Re: Uefa Champions League 2018 thread

[futbol]

Barcaforum is mainly worried about Messi's Ballon d'Or chances.

[windkick]

That’s a myth given we never if ever rarely even post in messis own thread. Most every one here, Including myself, mainly sit around pointing out how badly run our club is and half the group thinks Messi is done and should leave and the other half thinks we wouldn’t of won and got this far without him. No one ever brings up Ballon d’or around here.

I’ve had all night to digest what happened. It’s pretty ridiculous and I would be lying if I didn’t say it was like a punch to the gut. After what happened last year with Roma I was aware this could happen, but didn’t think it would happen like this if at all. If the club isn’t sitting back evaluating EV then they should hold early elections and end this mess from the top on down. As mentioned yesterday getting humiliated like this 2 years in a row is unacceptable and some heads should roll.

Suarez literally scored 2 total goals between this years and last years UCL combined. Yeah he scored a good bunch in the league but given his age, the amount of loss balls and missed chances and zero contribution in the Champions it’s clear he is not the same anymore. Also, I don’t really know who should replace him as I don’t feel either Lacazette or Griezeman are the answers. 2 goals total in 2 tournaments; that’s insane.

The less said about Coutinho the better. Not sure if that was a Abidal want, or a EV want, a Bart want, but whoever pulled the trigger on that purchase for that fee should also be axed. It’s ridiculous, and for a ridiculous fee. Someone should be held accountable for that. We have literally been playing with 10 men anytime he is on.

Rakatic, someone I usually defend, a this point I’d be ok selling and simply using Aleña and De jong.

And they finally need to sign a proper work class right back. Seeing Sergi out there yesterday vs Liverpools full backs, the difference seriously pissed me off. Replacing Alves with a mediocre midfielder was a joke and still is. Alba had an off night, i dont have any issue with him but it’s time they get him a proper player to rotate with.

Our cycle of dominance in the UCL ended a while back so getting to the final this year would of been a bonus. The big thing is, i hope that it’s a wake up call to the club that everything isn’t really fine. Winning a treble this year would of sugar coated it but now i hope our issues are seen and out in the open and will be addressed. If not by Bart then by the next club president

[Myesyats]

That’s a myth given we never if ever rarely even post in messis own thread. Most every one here, Including myself, mainly sit around pointing out how badly run our club is and half the group thinks Messi is done and should leave and the other half thinks we wouldn’t of won and got this far without him. No one ever brings up Ballon d’or around here.

I think futbol means barcaforum.com, not Barca's section on gl

barcaforum is cancer, full of delusional kids with an awful admin at the wheel. No sane person stays there for long

[BarcaLearning]

Agreed a lot with futbol about the state and future of our squad. I've said our era should be ending for a few years now, and we have been lucky to prolong it so quite a few years already, but now the last of our midfield 3 Busquets-Iniesta-Xavi is aging badly, unable to replace Alves still, we really are stuck in transition, with mainly just Messi/Suarez/Alba our biggest threat, its just not enough.

Nowadays we also gotta compete with Real/Man C/PSG for the top talents as well.... could be worrying times ahead if we dont get things right quickly.

[El Messico]

You can say that but at the end of the day they scored a goal from an individual Alba mistake who assisted the first goal despite playing the season of his life, ter Stegen could have done MUCH better in the 2nd (use your feet maybe?) despite also playing a great season and the 4th goal is Benny Hill level failure. Messi himself had probably the best chance in the first half but instead of shooting opted to stop and cut inside for reasons only known to him.

You can say the coach is at fault and shouldn't have sat back but going at the best counterattacking side in the world with 30 year olds like Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Rakitic wouldn't have guaranteed sweet f all. We didn't lose 0-4 to PSG or 0-3 to Juve or even 0-2 to Atletico in CL away games because we sat back under Valverde.

We are officially PSG now. Replacing Busquets with De Jong will surely help a lot next season but if we truly go for Griezmann we'll have the same structural problems. How do you play anything else but 4-4-2 with Messi and Griezmann in the side and where does Dembélé fit in? 4-4-2 where the middle line is Dembélé-Arthur-FDJ-Roberto? And which supposed elite coach is available who knows how to win these sort of games? Mourinho?

As far as I'm concerned we are done now. We are at the stage where Man United were in Ferguson's last 2 years. We have about 2 more years of Messi in his prime who will dominate domestically and then we'll have to replace the entire team: Messi, Suarez, Rakitic, Busquets, Alba, Pique. If Griezmann comes he'll be 29 come next season as well. Building around Arthur, Dembélé, De Jong and Lenglet? Sure, fine, but not exactly a CL winning formula.

This stems almost entirely from Valverde, the man in charge, refusing to learn from mistakes. Barca got knocked around by Liverpool in the first leg, where Coutinho was entirely useless and the midfield was completely overrun. Were the signs not clear or something? His body language during the first leg indicated he was entirely dissatisfied with what he was seeing. Barca had an instant improvement after Coutinho was taken out and Semedo came in.

The lack of control was so obvious. In both games Barca's midfield could not advance the ball forwards or even make themselves available for the pass from defence. That's why the defenders had to keep passing back to MAtS every single time. Busquets in the first half of the second leg was the only player that was holding it down in midfield, with minimal help from his teammates.

Given what transpired in the first leg, it baffles me how Valverde didnt think Arthur was necessary or that the same lineup will be sufficient in an away game.

