End of Barca era

[BillyMC]

Re: Barcelona

They are a very arrogant club.

Today Guardiola said that he watched the video last night and told his team that he couldn't see that they had done anything wrong.

They can not vary their play, that is a massive, glaring weakness. There was no backup plan against Chelsea and they should have had one.

Total refusal to get wide and whip balls into the box cost them. Alves is so overated. Final delivery was dreadful.Went wide then back to the edge of the box everysingle time. Couldnt believe they didnt change it.

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

I do think they will be in a transitional period over the next 2 seasons. Too many key players the wrong side of 30. The young uns will need another season or two to bed in and that will be much more difficult if Guardiola does one. The next couple of seasons could be City´s big chance as far as the CL is concerned

 

[BlueMoonoverUS]

Re: Barcelona

All those passes at the end came to nothing. They are perfect at what they do-passing the ball, but that just doesn't work all the time. Their finishing wasn't there because Messi was just not that good. He's their number one scorer with 60 something goals and their second Sanchez has only 11. So basically when Messi has a bad day Barcelona has it too. That's why I think they need somebody else-Plan B.

 

[Dobsy]

Re: Barcelona

They are a very arrogant club.

Today Guardiola said that he watched the video last night and told his team that he couldn't see that they had done anything wrong.

They can not vary their play, that is a massive, glaring weakness. There was no backup plan against Chelsea and they should have had one.

Total refusal to get wide and whip balls into the box cost them. Alves is so overated. Final delivery was dreadful.Went wide then back to the edge of the box everysingle time. Couldnt believe they didnt change it.

Exactly. Well done to Chelsea but it's a terrible indictment of Barcelona that they couldn't beat Chelsea minus Terry and Cahill! No way would Chelsea have been able to hold out like that against Bayern or Real (although they'll obviusly play differently in the final) . . . or City for that matter.

 

[Blue Blood CTID]

Re: Barcelona

Us at our best and Barcelona at there best ( with pedro & villa) they would beat us.

Can't believe the over reactions of some when a great team lose a football match. Barcelona would have topped our group of death imo. They were a million miles from their best last night and that's what you need to beat them. All credit to Chelsea, was chuffed for them coz Barcelona wind me up with their antics.

We could beat them but if I was given £5000 to put on either team to win, and I could keep the winnings, it would be Barcelona.

 

[blue order]

Re: Barcelona

It just shows just how much of football is down to hard work, team effort and concentration. These attributes overcame the technical brilliance of Barca last night.

Absolutely bang on. The rags have this (instilled by Sir Bacon) which is irritatingly why they are not in the chasing pack and we are out on our own 10-15 points clear.

If we show it on Monday combined with our technical ability lets hope it is enough to carry the day!

 

[Big Swifty]

Re: Barcelona

The number of times Barca sprayed the ball out to the wing (usually the right), and the winger did absolutely nothing with it, was unbelievable. All he did was pull the ball back to a midfielder 25 yds out and the whole process began again. Chelsea performed manfully, but Barca made it easier for them. Oh for a right winger who could beat a man! Where's David White when he's needed?

 

[GHoddle]

I think to some extent opponents have figured out a way to deal with Barcelona's tactics. Only good teams have the quality to do this and to get something out from the game as well, but lesser teams are at least closing the gap a bit.

I don't think Chelsea figured out a way to deal with Barcelona's tactics; they just got very, very lucky for the second game in a row. Barcelona could easily have scored 4 or 5 last night, just as they could easily have scored 4 or 5 in the first leg. It wasn't Chelsea's tactcis that prevented that, it was Barcelona's profligacy.

Had Chelsea shut out Barcelona completely and prevented them from having numerous goal-scoring opportunities over both games, I could accept that they had figured a way to stop them playing but they didn't.

This fixture could quite easily have ended 10-3 to Barcelona and the title of this thread would probably be something like "Are Barcelona even better than last year?"

Barca didn't have that many chances to score. They came close a few times in each leg but in most cases Cech would have saved the shot if it was on target. Barca waste chances in every game, anyone who watches them would know that if you limit their chances they will only score a couple at the most, that's what Chelsea did and it worked. There was no luck, it was basically just the assumption that Fabregas and co wouldn't suddenly turn into Shearer/Van Nistelrooy and put away all the chances they get. Especially against a goalkeeper like Cech.

Please. It wasn't luck it was excellent strategy.

 

[blue order]

Re: Barcelona

The number of times Barca sprayed the ball out to the wing (usually the right), and the winger did absolutely nothing with it, was unbelievable. All he did was pull the ball back to a midfielder 25 yds out and the whole process began again. Chelsea performed manfully, but Barca made it easier for them. Oh for a right winger who could beat a man! Where's David White when he's needed?

We suffer from this sometimes.

Against Wolves on Saturday, Zabba to his credit did get on the overlap a few times but then does this soft little chippy type ball/half cross instead of whipping it across hard and low or a low firm pulled back cross.

The type of goal Aguero scored against Villareal from a low cross on the over lap is one I think we could have employed a lot more to greater effect, especially in our lean period.

 

[Castiel]

I don't think Chelsea figured out a way to deal with Barcelona's tactics; they just got very, very lucky for the second game in a row. Barcelona could easily have scored 4 or 5 last night, just as they could easily have scored 4 or 5 in the first leg. It wasn't Chelsea's tactcis that prevented that, it was Barcelona's profligacy.

Had Chelsea shut out Barcelona completely and prevented them from having numerous goal-scoring opportunities over both games, I could accept that they had figured a way to stop them playing but they didn't.

This fixture could quite easily have ended 10-3 to Barcelona and the title of this thread would probably be something like "Are Barcelona even better than last year?"

There was some divine intervention last night but this constant talk of how lucky we were is really irritating. Barcelona have built their team around Messi. Everything revolves around intricate passing and possession which is all channelled into getting the ball to him. All we did is allowed them to do their passing in front of our 2 lines of defenders and snuff Messi out of the game.

There have been some excellent reviews of how we focused on shutting down the passing lanes and forcing their dangerous players (like Messi) into harmless positions on the field. See how Busquets scored their goal? He isn't a "dangerous" player with good finishing or a predator in the box instinct but he was a low priority to be shut out and found himself with the chance.

If you go back and watch the ties again you'll notice this. Most of their "attempts" on our goal were pretty weak or well covered. All but one of their shots on our crossbar were covered and one of them was actually an incredible save by Cech. Messi missing the penalty was from a higher power.

We shut them down like this home and away in 2009 and we did it again here. Maybe we just have the players best suited to handling their possession game and the personal connotations surrounding our European rivalry spurred us on to force the issue. There is no doubt in my mind that they are still the best team in the world and some poor results while in the pressure cooker that is April doesn't change that. Even they can't win everything all the time and even they will suffer burnout. They were frustrated and their morale was bruised. We had to execute two of the best performances I have ever seen this team deliver just to prevent them from playing their style.