Barcelona Vs City CL 2nd leg

[Bottomless_Sailor]

Barcelona have been awfully quiet before this match.

They must think it's already won.

 

[Bluemoonie92]

Barcelona have been awfully quiet before this match.

They must think it's already won.

No they haven't, They have been pretty respectful I think especially with a few of their players saying they need to be at their best to win. I have a funny feeling we will win 3-1 (I hope!) ;)

 

[Chi-town blues]

It is Ruben's times .
I won't be able to watch this match but will be popping in match day thread when ever I get a chance .
I hope not to see it melt down .

 

[StrutterBlue]

Prepare yourselves for the greatest CL comeback since Liverpool v Milan

 

[citymad]

Why has the whole squad travelled?

I'd have kept the core of the team who would be playing Hull at Carrington

What is the point of qualifying for the champs league if all you do in the end is throw in the towel. And there was me thinking that the Champions league is what the owners and players dream about. Silly me.

 

[A...]

Bayern Munich conclusively outplay Pellegrini's first choice team in the first meeting; Pellegrini's compromise team, almost begrudgingly incorporating the likes of Lescott and Milner, goes away to the Allianz and wins.

Chelsea conclusively outplay Pellegrini's first choice team in the first meeting; less than 2 weeks later, Pellegrini's compromise cup team, again consisting of the likes of Milner and Lescott, goes toe to toe with Chelsea and wins.

Barcelona conclusively outplay Pellegrini's first choice team in the first meeting; will he embrace the obvious reality that his first picks just simply aren't diverse enough in their skillsets, and therefore compatible enough to overcome genuine quality opposition, and accept that the industry, simplicity, dynamism and understated quality of the likes of Richards, Lescott and Milner is essential?

Barcelona's game plan in the first game was fundamentally keep the ball, awaiting an opening to exploit; that opening came when their 'false 9' Messi was naively brought down by our 'false 5' Demichelis. The second goal came about because of Clichy's inability to track Alves' diagonal run from wide right, a key element of Barcelona's attacking play in the past 6 years. It exploits most orthodox, left-footed leftback's unwillingness to invert; they completely took Patrice Evra apart in the same manner when the dismantled United in the 2009 and 2011 CL finals. The simple solution is to play Pablo Zabaleta on the left, naturally inclined to come inside with the runner. One of his best games in a City shirt came in that position against Arsenal, and his game has significantly improved since. On the other side, Alba is more inclined to hit the line, while Iniesta will drift inside to the more congested central midfield area, meaning Richards can be deployed at rightback, utilising his counter-attacking capabilities; of the 2 fullbacks, I'd give him licence to attack, with Pablo playing a primarily defensive game, becoming a third central defender when Micah broke forward. In the centre, the successful Kompany/Lescott axis should be allowed to resume not just for this game but for the salvage job at hand in the Premier League as well. But unfortunately Pellegrini is in change, and his blatant Hispanic favouritism may see him deploy Javi Garcia at the back once again.

The midfield is a key area; time and time again Toure's outrageous brilliance in a goalscoring capacity misleads and deflects attention from the reality that he's unable/unwilling to do a proportionate amount of defensive work, which is a fundamental element of a central midfielder's duties in a 2 man central midfield. The solution is to position him as close to the opposition goal as possible; playing him so deep has a detrimental effect on us in both an attacking and defensive sense, as he leaves us overrun and his 'attempts' at a tackle these days consist of lazily tripping the opponent in dangerous areas, while we're neutralising our single most devastating attacking weapon by having him so far away from the final third. This is a unfortunately a consequence of the club's insecure stockpile transfer policy in the past few years, that sees players shoehorned into the team to accommodate other 'stars', generally at the expense of tactical compatibility and balance, and ultimately success. (would Pellegrini have disgarded Mata in the way Mourinho did? certainly not) Fernandinho's energy is an asset, but he's not the brightest tactically and he needs an orthodox anchor next to him; Garcia is a massive downgrade on Gareth Barry, but can still be useful in the context of spatial occupation. Designate him a square 20 metres in front of the defence where Messi, Iniesta and Fabregas like to operate and he can positively contribute. Wide right Should be Silva, who himself would naturally invert creating space for Richards to overlap, while wide left Milner should start; he can track Alves , while providing the perfect foil for the likes of Silva, Aguero and Toure with his all-round dynamism, simplistic use of the ball, willingness to run beyond the opposition defence, tactical awareness and unquestionable big game mentality. Nasri is proving to be a very decisive impact player from the bench, and should be used in such a role again tonight.

