EL CLASICO: FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid

Yeah, ref should have awarded us with two penalties on Pedro and Iniesta IMO.

I think we did a fantastic job today, disregarding the ref's decisions not to send off xavi alonso for some reason.

Disappointed.I thought we were the better team and dominated them except for their usual counters,of which there wasnt much.Still it was more imperative for them to win and with the defense we played,I guess we should take it.
Was surprised to see us line up the way we did.I thought we were going to play 3-4-3 when I saw the team sheet.But then Tito surprised us by playing Adriano at CB.Guy sure has gots.
Adriano put in a very good performance.Was at fault partially for the second goal.Still he isnt a CB and gave his best shot.Good performance. Masch too was excellent.Was organizing the defense in the absence of Puyol.Alba too had an excellent game.Locked down Di Maria and was good going forward.I am impressed.
Fabregas again did his best impression of the Houdini Act.Houdini would have been proud.Infact Cesc's feat was more impressive considering Houdini never managed to disappear infront of 98000 people.Atrocious performance.Never made himself available for a pass,pathetic passing and didnt help out defensively.Just unfortunate that Thiago is out injured at the moment.
Busquets was immense.I have maintained for some time that he is at Xavi and Iniesta level and tonight was further proof.The way he fooled Benzema near the halfway line was just sublime to watch.And he made countless blocks and interceptions.
In hindsight,seeing the way we played after Alexis came on,perhaps we should have started that way.Played 3 forwards from the start and kept Iniesta in midfield.Alexis had a good game after he came on.But Tito doesnt have that luxury.
Messi was the MOM for me.An excellent performance.Dribbled very well and was a constant danger.A sublime freekick to cap an excellent performance.
Only bad play from him was when we were 2 on 2 with them and he played a poor pass to Pedro.With his passing I expected Pedro to be put 1 on 1 with Casillas.Still Messi was the MOM.
I also thought our buildup was a lot more measured than it has been under Tito.We were more horizontal in our buildup play from the back and took our time to get the ball out of defense.It was a relief cause Madrid would have punished us with loose balls.As they did on the second goal,which came off a lost ball in midfield.

Adriano to play CB occasionally Definately needs improvement though showed good signs against Madrid. Sure it leaves Alba on his own though he will probably only play a few games until Pique is fully fit...

I only caught the last 25 mins (due to work) and on a crappy stream too! Being back in australia has it's negatives... what is with no one showing la liga on TV anymore? Shaking my head!

The last 25 mins we were superior, however Madrid played like mad men... they had 11 men in defence and 6 men in attack, we would break on the counter and routinely it would just be Messi, Alexis, Xavi or Iniesta against 5 madrid players - surprised they kept the energy levels up so much as well but thats to be expected when you are 8 points behind and if you lose 11.

They really packed the back trying to close off passing lanes and we still had 3 or 4 chances there at the end to clinch it. Iniesta had some great through balls and Messi was always dangerous (didn't expect him to mess up that 2 on 2 with him and Pedro). Unfortunately Pedro couldn't find the net at least once like we have come to expect from him at the end there and Montoya's chance met the crossbar.

Where has this Alexis been this whole time? First time I've seen him dribble - it was also out of necessity with little time on the ball his instincts took over and he was actually having some luck with dribbling.

Game was very high tempo back and forth, for the makeshift defense and recent injuries and poor form of our team a 2-2 draw is fine. However it would of been beautiful to clinch it at the end. For one, all this 10-16 yr old Madrid Fans wouldn't be arguing so much about how they are a superior team.

One thing I can't help but feel is if we had purchased Thiago Silva for 40 million euros instead of Song or 20 million euros... our defense today would of been to begin with: Alves - Silva - Masch - Adriano and with an injury Montoya - Silva - Masch - Adriano. That is above and beyond better than Montoya - Masch - Adriano - Alba. For anyone saying Silva wouldn't have playing time... that's a load of rubbish... Silva becomes our no. 1 CB and Pique and Puyol fight for the other spot whenever they are fit which is basically never. We rest TS enough for Pique + Puyol together as well and then when anyone is injured (alot recently between Pique and Puyol) we have Masch come in. That would of been a brilliant move and ensured that Barcelona stay at the top of football for the next 3-5 years.

Anyways 8 Points still in the lead! Lets keep improving!

