Our forwards have Barca-specific issue, not overall

CR7 goes into his "i have to outshine" Barca mode and forgets the great chemistry he has developed with Ozil and Benz. He goes into super-ego CR7, which is a shame. He is also anxious on his finishes. Never the best efficiency as a scorer. But usually much better than this. He needs to stay the path in the classicos.

Benz has fixed his mental approach problem. He plays the actions perfectly now. But he hadn't had success against Barca = put a huge amount of pressure on himself. When he gets like this, you can see his finishing flair disappear... he either rushes or takes too long (no rhythm). Again, anxiety. But he scrapped and scrapped and ended up with a goal and 2 assists. I'm hoping that he now has the confidence to KNOW he can score against Barca (crucial to a CF). He was the second most efficient scorer in La Liga last year (20%) as a CF (i'm considering Messi as a CF and he's #1). Efficiency is not a problem for him now against anyone.

Ronaldo finally got a goal @ the nou. Benz got his first goal against barca. Ozil will be scary if deployed perfectly, he now has a goal against them under his belt.

I think those two games made them realize barca are like any other team and not invincible. 4 goals were scored. There confidence in there ability to attack against them has increased.

Higuain?

believe me cr7 made alves look like superman, i couldnt believe instances in which ronaldo would go and shoot 30 yards out and send the ball out of the stadium ffs.

Let's just say I have my doubts TBH.

mtfootball wrote:Higuain?

Doesn't count because he's not French (Born in France though LOL)

I really reserve any criticism of Higuain until February. I know the surgery he underwent will not allow him to train properly until the 1 year mark or more. That should be in January. No need to kick a dog while he's a bit down.

He can't create any separation right now and that's a huge component of his game.

it's funny, barca attack with 3 players and they scare our defense shitless.

why?

their forwards keep on making runs in the back of the defense, which means that we have to track them, or back off to kill the space, and 30s after we are back in front of box.

and then their midfielders start creating runs and/or messi takes over, suck people in and he can assist.

they do a better job making use of their midfielders, they can feed the forwards runs if unchecked or run at the defense to open space.

we dont have such support system, and we go straight to the wings, and then the ball has a difficult time moving around.

It's the off the ball runs, we aren't making enough IMO.

Sportsczy, that's because we are the second best team in the world.

But why is it that Barca forwards score 80% of the time while ours is more like 10%?

They are much better at finishing. I know it mostly a team thing, being setup by the midfield (and I agree with all comments today re midfield improvements needed), but in both games I saw countless missed opportunities, whereas Barca put in 80% of their chances. Whether it's nerves or tireness or just lack of talent, something has to improve with our finishing.

Zealous wrote:It's the off the ball runs, we aren't making enough IMO.

with no midfield support to pass forward, of course it's going to be difficult.

Midfield does not penetrate or erase any defenders. We rely solely on individual brilliance and linkup amongst forwards... basically attack the last 1/3 with 4 players max. Barca attacks with 5 usually: 3 forwards, a midfielder and a fullback.

It's because Barcas chance creation system is better than us. Better runs, more organised, passing etc.

Di Maria and Ronaldo don't really make many off the ball runs.

Benzema has the ability to pull a messi and always score with his first shot.

Thinking about it actually makes me realize that Benzema is one of the few players you should compare to messi and not your typical striker. CR7 should be out of the equation, he shouldn't be our main scoring outlet against them.