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Barca v City Post Match Thread
- Thread starter Robinho's Subbuteo
- Start date
jimharri
Moderator
All the vultures were circling when I got into work this morning. A quick mention of their CL exploits this season and it's a swift "fuck off".
tolmie's hairdoo
Well-Known Member
Fine margins compounded by appalling performances from Fernandinho and Silva.
Silva, in particular, at this supposed level, goes missing too easily when it's clear the ball won't be dominated by us.
His passing was poor, pressing and passiveness, equally so.
Same goes for Gundogan and KDB, for such technicians, we don't have a single player who can hold the ball up with their back to goal.
It's a fundamental faultline, which is exposed when you need to beat the press with a ball which needs to go a little longer.
Sterling was the shining light again at this level.
Silva, in particular, at this supposed level, goes missing too easily when it's clear the ball won't be dominated by us.
His passing was poor, pressing and passiveness, equally so.
Same goes for Gundogan and KDB, for such technicians, we don't have a single player who can hold the ball up with their back to goal.
It's a fundamental faultline, which is exposed when you need to beat the press with a ball which needs to go a little longer.
Sterling was the shining light again at this level.
Scaring Europe to Death
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 31 Oct 2014
- Messages
- 4,276
The big notable difference is that Messi, Suarez and Neymar tend to shine in these type of games.
Our match winners melt into the background, never quite having a bad game, but seemingly always on the periphery when the going gets tough. Even Aguero’s struggled in recent encounters with PSG and Real Madrid.
However, we're still top of the league, so we just need to beat Southampton. The media focus will then switch to Mourinho's reception and result at Chelsea.
Our match winners melt into the background, never quite having a bad game, but seemingly always on the periphery when the going gets tough. Even Aguero’s struggled in recent encounters with PSG and Real Madrid.
However, we're still top of the league, so we just need to beat Southampton. The media focus will then switch to Mourinho's reception and result at Chelsea.
Pedrothe exile
Active Member
- Joined
- 17 Mar 2015
- Messages
- 29
Absolutely-at this level its small percentages and the difference was-Fcb didn't commit the number of errors that we did and they are surgical when it comes to capitalising on errors and then finishing.Look at Messi's 3 chances/goals(unless I'm mistaken he only had 3 "chances" and he absolutely buried every one of them) -we one other hand didn't convert a single chance-just look at Stone's header-do you think any of Msn would have put that wide.I actually thought we more than matched them for the majority of the game, the only difference really being was they capitalised on our fuck ups and we didn't on theirs. Obviously the red card made a huge difference but beyond that I don't think there was a lot in it.
For me the last 20 minutes were theworst when it was 10 men each and Barca had already had to make 2 subs-during that period we conceded a goal & a penalty whichwas disappointing.
Still-this is a project and its going to take Pep some time-there was enough quality and effort to give me confidence-and Raheem looked totally at home on this stage-I thought he had a cracker.
Keep the faith!
C-E-L-FBlue
Active Member
Office rag came up to me and said he was still laughing this morning. I told him I was surprised he had awoken from the slumber of Monday night. I've just posted in the Guardiola thread that the myopic pundits will only comment on the scoreline rather than see the bigger picture of how we played. Yes individual mistakes and a couple of passengers make games like last night very difficult. However I would take that as a starting point for the next 3 years over our performances at this level for the previous 4 seasons.
Disappointed last night. Pretty shocking score line - when did we last lose by four??
However - we played well for periods of the game, we actually had more shots, and we stopped their midfield playing - in fact I don't think we are giving credit for that. When Barca are at their fluent best Busquets is controlling the flow and Iniesta creating the opportunities. Last night they scarcely had an impact. Why? Because Silva in the main stopped Busquets playing and Zaba and Fern gave Iniesta little space.
I've been pondering the Aguero decision. In hindsight I think asking Kev to play where he did actually restricted his ability to do what he does best which is to rove across the attack
But if we had played Serge we would have to have left someone else out and that might have meant we couldn't nullify their midfield. To be honest the only answer I have come up with is that if we could have played 12 we might have won it !!
In the end though their front 3 in particular are such wonderfully talented players that they can win games with a ruthlessness that no other team in football can. Whilesoever we don't have players of their calibre (which we haven't got and tbh are unlikely to get as they don't yet exist elsewhere) then the only way we can beat them is through great tactics (which I think we had last night) and perfect individual performances (which we clearly didn't)
However - we played well for periods of the game, we actually had more shots, and we stopped their midfield playing - in fact I don't think we are giving credit for that. When Barca are at their fluent best Busquets is controlling the flow and Iniesta creating the opportunities. Last night they scarcely had an impact. Why? Because Silva in the main stopped Busquets playing and Zaba and Fern gave Iniesta little space.
I've been pondering the Aguero decision. In hindsight I think asking Kev to play where he did actually restricted his ability to do what he does best which is to rove across the attack
But if we had played Serge we would have to have left someone else out and that might have meant we couldn't nullify their midfield. To be honest the only answer I have come up with is that if we could have played 12 we might have won it !!
In the end though their front 3 in particular are such wonderfully talented players that they can win games with a ruthlessness that no other team in football can. Whilesoever we don't have players of their calibre (which we haven't got and tbh are unlikely to get as they don't yet exist elsewhere) then the only way we can beat them is through great tactics (which I think we had last night) and perfect individual performances (which we clearly didn't)
I was also encouraged by a lot of what I saw, but I think you're being too positive, I said on Saturday that our defence isn't good enough, it's not, and it should have been sorted in the summer. When Everton have 3 attacks, score once and could have scored 2, you rightly worry about playing Neymar, Suarez, and Messi. The other concern is our finishing, and has been for 18 months, despite the goals we do get, it's not good enough for the very top level, as they showed last night.
Agree about the finishing,I just checked,so far this season including the CL qualifier.
228 shots...97 on target...34 goals...West Ham was the worst game with 22 shots,5 on target.