Shout out to all the regulars too - been a long time!

A couple of points:
Surprised no one mentioned Montoya yet. The kid walked in, filled Dani’s shoes without problems and he was close to win us the game.
Alexis should never play on the right again. Keep him as a left winger. He is doing great.
Xaviesta were amazing once more.
Mache had a great game.
VV was once again disappointing in a game against Madrid.
Seems to me Villa is finished for Tito. He could be a threat for Madrid in this game but he never made it to the field.
As for Adriano, he did fine concerning he’s not a CB, but please let’s not use him again. At least not with Macherano. Should they exploited us aerially they would have at least one more goal IMO

Alexis was ok, yes. He managed to keep the ball in very tight situations and made some good driblings in non dangerous zoones. However, he failed to create a real danger when he was 1v1 with Arbeloa close to the area and he blocked Pedro's shot that was a sure goal (I was just behind that goal and Pedro's shot was going in and Casillas didn't even move).

about that shot, it was bad luck more than anything else.
as for not contributing more, keep in mind that he didn't play from the begining. The thing is that he's impproving. If he started in Fabregas place he would have been much more dangerous IMO

I agree that if Alexis started it would have been better, but mostly because Iniesta in the middle is a big difference.

Yeah, it was bad luck, but who asks Alexis to run just in front of a teammate who is about to shot? Remember Cruyff: "when a player of mine is in one to one, leave him alone, if you go there you are most likely to bother him and bump into his way". Nice defensive job for Madrid Alexis...

yeah well either you're being too harsh or it's just your sense of humor.
this happens in football all the time. it's not that he does that intentionally.
He had a decent game and I'm not going to falme him for an unlucky possitioning. it's a possitive thing that he starts showing he can play for us unlike his first games on the right wing... let's be positive

One more point even though Pedro did not score, i think we got him back. I loved how he tormented Marcelo

^ Did you see how he outsprint Ronaldo(although Pedro started to accelerate before Ronaldo) for that last chance? Started like a meter behind him and had to make a more diagional run than Ronaldo, hence he had to run more meters to catch up the ball, and got to the ball first with a pretty big margin

free_cat wrote:I agree that if Alexis started it would have been better, but mostly because Iniesta in the middle is a big difference.

Yeah, it was bad luck, but who asks Alexis to run just in front of a teammate who is about to shot? Remember Cruyff: "when a player of mine is in one to one, leave him alone, if you go there you are most likely to bother him and bump into his way". Nice defensive job for Madrid Alexis...

But Pedro wasnt one on one. He had like 4 players ahead of himself(including Sanchez) and imo it didnt look like it was going to get past Casillas...

Agreed about Montoya. This is 2 clasicos in a row where he has put in a terrific performance taking everything into account.

Montoya should play from now on until Alves recovers and is fully fit not half fit but fully.

I think there's a few things Barca need to do to get back to their previous high level:

Improve defending - It's poor atm. When Pep was manager, teams rarely ever created chances.

Stop playing Sanchez/Fabregas on the wing - Barca should play Pedro and Villa as inside forwards. If Villa is out of favour, get a new inside forward.

The CB issue - Just get a new CB. I know it's easier said than done, in terms of finding the perfect CB, but I'm sure there's plenty out there. Pique and Puyol weren't/aren't all round complete defenders.

Buy players that suit the system - At first I thought Song was Keita's replacement, but Song's now playing CB?

harhar11 wrote:^ Did you see how he outsprint Ronaldo(although Pedro started to accelerate before Ronaldo) for that last chance? Started like a meter behind him and had to make a more diagional run than Ronaldo, hence he had to run more meters to catch up the ball, and got to the ball first with a pretty big margin

free_cat wrote:I agree that if Alexis started it would have been better, but mostly because Iniesta in the middle is a big difference.

Yeah, it was bad luck, but who asks Alexis to run just in front of a teammate who is about to shot? Remember Cruyff: "when a player of mine is in one to one, leave him alone, if you go there you are most likely to bother him and bump into his way". Nice defensive job for Madrid Alexis...

But Pedro wasnt one on one. He had like 4 players ahead of himself(including Sanchez) and imo it didnt look like it was going to get past Casillas...

