Matchday 16: Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona (Sat 10/12 22 CET 16 ET)

I did predict a fluke goal.

Puyol was an absolute rock.

The Franchise wrote:Half time thoughts, very simple.

Valdes is a ho, Cesc is so slow and pointless it hurts my head thinking about it and Messi is the boss of all bosses. No more tackles though or we might lose him.

With him dropping so deep, there is no point of Cesc.

Get him off, bring on Pedro and im happy.

Even game tbh, but I can feel we have the ability to win this.

Iniesta playing like garbage, if he can get going we could be in.

I was thinking the exact same thing at half time.
I know we win but still cant help but feel that Pep got things wrong.
Also know that both Cesc and Sanchez scored but imo his decision to play the both of them almost cost us the match.Both did absolutely nothing apart from the goals.
Cesc again did his 'Lost Puppy' act.He was atrocious.I hope Barca fans realize that he is nowhere even remotely close to Xavi and can never be.
Had thiago played instead we would have won more comfortably.
Sanchez scored a goal but other that that his best contribution was whining to the ref.
We were basically playing a couple of men down with Cesc and Sancehz on the pitch.

Tactically its also meant that Iniesta was on the wing and it showed as we couldnt dominate the midfield.He was having a poor game in the first half.

But interesting tactical change by Pep in the second half.
He pushed Alves up into midfield,dropped Busqutes back into defense and played Puyol at RB.But it wasnt a conventional back four.Busquets would often come into midfield as a sweeper.
Alexis played the role of CF.
But this time Iniesta started dropping into midfield and Cesc would go over to the left.
As a result we started controlling the midfield and from then on there was no chance as Madrid were left chasing shadows.

On the players Messi was the MOM.I know he sort of faded out after we went up 3-1 but with the game on the line and almost all of our players struggling,he stepped up and took the game by the scruff of the neck and delivered big time.Didnt score but he had just one chance and Casillas pulled off an excellent save.Still the best player on the pitch.
Like i said,if he wins La Liga and CL this season GOAT for me.

Sergio Busquets
And to think there are idiots who think he is not world class.
best player on the pitch after Messi.
Apart from Messi the only other brilliant Barca player in the first half and played a sweeper in the second half again briliantly.
Basically he played the Beckenbauer role in a 4 man backline in the Clasico of all matches and he did it brilliantly.
There is no other player in the world who could have done that.
Great great player and one of my favorites now.

Alves too was senastional.Our third best player.Excellent game from him and put in some wonderful crosses.

Lastly I had written that I was supremely confident we would win and we did.
Madrid may beat whoever they want but we are still the team to beat.

alexjanosik wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Half time thoughts, very simple.

Valdes is a ho, Cesc is so slow and pointless it hurts my head thinking about it and Messi is the boss of all bosses. No more tackles though or we might lose him.

With him dropping so deep, there is no point of Cesc.

Get him off, bring on Pedro and im happy.

Even game tbh, but I can feel we have the ability to win this.

Iniesta playing like garbage, if he can get going we could be in.

I was thinking the exact same thing at half time.
I know we win but still cant help but feel that Pep got things wrong.
Also know that both Cesc and Sanchez scored but imo his decision to play the both of them almost cost us the match.Both did absolutely nothing apart from the goals.
Cesc again did his 'Lost Puppy' act.He was atrocious.I hope Barca fans realize that he is nowhere even remotely close to Xavi and can never be.
Had thiago played instead we would have won more comfortably.
Sanchez scored a goal but other that that his best contribution was whining to the ref.
We were basically playing a couple of men down with Cesc and Sancehz on the pitch.

Tactically its also meant that Iniesta was on the wing and it showed as we couldnt dominate the midfield.He was having a poor game in the first half.

But interesting tactical change by Pep in the second half.
He pushed Alves up into midfield,dropped Busqutes back into defense and played Puyol at RB.But it wasnt a conventional back four.Busquets would often come into midfield as a sweeper.
Alexis played the role of CF.
But this time Iniesta started dropping into midfield and Cesc would go over to the left.
As a result we started controlling the midfield and from then on there was no chance as Madrid were left chasing shadows.

On the players Messi was the MOM.I know he sort of faded out after we went up 3-1 but with the game on the line and almost all of our players struggling,he stepped up and took the game by the scruff of the neck and delivered big time.Didnt score but he had just one chance and Casillas pulled off an excellent save.Still the best player on the pitch.
Like i said,if he wins La Liga and CL this season GOAT for me.

Sergio Busquets
And to think there are idiots who think he is not world class.
best player on the pitch after Messi.
Apart from Messi the only other brilliant Barca player in the first half and played a sweeper in the second half again briliantly.
Basically he played the Beckenbauer role in a 4 man backline in the Clasico of all matches and he did it brilliantly.
There is no other player in the world who could have done that.
Great great player and one of my favorites now.

Alves too was senastional.Our third best player.Excellent game from him and put in some wonderful crosses.

Lastly I had written that I was supremely confident we would win and we did.
Madrid may beat whoever they want but we are still the team to beat.

Great post

Agree with a lot of it Alex... but Sanchez was not crap... He was an excellent outlet and gave Coentrao a lot of trouble. When he scored the goal I was thinking to myself that you had talked about wanting Pedro in a goalscoring position and not him. He took it marvellously, that goal alone should give you faith in him. He was good.

I don't think any of our attackers were superb at all tonight... in fact I thought that we were still playing well below our best.

Good to see you also noticed Busi and Alves, I thought they were brilliant. Puyol was equally as good.

I don't want to pick players out because I thought it was a great performance. However, I was hoping Cesc would be subbed... he wasn't doing anything, but again he scores an important goal. Can't complain sorry. If thats his job... he's doing it.