In the 2009 CL final Fergie set up his team with a primitive game plan of 'have a go at them' and got destroyed. A year later, Mourinho's Inter met them in the semis and overcame the 'Dream Team' by congesting key areas and being decisive on the counter. 2011, and once again Ferguson faced Barcelona in the final, but completely ignored Mourinho's blueprint, again going out to impose the 'United way' on them and inevitably got hammered. 2012, and Roberto Di Matteo embraced Mourinho's methodology to eliminate Barca in the semis. This both exposes the myth of Ferguson's 'genius', and the reality that pragmatism is the key to success in modern football. 'Good' football is football that regularly puts significant trophies in the cabinet, not the kind that Zeman, Keegan and Pellegrini preach.

Pellegrini's outrageously high defensive line and inexplicable selection of Demichelis were key factors in losing the home tie, a result we simply couldn't afford, and one that makes tomorrow's task near impossible. Our priority has to be to preserve the clean sheet, and be ultra decisive on the counter and with set-pieces.

The reality is the club would have been much better equipped to progress beyond this tie with Mourinho, Di Matteo or even Mancini; questions have to be asked as to why we hired a man who never won anything of note before, when there were those of a true winning pedigree attainable? In my opinion the club has regressed significantly in terms of footballing potential and morality since Ferran Soriano came to power, and his position should be reviewed in the summer before his Spanish colonisation of the club destroys our identity beyond repair and to the detriment of the club's success.
Cook and Marwood's recruitment policies embraced and replicated those that made Juve, Bayern, Barca and United the biggest clubs in their respective countries, signing the best domestic talent and forging an identity and a team spirit that sees you overcome the overly cosmopolitan, expensively assembled squads such as Los Golacticos or Moratti's Inter (who resorted to financing a non-existent scandal to overcome the shrewdly assembled Juventus).

The reality is we cannot expect to overcome Barcelona with former Sevilla and Malaga players, accustomed to bi-annual beatings at the hands of the Catalans.


Anyway, in my opinion the ideal set up to beat Barcelona is:

Hart
Richards Kompany Lescott Zabaleta
Fernandinho Garcia
Silva Toure Milner
Aguero

Let's see what happens.

 

[Bill]

With our best 11 (are you listening pelli) we can and will go through. I bet they don't fancy this one bit.a team as good as ours going at them with nothing to lose. OK it won't be 7-0 but we score goals for fun as Arsenal, spurs and Norwich will testify. They of course are not barca but we only need 3. Very doable.

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

Right off to the station to catch me train up the med coast

Just had me bran flakes (I´m a good boy these days!) and will meet up with the box of toys midday and maybe a nice "menu del dia" somewhere with a bit of vino mucho colapso
Then maybe a scoopington or ten;)

Taks care lads n lasses and enjoy!! See you up there

 

[Marvin]

Why has the whole squad travelled?

I'd have kept the core of the team who would be playing Hull at Carrington

What is the point of qualifying for the champs league if all you do in the end is throw in the towel. And there was me thinking that the Champions league is what the owners and players dream about. Silly me.

We're 2-0 down, meanwhile there are winnable games in the Premier League and we were in the FA Cup

The starting players, and the subs should be in Barcelona, the rest should be in Carrington preparing for Hull.

You can't argue with that. Barcelona is an important game, but its affect on our domestic form should be minimised

 

[toffee balls]

Bayern Munich conclusively outplay Pellegrini's first choice team in the first meeting; Pellegrini's compromise team, almost begrudgingly incorporating the likes of Lescott and Milner, goes away to the Allianz and wins.

Chelsea conclusively outplay Pellegrini's first choice team in the first meeting; less than 2 weeks later, Pellegrini's compromise cup team, again consisting of the likes of Milner and Lescott, goes toe to toe with Chelsea and wins.

Barcelona conclusively outplay Pellegrini's first choice team in the first meeting; will he embrace the obvious reality that his first picks just simply aren't diverse enough in their skillsets, and therefore compatible enough to overcome genuine quality opposition, and accept that the industry, simplicity, dynamism and understated quality of the likes of Richards, Lescott and Milner is essential?