I was just behind that goal, and I'm pretty sure it was going straight into the net.

harhar11 wrote:^ Did you see how he outsprint Ronaldo(although Pedro started to accelerate before Ronaldo) for that last chance? Started like a meter behind him and had to make a more diagional run than Ronaldo, hence he had to run more meters to catch up the ball, and got to the ball first with a pretty big margin

free_cat wrote:I agree that if Alexis started it would have been better, but mostly because Iniesta in the middle is a big difference.

Yeah, it was bad luck, but who asks Alexis to run just in front of a teammate who is about to shot? Remember Cruyff: "when a player of mine is in one to one, leave him alone, if you go there you are most likely to bother him and bump into his way". Nice defensive job for Madrid Alexis...

But Pedro wasnt one on one. He had like 4 players ahead of himself(including Sanchez) and imo it didnt look like it was going to get past Casillas...

Pedro is quite fast

I think that speed sometimes in the heat of the game looks different as well. For example, it can look as if mertesacker outspeeds an attacker when he actually doesn't

Yohan Modric wrote:I think there's a few things Barca need to do to get back to their previous high level:

Improve defending - It's poor atm. When Pep was manager, teams rarely ever created chances.

Stop playing Sanchez/Fabregas on the wing - Barca should play Pedro and Villa as inside forwards. If Villa is out of favour, get a new inside forward.

The CB issue - Just get a new CB. I know it's easier said than done, in terms of finding the perfect CB, but I'm sure there's plenty out there. Pique and Puyol weren't/aren't all round complete defenders.

Buy players that suit the system - At first I thought Song was Keita's replacement, but Song's now playing CB?

This was only time Fabregas played as a 'winger'. Im hoping that Tito doesn't do what Pep did and play Iniestabregas together with Busi and Xavi. One of occasion as the one of them was in good form whilst the other is vital member to this squad.
I really don't think Tito or Barca will get another centreback tbh. We need a centreback though Im sure Tito will just think Song is good enough. With Adriano's performance, he'll say that we have even more backup. The pair arent going to be good enough. Next market, it looks like we are looking for a forward. It seems that Tito has limited confidence in Villa and with the poor performances Alexis has shown as a whole so far, we may be needing more than one forward. Still, there is still Cuenca getting back to fitness levels... We really just need one centreback and leave Song as a backup for Busi. Dede is that option and hopefully Barta and him will prosper as players through the games.

vivabarca38 wrote:Cant wait for us to get back to Alves-Pique-Puyol-Abidal defence because im fed up with this.

You need to forget about this, its over, its not coming back.

Puyol isnt here half the time and who knows what Abidal comes back as.

Dani Alves to me looks injured from the start, physically he isnt right.

I am not so high on Montoya for this game, Cristiano beat him twice easily and Ozil made him look a fool. He is a good player but still needs time.

Cesc was bad and him being subbed was obvious. Iniesta came off the flank many times, but Cesc didnt even move into that space to combined with Alba was coming forward. We got Arbeloa to follow Iniesta, that space could of been abused of Cesc made those runs.

I expect him to do his lost lamb impression, its just a given that I cant rely on him for that...but at least the runs into space towards goal he can do...I was dissapointed. As usual his passing and lack of quickness hurt big time. He got caught on the ball 2 or 3 times simply because he didnt have the ability to dribble, turn or shield his way out of traffic. He also had a good chance to set someone in on goall, I think it was Messi...but his famed final pass continues to fail.

Alexis can fck himself to be fair. I like the guy but I dont understand him.

He is in traffic and he is doing Zidane roulettes....he is crowded by players in his own third of the pitch and he is taking people on to create space for a pass...but 1 v 1 with some fodder we play against at fullback next week..he wont even try. If he tried and failed I would just write him off...but why he doesnt even try when 1 v 1.....frustrating.

Alves wasn't injured from the start. Why on earth would he play injured? He was just complacent and clueless as he has been the whole season. Doesn't add anything in attack currently and is a hole in defence. Our weakest link from the star players.

Well i think Dani's form has not been perfect this season, but still believe he is better choice for big games. Now at least Montoya has a chance for some first team action and he should give his best to improve and aim for the 11 spot. If Montoya plays well it will make Alves step up his game as well.

