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FC Barcelona Thread

Didn't see your game (apart of the penalty which wasn't tbh) but looking at the result I presume you're tremendous. With Villa and Masch you are even better (although I can't see where you're going to put the argie).

Don't worry about Madrid draw. Remember: Inter draw in the first round of the last two seasons. "The Philosopher" should consider that. :LOL:
 
Well, it's always better to be in front, be it first match or last one. The league will be decided by very minor fails, as last season, so a draw is practically a defeat.

Barcelona played fairly well considering they played at a low pace and saving energies. It seems that the team plays even better than before. We've recovered Iniesta (which is an incredible piece to the team and was injured for most part of last season) and have added Villa who seems to understand football the same way.

About Madrid, I watched the full match and they only had chances in the last 20 minutes when Mallorca were very tired. I liked Ozil and Khedira, but overal the feeling is that the team plays exactly as last season, if not worse. Mourihno could win the Serie A because there was little opposition, but in front of this Barcelona, every draw is a big step backwards (and I doubt any of them looses more than 2 matches overall due to the big gap between the big 2 and the rest).

I think Madrid will draw several matches this year, and can't see how Mourinho can turn the trend even with the 7 signings he does every season. By now, they showed some good defense and a horrible and unbalanced midfield. Ozil was good, as I said, but deffensively may be a problem when Higuain, Di Maria or Canales and him play in the same team, they are all poor defenders. Ramos as a CB is playing very well, I can't understand what Carvalho is doing there.
 
drekkard said:
but expect the team to perform even better on the next matches.
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I don't see how that's possible, or at least it isn't according to the British commentators.

Every single pass you played was the best pass ever made according to them, every step Messi took was the greatest step ever taken.

Sickens me.
 
matherto said:
I don't see how that's possible, or at least it isn't according to the British commentators.

Every single pass you played was the best pass ever made according to them, every step Messi took was the greatest step ever taken.

Sickens me.
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Well those commentators are rubbish then. Barcelona played fairly well, but didn't put everything in the match because players are still getting fit and the match was totally controled.

It sickens me too when there's appraisal for everything and people doesn't study carefully the details and what's really happening.

That said , the football we play is brutal even in these conditions, I had never seen a team playing with that superiority in my life (maybe only the Sacchi's Milan), I doubt I'll see again in my life a Barcelona team as good as this one.

By the way, Abidal is playing as a CB and he's doing very well. Eric is one of the VERY underrated players. He's a beast, he's quick, sure in defense and has a much much better technique and vision of play than Puyol, for instance.

About the RAC1 video, I find it poor in many many ways. I don't like that style of fanatic narration.
 
What went wrong? I mean the substitution ? I like the bleeding of young players n all. :SHOCK: At home to get beat by promoted Hercules I retract my statement not boring league anymore!
 
They played like Inter only better. Teams won't usually get points off us in the Camp Nou, but Heracles did. With some luck for them they would have walked off with a 5-0 :P

Both goals were counter-attacks. I think the league will still be boring - the only interesting thing being who's first - Madrid or Barca?
 
Atleti play us next.

Stats say in the last years we've thrashed them in the first game and lost in the second. 6-1, 5-1, 3-1 in the first game, Calderon or not. Worth mentioning Atleti and Valencia are the only spanish teams who actually tried attacking us these past 2 years. Cheers to them!
 
We played badly (too many changes on the starting eleven). Besides, I think playing Keita and Mascherano or Busquets at the same time against an opponent that simply blocks the goal and runs the counter is a waste of time, same as Bojan.

We've got an incredible starting eleven, but we have little depth in the bench. That sais, Hercules played very well deffensively (just like Inter did) and had all the luck in the world to score on the first two times they shot to goal. But kudos for them for playing fair and get a brilliant result.

We need to step up, and players like Xavi, Messi or Alves are obviously so unfit that we may have problems the next weeks until our key players get in shape.
 
I'm glad that for once Atletico Madrid had a good start...i'm a big fan of the football Barcelona plays, but the image of Atletico as loosers atracts me...i really like that team.

I hope they can win against Barça, but like always they will have a bit of a thrasing against Barcelona...
 
Well, I sent a PM to PLF recently explaining I was a bit of a fan of Atletico for those reasons in fact!

The thrashingo of Atletico is always in our stadium, while next weekend we play at Vicente Calderón, a stadium that is historically one of the worse for us and where we lost our only match in the whole league last season, so I'd say Atletico are favorites.

Yes, I'm glad there seems to be more competition than last year, but I fear it's mainly because:

1- Barcelona is unfit, after a summer loaded with international matches and 12 players crossing the Atlantic twice this week. One of the reasons we lost to Hercules was being so tired, besiedes Hercules playing well and having luck (but that's always necessary to win the big teams!).

2- Madrid is getting to grips with what Mourinho wants.

Once those 2 teams get it "going", I fear the league will be again a battle of 2. Glad to see Atletico there, by the way.
 
drekkard said:
We've got an incredible starting eleven, but we have little depth in the bench. That sais, Hercules played very well deffensively (just like Inter did) and had all the luck in the world to score on the first two times they shot to goal. But kudos for them for playing fair and get a brilliant result.
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Nah, Hercules were not as defensive as Inter. The manager did say his gameplan was based on Inter's but he had two strikers up front and it could have been 3-0 had Trezeguet converted that chance.

You guys look clueless when a team defends quite deep.
 
Yes, we have problems when someone defends very deep, and that's one of my concerns. Last year we lost to Inter because we had no plan B. Seems that we have to enter the goal with the ball on our feet.

We need alternatives, like long range shooting, like crossing and all these things you do when your opponent is inside their own area.

That's why I wanted a big forward, like Luca Toni, or someone like Larsson, that is a aerial danger. We NEED people that can play a different kind of football, specially for those matches. But it seems Guardiola doesn't see that.

