Barcelona (H) Pre-Match Thread

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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.
 
Dax777 said:
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.
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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.
 
Father Paul said:
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.
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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.
 
Dax777 said:
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.
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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...
 
MCFC1993 said:
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.
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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.
 
Zin 'messiah' Zimmer said:
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...
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I doubt Enrique is that clever. That said, if we frustrate their forwards we'll win. We need to think more outside the box. On that front I'm ahead of Pep :p

Hope he catches up soon.
 
Sat with my son and in a Bintang induced coma/ view(in Bali) we reckon tonight is the night, oh what a night we beat Barca on a Wednesday night, you play Thursday cos your fcuking shite. Yes baby CTID
 
Napoli said:
If we lose to Barca tonight and Monchengladbach beat Celtic, and if we lose to Monchengladbach 2 weeks later, we are out. We really need to win tonight or hope Celtic can somehow get a result. Annoying how they rolled over for Monchengladbach at home but played against us like their cup final.
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Thank fuck Barca beat monchengladbach, we'd be in a bit of trouble.
 
Zin 'messiah' Zimmer said:
I'd agree until you make senseless statements like the drop off with Iniesta is 'marginal' ...
Lol
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Kinell I seem to rate Andre Gomes a lot higher than most and it's still a big drop off to me, the lad will never be as good a passer as Iniesta will in his 90s.
 
Zin 'messiah' Zimmer said:
I'd agree until you make senseless statements like the drop off with Iniesta is 'marginal' ...
Lol
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It's only senseless for those who are behind the times. If you've watched Barca this season, you'd easily see they cope just as dine without Iniesta. Rafinha is becoming the player they've always thought he'll be. And Gomez brings a bit more physicality to there game.

Iniesta is not the all worldly of 5 years ago. But you have to actually watch the games to know this.
 
Couple of things,

Barca MAY spring a surprise tonight. Its probably unlikely, but there is a CHANCE one of MSN may not play as Sevilla is seen as such a huge game this weekend. I think Iniestas absence means Turan will play deeper, meaning MSN will likely play; its funny how Iniesta not being available could be a bad thing in that sense
At least one will be withdrawn by the hour though, thats for certain

With people worrying about the potential for Barca to drop players against BMG if theyre already top, i wouldnt worry too much
The barca trip had me sat on both flights with a scouser who has a season ticket at Barca (Dont ask...)
He reckons it is absolutely impossible for that to happen as the club NEED to sell tickets for every fixture in the UCL particularly, and there will never be a time where they drop for example the front 3 in a dead rubber. The first time they do this, people will forget about coming again to the 'pointless' fixtures and they'll have 40/50,000 empty seats which the club cannot afford right now

With regards to tonight, I'm more confident having watched the first hour in the nou camp. Thought we were set out excellently but had nothing on the break with a clinical end to it, something Aguero will change. I fancy 2-1 City.. with us 2-0 up before burning our arses late on..
 
Dax777 said:
It's only senseless for those who are behind the times. If you've watched Barca this season, you'd easily see they cope just as dine without Iniesta. Rafinha is becoming the player they've always thought he'll be. And Gomez brings a bit more physicality to there game.

Iniesta is not the all worldly of 5 years ago. But you have to actually watch the games to know this.
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You know when you talk down to people, Dax? well I'm not the one, I've forgotten more about the game than what you've learned in the last 6 years since you creamed your Y fronts over aguerooooooooo...

The reason you are oblivious to the drop off is due to the opposition 'player B' is facing, does that transcend into the higher echelons of European Football??

Cue jeopardy music.....

To be controversial is dandy (americanism for y'all), however, you want me to give credence to a guy who believes that I don't watch games because the opinion differs??

Politely fuck off you Mac and cheese eating pleb!!!
 
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