Man City V Barcelona Pre Match thread.

[solley attwell]

Weaver

Edghill
Prior
Ritchie
Granville

Horlock
Etuhu

Cooke
Kanchelskis

Bradbury
Ostenstad.

Don't you know Bradbury is suspended after taking his shirt off to celebrate his hat trick and getting a second yellow card

 

[Ardwick Green Park]

City (any) - Barca 0

 

[eversince 76]

Barca had changed under their new manager and with the New players. Not the endlessly keeping the ball kinda team, but also less predictable. And not unbeatable as well as some on here think.

Main point will be not to look up to them. Not just the players but fans as well. The team needs to feel we back them all the way even if it's not going for the them. Remember we are very hard to beat.

I am more confident than last year because we seem to hit form just in time. We didn't last year. So l'm going for a positive result. One that gives us opportunities next week.

 

[didsburyblu]

Really hoping he goes 4-5-1 which I'm pretty sure he will. Pack the midfield and don't let them settle. Important we take the initiative and dont let them settle into their usual passing game.
Hopefully we've learnt lessons from last year and I'm gonna go for a 2-1 home win followed by a nervy 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp

 

[celf]

i hope MP leaves out fernando but don't think he will,personally id pick the same side v newcastle with milner in for yaya.

play to our strengths and play a high line and a high tempo 2-1 to City

Dzeko and Nasri

 

[g180aj]

Really hoping he goes 4-5-1 which I'm pretty sure he will. Pack the midfield and don't let them settle. Important we take the initiative and dont let them settle into their usual passing game.
Hopefully we've learnt lessons from last year and I'm gonna go for a 2-1 home win followed by a nervy 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp

I'd prefer Mangala on the current form as he seems to now be settling in and showing his ability.

 

[Leech]

We are not stronger than Barcelona.

They will have more of the ball against most sides and that is their best form of defence and their front three is definitely the best around in my opinion and can win games on their own, don't underestimate their midfield as well even if it isn't the classic Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets trio.

Lot's on here - myself included - thought Barca were on the decline last year and we went into the home tie after just beating Chelsea in the cup, we got outplayed and battered all over the park, even before the sending off.

The Malaga result aside, Barca were just one win away before that game from going on an all time record 12 league wins or something.

I wouldn't say they had us all over the park before the Demichelis sending off, we were pretty comfortable letting them keep possession and creating very little while we were breaking and Negredo was starting to get one or two chances. Demichelis got caught out by his lack of pace to catch Messi and the tie swung, Mangala won't have that problem.

On sheer quality alone, I'd combine the two teams to have:

Hart
Zabaleta - Kompany - Mangala - Alba
Busquets - Toure - (Iniesta)
(Silva) - Messi - Neymar
Aguero

To explain some choices as it may seem blue-tinted, Zabaleta is ahead of Alves as Alves is now almost 32 and doesn't have the same energy he used to, and Barcelona haven't even bothered to tie him down to a new contract yet (which expires this summer). Mangala ahead of Pique as although Mangala is more inconsistent, he also has none of Pique's weaknesses such as pace, and in the big games performs to a standard Pique couldn't dream of. It was heavily rumoured Barcelona wanted Mangala in the summer to replace Pique but decided the price was too high.
Silva is ahead of Suarez as Silva is a much more consistent performer, while Suarez was outstanding last season it was possible to shut him out, as we did a few times and as Chelsea did. If your defense has a weakness he will find it, otherwise.... Silva is effective in pretty much every game - couldn't choose between Iniesta and Silva though. Hart is goalkeeper as I don't even know if Barcelona have yet established whether they have a number one they trust following Valdes' departure.

Throw in that I trust Pellegrini far more than Enrique (it was rumoured Barcelona sniffed around him in the summer before going for Enrique), and I don't think we should go into this as underdogs (though we will as an added bonus of Barcelona's past glories).

First of all, your line up consists of 12 players. Second of all, I don't understand why did you compare Silva, who is AM, to Suarez, who is CF.

While I can't argue about the presence of Silva, Toure and Zabaleta (Alves is still superior quality wise but hasn't been himself since like 2011) in your line up, I have serious doubts about what are Kompany, Mangala and Hart doing there.

While I can't deny Mangala and Kompany are great players, I personally rate Pique and Mascherano way higher. Mangala is overpriced and overrated as hell, as he keeps proving this season he's not even worth half the money you paid for him. Kompany is an error machine and you never know what you get with him. He's most of the time solid but I wouldn't say he's a safe bet in defence. Ticking time bomb while Pique is absolutely on fire this season and comitted roughly 1 mistake the past months. On the other hand, Mascherano's tackling is probably the best in the world and maybe he lacks height but I still would take him over Mangala or Kompany any day, any time.

Honestly I never kept an eye on Hart that much but I wouldn't say any of Claudio Bravo or the young Marc-Andre ter Stegen are much inferior.

At last, I'd like to compare Suarez with Aguero. With all due respect, Luis is quite obviously the more complete player in general. He contributes to the team way better and overall he's a much better team player. Aguero is dangerous on the counter but that's pretty much it. When facing a bus, he's competely hopeless.

Now, coming to the meritum of my thought, I'd like you to present the line up I would pick (can't argue about the goalkeepers because there's not much difference, I have to kick one player out as your line up had 12 lads):

Hart or Bravo
Zabaleta - Pique - Mascherano - Alba
Toure - Busquets - Silva
Messi - Suarez - Neymar

BTW, good luck tomorrow!

My line-up actually only included 11 players, as I said later in the post I put Silva and Iniesta in brackets as I wanted to only include one of them but couldn't decide between.

Think others have already dismissed your claims that Suarez is superior to Aguero and Pique/Mascherano superior to Kompany/Mangala pretty well, I would just also say that Hart is a keeper that not long ago was being hailed as one of or the best goalkeepers in the world by many, and although he had to come through a dip in the interim the likes of Bravo and ter Stegen have a lot to do to reach his level.

Suerte!

 

[Ric]

Really interested to see which team Pellegrini picks tomorrow, as it's pretty hard to call. The main decisions seem to be Zabaleta/Sagna, Mangala/Demichelis, and Milner/Navas.

I think he'll go:

Hart
Sagna
Kompany
Demichelis
Clichy
Fernando
Fernandinho
Milner
Silva
Nasri
Aguero

 

[Brendan110_0]

Barca lost 4 league games this season (in arguably a weaker league), we've lost 3. They should be wary of Aguero/Nasri/Silva! - all hitting form.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

No doubt the barca team from a 2 or 3 seasons ago , was something to be feared , but the present barca team is too reliant on Messi , i have never rated Neymar , reminds me of a poor mans Robinho , too light weight and Suarez isnt anywhere near the level he was playing for the dippers last season .So although they still command respect , their recent eleven game winning streak was mostly against mid table la liga cannon fodder. Its about time our inferiority complex when playing the "elite" of europe , was well and truly put to bed , and a victory on tuesday would be a big step.

Yeah right, 3 wins in a row against Atletico Madrid, and win against Athletic Bilboa at San Mames won't count? If anything, game against Malaga at saturday was unusal as every player looked disinterested/unprepared, may be their minds were already occupied by City and the game on Tuesday.

bilbao ? you are having a laugh , (and barca beat the mighty Elche 3 times , levante who the f*ck are they ? , villareal twice , the most dangerous thing about them is their yellow kit ,deporto la coruna hahahaha ) , Barca have to play 4 games a season in La Liga (the best team in spain Real Madrid and the 2nd best team in spain Atletico Madrid) , if they win those , they will win la liga. Dont try and make out your eleven game winning run was special , it wasnt.