In spite of their faltering start to the campaign, Enrique has commented on the difficulties that travelling to the Basque Country poses, and the strengths of Ernesto Valverde’s side. Will the Blaugrana be in for another nightmare trip, or will this signal the start of a rich vein of form in Northern Spain?

FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WWW
Athletic: L

LAST MEETING
FC Barcelona 3-1 Athletic Bilbao – 27th January 2016 – Copa del Rey
Inaki Williams put the visitors ahead in the first-half to tie the aggregate score in this Copa del Rey semi-final second-leg, only for the Blaugrana to pull away in the second half courtesy of goals from Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique and Neymar.

LIKELY LINE-UPS

Barcelona (4-3-3):
ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Denis; Messi, Suarez, Arda

Athletic (4-2-3-1): Iraizoz; de Marcos, Boveda, Laporte, Balenziaga; San Jose, Benat; Williams, Raul Garcia, Susaeta; Aduriz.

Let's Basque in the Glory!

Easy 4-0 victory.

What do you guys use for streams these days?

I mean, where do you lot typically go?

CBarca wrote:What do you guys use for streams these days?

I mean, where do you lot typically go?

Download acestream app and look for the links at rojadirecta.me

You dont have to download the app, you can search for other links but I recommend acestream.



Will miss the game tonight ):

I tend you use First Row Sport. It's a lottery when it comes to HD streams but it is dependable for me.

Also, fairly easy win for Barcelona. Unless Athletic decide to get better all of a sudden.

they always give us hard time tbh

I've used first row a lot, and I've used roja directa a lot and over the years I feel both of them have gotten worse in the quality of the links. Gets me a bit annoyed tbh. I've been going to reddit for streams recently but that can be hit or miss too, though I guess that's the nature of streaming.

Acestream huh? I'll try that out

Stegen lmao

as usual Athletic giving us hard time

this Barca is entirely different animal.

not because he scored, but rakitic is owning this first half...

also have we been focusing heading more in training??? never seen us win so many aerial battles haha

suarez two yellows in a row?? means he'll miss next game? munir/paco to get a start next la liga?

also i hate this ref, always needs attention usually wrong what a joke

stegen making comeback after the initial blunder which I think wasn't entirely his mistake. Suarez needs to get calm for the love of God! taking unnecessary yellows.

What a Log Umtiti. He is so easy to drible. Surprisingly poor.

We had a CB better than Mascheramo and traded him for a player without waist and now I prefer mascherano.

free_cat wrote:We had a CB better than Mascheramo and traded him for a player without waist and now I prefer mascherano.

Verm?

when umtiti left the match our defense got worse..

mascherano has 0 aerial threat which is how bilbao usually scores against us.

umtiti
sergi roberto
rakitic
arda
all had good games (in no order)

messi had a below average game (to his standards)
suarez bad game
buscuit good defensively / terrible offensively
denis suarez was alright
pique was alright
MaTS despite two stupid errors had a alright game
alba was alright

I thought Umtiti was good I like the look of him. It's early yet, I'll wait until at least 5-10 more games to judge him properly.

MatS was good but had a terrible error. Will be ironed out in time and most teams won't press like Bilbao.

Sergi Roberto and Pique were good in defense. Didn't notice them much. Alba was an atrocity.

Denis Suarez was alright. Busquets was bad and needs to get it together, such lazy passing the first half but improved as the game went on. Rakitic was our MOTM, great goal and was athletic as usual and didn't do much wrong. I think he could have presented himself more in midfield, but I think Athletic's press was so good he just didn't get the ball as much as usual.

Arda was alright--I thought he was mostly invisible and should have given Alba more help, but the cross to Rakitic was sublime. Messi was good but not as decisive as usual and Suarez was bad. Not his day today.

Finally, that acestream is i love it

Just came back from a night of drinkin somehow im able to write a post[

will need to rewatch this game tomorrow because a true fan cannot miss such a good game

happy that we won and that ter stegen didnt crumble. visca barca

Told ya cbarca

Acestream is pretty good. I'm happy you enjoyed

just watcxhed quick highliggts wtf with me/ssis and suarez's chance it should have been a convincing win by at least 3 gols
0-1 is flatte,ing for bilbao

Myesyats wrote:Told ya cbarca

Acestream is pretty good. I'm happy you enjoyed

it's going to change my life tbh

Didn't watch as much barca last year because i got so sick of shitty streams

I didnt like the formation. 4-3-3 is our identity. Dont like the switch to 4-4-2.
Even aside from the philosophical issue, there are tactical problems with it. In a 4-4-2, the 2 have to be very mobile and hardworking. And Messi is neither. It leaves Suarez with far too much to do upfront. Because he is a GOAT striker and a demon, he can make it work. But he will get burnt out quickly.
We saw the problem today also. Very often Suarez was isolated as Messi was nowhere close.
Secondly, if we are playing the 4-4-2, then the midfield pressing needs to be different. We cant have the gap between the back 4 and the midfield 4 that we had today. And Busquets cant go roaming aimlessly like he did. He was atrocious and looked clueless out there. Either Enrique is not getting his instructions across properly or Busquets doesnt know what he is doing. I think it is the former.

Coming to the players, Rakitic was the MOTM. Outstanding game from him both in offense and defense. Just a complete box to box performance. Roberto was not far behind in the MOTM stakes. I disagree that Suarez had a poor game. I thought he was excellent. Held the ball up, turned the defender and released Arda for the goal. Set up Messi twice only for Messi to miss both times. Offered options throughout and pressed with vigor. All in spite of being isolated upfront.

Busquets, Umtiti,Messi and Alba were poor. Denis Suarez did alright but he looked disinterested out there to me.

Suarez was excellent but Messi was poor

Point out the Messi misses but ignore the Suarez open net Messi gave him on a plate

I missed the old you