UCL | R1 | FC Barcelona vs APOEL FC

Not that bad. Just lacking precision upfront and chemistry in the middle against 11 men in the box.

Harmonica wrote:Almost a **********. Xavi in the field and we played exactly like last season, too slow, too conservative, too predictable.

You're talking as if Xavi were the only change to the midfield

Samper really is legit.

Xavi played with Roberto and Samper in midfield.

CBarca wrote:Samper really is legit.

First team debut.

118 touches, 102 passes, 93% accuracy, 7/8 long balls completed, 4 interceptions, 3/3 effective clearances, 5 tackles.

expected us to drop the hammer but nothing. Atleast Ajax and PSG dropped points, but still....

So far Lucho has been winning but hasn't been blowing teams out. Hope this doesnt turn out to be like when Tata,Tito first arrived...and everything looked fancy but had a strange feeling to it, and the first half of the season went great and then things fell apart when the going got rough

Well we have yet to concede a goal and honestly not many teams really have gotten far when attacking us.
i think Apoel had the most chances vs us compared to the la liga teams...
but we were also practically playing with our B team which is promising.

Samper

Interesting question

Who do you guys think has a higher ceiling (regardless of the fact they play different roles)

Rafinha
Sergi Samper
Thiago

Well prob Samper as he is youngest, Thiago has been getting injured alot so hard to really rate him now.

windkick wrote:expected us to drop the hammer but nothing. Atleast Ajax and PSG dropped points, but still....

So far Lucho has been winning but hasn't been blowing teams out. Hope this doesnt turn out to be like when Tata,Tito first arrived...and everything looked fancy but had a strange feeling to it, and the first half of the season went great and then things fell apart when the going got rough

Can't see it happening. For starters the defensive numbers are deserved unlike this time last season when teams could have 10 shots on target against Barca and Valdes was playing out of his skin. Check this out: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/738490/Live 10 shots on target conceded. lol So far this season the only meaningful shot Barca gave away was after 4 games in the 92th minute with a B team.

Furthermore Lucho sees that there are improvements to be made.

Luis Enrique: "What did I like most? The result, attitude of players and fans. Very happy, but game shows we still have to improve a lot."

This is the 3th time I've seen him say that so he knows. The pressing and defensive organization is back for now. Improving the fluidity and positional play going forward might take a bit longer. Tito's absence and Tata's different approach messed that one up mightily.

For sure, I was just playing devils advocate. We deff have looked really good and tight at the back so far. Big improvement. I don't think thats because of Mathieu's presence as much as it is the that the entire team is back to running and pressing again. Rakitic might not be the tactic mastermind that Xavi is, but he doe's offer speed and height that Xavi can't add. I do like that we have such different type of mids for our usual holding role.

Imagine if we had this...

-----------Samper
----Thiago-----Rafinha


Well...at least we go two out of those three

I do think Mathieu's presence has been a rather large upgrade though.. so far he has shown to be a better centerback in the back compared to our older starter, mascherano
his height has stopped many counters so far which greatly improved one of our biggest weaknesses.
I am excited to see more from Bartra though hope we continue to give him chances cuz he's the only young cb we have..

how was ter stegen? or was it just 1 way traffic?

he saved us in the last minute from conceding a goal, and did well to come out to stop long balls
but wasn't really tested too much all game sort of like Bravo

Donuts wrote:I do think Mathieu's presence has been a rather large upgrade though.. so far he has shown to be a better centerback in the back compared to our older starter, mascherano
his height has stopped many counters so far which greatly improved one of our biggest weaknesses.
I am excited to see more from Bartra though hope we continue to give him chances cuz he's the only young cb we have..

Mathieu was pretty terrible vs Villarreal.

Donuts wrote:Well we have yet to concede a goal and honestly not many teams really have gotten far when attacking us.
i think Apoel had the most chances vs us compared to the la liga teams...

Villarreal hit your post two or three teams so don't let this clean sheet stat bs deceive you.

okay.. so they hit the post twice in what 4 games? like i understand you guys are a negative bunch but be realistic the stats are in favor of us especially compared to last season like said by Fuball where our keeper was making 3+ saves per game whereas we are in a maybe 1 per game ratio?

windkick wrote:

Donuts wrote:I do think Mathieu's presence has been a rather large upgrade though.. so far he has shown to be a better centerback in the back compared to our older starter, mascherano
his height has stopped many counters so far which greatly improved one of our biggest weaknesses.
I am excited to see more from Bartra though hope we continue to give him chances cuz he's the only young cb we have..

Mathieu was pretty terrible vs Villarreal.

tbh the only thing he was bad at was just clearing the ball in terms of stopping it though he did well and his aerial ability + able to move around the field quickly was great bonus for us.

Villarreal hit the post after individual mistakes by Mathieu. Which, by the way, I attribute to the horrible pitch in El Madrigal. Clearances like that are certainly not normal for him. The general shape of the team can't be denied.

Whatever the case may be i hope lucho ends it with he's teenage crush already..at least not over-do it.

Donuts wrote:

windkick wrote:

Donuts wrote:I do think Mathieu's presence has been a rather large upgrade though.. so far he has shown to be a better centerback in the back compared to our older starter, mascherano
his height has stopped many counters so far which greatly improved one of our biggest weaknesses.
I am excited to see more from Bartra though hope we continue to give him chances cuz he's the only young cb we have..

Mathieu was pretty terrible vs Villarreal.

tbh the only thing he was bad at was just clearing the ball in terms of stopping it though he did well and his aerial ability + able to move around the field quickly was great bonus for us.

On like 6 different occasions, he cleared the ball and he literally just ping ponged it directly to another Villareal forward. It's like he was playing tiki taka with them lol. It was just one bad match from him; just saying he hasn't been perfect and I think the reason for our clean sheets has more to do with our tactics which is a good thing. I am very satisfied btw

Think that's a bit silly to expect perfection though no one has a perfect defence but ours so far has been the closest to it if you compare it to the rest..
granted its still very early but that's the current truth.