Match Day Thread 19/20

[Myesyats]

Preseason starts in 2 days, thought this was the appropriate time to start a new thread. No point in creating a separate preseason thread since the section is not active enough.


Japan
23/07, 12:30 CEST, vs Chelsea (Saitama Stadium)
27/07, 11:00 CEST, vs Vissel Kobe (David Villa and Iniesta's team!!!) (Noevir Stadium)

Squad that traveled to Japan: LINK

Gamper trophy:
04/08, 20:00 CEST, vs Arsenal (Camp Nou)

United States:
08/08, 1:36 CEST, vs Napoli (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida)
10/08, 23:06 CEST, vs Napoli (Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan)


La Liga starts on 16/08 at 21:00 CEST against Bilbao (away at San Mames)

[alexjanosik]

Excited to see FDJ. Hope Monchu gets a chance too.

[zenmaster]

Will be fun.

[Myesyats]

Anyone seen the game?

[alexjanosik]

Saw the highlights. There are certain things you can always count on. One of them is Busquets being trash. His tired lame ass tricks no longer work and the sooner we get this piece of trash out of the club, the better.

[Myesyats]

Very true.

Maybe he's a system player or maybe he just drastically declined but fact of the matter is he should be a bench player from now on.


Arthur-Rakitic
-----FDJ-----

Puig to be promoted, hopefully..... We still need midfield reinforcements.

[alexjanosik]

Saw the match against Vissel Kobe.
Training match first half. Both teams playing at walking pace.
Wonderful performance from us in second half. Played like prime Barca at times. A midfield 3 of Roberto, FDJ and Alena. Interesting that Roberto played DM and FDJ CM.
Roberto has been a very capable DM and looks good when he plays there. FDJ looked very good at CM.
If he plays well there, dont mind Roberto DM and FDJ CM. Both have drive from midfield and quite fast. FDJ is a prince among midfielders and looked outstanding. Man was born to play for Barca.

Up front, Dembele, Malcolm and Perez all looked really sharp and good. Perez could turn out a Pedro for us. A late bloomer who has an eye for goal.

Simply loved the way we played the second half. It was pure Barca football, something we havent seen for the past 7 years under Messi. Cant wait for the day we get rid of him and go back to playing Barca football.

[Myesyats]

Very impressed by Carles Perez. Looks way better than Malcom imo.

[BarrileteCosmico]

Saw the highlights. There are certain things you can always count on. One of them is Busquets being trash. His tired lame ass tricks no longer work and the sooner we get this piece of trash out of the club, the better.

Time has not been on Busquet's side. Imagine saying this with in the Pep/Tito era. Been kinda true since the Martino days though.

[BarcaLearning]

I read we are still selling to offload a few players in order to raise some funds? If thats true than it would probably mean a few of these players are still gonna go after all. But Im happy to learn players like Malcolm is being given more time, since I think hes decent enough to be a backup for us at least.

Not watched the game at all yet, but we playing like prime Barca makes me wanna, although I wonder if thats just cos the level of the opposition or its really us being good Roberto in DM just makes me cringe judging by his showings defensively at RB, hope im wrong.

How has Grizemann been in these warm up games? He hasnt shown us much for hope so far?

[FennecFox7]

Roberto at DM plays better because at RB he gets skinned and is not a good athlete. He's not going 1v1 as a DM most of the time and has cover.

Busquets declining is simply cause his legs are gone. Also the game has sped up. It's crazy how much more athletic the game has become. Players like busquets are bound to struggle, especially if someone as good as messi is having problems.

[alexjanosik]

Roberto at DM plays better because at RB he gets skinned and is not a good athlete. He's not going 1v1 as a DM most of the time and has cover.

Busquets declining is simply cause his legs are gone. Also the game has sped up. It's crazy how much more athletic the game has become. Players like busquets are bound to struggle, especially if someone as good as messi is having problems.

