Barcelona (H) Pre-Match Thread

[burning blue soul]

So who are Barca definitely without tonight? Pique and Iniesta are injured and I know that Mathieu is suspended. Any others?

yes, but to even things up Delph is out for us still :(

 

[Bewar3them00n]

I just hope we can take our chances tonight, and do ourselves justice.
A solid all round performance, an early goal to get the confidence going and we might be on.

 

[MCFC1993]

This is suicidal. Coz 1v1 every single one of their strikers will dismantle the individual defender on him. Messi would probably cause Kompany to overstretch, and we don't want that. Neymar has shown he has the beating of Ota whwn they are in wide spaces. Ota does well in a crowded middle where he's timing and aggression are a plus. And Stones v Suarez, well you can forget about it.

3 at the back would be calamitous in my opinion. Personally I'll move Dihno to RB, play Clichy at LB, Stones and Otamendi in the middle.,Silva and Gundogan at DM, Sterling DeBryune and Nolito at AM and Sergio up top.

Defensively the DM position is not the best but we can deal with their press better and control the ball longer with Silva and Silky orchestrating.

They are missing Iniesta, Pique and Alba, overpower them in midfield and we'll win. We'd be daft not to have a good go tonight, it doesn't have to be a 3atb when defending. Fernandinho, Sterling, Nolito, Gundogan can all fill in. You instantly assume 3atb means 1 vs 1 situations and thats just not the case. With that formation the aim would be to completely isolate the front 3.

To be honest he won't play that way he'll choose Kolarov over Kompany and a right back over one of the midfielders probably Nolito, with more than likely a similar approach to the first game.

 

[shemnel]

What makes you think Barca will play a full team since they would have already won the group. If we lose or indeed draw tonight we would need to win in Germany to be any way confident. We can of course hope that Celtic get a win tonight but that could put them back in with a shout. A City win and a draw in Germany would do nicely thanks.

yep i agree!! i simply meant to say that nothing is definite if we lose tonight, and even if we only draw in Germany. nothing worth crapping ourselves about if we lost tonight.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

This is suicidal. Coz 1v1 every single one of their strikers will dismantle the individual defender on him. Messi would probably cause Kompany to overstretch, and we don't want that. Neymar has shown he has the beating of Ota whwn they are in wide spaces. Ota does well in a crowded middle where he's timing and aggression are a plus. And Stones v Suarez, well you can forget about it.

3 at the back would be calamitous in my opinion. Personally I'll move Dihno to RB, play Clichy at LB, Stones and Otamendi in the middle.,Silva and Gundogan at DM, Sterling DeBryune and Nolito at AM and Sergio up top.

Defensively the DM position is not the best but we can deal with their press better and control the ball longer with Silva and Silky orchestrating.

It would be suicidal to move our only competent holding player to right back.... It's entirely this mentality that the boss is trying to eradicate, we are inferior but we mustn't project an inferiority complex. They are here for the taking in midfield, to weaken that area puts them ahead before a ball is kicked.....

Don't be surprised to see an extra man in midfield tonight from Enrique, at the expense of one of the front three...

 

[Dax777]

They are missing Iniesta, Pique and Alba, overpower them in midfield and we'll win. We'd be daft not to have a good go tonight, it doesn't have to be a 3atb when defending. Fernandinho, Sterling, Nolito, Gundogan can all fill in. You instantly assume 3atb means 1 vs 1 situations and thats just not the case. With that formation the aim would be to completely isolate the front 3.

To be honest he won't play that way he'll choose Kolarov over Kompany and a right back over one of the midfielders probably Nolito, with more than likely a similar approach to the first game.

Yes, thays what we'll be doing with 5 in midfield. Gundogan, Silva, DeBryune, Sterling and Nolito.

The bigger point of dropping Aguero last game was his weak press, if you ask me. Sure he is not the best passer of the ball but he is good enough. If he leads the press intensely, we'll be fine.

As for who they are missing, Iniesta isn't a big loss, Andre Gomez was brought in to spot him anyway, so with or without Iniesta the drop off is marginal. Their strength is and has always been MSN. Pique and Alba are losses that would aid us in pressing them. If Aguero, Nolito and Sterling or (Sane for one of those 2) can lead the press intensely we'd have a good chance. Personally, I'd put Dihno on Neymar one v one on one side and double Messi with Stones and Nolito as 3rd support on the other. Silva, Gundogan and DeBryune have to control the middle of the park. With their combined passing and movement abilities, I think they can match whoever Barca plays in the Central 3.

The key is effort. If Nolito and Sterling pit in immense shifts, coupled with the fact that Messi and Neymar the huge parts of their defensive duties off, I think we can win.

 

[aguero93:20]

I can see Celtic getting a draw tonight - BMG have not scored for last 3 games. Brenda will play it tight.
I fancy City to get at least 1 point tonight .

What does Brenda playing it tight mean?

 

[aguero93:20]

What result are you looking for between BMG and Celtic

22 man brawl.

 

[aguero93:20]

Iniesta isn't a big loss, Andre Gomez was brought in to spot him anyway, so with or without Iniesta the drop off is marginal.

*scratches head*

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

*scratches head*

He goes from the sublime to the ridiculous at times.... Clearly intelligent but sadly lacking in experience 6.2/10