Atletico Madrid v FC Barcelona - UCL RD8

windkick wrote:yah. The Valencia game this weekend is now huge. If I'm not mistaken they haven't lost a game since idiot Utd pundit got sacked.

Man, that was really hard to watch today.

heartbroken atm

Credit to Atleti, hope Atleti go on to win it.

While I was at work and missed the match I think the underlying issue is a shocking lack of of depth throughout the season which kept us unable to remain fresh late on. MSN might want to play every game but they should not be allowed to. In midfield we only really have Arda as a viable option, and he wasn't even playing for half the season. Verm and Mathieu need to go and we need to bring in someone that will actually be available to play when needed.

This GK switching system needs to end, the CL keeper should not be someone doing this as a part time job. Ter Stegen needs experience to develop and he won't get it in the bench: either sell Bravo (unfair but he is 33) or loan TS out for a season.

We needed another creative spark off the bench, our depth was also an issue. We had Turan and Sergi come on (and had Douglas, Bartra and Munir on the bench). When we ran short of ideas we just had nowhere else to point to.

All that said, Atletico played an awesome tactic all game and never backed down. Can't do much but congratulate them and remember we still have 2 cups to fight for so we still need to get back in form as soon as possible

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Credit to Atleti, hope Atleti go on to win it.

While I was at work and missed the match I think the underlying issue is a shocking lack of of depth throughout the season which kept us unable to remain fresh late on. MSN might want to play every game but they should not be allowed to. In midfield we only really have Arda as a viable option, and he wasn't even playing for half the season. Verm and Mathieu need to go and we need to bring in someone that will actually be available to play when needed.

This GK switching system needs to end, the CL keeper should not be someone doing this as a part time job. Ter Stegen needs experience to develop and he won't get it in the bench: either sell Bravo (unfair but he is 33) or loan TS out for a season.

Agreed, especially on the keeper and subs/freshness parts.

There seems to be allot of rift growing between Ter Stegen and the board regarding how he is being handled (rightfully so), and I'm sure Bravo is sitting around annoyed that he might be losing his job soon and we might try to convert him to our Pinto when in reality he's been good enough to not get benched. It's a really stupid situation we created, we should of just got Ter Stegen and let Masip get the Pinto role. The way things are set up now, Ter Stegen won't play again until the Copa del Rey final which is just ridiculous. He will never develop properly like this.

And as far as the depth issue, another issue that keeps lingering is Brazil trying to force Barca to allow Neymar to play both cups this summer. I wouldn't be shocked if Neymar and his father/agent are on purpose not signing a contract extension until Barca agree to it. I understand Neymar wants to play every game, but that would be 3 summers straight of no rest, he and Messi really should be resting it up this summer instead of playing any games at all. They need it, and instead Brazil/Neymar are making this harder for everyone

So yea, all in all it seems the harmony/freshness we had earlier in the season is all gone

CBarca wrote:

windkick wrote:yah. The Valencia game this weekend is now huge. If I'm not mistaken they haven't lost a game since idiot Utd pundit got sacked.

Man, that was really hard to watch today.

heartbroken atm

I know the feel

Disagree as far as players coming off the bench, if MSN couldn't do it, nor Iniesta, I don't think there are many players who could come off the bench and be a "creative spark"...which is already difficult enough with the way Atletico defend. However if you were to say, like BC said, that depth has cost us because MSN aren't as fit at this point in the season and need more rest, I would say absolutely, our bench is a problem.

Though I would agree that even saying that, having Munir/Roberto coming off the bench (Turan is fine) is not what you want in these situations. I do agree there.

And I've agreed with BC on the goalkeeper issue before.

As far as any hate on Iniesta, besides the fact that it's ridiculous, I think if anyone would have watched the game, they would notice that Messi, Neymar, Rakitic, Busquets, Alba, Pique, Masch were all worse in the game alone. Suarez was alright because he at least managed to get touches in the box and worked hard to score, and even had a couple shots, MatS excluded because he was rarely tested, and Alves was good until he was replaced.

