Associate
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 1,763
- Location
- Hokkaido
UEFA Champions League/Europa League 19/20/21 February *** Spoilers ***
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Aug 2006
- Posts
- 5,207
Yes, a big "if" indeed.
Associate
- Joined
- 12 May 2011
- Posts
- 2,120
- Location
- UK
Don't supose anyone saw that bet? the guy needed 2-0 barca and 1-1 for 1million pounds
https://twitter.com/FootyAccums/status/304279623762575360/photo/1
https://twitter.com/FootyAccums/status/304279623762575360/photo/1
Barca the most stupid useless team when it comes to tactics in the world?
I can't believe how stupid they are tactically, they know before a game how the Milan were going to play, park the bus and hit on the counter, yet Barca play the exact way Milan wants them to play.
It's not just Milan, Chelsea last season, Inter Milan in 2010.
Clearly they seem to be to stupid to realize that they are playing the exact way that Milan has set up. Do they seriously think that by playing short passes with 1 or 2 barca players, that they would be able to outfox 5-6 defenders and the keeper that are clearly organised and know what they are doing.
If I was the manager at Barca, I would leave an extra 2 players at the back, to stop any counter attacks and tell the other attacking players, to grow some balls and start shooting at long range. Even if that means 20-25 shots on goal, there is a mathematical higher chance of scoring than playing tita taka and having 3 shots in the whole game.
That's why Spain national side are by far more superior to this Barcelona setup. People have called Spain boring, but Del Basque plays it safe, doesn't take too many risk and doesn't commits too many players forward. He knows that his team is far superior, so why risk it by playing stupid.
Spain in the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship. Played a total of 13 games and only conceded a total of 3 goals.
Can you ever imagine Barcelona going 13 games and only conceding 3 goals.
I can't believe how stupid they are tactically, they know before a game how the Milan were going to play, park the bus and hit on the counter, yet Barca play the exact way Milan wants them to play.
It's not just Milan, Chelsea last season, Inter Milan in 2010.
Clearly they seem to be to stupid to realize that they are playing the exact way that Milan has set up. Do they seriously think that by playing short passes with 1 or 2 barca players, that they would be able to outfox 5-6 defenders and the keeper that are clearly organised and know what they are doing.
If I was the manager at Barca, I would leave an extra 2 players at the back, to stop any counter attacks and tell the other attacking players, to grow some balls and start shooting at long range. Even if that means 20-25 shots on goal, there is a mathematical higher chance of scoring than playing tita taka and having 3 shots in the whole game.
That's why Spain national side are by far more superior to this Barcelona setup. People have called Spain boring, but Del Basque plays it safe, doesn't take too many risk and doesn't commits too many players forward. He knows that his team is far superior, so why risk it by playing stupid.
Spain in the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship. Played a total of 13 games and only conceded a total of 3 goals.
Can you ever imagine Barcelona going 13 games and only conceding 3 goals.
Last edited:
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 41,323
- Location
- Cornwall
Agree. Barcelona will destroy teams that attack and leave space or teams that try and out pass them but time and time again they come unstuck against well organised teams that defend well and play on the counter. It all comes down to only having a plan A because plan A is the only way Barcelona will ever play.
I think Barca and Real struggle to an extent by the Mickey Mouse league they've helped create in Spain by hoarding all the money for themselves.
It's a less extreme version of Rangers/Celtic where they get no real competition 90% of the time and can struggle against good teams with a good game plan.
It's a less extreme version of Rangers/Celtic where they get no real competition 90% of the time and can struggle against good teams with a good game plan.
Associate
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 1,763
- Location
- Hokkaido
As pointed out before, they have no plan B. Even shooting from outside the box would help the draw the defence out a bit, but instead they just keep trying to pass it. The amount of times the ball was passed in to a player in a dangerous position and then instantly passed straight back was staggering.
It's got nothing to do with that. La Liga is a top league, where players are far more gifted technically than any other league in europe. This is shown when games like this come about, everyone just parks the bus because they know that they are inferior.
Problem is that teams like Barca and Madrid is the culture that they are from. They can't just park the bus on every away game in europe, that is simply not acceptable to most fans of these clubs. Can't remember the last time Barca parked the bus in any game, and when Madrid parked the bus against Barca a couple of season ago, the backlash was so great that they simply stopped doing that now.
Barca just needs to change the tactics slightly, leave an extra defender at the back and shoot more long range. This would totally work against teams that park the bus. Then they would almost be impossible to beat.
If teams are parking the bus effectively enough then in theory that should limit the space to shoot from distance, a more effective plan B for Barca would be a big target man and get high balls into him (note I didn't see the game tonight so have no idea how Milan lined up)
When they had Etoo and Ibra they definitely had another dimension to their game.
I think because of how good Messi became, they almost felt that they didn't need a true striker because virtually anyone from their midfield could get forward and exploit the spaces. They're paying for it now though because once that tactic gets shut down by the opposition they don't really have anything else that they can try.
Associate
- Joined
- 12 May 2011
- Posts
- 2,120
- Location
- UK
I think it's over for Barca. Have a £100 bet with a friend at work that Barca won't progress from this round.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 33,188
Once again the age old problem of Messi as the main striker but almost point blank refusing to play further up the pitch cost Barca. Also once again, as has happened all season Fabregas is usually the man substituted and the team almost always gets worse after he goes off, and Barca were FAR worse when he went off. Fabregas wasn't having the best game at all, but better than most of that team.
Pedro is a player who, not comparing him to Walcott in quality at all, but in type, when Barca play well, he can look decent, but if Barca look bad, he's a player that can't pull the team forward and win a game by himself, a few too many like that coupled with Messi having a terrible game, and seriously, he was epically awful.
