FC Barcelona - FIFA Virus & Granada | La Liga Matchday 14 | Sat 23rd Nov, 2013

quality moves from sergi roberto

IIRC last season we played against Athletic with an injured Messi on the bench, we drew 0-0 at HT and had to bring in Messi to seal the deal. This time around when Messi doesn't play it almost looks like we don't miss him, we are not only controlling but also dangerous. And this is not only against Granada but in almost all outfits when Messi didn't play.

Tata, the slayer of messidependencia

Again, Neymar plays better at the Wing! [Alexis should play in the middle, he's inform and his finishing has been great this season].

Impressive play by Adama, dribbling through 3 Granada players and shot on target saved by GK.

Iniesta and Bartra MOM, Good game by Pinto and great one by ALEXIS!

Nice to see Sergi getting some playing time, he should start v Ajax. [We already qualified].

Can anyone confirm whether Traore is the first player to make a debut under Tata?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Tata, the slayer of messidependencia

Corrected for you

I liked how we played, only player having a subpar game was probably Adriano and my protegee CrAcklexis, but he made up with a nice goal.

Very happy Tata is giving confidence to Bartra who should be our starting CB along Piqué right now.

Also Adama, the arrow from l'Hospitalet (he is catalan), coming in was surprising and he did a nice play and Tata dubbed him as "the best prospect in our youth team". It's incredible the amount of talent our youth teams have/had recently: Rafinha, Deulofeu, Roberto, Bagnack, Samper, Sanabria, Sandro, Adama, Kaptoum, Munir... A pitty not all of them can make it.

alexis was unlucky not to have scored twice. the keeper was amazing denying him a header goal in the first half

Alexis had a GREAT game, what were you watching lol
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3 tough Liga games upcoming for Barcelona in year 2013:
Atheltico Bilbao (away) on 1 December.
Villareal (home) on 14 December.
Getafe (away) on 22 December.

Based on how Atleti destroyed Getafe id say that game will be pretty easy as well tbh.

I don't think Alexis touched the ball from the freekick, the ball didn't change rotation nor direction.

Alexis had on and off game, his touches were a bit off but he did score and got into the right positions
Pedro missed a half sitter by blasting it, and was lucky Cesc gifted him a goal.

Adriano has not been very impressive over the last couple of games, his defensive abilities don't really stand out much, granted he is probably better then Alba in defending.. but Alba is most definitely better offensively, whether it's passing.. or scoring etc.
I think once Alba comes back Neymar will break out in goals.

Villareal are the real test. Honestly it might be instructive to lose, make the coach and players realize what things they need to improve on. So I hope we lose one of the CL matches that no longer matter.

Alexis didn't have a great game. He had two one on ones where he didn't even shoot and was so slow that let the defender take him the ball ffs. The header, he barely touched the ball, I actually thought he didn't touch it, but the fact he touch it doesn't make it any better. Anyway, he made up with his fantastic chip goal.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Villareal are the real test. Honestly it might be instructive to lose, make the coach and players realize what things they need to improve on. So I hope we lose one of the CL matches that no longer matter.

I think Athletic Bilbao is the main test, we struggle a lot at their stadium.

How about both of them being real tests?  

Anyway, MotM for me was Iniesta. He was back to his last year's form. I personally believe him and Piqué were, for whatever reason, a little feisty. Especially you could see Piqué was really going for balls, as opposed to his usual complacent self.

Bartra was okay, he pushes forward a lot leaving yards of space behind him. He is lucky Granada didn't exploit this at all.

Statistics has been showing Fàbregas has been an important member of the club since he joined the Catalans a couple of years ago. But it is only now that he has started producing world class performances on a consistent basis. Yes, he is still guilty of being soft. Yes he still does show signs of lack of composure. But he can no longer be called a lost lamb. Sorry BC.

Pedro needs to unlearn the football he's learned under Pep and co. because that has made him very one dimensional. He rarely, if ever makes forward runs. Whenever he sees a team mate in midfield he comes towards them.

In fact I feel Barcelona play too unselfish when they are close to the goal. They need to show more desire and be lethal as opposed to trying to score the perfect goal.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Can anyone confirm whether Traore is the first player to make a debut under Tata?

Wouldn't it be Neymar? Unless you meant a La Masia player

Anybody else find it refreshing, to see so many people get on the score board game after game that's not Messi? Obviously I love Messi and I want him back, but this season we are finally scoring as a team and not just through him.

So who's been the main reason for the Messi dependance ending? Tata arriving, or Neymar arriving?

Pinto. Clowns gonna clown. Loved the way he shouted "arbitro" 500 times to tell him to signal the freekick via the whistle.

Busquets extremely casual. Overplaying it under pressure which led to counterattacks.

Montoya kinda meh.

Bartra and Pique. Okay.

Adriano. It's ... something.

Iniesta.

Cesc.

Neymar. Looked tired.

Adama.

Sergi.

Alexis.

windkick wrote:So who's been the main reason for the Messi dependance ending? Tata arriving, or Neymar arriving?

No brainer. Tata's tactics. We're not trying to play against the strengths of our players anymore. We're sacrificing a bit of possession for more space and it benefits everyone. Unlike Messi, Alexis and Pedro can't beat a wall of defenders. Those walls used to develop because we tried to string 30 passes together all the time to walk it into the net which allows the opponent to get back into shape. But Alexis and Pedro can certainly use their speed and chase balls when playing direct and deal with only 1 defender. Fabregas can't glide out of tight spaces like Iniesta or keep the ball as well as Xavi but he can spot runners and pull out shitloads of assists.

There is a methodology behind Pedro's minutes which highlights this very well. Pedro has only started 2 home games all season in every competition. Did you realize this? And if not for Messi's injury, he wouldn't have started today against Granada either. Why? Because when we're playing away the opponents are usually braver infront of their own crowds and come at us while we're sitting deeper and play more on the counter. Just look at the OPTA positional statistics. In Camp Nou we're in our own half only 18 % of the time. Away from home it's 25 %. This obviously means more space in the final third. And that benefits Pedro a lot more.

Tata is just being pragmatic. And if it were up to him to pick his own squad, you just know he'd buy a combative box-to-box midfielder and a #9 to mix things up even more when required.

btw, about time we start a Adama the great young Catalan thread?

Deulofeu, Adama, Dongou, Sanabria, Sandro !!!!!!!!!!!!!

To much talented forwards, sadly maximum of 2 can make it at 1st team!

Sanabria's agent said he's not renewing, right?