Re: Match Day Thread 20/21

[alexjanosik]

Great win. It is not normal to dominate La Real away like this. Even if David Silva was not there.

We are 2.5 players away from being a decent side.

2.5 away from being a decent side. If we make the right moves and get rid of the players that we need to get rid of; we are 2 signings away from competing for the league and CL. I see need for an experienced CB and a genuine goalscoring CF. Those 2 additions and we are set.

[alexjanosik]

Mingueza needs to improve tactically, or needs new instructions from Koeman. There is no point using a back 3 if he goes ahead of the ball and rivals can counter into the space he leaves.

Messi moving over to the left side unbalances the team but does help create overloads. But him dropping deep is hurting our ability to counter press.

Surely Koeman is working on it. I think he also needs someone on the field to guide him. Unfortunately he doesnt have that right now.
That being said, I would rather we have the edge which Mingueza provides (with some of his tactical issues) than him not play.
Football is not just skill and technique. Its also about mentality and our team is full of players with weak mentality. Mingueza is a breath of fresh air in the team. He looks like Ramos, is rash like Ramos but more importantly for us, has the tremendous competitive zeal of Ramos.

[Myesyats]

Great win. It is not normal to dominate La Real away like this. Even if David Silva was not there.

We are 2.5 players away from being a decent side.

2.5 away from being a decent side. If we make the right moves and get rid of the players that we need to get rid of; we are 2 signings away from competing for the league and CL. I see need for an experienced CB and a genuine goalscoring CF. Those 2 additions and we are set.

Haaland, Aouar, Tapsoba...these would be dream signings---then Gaya, Sancho maybe.

Its a shame we dont have money lol

[Winter is Coming]

Welll...the future doesn't look too bleak afterall.

Messi has registered a G or A in every game in 2021.

[Kebab]

Messi this season - 30 goals + 15 assists. in the worst time of his career he still above everyone

also Pedri

[Myesyats]

Not offside!!!


Where is Pjanic btw???

Not needed. Moriba is clearly better already

I guess!! He is quite good. Especially defensively, it's hard to dribble around him. He's our own homegrown Pogba but with a brain hopefully


Next season Collado will be promoted so I'm also excited about that. Some good finally coming out of La Masia.

[The Franchise]

Great win. It is not normal to dominate La Real away like this. Even if David Silva was not there.

We are 2.5 players away from being a decent side.

2.5 away from being a decent side. If we make the right moves and get rid of the players that we need to get rid of; we are 2 signings away from competing for the league and CL. I see need for an experienced CB and a genuine goalscoring CF. Those 2 additions and we are set.

Agree.

Trouble is that centerback. My eye tells me we need someone who is left footed or at least extremely comfortable playing on the left of the back 3. He has to be mobile and dynamic to press wingers if called on, but solid and commanding inside the box. A left sided Kounde for example.

Such a player could proven tricky to find, especially given our constraints.

[The Franchise]

Mingueza needs to improve tactically, or needs new instructions from Koeman. There is no point using a back 3 if he goes ahead of the ball and rivals can counter into the space he leaves.

Messi moving over to the left side unbalances the team but does help create overloads. But him dropping deep is hurting our ability to counter press.

Surely Koeman is working on it. I think he also needs someone on the field to guide him. Unfortunately he doesnt have that right now.
That being said, I would rather we have the edge which Mingueza provides (with some of his tactical issues) than him not play.
Football is not just skill and technique. Its also about mentality and our team is full of players with weak mentality. Mingueza is a breath of fresh air in the team. He looks like Ramos, is rash like Ramos but more importantly for us, has the tremendous competitive zeal of Ramos.

Agree. Overall I like Mingueza and see him being an important player once he gains more experience and knowledge. But with him there, De Jong in the middle and a left footed guy on the left, this doesnt leave room for Araujo.

So I would also like to see what happens if Araujo plays that position on the right.

Logically you would assume Araujo should play in the center of the 3, but De Jong gives a completely different dimension at the back and I think moving forward he may split alot of time to both that and in the 2nd line position Pedri currently performs in. If so, Araujo should be tested in this position to see the results.

[BarcaLearning]

So all of a sudden we are likely to change to a back 3 for the long term? I know the game evolves, and its probably not good to be too rigid in todays game, but I always thought Barca would be 4-3-3 if given the choice to be at our best? I guess we've been playing make do with what we have for a few years now, but still, to see us playing 3 back would be strange. I guess we will continue to be something a bit strange until Messi leaves and we become a more normal team shape wise again

[alexjanosik]

Mingueza needs to improve tactically, or needs new instructions from Koeman. There is no point using a back 3 if he goes ahead of the ball and rivals can counter into the space he leaves.

Messi moving over to the left side unbalances the team but does help create overloads. But him dropping deep is hurting our ability to counter press.

Surely Koeman is working on it. I think he also needs someone on the field to guide him. Unfortunately he doesnt have that right now.
That being said, I would rather we have the edge which Mingueza provides (with some of his tactical issues) than him not play.
Football is not just skill and technique. Its also about mentality and our team is full of players with weak mentality. Mingueza is a breath of fresh air in the team. He looks like Ramos, is rash like Ramos but more importantly for us, has the tremendous competitive zeal of Ramos.

