Ceballos never pretended to be the same type of player as Kovacic lol, if that's what the coach is seeing, and i am fairly sure he is not, then that's his problem.

You should not be comparing both

Benzema at the end ruining that glorious run by Asensio

CR would have scored that not pass it to the defender at 89th minute

What a useless sub Lucas was. What about proven goalscorer Mariano?????

2 points we shouldn't have.

Offside, shots to block z, unnecessary fouls......so frustrating

That Vazquez sub might be the worst substitution made of all time by anyone

It served no purpose

First of all f*ck Bilbao and their dirty tactics. bunch of scumbags.
second we have no midfield without Casemiro.
third Ramos is so annoying. he is taking FK's too now?

Mr Nick09 wrote:Ceballos never pretended to be the same type of player as Kovacic lol, if that's what the coach is seeing, and i am fairly sure he is not, then that's his problem.

You should not be comparing both

they both play center midfield. they just have different qualities. and we missed someone like kova dearly today, our midfield got eaten alive by bilbao's pressing. can't even blame benz, bale or any of the attackers for that horror show

And Vinicious should be our third sub not Vazquez. he can't do shit.

Sigh, this match reminded me of last season editions of Benzema and Bale and I thoroughly hated it. Why would any forward pass inside the box is beyond me. As Turok would say 2/10, must do better, terrible performance.

Also, this is why Vasquez would NEVER be part of the starting 11, he actually made me wish Bale didn't come off.

Mamad wrote:And Vinicious should be or third sub not Vazquez. he can't do shit.

Can't even out run guys ffs. A winger that can't out run his opponent. He came on and actually killed the entire right flank by himself.

Bale though towards the end i didn't even expect his shots to him the target. Benz thinking Lucas was Ronaldo and passed him unconsciously. Idiot. One thing is clear Casemiro should be the 1st name on the team sheet. If Llorente doesn't convince him we should get someone else as back up

Doc wrote:

Mamad wrote:And Vinicious should be or third sub not Vazquez. he can't do shit.

Can't even out run guys ffs. A winger that can't out run his opponent. He came on and actually killed the entire right flank by himself.

right flank sound delicious though

It serves me well for being naive enough to think Benzema has changed for the better. I've got only myself to blame.

@Freeza: Vasquez's contributions mainly revolve around his verticality, intensity and speed. Not to mention his high work rate. He's usually the player who runs more kilometers per game.

I don't remember all his key performances, but I still distinctly remember his performance in the 3-1 victory against PSG in the first leg. And in the return leg he assisted Ronaldo for the first goal.

I'm sure you'll find many more positives about him. But I agree though, he was dreadful tonight.

FennecFox7 wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:Ceballos never pretended to be the same type of player as Kovacic lol, if that's what the coach is seeing, and i am fairly sure he is not, then that's his problem.

You should not be comparing both

they both play center midfield. they just have different qualities. and we missed someone like kova dearly today, our midfield got eaten alive by bilbao's pressing. can't even blame benz, bale or any of the attackers for that horror show

they dont actually, Ceballos is more comfortable playing forward, whereas Kovacic is much better deeper. They are completely different players and frankly it's like you guys never watched Ceballos before.

It's a waste of time to compare him with Ceballos. And as i said during the summer, the moment Kovacic left, we should have signed a holding mid but we did not. This is where Llorente or Valverde are supposed to step up

So Barca draws firstblood...

Casemiro played differently today. Like he was dribbling with the ball n stuff

Im tired of Vasquez, without CR to head his crosses he is useless lol.

guest7 wrote:So Barca draws firstblood...

Casemiro played differently today. Like he was dribbling with the ball n stuff

that's because Athletic Bilbao plays one on one defending so a player picking the ball deep has space to run. No one is going to come after him since they all stick to the marking assignments. Ramos also made many runs in a similar fashion

The Demon of Carthage wrote:
@Freeza: Vasquez's contributions mainly revolve around his verticality, intensity and speed. Not to mention his high work rate. He's usually the player who runs more kilometers per game.

One thing first. He really isn't that fast.

Also the rest of that aren't anything that amounts to any quality.

You used a lot of words to say he runs back and forth on the sideline, which I can't argue with.

In any case, I personally underestimated Athletic but at the same time, this was a match this squad should have won fairly comfortably. Alas, Lope's honeymoon period has officially ended and the knives are out again. Kinda love it to be honest.

Doc wrote:In any case, I personally underestimated Athletic but at the same time, this was a match this squad should have won fairly comfortably. Alas, Lope's honeymoon period has officially ended and the knives are out again. Kinda love it to be honest.

It's that Raul Garcia pos... Worse than Costa... God I hate that guy.

So tired of referees putting up with his f'ing shit every game.

I actually don't blame him, Doc. Well, except for the Vasquez sub, because I thought we needed Mariano more than him.

I'm actually very disappointed in our forwards, mainly Benzema and Bale. At least Bale went out with an assist, but Benzema was a shadow of the one I saw against Leganes.

Your team is looking for the winner, you get the ball in the box at the '89 min and your first instinct is to pass it to someone else? And vasquez of all people?!

Nick is right, a beta can't magically turn into an alpha.

We had no prescence in the box and Lope thought it'd be a good idea to sub on a winger instead of a n9. Well fcking done

And the last min lay off by Benz no Ronaldo anymore to blame

halamadrid2 wrote:We had no prescence in the box and Lope thought it'd be a good idea to sub on a winger instead of a n9. Well fcking done

yeah I agree. Really weird from Lopetegui. I honestly didn't expect him to make a tactical blunder of this magnitude.

Of course, if Asensio hadn't miss that 1v1, all would be well for me.

Anyway, if it's any consolation:

Marcelo aposentando o jogador do Bilbao no primeiro tempo

pic.twitter.com/F37C5n0D5C

— LIDER

Mr Nick09 wrote:Ceballos never pretended to be the same type of player as Kovacic lol, if that's what the coach is seeing, and i am fairly sure he is not, then that's his problem.

You should not be comparing both

It is a bit though. Ceballos is supposed to be a CM. As a CM, he's supposed to link the defense with forwards with his passing and recover balls. Since Kroos was playing cover position and Ceballos was close to the forwards, he's also supposed to help the attack when needed.

When Casemiro is doing a better job of playing gaps and supporting the attack than you, you have a problem. I didn't expect him to recover balls like Casemiro (although i don't think he recovered any)... but I certainly expected him to help flow, which he didn't.

On the attack, I actually blame Asensio a lot here and not for his missed 1v1 necessarily. He made so many bad decisions on his last pass that I stopped counting. As a result of not getting served when making good runs, both Bale and Benz drifted. So when the end of the game came around, neither was in the game.

You have to feed your forwards. Even force feed. Make them feel that every run they make has a purpose.