Barca v City Post Match Thread

[kaz7]

Gerard Piqué (3 weeks) and Jordi Alba (2 weeks) will both miss Barcelona's match against City on November 1 through injury.

 

[Jazzman]

It would seem that the injuries to Alba and Pique are bad enough that they will not play against us in the home game. Good news :-)

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

cO



Completely agree, The first 20 minutes gave them something to think about. Up untill the messy Messi goal I would say we were dominant.

Unlucky for Fenandinho. If we went into the second half at 0-0 we couldve taken Barca at the Nou Camp.

Very unlucky on the night.

Bravo - needs to tighten up, a bit to loose in his play . Needs to focus

First goal was unlucky but the rest of it is poor finishing and poor keeping and defending. Nothing to do with luck that bit.

 

[the blue panther]

Gerard Piqué (3 weeks) and Jordi Alba (2 weeks) will both miss Barcelona's match against City on November 1 through injury.

Hopefully we'll be at full strength and we'll beat them - with a little bit of the luck we missed last night - and providing that the lads remember to put some proper studs in their boots.

 

[alib]

Pep got several things wrong.....
1 leaving Sergio on the bench for so long against what ended up being a Championship standard Barca defence
2 picking the world's slowest full backs Zab and Kolarov - it didn't work Spurs away and certainly wasn't going to work at Barca away - they could play against say Bournemouth at home but not away against a top side
3. Moving Otamendi to right back when he was having a great game in the middle against Suarez leaving Kolarova no Stones in the middle

 

[MeatHunterrr]

Hopefully we'll be at full strength and we'll beat them - with a little bit of the luck we missed last night - and providing that the lads remember to put some proper studs in their boots.

we wont be at full strength as Bravo is banned

 

[kaz7]

Hopefully we'll be at full strength and we'll beat them - with a little bit of the luck we missed last night - and providing that the lads remember to put some proper studs in their boots.

Willy in goal and our fullbacks are our weak link,can't see us getting anything out of the game

 

[mosssideblue]

We keep making mistakes and of course a team like Barca can punish them. Even teams like Everton, Spurs, Celtic punished our mistakes and got a draw or win against us. Barca is way above any of these teams.

But when Pochettino saw Kolarov/Zab starting and Enrique saw the same last night I am sure they were very happy.

We need to come up with some ideas that we can actually perform against top sides. Chelsea away, Arsenal away, Liverpool away, we need to get something out of these fixtures instead of just losing them trough silly mistakes and bad finishing.

Is it not a case of some fans writing chequers this current squad cannot afford, and expectations this season are a little over ambitious?

 

[Jazzman]

we wont be at full strength as Bravo is banned

And that is pretty bad for us as Bravo is seriously important for Pep's system.

 

[Bewar3them00n]

The difference lastnight, was AGAIN.... FINISHING!!! or lack of it on our part.
I'm not overly worried that we are again at the same juncture we were last season, winning the early round of 5 or 6 games, then hitting a blip, Pep will continue to fine tune and develop his players.
That we went toe to toe with Barca for long periods, caused them real trouble is a major plus point for us, but the issue of taking our chances and being clinical is something that needs all of Pep's attention, which I'm sure he will address it.
We are still a work in progress, we will improve, I'm sure Pep will strengthen during January and next Summer, we are still top of the Prem, still playing scintillating football, can't win 'em all!

 

[lazza]

Some positives for me:
- the first time we didn't seem overawed being on the same pitch as Barcelona
- we matched them for possession and (in the 1st half) created more (and better) chances
- we stifled their creativity with our high pressing, and forced lots of errors (how many times did ter Stegen boot the ball out)
- Raheem's continuing growth as a key player for us
- not losing 7-0 playing with 10 men against the most skilful club team in the world!

Some negatives:
- still lacking the killer instinct
- giving a game away we had a chance to get something from through a combination of poor decision making and individual errors
- losing 4-0 against a team that only created 2-3 more chances than us

One other thing: who will be our sub goalie in 2 weeks?

 

[Terra Passenger]

The difference lastnight, was AGAIN.... FINISHING!!! or lack of it on our part.
I'm not overly worried that we are again at the same juncture we were last season, winning the early round of 5 or 6 games, then hitting a blip, Pep will continue to fine tune and develop his players.
That we went toe to toe with Barca for long periods, caused them real trouble is a major plus point for us, but the issue of taking our chances and being clinical is something that needs all of Pep's attention, which I'm sure he will address it.
We are still a work in progress, we will improve, I'm sure Pep will strengthen during January and next Summer, we are still top of the Prem, still playing scintillating football, can't win 'em all!