Agree. Overall I like Mingueza and see him being an important player once he gains more experience and knowledge. But with him there, De Jong in the middle and a left footed guy on the left, this doesnt leave room for Araujo.

So I would also like to see what happens if Araujo plays that position on the right.

Logically you would assume Araujo should play in the center of the 3, but De Jong gives a completely different dimension at the back and I think moving forward he may split alot of time to both that and in the 2nd line position Pedri currently performs in. If so, Araujo should be tested in this position to see the results.

While I like what FDJ provides in a back 3, I dont want that to be his long term position. Why not try Araujo on the left side? Right footed CB's have historically been far more comfortable playing on the left than left footed CB's on the right. In a back 3, the need for a left footed CB becomes more accentuated. Still, no harm playing Araujo there. I have no doubt he can defend on the left side. Problem I foresee is his limitations on the ball. He always looks to bring the ball onto his right and is non existent on his left foot. Might struggle on the ball even more on the left side.
Either way, when fit; he is our best defender and should be part of our defense irrespective of formation imo.

[alexjanosik]

Ramos out for the Clasico. No excuses now. We have to win.

[alexjanosik]

Clear fouls not give. Body checks ignored and they get fouls for every non foul.

[danyjr]

Poor performance by Barcelona, if they play like this they will get eaten by Madrid in 5 days. Maybe the FIFA virus?

Pedri was very good, can't believe how much energy he has. I hope he doesn't become a Wilshere, cause he was the same and look what happened to him.

[alexjanosik]

Ousmane Dembele
Take a bow son. That was an electric half of football from Dembele. And the win was all him. Right from the moment the half began, he demanded the ball and just kept running them ragged. Earned a red when he again ran at them inviting a dangerous hack. And capped it off with a brilliant game winner.
And to think people dont think he is good enough. He keeps proving that he is a brilliant player who was just plagued by injuries for 3 years.

[Myesyats]

FIFA virus. Valladolid is a really shithouse team and the ref was horrible again. These type of frustrating games always happen. I'm glad we got the winner because these hard fought wins is how you win the championship.

I was surprised though how notorious and intense Valladolid were. They had so much energy even all throughout 2nd half

1 month ago they were playing RM and they only lost because Conetois had a WC game.

[neuro11]

Classico is a must-win game and there should be no excuse. Madrid will be without key players and will be tired after playing Liverpool in the midweek 3/4 days before the Classico.
If lenglet does not make any blunder and Dembele does not misfire (still misses tons to score one) we should be fine.

[The Franchise]

Classico is a must-win game and there should be no excuse. Madrid will be without key players and will be tired after playing Liverpool in the midweek 3/4 days before the Classico.
If lenglet does not make any blunder and Dembele does not misfire (still misses tons to score one) we should be fine.

Tbh not adding in Messi needs to be far better outside of the box is a little bit unfair simply because he is Messi.

He was terrible on Monday. The number of lost balls was a joke. He held the ball for far too long.

[The Franchise]

While I like what FDJ provides in a back 3, I dont want that to be his long term position. Why not try Araujo on the left side? Right footed CB's have historically been far more comfortable playing on the left than left footed CB's on the right. In a back 3, the need for a left footed CB becomes more accentuated. Still, no harm playing Araujo there. I have no doubt he can defend on the left side. Problem I foresee is his limitations on the ball. He always looks to bring the ball onto his right and is non existent on his left foot. Might struggle on the ball even more on the left side.
Either way, when fit; he is our best defender and should be part of our defense irrespective of formation imo.

Agree, but thus far it has only been Araujo in the center of of the 3 or part of the back 4. So I need to see Koeman change that and find a way to use Pedri, Busi, De Jong, Araujo and 3 forwards all together. That to me means Araujo playing on the sides of the back 3.

I think Araujo will be fine in the back 3, he is no worse on the ball than Oscar.

[alexjanosik]

Classico is a must-win game and there should be no excuse. Madrid will be without key players and will be tired after playing Liverpool in the midweek 3/4 days before the Classico.
If lenglet does not make any blunder and Dembele does not misfire (still misses tons to score one) we should be fine.

Tbh not adding in Messi needs to be far better outside of the box is a little bit unfair simply because he is Messi.

He was terrible on Monday. The number of lost balls was a joke. He held the ball for far too long.

BUMP

[alexjanosik]

Mingueza has the attitude of a champion and has balls of steel. Not the best defensively today but unlike players on our team who are mentally weak, Mingueza has tremendous mentality.
We need more players like him.

[BarcaLearning]

Mingueza > Messi, happy now? Loool

Agree though hes got the traits...on the other hand Araujo would be good to see him improve much more, maybe hes been out but despite being so good physically he struggles is many games...

[danyjr]

All in all a very tactically skewed game where Madrid, while at home only had 31% possession and happy to sit back and counter. And it worked for them. Barcelona despite their overall control over the game couldn't deal with Madrid's fast counters and also didn't have the spark to make anything happen in the final third.