Barca needed 1 goal to crush Liverpool spirits, they should have been attempting to control the game from the first minute.

Yeah, we know this old Barca side cant press like before, but the tactics and lineup for the second leg are genuinely inexcusable, and the marks of a cowardly manager. He will rightly be booted out/resign at the end of the season. Two seasons of cowardly tactics is absolutely unacceptable.

Messi's chance - yes he should have done better, but the flag was up and it wouldn't have counted anyway. You can put some level of blame on Messi for the Roma result, but he not only got Barca to Anfield with a healthy advantage, but also created 2-3 big chances for his teammates this game. I feel sad for Messi that he is so handicapped by a cowardly manager and old/subpar partners.

We don't have any sort of luck in these games. Real Madrid got destroyed 0-3 by Juventus at home but somehow they got an extra time penalty while we get scored on from a corner where no one pays attention to make it 0-4. Just typical.

On the other hand we got destroyed by Henderson-Milner midfield and Origi-Shakira frontline. Highest wage bill in all sports. If they don't donate 50 % of their wages for a good cause these players have no shame.

Dude, how can you say Barca didn't have luck when they were super fortunate to even get a 3-0 win in the first leg?

There I was thinking that I would come back after a tough day of work and watch us going through after an intense game. Instead my work gets ruined because of the result and I am most certainly not watching a 4-0 humiliation.

I am guessing the plot is very much the same. We just couldnt cope physically. At this level, match is too intense and physical. Pressing is a major if not the ultimate tactical weapon. You cant not press, have Busquets in midfield, Scruberto at RB and expect to compete at the latter stages of the CL.
Busquets needs to be sold. And why did we start Scruberto? Knew we would be in for a tough tie with the scrub starting?

Imagine thinking Busquets and Roberto were the main reason for the defeat today...smh.

Busquets was absolutely getting run over
Don’t get me started on roberto. He is an awful player who is lucky to play for barca.

Surprisingly I think Pique, Lenglet, Messi, and Vidal played well. The CB’s can’t do much if the box is being battered by crosses and don’t have protection from the midfield. You can’t play a pragmatic style and not have the athleticism to cope.. its not gonna happen.

Busquets was the sole player in the first half who provided some measure of control for Barca. He is not to blame for yesterday's result. Roberto - whatever, really low down the list on underperformers in yesterday's game.

The manager is by far the person most responsible for yesterday's disaster. And don't get me started on Suarez and Coutinho.

[windkick]

Holy crap are the football gods cruel.

People might not know this about me but I’m a closet Gunner. I honestly don’t want either team to win now but I guess I’ll back Pool.

[futbol]

Can you elaborate why Guardiola with his 100 point total offensive football City machine lost 1-5 to Liverpool last season? Can you elaborate why Pep 2.0 ten Haag gave away a 3 goal lead in just 45 minutes?

This is football, these things happen. Playing Arthur or "wanting to control the game" doesn't guarantee anything, it's hindsight wisdom. If Arthur played and the scoreline would have been the same, which most likely it would, you would be saying: "Why did he change, Vidal was the most energetic player in the first leg matching Liverpool's intensity"?

If we had played offensively and got countered into oblivion, which we also would have (imagine Busquets 20 yards higher up the pitch against the fastest transition team in the world) people would have said: "Why can't we be more pragmatic for once."

Dude, I'm following this team long enough, after Bayern 0-4 people wanted Mourinho and double pivot with Mascherano. Now that pragmatic football has failed as well people want offensive football again.

The truth is: We can get rekt any time away from home against an elite team whether we play offensively or defensively because we are elite at neither. Yet this 4-4-2 is probably the best possible solution given the squad at disposal. 4-3-3 with this squad ist just laughable. You either have Messi on the wing with an average rightback covering the whole flank on his own or you have both Messi and Busquets in the center of the pitch.

People seem to have this idea that we still have a good enough team to win everything and if something goes wrong it's solely on the coach. Can't wait for Setién who gets booed every week by his own club supporters or whatever noname will come next season not even guaranteeing domestic domination which is taken for granted.

[BarrileteCosmico]

People seem to have this idea that we still have a good enough team to win everything and if something goes wrong it's solely on the coach.

Not really though. People have only been acting that way since the past week when it looked like Barca were in the final vs Ajax, undoubtedly favorites. But for most of the season people didn't think we were a step above the rest. In fact I'd say most of us feel lucky that Real sucked as much as they did or the league would not have been guaranteed.

[windkick]

We couldn't of got a worse possible draw.

R16 second leg at Camp Nou vs Napoli (1-1)

QF will be Bayern or Chelsea

SF will be Madrid/City/Lyon/Juve

Then in the final it will likely be Atletico/PSG/RB Leipzig/Atlanta

[danyjr]

[danyjr]

RIP Barça

[Myesyats]

They're not even getting past Napoli lol

[danyjr]

You will but Bayern will surely kill you like they did in 2013.

[Myesyats]

shit form, but new dope kit

[danyjr]

Not a fan of the yellow. Don't know why yellow has slowly been pushed into the Barcelona kit. I guess they want to emphasise on the Catalan identity of the club (even though 95% of the squad don't speak/understand Catalan).

Back in my days it was blaugrana and nothing else.

[Myesyats]

True, the yellow sucks a little. Also the sponsor logo I always found a little tacky, although previously Qatar Airways was even worse.

But I'm glad that wide vertical stripes returned.

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