Barcelona vs Real Madrid

I also thought Messi was the root cause of Barca's problems. It is very predictable when he comes too centrally because place is overcrowded and every attempt at 1-2s will just ricochet between players and out to Busquets again who will start over by passing to Pique and we will regroup. Wash, rinse and repeat. Defensively i dont think Messi should be held accountable for Marcelo venturing forward. He is pretty much on his own on that left side. That blame goes to Rakitic. Because Marcelo kept cutting in which he does alot for us so if Enrique had watched any of our games he should have asked Rakitic to track Marcelo when he cuts in and Alves when he runs the byeline. I dont know where Rakitic was because he did not impose himself in the game enough for me to notice what he was doing. In the first half everytime Benz, Ronaldo or Bale had the ball they were very isolated because they cant dribble past players and thus tried to cut in or beat the barca fullbacks with pace, it looked really embarrassing for us especially when Ronaldo did it because he looked awfully clumsy when he was predictably disposessed.

However Marcelo was allowed to weave and slalom his way past players all half. Granted he is a good dribbler but the Barca players did bad tracking him. I would put the blame on Messi if Alves was constantly double teamed but he wasnt. Marcelo was like a one man offense on that left side and the Barca players failed to track him on so many levels. I would start by looking at Rakitic then Messi not the other way round

Suarez was very lively but was very isolated inbetween 5/6 Madrid players. He tried to drop back to play a 1-2 but that place was so congested one bad touch and we would have regained posession. It made it impossible for a through ball which meant any balls would had hve to come from the wings which brings me to my next point

What the hell was Neymar doing all game, he reminded me so much of Bale under Carlo i.e. stay by the fullback wait for a midfielder to get the ball so he can run behind our defence. I have always said it about our team if the best player is not having the best game (Messi) then the next guy has to step up and all Neymar did was pass the ball to Iniesta. Granted Carvajal is an excellent RB hard to get past but still take him on, you have a very offensive fullback behind you. Bale would have been overworked by always tracking back, only one lapse in concentration would have pinned Carvajal 2v1 which could have been the difference between a goal and not being able to create any chances on that side. Poor game from Neymar in fact dreadful game by him because he didnt even track back properly. All our chances came from his inability to track back and Bale being 1v1 with Alba (not good for Barca)

Secondly, I have said/asked it before but i will do it again any and every team out there knows against fast pacy players Marcelo will get lost but there was absolutely noone there. At one point Marcelo was chilling up there with Bale and Carvajal and no it was not due to a corner but he was allowed to do as he please and he is our best dribbler and most creative player. Like wtf put a winger on him and he will be forced to stay back and that wing will die a slow death

Lastly, when Arda came on Barca lost that discipline that Rakitic brought to them. We were just running through that midfield like there was noone there when Arda came on. At one point i saw him in our box Ramitic never does that. With Jese's speed that was a bad descision by Enrique to put him on. Another real CM would have been better. It gets on my nerves when a team puts a winger/AM as a CM. The whole shape juat gets so messed up

All in all thats how i would describe all Barca's problems

Regarding us,

I thought the defence bar Ramos had a very disciplined game particularly Carvajal who shut that right side and created our second goal by winning the ball from Neymar and running the length of the pitch through all the static Barca midfielder to their box. Pepe lost Pique for that goal and had some cringeworthy passes in the first half but he did a good job with Suarez and Iniesta. Ramos should have had 2 red cards. The sooner we cut our losses the less games he will cost us. I still remember that game we were playing our best clasico and he just screwed us over by getting a red and gifting a penalty in a game we ended up losing 4-3. Such an overrated indisciplined player. I am truly so sorry to the real good CBs out there who have to watch this guy get called the best CB in the world. I wholeheartedly apologise. Marcelo i have talked about was allowed to do as he pleased which is better for us

In the midfield although Kroos was alittle quite this game i noticed that everytime Barca tried to push our lines further and further back he would run up and pressure forcing Barca to pass backwards allowing our players to push up. And that kept going on all game. Casemiro was excellent in breaking up play, acted like a true DM by staying back and helping the fullback where all of the play was skewed to. Modric was exquisite, always doing the smart thing instead of punting it forward like Ramos wannabe Alonso and Pepe

The front 3 did their job defensively. I expected it from Bale because he has been doing it since Zidane came but Ronaldo man that was unexpected. I am happy he got the goal because i hoping that could give him so hope that even when he defdnds he can still get chances to score. Benzema was alittle lost and timid in the first half but in the second he was very good. Especially on those long balls that Navas usually never gets right, he usually brought the ball down comfortably and allowed everyone to get forward. Capped it off with an excellent goal

Navas kept us in the game in the first half particularly with that Messi shot. Nice save that. He was very assured all game and there was nothing he could do for the goal we conceded. That was a bullet header by Pique

I liked the sub Zidane chose. He loooked at the game and thought we could hit them with speed through the middle and thats exactly what Jese did. Just ran with speed through their tired midfield. I am happy Zidane had the balls to make that sub. Carlo would probably have brought on James and Isco for Casemiro and Benzema. Also i love how Zidane didnt put a CB on even when a man down and even when winning. No more antifootball Mou tainted our club with

Just watched the game again. This isnt a game i would enjoy watching if i were either teams' supporter. There was very little quality in the final third. Ronaldo being predictable, Benz having 2% passing accuracy and Bale anonymous. The game really got going properly at the 70th minute mark. While this is how to beat Barca i did not enjoy watching it the 2nd time. Pepe was so poor in posession, Casemiro was actually good with posession, didnt lose too many balls and just kept breaking up play and releasing the ball. Jese brought some excitement when he came on suddenly we stopped losing the ball and he ran straight at the Barca defenders

Anyways nice win. I knew we werent going to lose. We have stopped them using this very tactic before. I dont know what Rafa tried to make us play but i remember him a couple of weeks ago saying how our team was a bunch of individuals well Zidane showed him how to get these "individuals" playing for eachother. And Carlo showed him before that