+1

Couldn't agree more.

We were in excellent position to score on numerous occasions versus Barca but were unlucky not to finish.

I think we'd still have lost the match following Bravo's sending off - but we were very competitive otherwise.

On another night, Bravo wouldn't have made that error - gifting the ball to Suarez - and we'd have been much more clinical in finishing - and Fernandinho wouldn't have slipped.

I actually though that we were extremely unfortunate not to have emerged with a win.

 

[kaz7]

Some positives for me:
- the first time we didn't seem overawed being on the same pitch as Barcelona
- we matched them for possession and (in the 1st half) created more (and better) chances
- we stifled their creativity with our high pressing, and forced lots of errors (how many times did ter Stegen boot the ball out)
- Raheem's continuing growth as a key player for us
- not losing 7-0 playing with 10 men against the most skilful club team in the world!

Some negatives:
- still lacking the killer instinct
- giving a game away we had a chance to get something from through a combination of poor decision making and individual errors
- losing 4-0 against a team that only created 2-3 more chances than us

One other thing: who will be our sub goalie in 2 weeks?

Gunn will be sub goalie,the choices are not good for a game like that

 

[Terra Passenger]

Gunn will be sub goalie,the choices are not good for a game like that

Might that actually be a blessing in disguise?

If Gunn somehow comes on and displaces Willy - that might well be of benefit to our side.

I like Willy - but, just as Joe was - I think he's totally unsuitable for the way Pep wants to play.

 

[Gray]

And that is pretty bad for us as Bravo is seriously important for Pep's system.

I am sorry but I consider that statement to be a load of bollocks.

I have seen nothing from Bravo yet that makes me think that Hart could not have continued as first choice.

 

[kaz7]

Might that actually be a blessing in disguise?

If Gunn somehow comes on and displaces Willy - that might well be of benefit to our side.

I like Willy - but, just as Joe was - I think he's totally unsuitable for the way Pep wants to play.

No,Angus is essential an EDS keeper,in no way is this game a good time to test him

 

[OB1]

Listen to Pep's interviews.

And read "Pep Confidential."

Your opinion is 100% wrong.

Actually it isn't: personality definitely had something to do with it although not sure that influence in dressing room was a specific issue other than Pep wants certain behaviours from his players and if someone is not exhibiting them it could potentially be seen as the wrong influence.

And I've read Pep Confidential (twice) and listened to plenty of interviews and they are not as helpful as the one bit of inside info that I happen to have.

 

[Terra Passenger]

Actually it isn't: personality definitely had something to do with it although not sure that influence in dressing room was a specific issue other than Pep wants certain behaviours from his players and if someone is not exhibiting them it could potentially be seen as the wrong influence.

And I've read Pep Confidential (twice) and listened to plenty of interviews and they are not as helpful as the one bit of inside info that I happen to have.

Personality didn't help Joe. I agree with that.

But really.. no way that Pep was going to play without a keeper who wasn't world-class playing it from the back.

There's no way - even if Joe was an absolute angel and backed everything that Pep desired - that Joe would have been our starting keeper at the start of this year.

At best, Joe could have hoped for a backup role - and training his ass off to hopefully become sufficient on the ball to start under Pep's system (I personally doubt that this would ever have occured - either you're great on the ball at birth or you're not - Joe is not).

 

[Armaan]

The difference lastnight, was AGAIN.... FINISHING!!! or lack of it on our part.
I'm not overly worried that we are again at the same juncture we were last season, winning the early round of 5 or 6 games, then hitting a blip, Pep will continue to fine tune and develop his players.
That we went toe to toe with Barca for long periods, caused them real trouble is a major plus point for us, but the issue of taking our chances and being clinical is something that needs all of Pep's attention, which I'm sure he will address it.
We are still a work in progress, we will improve, I'm sure Pep will strengthen during January and next Summer, we are still top of the Prem, still playing scintillating football, can't win 'em all!

Who's clinical apart from Kun though? Kdb isn't a striker. Sterling far from clinical. Silva far from clinical. Gundogan still settling in. We desperately need goals in our team.

 

[OB1]

No,Angus is essential an EDS keeper,in no way is this game a good time to test him

Pep rates Gunn very highly as a prospect but I think he will be reluctant to use him in the first team this season. Next season I expect him to take Willy's place. Would not be surprised to see him go out on loan for a short time to get some first team games.