Roberto is one of our more athletic players lol. Tells you all you need to know. Right that the game is too athletic for Busquets nowadays. Seeing him, our midfield and Spain struggle since Xavi makes me appreciate Xavi even more. The rise and fall of our midfield dominance and SPain's can directly be linked to Xavi's rise and demise.

Busquets would be half decent if he cut out the lame ass tricks which only serve the purpose of making him look stupid and costing us crucial goals.

[Myesyats]

Frenkie de Jong: "We did not play well tonight. We have to move the ball around faster and press better when we lose the ball." [tv3]


lol

Welcome to Valverdeball. Pretty sure you could have said that after every game last season.

[alexjanosik]

Lol. We actually moved the ball fast and pressed well today. Obviously, he is comparing to Ajax.
Good luck doing both once Messi comes back.

[alexjanosik]

Our fullbacks getting schooled. Caught ball watching and keep getting taken out by a cross field pass from the flank. Firpo has had an atrocious debut and Wague has not been too far behind. Of course havent been helped by the most athletic midfield in the world of Busquets and Rakitic.
Busquets is done. He is finished and has no business starting for a mid table team in European top league football. Forget a team like Barcelona.

[alexjanosik]

Busquets walks out for the second half after that shocker of a first half

[alexjanosik]

Busquets getting schooled.

[alexjanosik]

His partner in crime hasnt been much better either. Puig has been quiet but has had some good moments, especially in second half. Rafinha has made a difference since coming on.

[alexjanosik]

And Puig gets pulled while Busquets and Rakitic who have been utter trash stay on.

[Myesyats]

Busi and Rakitic are trash but more than anything the main issue is Valverde being a garbage man disguised as a manager. They players have no idea what to do out there, they look lost, with no clear ideas or game plan. Which comes as no surprise since we just picked up where we left off last season.

Napoli was far superior, well-organized, a heck of a difference makes having a great manager like Ancelotti.

I pray if there is a higher power out there please let us sell Rakitic this summer and sack Turdverde mid-season.

[BarrileteCosmico]

https://streamable.com/kgnbv

This is pretty embarrassing. Hope he makes us more dynamic.

[rincon]

De Jong thinks he joined 2011 Barca

[Myesyats]

Lmao this is hilarious. Exposes the issues we face right now perfectly.


At this point De Jong-Puig-Roberto looks like our best midfield setup lmaoooooo

[alexjanosik]

Busi and Rakitic are trash but more than anything the main issue is Valverde being a garbage man disguised as a manager. They players have no idea what to do out there, they look lost, with no clear ideas or game plan. Which comes as no surprise since we just picked up where we left off last season.

Napoli was far superior, well-organized, a heck of a difference makes having a great manager like Ancelotti.

I pray if there is a higher power out there please let us sell Rakitic this summer and sack Turdverde mid-season.

I think the manager is to blame to the extent that he doesnt have the courage to drop the experienced players.
If we look at our starting eleven; few players stand out.
Pique, Lenglet, Busquets, Rakitic, Suarez and Messi. That's 6 undisputed starters out of 11. Whats common about them? They are all old (barring Lenglet), slow and nonathletic. 6 players out of 11 are not suited to playing the modern game. Dont care who comes in as coach. You cant play high octane football with those 6 in the starting 11. Imagine Klopp coming in and trying to play high octane heavy metal football with that team.

I can just imagine the first training session where Klopp is telling everyone about gegen pressing. And then Messi leads the group in laughing Klopp off the training ground.

Only solution is a clean out like happened under Pep. Get rid of Messi, Suarez, Busquets and Rakitic. Never going to happen so till these players retire, we have to bear with this.

[Myesyats]

Tbh there is still hope Rakitic gets sold this summer. Busquets might be sidelined a little by De Jong, hopefully. Puig has been impressive so maybe finally he'll get some chances. We'll see what happens, theres still plenty of transfer window left.

[Sponsored content]