the defence, a midfield which I still dont believe in and totally outnumbered. A team broken in attack and defend and now thankfully a lame coach who seems to have no power. They have great best players, but they are a level below Barca's best players, since Ronaldinho prime untill now, this is the case, we have better best players than them and if we put the other things in place (sensible tactics, reliable role players, coach who makes good decisions) we come out on top, either in quality, result or both.

The tactics of Benitez helped us greatly, if he picks the team or not, if he feels he must players the names instead of a team which works I dont know...but I could not think of a more suitable opponent than these guys in that moment. Leaving spaces between lines, half hearted pressing and a defence isolated against 2 of the 3 cracks.

And yes, Barca played from the back EXCELLENTLY, this is the Barca I am happy to see. But lets also not pretend we play like this in all matches.

dani, glad to finally get to read your thoughts. As always great comments.

eelir wrote:I have no issue with him being a fan. Do you tthink someone who is involved in football federation is not a fan of a team. He is at least not trying to pretend.

The, or at least a big issue with this though is he can never been seen as impartial. And if I am someone in this position I want to be seen as impartial, because if nothing else it gives me credibility. I think everyone in their field wants this.

This.
Or else he might as well wear Madrid jersey and do cheer leader dance for them. he is allowed to have favourite but saying publicly it was hard watching them getting beaten doesn't suit to his position.

It seems a bit strange he'd be talking as a fan, but then if everyone knows he's a Real supporter and is asked after a Clasico about his feelings, it would be silly, and frankly even more suspicious, if he pretended not to care either way.

The Franchise wrote:Only in La Liga man. Ridiculous.

Actually, the president of the DFL (the German league federation) is Rauball who is at the same time PRESIDENT of Dortmund.

Yeah, that's like Perez being the guy we're talking about.
Just ponder what harmonica would do then.

Funny thing is, not for a split second has it ever crossed my mind that would have any effect on the impartiality of the league.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Actually, the president of the DFL (the German league federation) is Rauball who is at the same time PRESIDENT of Dortmund.

Yeah, that's like Perez being the guy we're talking about.
Just ponder what harmonica would do then.

This! I actually do not care if Tebas is a RM fan. And if he says it openly, it usually means he has nothing to hide, otherwise he would not want to attract attention and have all his decisions scrutinized.

In short, for such position you will never get a neutral or partially neutral guy. It is a football related business and people that don't like football have no place there. Those who like football already are fans of some team.