Start to finish Messi refused to play upfront, dropped deep, got the ball and never looked to play anyone in ahead of him, got the ball and then tried to take on 4 players himself for no real reason and he lost the ball very easily every single time, yet he never tried to alter his game. He didn't go "hey, this isn't working, I might play as a striker to help the team today", he just kept trying the same thing all game.
I don't know if they honestly have the balls to do it, but Barca needed to sub Messi 10 mins into the second half, and put someone in actually upfront as a striker.
Awful performance, but Barca frequently play in the same way but then Messi will have a 5 minute spell where that running through the defence works, and gets a couple goals.
I've said for 4 years, Barca are by the game becoming a less direct, and more passive team with Messi for ages now doing this "I'm a striker but I don't like actually standing near the defence" thing.
Compounded by one of the worst ref's I've ever seen, a yellow for biscuits, for sliding in, being on the ground, getting the ball before the Milan player even got there, and thats it. The first goal not being given as a handball... lol, almost every decision he gave was wrong.
Overall Barca's biggest problem is giving in to Messi, Ibra's account of what happened is, Messi wanted to play through the middle, so Ibra went bye bye as the manager passive aggressively ignored him till he left the club.
Barca won more, and were more exciting to watch with Messi on the right and an actual striker upfront. Messi is scoring more, he had the best ever season and broke the calendar year scoring record.... yet Barca failed to win the league or champs league in the same season. The team is built for Messi to be the best Messi can be, not built to be the best the TEAM can be, and Barca are so often boring as hell to watch now.
Did Real decide to focus on Ronaldo, push him upfront and get Ronaldo more goals, no, he's epic on the left, and the team plays great with him there, the team would lose something without his drive down the wings.
Pedro is a player who, not comparing him to Walcott in quality at all, but in type, when Barca play well, he can look decent, but if Barca look bad, he's a player that can't pull the team forward and win a game by himself, a few too many like that coupled with Messi having a terrible game, and seriously, he was epically awful.
Start to finish Messi refused to play upfront, dropped deep, got the ball and never looked to play anyone in ahead of him, got the ball and then tried to take on 4 players himself for no real reason and he lost the ball very easily every single time, yet he never tried to alter his game. He didn't go "hey, this isn't working, I might play as a striker to help the team today", he just kept trying the same thing all game.
I don't know if they honestly have the balls to do it, but Barca needed to sub Messi 10 mins into the second half, and put someone in actually upfront as a striker.
Awful performance, but Barca frequently play in the same way but then Messi will have a 5 minute spell where that running through the defence works, and gets a couple goals.
I've said for 4 years, Barca are by the game becoming a less direct, and more passive team with Messi for ages now doing this "I'm a striker but I don't like actually standing near the defence" thing.
Compounded by one of the worst ref's I've ever seen, a yellow for biscuits, for sliding in, being on the ground, getting the ball before the Milan player even got there, and thats it. The first goal not being given as a handball... lol, almost every decision he gave was wrong.
Overall Barca's biggest problem is giving in to Messi, Ibra's account of what happened is, Messi wanted to play through the middle, so Ibra went bye bye as the manager passive aggressively ignored him till he left the club.
Barca won more, and were more exciting to watch with Messi on the right and an actual striker upfront. Messi is scoring more, he had the best ever season and broke the calendar year scoring record.... yet Barca failed to win the league or champs league in the same season. The team is built for Messi to be the best Messi can be, not built to be the best the TEAM can be, and Barca are so often boring as hell to watch now.
Did Real decide to focus on Ronaldo, push him upfront and get Ronaldo more goals, no, he's epic on the left, and the team plays great with him there, the team would lose something without his drive down the wings.
Last edited:
DM: You've ignored motivation as being a major factor behind Barca's apparent decline and Real's rise. One team had one everything, the other hadn't. It happened to Bayern years ago, it happened to Man Utd and it has happened to Barca.
Tunney; I hope AVB makes it interesting and rests Bale. I do not like any cup competition bar the CL. We are wasting energy pursuing this trophy.
Tunney; I hope AVB makes it interesting and rests Bale. I do not like any cup competition bar the CL. We are wasting energy pursuing this trophy.
Remind me where Barca are in La Liga and where RM are in the league again DM...
Will be interesting to see how we line up tonight, big game on Sunday (we've only won 2 games since the new arrivals, so we are very much still in relegation battle).
Santon is out and rested, so wonder if the new boy Haidara will start or if Mbiwa will play left back and Simpson right back. Would be a massive kick in the testicles for Simpson if Haidara starts!!
Hopefully we can do the job early and get the likes of Cabaye, Sissoko and Tiote off to rest for Sunday, but I have a feeling that this will go to extra time and potentially penalties, which will kill us for Sunday, and Southampton will tear us apart...
Santon is out and rested, so wonder if the new boy Haidara will start or if Mbiwa will play left back and Simpson right back. Would be a massive kick in the testicles for Simpson if Haidara starts!!
Hopefully we can do the job early and get the likes of Cabaye, Sissoko and Tiote off to rest for Sunday, but I have a feeling that this will go to extra time and potentially penalties, which will kill us for Sunday, and Southampton will tear us apart...
If we don't go through I want glorious failure, 3-1/4-2/5-3 all guns blazing style. If course I would take a 3-0 win in et too 
6-3 on the night though why the hell not, they weren't that good on their home ground, Russian teams don't travel that well and we are dodgy as **** at the back.
6-3 on the night though why the hell not, they weren't that good on their home ground, Russian teams don't travel that well and we are dodgy as **** at the back.