Barcelona's game plan in the first game was fundamentally keep the ball, awaiting an opening to exploit; that opening came when their 'false 9' Messi was naively brought down by our 'false 5' Demichelis. The second goal came about because of Clichy's inability to track Alves' diagonal run from wide right, a key element of Barcelona's attacking play in the past 6 years. It exploits most orthodox, left-footed leftback's unwillingness to invert; they completely took Patrice Evra apart in the same manner when the dismantled United in the 2009 and 2011 CL finals. The simple solution is to play Pablo Zabaleta on the left, naturally inclined to come inside with the runner. One of his best games in a City shirt came in that position against Arsenal, and his game has significantly improved since. On the other side, Alba is more inclined to hit the line, while Iniesta will drift inside to the more congested central midfield area, meaning Richards can be deployed at rightback, utilising his counter-attacking capabilities; of the 2 fullbacks, I'd give him licence to attack, with Pablo playing a primarily defensive game, becoming a third central defender when Micah broke forward. In the centre, the successful Kompany/Lescott axis should be allowed to resume not just for this game but for the salvage job at hand in the Premier League as well. But unfortunately Pellegrini is in change, and his blatant Hispanic favouritism may see him deploy Javi Garcia at the back once again.

The midfield is a key area; time and time again Toure's outrageous brilliance in a goalscoring capacity misleads and deflects attention from the reality that he's unable/unwilling to do a proportionate amount of defensive work, which is a fundamental element of a central midfielder's duties in a 2 man central midfield. The solution is to position him as close to the opposition goal as possible; playing him so deep has a detrimental effect on us in both an attacking and defensive sense, as he leaves us overrun and his 'attempts' at a tackle these days consist of lazily tripping the opponent in dangerous areas, while we're neutralising our single most devastating attacking weapon by having him so far away from the final third. This is a unfortunately a consequence of the club's insecure stockpile transfer policy in the past few years, that sees players shoehorned into the team to accommodate other 'stars', generally at the expense of tactical compatibility and balance, and ultimately success. (would Pellegrini have disgarded Mata in the way Mourinho did? certainly not) Fernandinho's energy is an asset, but he's not the brightest tactically and he needs an orthodox anchor next to him; Garcia is a massive downgrade on Gareth Barry, but can still be useful in the context of spatial occupation. Designate him a square 20 metres in front of the defence where Messi, Iniesta and Fabregas like to operate and he can positively contribute. Wide right Should be Silva, who himself would naturally invert creating space for Richards to overlap, while wide left Milner should start; he can track Alves , while providing the perfect foil for the likes of Silva, Aguero and Toure with his all-round dynamism, simplistic use of the ball, willingness to run beyond the opposition defence, tactical awareness and unquestionable big game mentality. Nasri is proving to be a very decisive impact player from the bench, and should be used in such a role again tonight.

In the 2009 CL final Fergie set up his team with a primitive game plan of 'have a go at them' and got destroyed. A year later, Mourinho's Inter met them in the semis and overcame the 'Dream Team' by congesting key areas and being decisive on the counter. 2011, and once again Ferguson faced Barcelona in the final, but completely ignored Mourinho's blueprint, again going out to impose the 'United way' on them and inevitably got hammered. 2012, and Roberto Di Matteo embraced Mourinho's methodology to eliminate Barca in the semis. This both exposes the myth of Ferguson's 'genius', and the reality that pragmatism is the key to success in modern football. 'Good' football is football that regularly puts significant trophies in the cabinet, not the kind that Zeman, Keegan and Pellegrini preach.

Pellegrini's outrageously high defensive line and inexplicable selection of Demichelis were key factors in losing the home tie, a result we simply couldn't afford, and one that makes tomorrow's task near impossible. Our priority has to be to preserve the clean sheet, and be ultra decisive on the counter and with set-pieces.

The reality is the club would have been much better equipped to progress beyond this tie with Mourinho, Di Matteo or even Mancini; questions have to be asked as to why we hired a man who never won anything of note before, when there were those of a true winning pedigree attainable? In my opinion the club has regressed significantly in terms of footballing potential and morality since Ferran Soriano came to power, and his position should be reviewed in the summer before his Spanish colonisation of the club destroys our identity beyond repair and to the detriment of the club's success.
Cook and Marwood's recruitment policies embraced and replicated those that made Juve, Bayern, Barca and United the biggest clubs in their respective countries, signing the best domestic talent and forging an identity and a team spirit that sees you overcome the overly cosmopolitan, expensively assembled squads such as Los Golacticos or Moratti's Inter (who resorted to financing a non-existent scandal to overcome the shrewdly assembled Juventus).

The reality is we cannot expect to overcome Barcelona with former Sevilla and Malaga players, accustomed to bi-annual beatings at the hands of the Catalans.


Anyway, in my opinion the ideal set up to beat Barcelona is:

Hart
my Nana Kompany My auntie Wynn Zabaleta
Fernandinho Garcia
Silva Toure Milner
Aguero

Let's see what happens.

Slight change in defence.

Strewth.....