Also I cannot hope a thug team like Atletico goes on to win it

Will be pulling for Pep for the CL now, though I wouldn't really care to see Bayern as a club win it.

Harmonica wrote:Iniesta should go after this game, he's been carried enough the past seasons. Time to buy someone who actually makes a difference.

Although, he arguably should've been sent off for handling the ball (probably would've lead to a goal if he hadn't), he did create two of your biggest chances by dribbling into space and firing off a shot at Oblak, and creating the last minute situation that should've been a penalty. I haven't watched enough Barcelona games this season, to judge whether or not he's been productive, but he was certainly not one of your worst performing players in this particular game.

Please ignore Harmonica he is clearly trolling; and know that he doesn't speak for the rest of us on the board.

This has been happening since the Aresnal game. Don't know what Enrique was doing.

When attack is crowded you need midfield and defense to win the game. but there are no game winner in barca defense and midfield. most of them never scored this season. it was always MSN. when someone like Simone knows this he shuts down MSN and its done.no worry about others

Alba and Rakitic looked like schoolboys under pressure.alves was slow for a game like this

bad thing is that midfield and defense doesnt know anything about creating anything.they are not used to this. pass to msn they create and they score.and when they dont its over

before suarez and neymar it happened with messi.shut down him and its done. now they found out MSN too. not sure if reason was this or drop in form but both are the reasons

Let's see how we respond vs Valencia. If we again lose/draw then it's clearly not a "we got figured out" situation as much as it's the entire team is just a horrid slump of confidence/form/freshness whatever. We come back from brake and we did get tossed right into the fire with really hard games. Even Madrid lost to Wolfsburg, wasn't just us. Difference is they turned it around right away while we're still lost. Maybe it's a Lucho thing and not the players, who knows really. But they need to knock out these last 7 games and the board will have to evaluate the squad and correct things. I hope this loss alerted the board that shit needs to be fixed in certain areas.

tbf they turned it around because it's wolfsburg

It's the CL and not single game do or die tournament. Typically, the better team wins over the course of two legs. It doesn't always happen (see: any time we have lost to Chelsea), but usually the better team does win. Madrid had too much talent to lose to Wolfsburg over two legs.

The fact they lost one of them 2-0 is embarrassing for them tbh

Waiting for Alex's analysis on Messi coming into the middle again.

IMO we can't afford to have it happen in LE's team. Again he's come into the middle and we've made nothing from it. However, it was always going to be incredibly difficult to create no matter what when Atletico went up by one

Marcus Aurelius wrote:Demanding tie cause Atleti run a lot but they suit our style so that should be a smooth win.

Real Madrid getting them heated up balls again. Hope we get them next round and whoop there sorry asses.

Maybe next year

i stil dont think madrid have the team to win the CL. they beat flop barca team which everybody beats nowadays and then some german team which is a third tier team. So real test is in front

and back to barca there is saying defense wins the finals. not conceding is like winning. barca's defense didnt do it.Defense which always depended on position to defend. I only believed in Mascerano who will do anything to destroy attack. great agressive and dirty player. Atletico had like 4 Mascheranos with height and intelligence. They didnt allow any clear chance during 90 minites. Ok i agree pique has everything as a defender but he is slow. Alves is not physically strong and tall. Mascerano also is short.Alba knows only running.then comes slow busquets.great position player but soft and slow as a defender.
Team have very soft defense and vulnerable to storms

Valkyrja wrote:

Marcus Aurelius wrote:Demanding tie cause Atleti run a lot but they suit our style so that should be a smooth win.

Real Madrid getting them heated up balls again. Hope we get them next round and whoop there sorry asses.

Maybe next year

Classy of you

Thimmy wrote:

Harmonica wrote:Iniesta should go after this game, he's been carried enough the past seasons. Time to buy someone who actually makes a difference.