Dont know whats the story with alves but if i had to take a guess id say its a bit of both! id say he's carrying some knock on his leg which he's nursing slightly and combined with a general distraction and lack of motivation almost it comes across disastrously!
wasnt agreeing with free at all with his criticism of alves up til now but having watched that match, one of the two most important matches of the season, and seeing how he mentally wasnt up for it is not good enough for us! when it comes to playing madrid, we need to see the players giving everything, even if they are carrying a knock!

as for alexis, dani im starting to think that its because he was under so much pressure from opposition players as soon as he got the ball that the dribbling came out and he didnt fall over! next weekend, whatever half rate right back he'll be facing wont be in his face as soon as he gets the ball, instead will step back and wait for alexis to come at him and this gives him time to think and the doubts creep in and he then takes the safe option and passes it instead! but when forced to just instantly react to pressure as soon as the ball arrives, instinct takes over and he uses his dribbling to get out of trouble!!

my personal theory on alexis is that he's feeling really nervous and self-concious at barca at the moment and he's still only 23! he was brought into arguably the greatest team ever and is understandably quite nervous about it! he's trying to fit in with the philosophy of retaining possession when its not his strong point and this is constantly on his mind so when he gets a pass and has time to think, he doubts what he should do and remembers just the retain possession and takes the easy option of the pass! BUT if put in the stituation where he isnt afforded that seconds thought, then he can still be the dribbler that he was at udinese! i genuinely just think he's very short of self-confidence to risk losing the ball by taking on his player! remember pedro has also suffered from this at times and has admitted that Pep had to urge him on to force him to take on his man!! not everyone is a messi who has the confidence to take on numerous men and get past them or not be afraid of losing the ball because of trying!

Forgot to post this.

This week in my pod we did a Clasico special. Hope u have time for a listen:

http://goldenfoot.com/la-revue-18-the-weekly-outlook-on-world-football-clasico-special/

The Franchise wrote:Dani Alves to me looks injured from the start, physically he isnt right.

I am not so high on Montoya for this game, Cristiano beat him twice easily and Ozil made him look a fool. He is a good player but still needs time.

Cesc was bad and him being subbed was obvious. Iniesta came off the flank many times, but Cesc didnt even move into that space to combined with Alba was coming forward. We got Arbeloa to follow Iniesta, that space could of been abused of Cesc made those runs.

I expect him to do his lost lamb impression, its just a given that I cant rely on him for that...but at least the runs into space towards goal he can do...I was dissapointed. As usual his passing and lack of quickness hurt big time. He got caught on the ball 2 or 3 times simply because he didnt have the ability to dribble, turn or shield his way out of traffic. He also had a good chance to set someone in on goall, I think it was Messi...but his famed final pass continues to fail.

Alexis can fck himself to be fair. I like the guy but I dont understand him.

He is in traffic and he is doing Zidane roulettes....he is crowded by players in his own third of the pitch and he is taking people on to create space for a pass...but 1 v 1 with some fodder we play against at fullback next week..he wont even try. If he tried and failed I would just write him off...but why he doesnt even try when 1 v 1.....frustrating.

When he is crowded he doesnt have time to think, in those moment he trust his instinct and his instinct is to dribble while when its against the fullback he generally have time to think what to do and he ends up playing it safe.

free_cat wrote:

harhar11 wrote:^ Did you see how he outsprint Ronaldo(although Pedro started to accelerate before Ronaldo) for that last chance? Started like a meter behind him and had to make a more diagional run than Ronaldo, hence he had to run more meters to catch up the ball, and got to the ball first with a pretty big margin

free_cat wrote:I agree that if Alexis started it would have been better, but mostly because Iniesta in the middle is a big difference.

Yeah, it was bad luck, but who asks Alexis to run just in front of a teammate who is about to shot? Remember Cruyff: "when a player of mine is in one to one, leave him alone, if you go there you are most likely to bother him and bump into his way". Nice defensive job for Madrid Alexis...

But Pedro wasnt one on one. He had like 4 players ahead of himself(including Sanchez) and imo it didnt look like it was going to get past Casillas...

I was just behind that goal, and I'm pretty sure it was going straight into the net.

It was a pretty tame shot, though thats why I think that it was going in..

free_cat wrote:Alves wasn't injured from the start. Why on earth would he play injured? He was just complacent and clueless as he has been the whole season. Doesn't add anything in attack currently and is a hole in defence. Our weakest link from the star players.

I didnt say injured, I said physically not right. I find it hard to belive it was simply that challange where he lost the ball that injured him so bad....he barely got touched.