Man City V Barcelona Pre Match thread.

[everythingchangesbutblue]

I always find it odd when people claim La Liga is all cannon fodder while the EPL has amazing strength throughout, yet the Spanish teams keep winning the Europa league and more often than not they keep schooling the English sides.

A poster above said the most dangerous thing about Villarrael was there Yellow kit, yet they would be better than many English sides. Does everyone remember Bilbao vs the red of Manchester a few years back? They destroyed them. Atletico last year put away Chelsea with ease and this Barcelona side have beaten them 3 times.

I expect a close game, Barca are far too reliant on Messi. If he can be contained then anything can happen. In defence they are hit and miss, sometimes Pique looks world class, sometimes he looks like he's thinking about his missus. Suarez is struggling in Spain as the game there is often more technical, he's used to the fast pace of the EPL which gave him more space, space he is not afford in Spain so perhaps a game in England will suit him. Neymar meanwhile looks fatigued, he should have been rested in one of the last 2 La Liga rounds.

Over the 2 legs Barca should advance but it's not set in stone.

The English sides hardly bother with the europa league unless they get to a semi final. Kids and reserves mostly until then.

 

[avoidconfusion]

Really hope Pellers does NOT go 4-4-2 against Barca. They will absolutely murder us in midfield.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I've got a very good feeling about this one. For once we go into a big game with everyone available and match fit and without a fixture backlog. My team would be this:

.........................................Hart........................................

Sagna....................Vinny.......Mangela..............Clichy

.............................Fernando.....Fernandinho...........

..............Nasri..................Silva....................Milner....

......................................Aguero.....................................

with Navas and Bony on standby should we need to chase the game. I just sense that the players will use this one to really announce their arrival on the European stage. I'm totally excited.

 

[Salford_Blue]

Here's my take.

Last year, Sergio wasn't fit, now he is.

For a couple of years, Sami has frustrated, but he, Dave and Yaya are almost telepathic now and he is up there with Merlin.

It's a joy to watch the interplay with those 3.

Sadly, Yaya is out, but Milner's work ethic should cover most of that up hopefully.

Our Holy Trinity will be back for the second leg, so keep it tight at home, play 5 across the middle and one up front.


Barca's tactics appear to be more Keegan-esque these days..."give it to bloody Gordon" and we will outscore you.

I trust Manuel this year in that we will attack them. We were like cats caught in the headlights last time out.

No Xavi, Iniesta out of sorts...CITY CAN DO THIS!!!

 

[Steviesleftpeg]

Woke up this morning convinced it was Wednesday and I was convinced that we had lost 4-2 at home. Papers were full of headlines that Milner's last minute goal gives us a slim chance at the Camp Nou.

Hope it's not an omen

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

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).

I think this slightly overrates us. Based on this season, I'd say
Hart = Bravo (toss up)
Zaba = Alves (toss up) both have been mostly average with one or 2 good games and a lot of shit games.
Clichy over Alba: Clichy is actually clearly better than Alba.
Pique over Kompany. This is not even close.
Mathieu over MDM or Mangala. This is slightly closer. As none of the 3 have consistently played, but Mathieu shades it on superior performance overal
Silva over Iniesta: this too isn't close. Even though like Alba, Iniesta often gets overrated. Has been good but not stellar.
Yaya over Rakitic: Yaya is by far a better footballer, but this is quite close on this seasons performance.
Busquest over the Ferns: not close at all.
Neymar over Nasri: not close at all
Messi over Dzeko/Milner/Navas: this is a runaway. WC to average.
Aguero over Suarez: Aguero wins by a bit. Aguero is by far the better striker this season, however Suarez team play makes this closer than the stats show.

Even if you give all the ties to City I.e Hart, Zaba, and sure City will have more players in a mixed squad. But the reality is this, in every position in which City is better, with the exception of Silva over Iniesta,the City player is only slightly better. While in perhaps every position Barca is better, there is a huge gulf in difference, except for Mathieu over Demi/Mangala.

Thus, having more players in the joint 11 is a bit of a false sense of comfort. Their team is comfortably better than ours. So are Bayern, and Real Madrid.

We can beat Barca, just like inter did them a few years back, and Malaga this weekend. But let's not confuse that for us having a better squad. We don't.
For example, just coz Arsenal came here and beat us doesn't mean I think they have a better squad. It just means they beat us. Similarly when we beat Barca tmrw, I wouldn't fool myself into thinking we have a better Squad, just that we beat them.

Alba's better than Clichy, not disrespecting Clichy but ask any non City fan who they would rather have and 95% would say Alba.

I'm assuming you mean Kompany over Pique, this is not even close. As no sane person would choose Pique over Kompany, I know you have this fascination with having 11 technically brilliant players on the pitch at one time but Kompany is head and shoulders better than Pique, Pique's Barcelona's weak link.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

........................................hart.........................................

Sagna..................vinny..................mdm............clichy

navas...................diniho...............nasri.............milner

.............................................silva...................................

.............................................aguero..............................

 

[supercity88]

The story of our time in Europe has been a failure to announce ourselves on the biggest of stages. Whether nervous, key players injured or simply a lack of confidence, we've failed to do that. This season has been similar, we had a long period of stale performances before we finally showed some consistency. We've over the last two games showed our true quality, just at the right time. Tonight is about going out there and making Barcelona feel intimidated. We have to do it as fans and the players have to walk the walk.

We heard the same confidence from Kompany etc last season but they failed to show it on the pitch. This season they need to go out there and perform, don't show Barcelona any signs of fear. Respect them but get stuck into them and get us fans really going so Barca know they are a long way from home and start to feel the pressure.

 

[Ric]

Apparently none of their players are a yellow card away from being suspended for the second leg, but four of our players are (Zabaleta, Clichy, Dzeko & Aguero). Would be a major blow if Aguero, in particular, was booked tonight.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

Apparently none of their players are a yellow card away from being suspended for the second leg, but four of our players are (Zabaleta, Clichy, Dzeko & Aguero). Would be a major blow if Aguero, in particular, was booked tonight.

Oh fuck could get away without the other 3 but you just no sergio is going to get booked for diving! Thought all yelliws were wiped after group stages though? Or is this another ffp fine against us?