Real Betis v Barca

Betis have been in some serious goal scoring form. Should be an open match.

Coutinho, Dembele, Umtiti and Alcacer are out. Iniesta is doubtful.

One more late night/early morning game. Am fed up. Can't watch these as I have to get up early for work.

Lucifer my man!

Same here dude. Killer timings in IST.

Real gets 8:45 pm kick-offs ffs

It's 8:45pm in my time zone which is perfect.

I wish Coutinho could play already

I still hate the 4-4-2...but the results are undeniable

RCM in 4-4-2 suits S. Roberto really well, better than RB where he still has some deficiencies. Coutinho instead of Gomes and this would be the starting XI, I don't even know where to put Dembélé or Iniesta. We have a really deep squad now where everyone contributes.

I turned on the TV and saw Suarez pass to Rakitic for the first goal lol.

From what I saw after that, the press was great and the passing was really smooth. I don't mind the 4-4-2 as much if this is how we play.

Really glad to see Suarez hitting form at this point in the season.

Waiting for Harmonica's gifs from this game. Messi had some really crazy moves. Loved how the Betis crowd applauded him towards the end.

Semedo's defending and attacking leave a lot to be desired.

First, he has no concept of what goes on behind him, I concentrated him for 1 minute yesterday when Betis were attacking and he never once looked back, completely oblivious to the runner going behind him. What do they teach defenders at football academies these days?

Also in attacking he is the least intelligent player on the pitch. All he does is his signature pass-and-move which is what 12 year olds do in a football pitch. His final ball deliveries have been piss poor every time he plays.

Really unimpressed by the guy. What saves him as a footballer is his physicality and speed otherwise he doesn't offer anything.

danyjr wrote:Semedo's defending and attacking leave a lot to be desired.

First, he has no concept of what goes on behind him, I concentrated him for 1 minute yesterday when Betis were attacking and he never once looked back, completely oblivious to the runner going behind him. What do they teach defenders at football academies these days?

Also in attacking he is the least intelligent player on the pitch. All he does is his signature pass-and-move which is what 12 year olds do in a football pitch. His final ball deliveries have been piss poor every time he plays.

Really unimpressed by the guy. What saves him as a footballer is his physicality and speed otherwise he doesn't offer anything.

One could say the same about Alba. He would be pretty much useless without the speed he uses to chase after Messi's balls.

I, for one, think Semedo is alright. I liked his link up play and he didn't neglect his defensive duties as much as you make it out to be. He's also great with the ball, it's pleasing to the eye how he moves with it. Great technique.

Our right side defending still getting exposed, although Semedo looks much better than Roberto there? Roberto has really become a good attacking option, able to fill in several positions. Rafinha is back which is a good option also. Loved seeing Rakitic in the middle there together with Busquets, they look really good there. Dont know why Gomes is STILL getting so many chances, starts and game times, hes essentially useless.... watching him sometimes is depressing. Hes not THAT bad, but hes just not good enough for us. Him and Denis Suarez needs to be sold this summer I hope.... unless we just keep them for rotations and vs the weaker teams I suppose....

Messi and Suarez continue to grow into top form which is a pleasure to see