Although, he arguably should've been sent off for handling the ball (probably would've lead to a goal if he hadn't), he did create two of your biggest chances by dribbling into space and firing off a shot at Oblak, and creating the last minute situation that should've been a penalty. I haven't watched enough Barcelona games this season, to judge whether or not he's been productive, but he was certainly not one of your worst performing players in this particular game.

He has all the space, marking Messi leaves his side in every single game, has Messi providing ball him all game long, yet he does nothing with it. Penalty has hardly anything to do with it.

Hopefully we get rid of him next season, because he's just gonna get worse, I would give him and like any money needed for Pobga, Gundogan or Hazard.

windkick wrote:

Valkyrja wrote:

Marcus Aurelius wrote:Demanding tie cause Atleti run a lot but they suit our style so that should be a smooth win.

Real Madrid getting them heated up balls again. Hope we get them next round and whoop there sorry asses.

Maybe next year

Classy of you

Thank you. See you in the semis. Oops

Valkyrja wrote:

windkick wrote:

Valkyrja wrote:


Maybe next year

Classy of you

Thank you. See you in the semis. Oops

Meh, whatever.

not surprise fennefoC7 and valCRyja are celebrating. but they forgot that CL is a lottery and everything can change in a moment.if this happens to Barcelona it can happen to anyone

Well he's acting like he's actually won a trophy because we lost or something, which is hilarious.

Anyways, back on topic - what the team really needs to do is now focus on the Valencia game. We have 6 league games left + the Copa final. So need to focus and turn it around quickly and knock these last 7 games out.
We lost 3 of the last 4 games since the international break and can still end on a high note and avoid a massive catastrophe. Because as of right now we can still hold on to 2 trophies which is still great

Valk has always been one of the more mediocre posters on GL tbh so this is nothing new

nazimali12 wrote:not surprise fennefoC7 and valCRyja are celebrating. but they forgot that CL is a lottery and everything can change in a moment.if this happens to Barcelona it can happen to anyone

Omg, what did I even say to offend you

Didn't I just praise alves and defend iniesta to death in another thread

Please don't group me with valk, I love him but he's on a trolling rampage

There's a reason nobody has won b2b CL titles... so I wouldn't read too much into it.  When you get to the top 6-8 teams in Europe... they can beat each other in a tie no matter what.  All it takes are injuries, suspensions, lack of form, fitness, etc.  Just a lot of things can (and do) go wrong at the end of the year.

As I mentioned after the clasico... Barca have a tendency to burn out their starting XI.  This is not something specific to Enrique.  It started a while back and it is a weakness of this style.  I've noticed that the intensity can't be kept for more the 60-65 mins and then spaces open.  Physically, a team can't keep up that pressing for an entire game.  Now imagine doing this every game with pretty much the same starting XI... it will catch up to you.  

This was a bit particular because Atleti did most of the pressing and sat back... so i don't think you can blame energy being spent during the game in this one.  The issue was that Barca lacked energy coming in and have been suffering from this for a bit now.

I'll add that, like Madrid, having an attacking trio that defend little really burns out a midfield because of the extra defending they have to do.  Rakitic, Busquets and Iniesta are just running out of steam.  That's one reason I'm not a big fan of having 3 strikers (most being prima donas) as a forward combo.

Anyhow, enough of my rambling lol.

CBarca wrote:Waiting for Alex's analysis on Messi coming into the middle again.

IMO we can't afford to have it happen in LE's team. Again he's come into the middle and we've made nothing from it. However, it was always going to be incredibly difficult to create no matter what when Atletico went up by one

To be fair I think nearly everyone agreed that if Messi played centrally then someone else should take up that space, which didn't seem to happen today. Alves is no longer good enough to cover for his absence. Today he did not only play centrally, he also played slightly deeper than Iniesta according to whoscored's average positions.

That being said Messi has played RW against Atleti before so I don't think this is his call but LE's, unless people seriously believe in coachessi?