La Liga 2014/15 Discussion N. Dos

whats your point? we've gotten two compared to how many of yours? 10? i lost count idk.

Valkyrja wrote:

Donuts wrote:what does penaldo have to do with this?

Well, Messi fans always complain about the penalties we get, just like the Argentinian would score all of them.

LOL, Barcelona has like 4 penalties in all competitions this year.

Defended all corners beautifully. Achievement of the game.

why did atletico not take direct corners though.. i mean i'm happy for it and all but kinda weird no?

They were scared of Alba's and Mascherano's height.

They didn't wan't to get hit on the counter.

They know Barca is a different team at home, they were going in there for a 0-0 and almost got it.

Donuts wrote:why did atletico not take direct corners though.. i mean i'm happy for it and all but kinda weird no?

Fußball wrote:They were scared of Alba's and Mascherano's height.

This is word by word what I said earlier

ACMRox wrote:Is it just me or have Messi's pens got worse? He almost always goes to the right nowadays, and he's missed 3 of the last 4 apparently (counting some random friendly with Argentina).

Random friendly was against Brazil. Which is fine if we also agree that hat trick which people hung his international career on was some random friendly as well.

Dnmac4 wrote:They didn't wan't to get hit on the counter.

They know Barca is a different team at home, they were going in there for a 0-0 and almost got it.

Which would have been suicide for them considering messi in beast mode and neymar in R10 dribble mode the second half of the season, add in suares hungry mode

Dnmac4 wrote:They didn't wan't to get hit on the counter.

They know Barca is a different team at home, they were going in there for a 0-0 and almost got it.

this is an interesting reason. Has our direct play solved our corner problem? Directcelona

I read in a athletico fan site that the fans are also angry with Simeone's tactics of not playing a direct corner. Its really interesting why exactly he took this tactics.I cant believe he is simply scared of our counter. since when we became a super counter attacking team.

The main reasons we have not been a super counter team is a lack of will and Xavi. It's impossible to play counter with Xavi as he slows down the play a lot. With Rakitic playing instead of him this is not am issue. The other is that it goes against the 'philosophy', see Martino getting murdered for 49% possession in a game we won by 4 goals. But with Crisiselona/an inhouse manager everyone is conveniently willing to forget about that for the time being.

i said it a year and a half ago.. if we wanna succeed we have to be more counter attacking with the set of players we have it just makes sense..

A day after CR7 makes the comment of Messi spurring him to improve his game... Messi has decided to take it to heart... Two of CR7 specialties in one goal... Penalty + Tap-In... Incredible..

Most of the directness comes from Suarez playing through the middle without dropping deep (no false 9) and Messi receiving balls wide where he can directly run at defenders instead of Pedro/Alexis passing it sideways. Messi in 2 games against Atletico: 24 successful dribbles. Alexis entire last season in 34 games: 36 successful dribbles. Little to do with Rakitic. Rakitic actually makes the least forward passes of all midfielders in the squad.

I still wouldn't call this "direct" in the manner Tata tried to do. Martino actively sat back and let the opponent come. Notably against Real Madrid first league Clasico Barca was mostly defending in their own half after taking the lead. Tata tried to create and exploit space. This Barca in recent games is pressing aggressively from the front all of a sudden and as a result (+ without Pedro/Alexis on the pitch) isn't afraid to make riskier passes in the final third. It's more like Barca 08/09 than Tata style. Who never really implemented proper pressing from the front apart from his first game against Levante after which it dropped dramatically while under Lucho the pressing is gradually improving as the season progresses.

Fussball wrote:Most of the directness comes from Suarez playing through the middle without dropping deep (no false 9) and Messi receiving balls wide where he can directly run at defenders instead of Pedro/Alexis passing it sideways. Messi in 2 games against Atletico: 24 successful dribbles. Alexis entire last season in 34 games: 36 successful dribbles.

I agree with all of this. Especially the part about pass-back pedro. Last season Neymar and Messi were injured for so many games he actually got many minutes as a starter.

Fussball wrote:Little to do with Rakitic. Rakitic actually makes the least forward passes of all midfielders in the squad.

Well it's not only about Rakitic but also about who he is replacing. Is it a coincidence that under both LE and Martino we have looked more like the old-possession style Barca when Xavi regained his starting spot?

Under Tata Xavi was a starter all the time, he didn't "regain" any spot. He started 26 games and also played all big games, the games he missed he usually missed through injury. For example he also started the game against Rayo when Barca had less than 50 % possession and played super direct with lots of long balls. If Xavi hindered Barca from playing direct that game would have never happened. I know Xavi is sort of the face and symbol of Barca's playing style but he can't be blamed for the general tactical scheme of the team. There are other tactical switches that make a difference right now. Ten-fold improved pressing, Alves' modified role where he tucks inside into midfield instead of overlapping and crossing which he does very well, Messi wrecking havoc on the wing, Suarez keeping the centerbacks busy and Iniesta playing a more reserved role closer to Busquets which provides stabilitiy against counterattacks instead of his usual attacking style where he roams to the wings and takes on defenders which isn't necessary with Neymar, those are some obvious ones IMO.

Rakitic's passing in the final third against Atletico in the 3-1:



I don't see much "directness". Literally all successful passes are short and sideways except one long ball.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2faqed_alvessi_sport

Old school Messi-Alves combos. Welcome back 2008/2009.

Just seen this

welcome to every team vs barcelona.

Donuts wrote:welcome to every team vs barcelona.

welcome to every team vs atletico

^ Actually no.

So there is that.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Just seen this

thats a 4-4-2 !!!

Fußball wrote:https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2faqed_alvessi_sport

Old school Messi-Alves combos. Welcome back 2008/2009.

can see why both suddenly on form. doing it last time before leaving next summer

I'm beginning to think Ramos is sabotaging us on purpose.