Ter Stegen 6/10. Made a very dangerous mispass early on in the game. Made a crucial save and couldn't do much for the goals.
Dest: 3/10. Very poor, partly due to set up and how deep Madrid defended. But he failed both in defence and attack.
Mingueza: 7/10. Full of desire and physically dominated Vinicius despite being caught by him on a couple of occasions. In spite of the lack of clear talent, he made the right decisions times and times again.
Araujo: 5/10. Caught on his backfoot more often than not, made some poor passes and got booked early on.
Lenglet. 7/10. Can't fault him, much like Mingueza.
Alba: 4/10. Awful on the first goal, despite having an assist to his name his final pass was lacking.
De Jong 7/10. Industrious in midfield but failed to make goal scoring opportunities.
Busquets: 7/10. Much like De Jong, dealt with the Madrid pressure very well, but didn't have much to offer in the final 3rd.
Pedri: 6/10. Worked hard but lacked spark like the rest of the team.
Griezmann: 4/10. Missed a sitter (although maybe offside), otherwise didn't make any contribution to the game. Back passes, failing to beat his man, and some wrong passes. A typical performance from the Frenchman.
Dembélé: 5/10. The work rate was there but this is another game where it cements the fact that he cannot be relied on in big games. He lacks the focus to do well in big moment and more often than not makes the wrong decision. His combination play was also poor and missed many key passes.
Messi: 4/10. Had an atrocious game by his standards at least, as was with the Valladolid game earlier in the week. Weird because he wasn't off international duty with us like the rest of the team. Looked slow both physically and in the head. Low effort on what may have been his final clásico showing.

[Myesyats]

We go 1 down, Messi drops his head. That warrants 1200250101 million euros per year salary? The mismanagement of this club is unprecedented

[danyjr]

Messi was poor from the Valladolid game. I don't know what happened but he just looked extremely slow. Before that he really was on fire.

Weird.

[Harmonica]

Funny how conversation is again about Messi when we lose. If Dumbo puts the chance Messi individually put him a plate away, it could've been otherwise. Nevertheless I want Messi out, not for Barcelona, but because none of the other players can be trusted anymore. They're a lost cause, succumbing under smallest of pressures, there's no saving them. Messi's last few years are much more important than bunch of losers development.

[The Franchise]

I cant repeat often enough how much I cant stand Alba and how yet again, he shows his true nature when things get difficult. His recent good form was nothing outside of playing against average teams and having almost no defensive responsibility.

Surprise, surprise, we play a strong opponent and he has to make defensive decisions and he falls apart.

That first goal was absolutely shocking.

First of all, Dembele, Messi and Pedri had committed to the "press" in the center. Its already established, our ball side wingback jumps forward to the opponent fullback in those moment where the ball is played to that side.

Valverde and Lucas have rotated and Alba must jump to Valverde early. Instead Alba follows Lucas all the way to the back, instead of passing him on to Lenglet and stepping forward to Valverde to prevent the easy route out of pressure.

Then, after that error Lenglet cannot afford to leave the center open when the ball carrier Valverde has no ball pressure put on him so correctly blocks the middle. Alba who, cannot go and win the ball because his job is now Lucas, he has to stay back and let a midfielder (they probably would not be able to make it) or Lenglet step out to take Valverde who was coming inside.

But of course this absolute clown doesnt understand basic defending and how to prioritize danger. He tries (and a pathetic try at that) to step to Valverde who is moving at high speed and he easily shifts the ball to Lucas who is wide open. After that its over, Araujo cannot bail us out and its a goal.

I dont care how many assists or goals he scored, the man cannot defend at all and will continue to cost us in big moments.

Messi was poor, Dembele was even worse. They were fastly outperfomed by Benz and Vini.

Dembele as a 9 has its uses, but these are against teams in a high block where his speed in a danger in the open spaces. But as a 9 against a mid and then low block Madrid, he doesnt have the ability to play as a 9. He doesnt understand when to drop to receive, he doesnt know how to only play with 1 or 2 touches and he never gets to play 1v1. Koeman didnt anticipate the mid to low block Madrid used so that made Dembele and the system in general, less effective. Because we were ineffiecent in attack it lead to many transitions and it makes no difference if you play a back 3 or 4, if you lose the ball in the areas we did you will struggle.

Benz drops deep over and over, Araujo doesnt want to follow because Mingueza needed cover against Vini and Dest has to take care of the advancing Mendy. Madrid simply had to win the ball, play up to Benz who could set it back to Kroos or Modric who can then play the forward pass to Vini and it happened over and over. The solution is not to lose the ball as we did and where we did, with no opportunity to counter press.

I dont give the players that much credit for the much improved 2nd half were I think we did deserve another goal rather than a draw. But this was down to Madrid having 10 players out there who had played a mid week game and were clearly losing defensive intensity. Very little to do with us. Moving to 4 defenders was a factor, but a small one from my point of view. It was more the declining intensity of Madrid plus having another player (Griezmann) ahead of the ball and in the box allowed for more forward passing options.

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