Hercules crossed 3 times the halfline in the first half and got a goal in its first shot on goal. In the second half they scored the first time they shot again (bautiful teamplay by the way), that's what allowed them to sit back and try counters. It was a very similar match to Barcelona-Rubin Kazan last year and Guardiola continues to be useless when a match gets wrong. It seems that if we score we always win, but when we're down we have serious problems to come back.

I hope we do much much better tonight in the CL.
 
drekkard said:
That's why I wanted a big forward, like Luca Toni, or someone like Larsson, that is a aerial danger. We NEED people that can play a different kind of football, specially for those matches. But it seems Guardiola doesn't see that.
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Didn't Ibrahimovic fit that description?
 
I think drekkard wanted Zlatan to stay...
Barcelona could do with Diego Forlan (but that would not be a good thing for football) and also with Cesc Fabregas. He has another style of passing than Xavi...with Fabregas Barcelona could have a plan B.
 
Yes, as Gerd says I wanted Zlatan to stay mainly because of that. My alternative to Ibra would not be Forlan, but another uruguay player, you know who. He would be great for us...

I agree Cesc has a different kind of passing, and he has a much better long shooting and has a lot more of "area threat" than Xavi and Iniesta. That's what makes him so valuable for us. I would also liked Ozil, as he fits as well this description, and would have been a great addition to our squad this year.

But Guardiola decided to have a very small list of players. Yes, we have Dos Santos and Thiago ready for the first team, but still, we're lacking something different and teams like Chelsea, Man Utd and even Madrid can play different kinds of football to win, while we need to play like a dream to win. I mean, it's great because Guardiola has made this team play like a dream for 2 years, but we're having a lot more opposition this season, in all fronts.
 
Yeah, Ibra gave you that Plan B, an option to go long, just look at his goals against Madrid and Stuttgart.

Llorente would be a good choice to fill that role. He did well in that role when he came off the bench for Spain at the WC.

Right now, you're relying on chucking Pique up there. A big club shouldn't be relying on one of its centre backs to play target man when behind.
 
You're right, Llorente would be perfect. In fact, there was some interest this summer, but the problem is he costs 30 M€, and knowing that we "should" be signing Cesc this season, there won't be money left for Llorente. I think Suárez would be a good pick and cheaper too, though he doesn't has the "pivotal / target man" power of Llorente or Ibra.
 
There's a certain Uruguayan striker who'd be even better in that role than Forlan or Suarez. But he joined Napoli this summer.
 
Watching Messi live yesterday. That guy is the best player I've ever seen. Just incredible. And he's only 23. It's really a thing from another time.

He scored 2, missed a penalty (done to him), did 2 posts and 2 assists. And had 5 more shots to goal. I mean, with all the greek defenders inside the area and he managed to do what he wanted.

There's a great difference when the team is fit or unfit. Against Hercules some subs played and the key players were still tired. Yesterday, the starting eleven showed how football is meant to be played.
 
I saw the highlights, he was incredible. The assist for Dani Alves goal was just lovely to watch, as were both his goals. There's nobody close to him. I do wonder if he's starting to reach his peak though and he'll lose his way before his late 20's like Michael Owen or Ronaldinho did. Hopefully not and he can carry on for longer cos he's great to watch.
 
I'm rather confident that he will be up there longer than Ronaldinho.
If he stays injury free he will certainly have a longer peak period than Owen, who had bad luck.
Ronaldinho was great a couple of years, but seems the archetypical Brazilian favella player: immensely talented but not too bright and very immature.
Messi seems very down to earth and rather mature...
I think Christiano Ronaldo is more the Ronaldinho type (but to be honest, he's the player i love to hate...especially since he plays for Real Madrid...i really really don't like Real Madrid).
 
Not regarding work rate, but Ronaldo is much more of a star than Messi.
To me that's negative.
But i'm not objective, i don't like Ronaldo at all...
 
There is no doubt that Messi will reach a peak that Ronaldo could only dream of. But Messi and Ronaldo are two different kinds of superstars. Messi is the definition of unique, one of those players who define their own style. Ronaldo on the other hand is more like a Ferrari, a well-oiled machine that consistently performs at breakneck speed, and looks damn good doing it. But he has physical limits, unlike Messi. He's simply a magician, and one runs out of adjectives to describe him.
 
Cristiano ronaldo is a great player, and if Messi were not playing football, he could be considered the best footie player. Cristiano is a hard worker, but his attittude makes some people hate him (me included) and he plays too much the role of a star (and that of a diver). Messi may not do tv ads in underwear, but he's one of those players that define a full generation (or many) and make history. One of those players that arise only every 20 years if we're lucky.

To me he's already at the same level than Cruyff, Pele or Maradona. Yes, he lacks a world cup, but blame Maradona for that. Messi did what he could in a total mess of a NT.

To rate him as he deserves (at the top of the top, alongside the other football gods) you have to watch him live. Really, watch this guy play live and you'll understand everything. Everywhere he goes people ends up admiring him and in awe. When you see that guy at full pelt, turning in a dime with the ball being part of his feet... I have no words, I had never seen anything like it.

At his 23 years he's won everything being the absolute star of the team, scoring nearly 40 goals per season without being a striker (like the good old "10s" he plays everywhere, wherever he sees right to be). Oh, and giving about 15-20 assists per year, so more assists than Xavi, for example.

And if you see a collection of his goals and lpays so far, he's got more material than most of the other stars full-career hilghlights combined.

Let's hope he carries on humble as he is and with that "amateur" love for the sport, which is what, in my oppinion, makes him different than the rest. He's a boy playing football in the park dribbling all his friends to win the match. Only there's 100.000 people watching him play in the park.
 
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