BarcaKizz wrote:Agree with a lot of it Alex... but Sanchez was not crap... He was an excellent outlet and gave Coentrao a lot of trouble. When he scored the goal I was thinking to myself that you had talked about wanting Pedro in a goalscoring position and not him. He took it marvellously, that goal alone should give you faith in him. He was good.

I don't think any of our attackers were superb at all tonight... in fact I thought that we were still playing well below our best.

Good to see you also noticed Busi and Alves, I thought they were brilliant. Puyol was equally as good.

I don't want to pick players out because I thought it was a great performance. However, I was hoping Cesc would be subbed... he wasn't doing anything, but again he scores an important goal. Can't complain sorry. If thats his job... he's doing it.

You didnt think Messi was superb.
For once our midfield struggled,the other forwards were poor.
Who stepped up?
Messi did and dragged us back into the match.
I am sure that had he not been on the pitch we would have lost the match.

alexjanosik wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:Agree with a lot of it Alex... but Sanchez was not crap... He was an excellent outlet and gave Coentrao a lot of trouble. When he scored the goal I was thinking to myself that you had talked about wanting Pedro in a goalscoring position and not him. He took it marvellously, that goal alone should give you faith in him. He was good.

I don't think any of our attackers were superb at all tonight... in fact I thought that we were still playing well below our best.

Good to see you also noticed Busi and Alves, I thought they were brilliant. Puyol was equally as good.

I don't want to pick players out because I thought it was a great performance. However, I was hoping Cesc would be subbed... he wasn't doing anything, but again he scores an important goal. Can't complain sorry. If thats his job... he's doing it.

You didnt think Messi was superb.
For once our midfield struggled,the other forwards were poor.
Who stepped up?
Messi did and dragged us back into the match.
I am sure that had he not been on the pitch we would have lost the match.

Messi was great... Messi was Messi. Thats the thing. He's our key player, we certainly may have lost it without him. He played within himself though. A moment of brilliance to set up Sanchez, but Sanchez finished that superbly, had a lot of work to do himself. He was reasonably influential otherwise but no... I don't believe he carried Barca on his back tonight. Team performance for me. If I gave my ratings he may well top them, or equally top them but unlike so often, tonight wasn't the Messi show.

I feel blessed to have been able to watch this game and witness how great this team is.

It was lucky we didn't lose him as he really should have got a second yellow card for the foul on Alonso though he had a great game. Alves, Puyol, Busquests and Alexis played very well though I would have had Villa on the left instead of Cesc. He played poor, not his best game. Lucky Game!

The Franchise wrote:So what have we learnt today?

Stop trying to play football against us, it doesnt matter how good you think you are and how much you own everyone else.

Park the bus and try again next time.

Indeed dani. I felt just the same. The moment we go up one gear there isn't a team including Real Madrid who can compete with us at least in an open game. To their credit they did try playing football this time but I am quite sure that the next time they face us they will be back to their erstwhile barbaric ways. Also in spite of all the bitterness and enmity they feel towards us they clearly suffer from a sense of self doubt when they face us and it starts showing in the body language of various players.

Deathrow898 wrote:Good game It was so even but we had the better luck at the end.

I won't say it was even. In the first half they were marginally better but in the second half we were considerably better.

paxtonpale wrote:It was lucky we didn't lose him as he really should have got a second yellow card for the foul on Alonso though he had a great game.

If you look at it like that then a lot of other players on the pitch would have also got second yellows and it would happen in many other football matches apart from this one. Referees understandably by and large produce the second yellow only when the challenge is particularly nasty and in this case it was not. This is needed to preserve the game of football. Otherwise we will get to see eleven vs. eleven very rarely.

http://lockerz.com/s/163989895

La Masia kids celebrating Barca goals ( elclasico)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r-klUF-RLds

predictions for next classico:
Pepe, Crvalho and Conan the Barbarian to play midfielders.
WE are on a different level guys.

I just love how winning Ajax and Lyon made them feel unbeatable.
Also this Mou doesn't loose home games got old for good.

Best PLayers on the pitch for me, Puyol and Messi.
Villa shold have come in earlier

Iniesta :dance:

vs Coentrao??
http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/andres-iniesta-magic-v-real-madrid/



Vs Khedira

That will be it for all this stories about 'great Madrid'.

We are better than them and our team is big game team. Our players step ups in big matches. However we must improve in games against lesser rivals, we cannot show again this complacency, we must stop wasting chances. If we don't than we won't win La Liga, Madrid will beat all lesser teams, they are flat track bullies.

alexjanosik wrote:You didnt think Messi was superb.
For once our midfield struggled,the other forwards were poor.
Who stepped up?
Messi did and dragged us back into the match.
I am sure that had he not been on the pitch we would have lost the match.

Completely agreed. Messi was amazing, "put the team on his back" when we most needed it. Was the force behind every attack. But Sanchez was not bad by any stretch of the imagination either.

agree. sanchez and cesc had different games. sanchez unlike cesc was not anonymous excluding the goal

Huh? I'm confused. It was Cesc the one that was anonymous, and Sanchez the one that was a danger.

Eta: What did you guys think of Valdes' game yesterday? He made some good saves, but I watching him pass the ball yesterday almost gave me a heart attack. A lot of very very close balls.

edited.... one neglected word ruined my post

khaled good gif

That one is also good

matpol wrote:khaled good gif

That one is also good

hah true.. Bourinho

Go to about the 17 second mark and watch Coentrao react when he can't contain Don Iniesta. He then passed to Messi which lead to the third goal.

:mental: