This evening at 8 pm bt, Barcelona plays its first home game of the season against Racing Santander.
Santander, that ended 6th last season and qualified for the Uefa cup, played 1-1 against Sevilla two weeks ago. Santander played with Toño, Pinillos, Garay, Marcano, Christian, J. López (74 Juanjo), Colsa, Lacen, Serrano (85' Sepsi), Munitis (51' Tchité), Pereira. Juanjo scored the 1-1, Garay missed a penalty.
Santander didn't win in the Camp Nou since the 1982-1983 season and didn't take a point with them from Barcelona since the 1995-1996 season.
Santander squad list:
Toño, Coltorti, Pinillos, Oriol, Marcano, Christian, Garay, Lacen, Colsa, Jorge Gonçalves, Edu Bedia, Oscar Serrano, Luccin, Valera, Jonathan Pereira, Juanjo, Munitis, Tchité
Barcelona squad list:
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal, Touré, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Victor Sánchez, Busquets, Hleb, Eto'o, Messi, Bojan, Pedro
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal, Touré, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Victor Sánchez, Busquets, Hleb, Eto'o, Messi, Bojan, Pedro
Before, during and after the match, you can comment on the game here.
Posts
110 comments:
Just one option exist in todays game
To crush Racing
Més que un club!!!
I think Messi will not start. He will be kept for the Champions League. I sure hope Hleb will start for once, left or right doesn't really matter.
No three points is again the start of a season full off deceptions so this one must be right. Madrid has the pressure then.
It's all up to Pep, the way he puts players on the field i mean for the starting eleven, henry and etoo together proved not worth it, so Pep has to be tough by letting one of them on the bench. I think Pep is kinda scared that he doesnt get this game right, thats not a good sign, a confidence is needed we have all the best players for every single place, Pep must believe he can make thats the key of winning this match, one loss means nothing great coaches should not care, otherwise if he is affected by only one result he will desperatly leave.
Hleb should deffinitly start.
Henry and Sylvinho is out of the squad for Racing.
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/castellano/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/09/n080913105216.html
Hey I just read on L'Equipe.fr that henry is out of the team at the last minute. I think its a good decision. however I hope it is not done like this next time ...because it gives an impression of internal instability. hope we can make ammends on this week 2.
Strange decision, since we now only keep four defenders (for four spots --- although Victor Sanchez could also play almost everywhere in the back) and four strikers (for three positions --- although Hleb can be played at one of the wings).
The explanation for Henry will be that he will be kept for the Champions League. Which is acceptable given that he played twice with France the last week and that he should be careful no to get injured.
Breaking news from Sport. This could be the shock starting eleven:
Valdes
Alves-Pique-Puyol-Abidal
Xavi-Keita-Busquets
Hleb-Eto'o-Pedro
hey Pep I actually love that starting 11. even though i would love to have Rafa and Leo Messi in the team.
It is good lineup but I would prefer to see Iniesta over Keita
i really dont like this,its like we are underestimating the opponent team,i know pepe likes pedro alot,i like pedro too and i think he is a great player and will help the team alot but sergi buscets too in the same match?we have alot of midfielders why busckets?there are other players that wont play in the cl match.
i dont know,this lineup is fishy
Busquets is a very good midfielder, very Big...i think hes 1.98 and a good technique. I dont think he will play because he already played in the copa catalunya
i would like to see this:
Valdes
Alves-Pique-Puyol-Abidal
Xavi-Touré-Iniesta
Hleb-Eto'o-Bojan
Maybe Hleb more to the midfield, Xave & Touré as central midfielders, Hleb & Iniesta as Wide midfielders.
Where can I get the web feed?
Thanks.
Here's already a Link with English commments GolTV live
http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/sat13.9/Barcelona_Santander2.html
That "shock line-up" has been confirmed.
Santander plays like this:
Toño; Pinillos, Marcano, Garay, Christian; Valera, Lacen, Colsa, Serrano; Munitis y Tchité
With Munitis (experience) and Tchité (speed) they have a counter-attack duo to worry about...
rojadirecta.com
PEP you where right they ARE playing with this shock line up:
Valdes
Alves-Pique-Puyol-Abidal
Xavi-Keita-Busquets
Hleb-Eto'o-Pedro
Another link, you have to install a plugin:
http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/sat13.9/Barcelona_Santander.html
To be clear: I was not right, Sport was right. Point for them there!
Not a smart selection, no matter how the game end, and even though I usually defend coaches that they know the players best, but no not this time...even if they win.
http://www.justin.tv/widgets/jtv_live.r9389.swf?channel=foxsports2008_1
till now we have the ball control but not enough chances,only pedro had one and a lucky header by keita,thats all,our defence is solid(their offence isnt on the field thats why)
we lack firepower.also that kid busckets plays better than xavi and keita(i dont know why but those 2 arent that good today,especially xavi,fatigue maybe?)
Busquets is playing really impressive
yeah tue...hope it isnt too bad
very bad game AGAIN
its not that bad but we seriusly lack firepower ahead /creativity /and a person to dribble
i think this is what we will see most of the year,all teams will play full defence with us and we wont find space so easily.
i really liked sergi buscets today,i watched all the preseason but today he was amazing,he showed more creativity than xavi and keita together.
our midfield also doesnt provide many balls to the side and the offence,its bad to play with xavi/buscets/keita together .someone like deco is missing here,i think messi for keita or pedro will be the 2nd sub.
also the only players that play 100% are the youngsters/eto/pique/alves i think the others can play way better but they dont even try....
guardiola will have a huge boo if he wont win this,not because the team played bad but because he didnt put the best 11 to win this one.
i hope we win ,lets see the 2nd half.put messi in pep!!!!
Our lack of dept has become a real problem. It looks like we are missing whole left side of pitch. Dani Alves is trying hard and is involved in every single attack but he can't carry the team's burden, especially with 2 center midfielders - Xavi and Keita being disconnected. Busquets is a real refreshment and defence cannot be judged since Racing doesn't posses any attacking threat. Anyhow, the way that Piquet is playing looks promising. Also, Eto'o should involve himself more and go back even further to gain posession. Let's hope Pep instruct team properly during the half time.
Shameful that Racing still has eleven men on the pitch...
I don't think Eto'o should go back furter, eye. In my opinion he should stay more in position and move well so the others have some reference up front.
Come on!!!
obviously this team lacks firepower...
no midfielder on this team is a constant danger...
they better beat Santander today or I will stick a fork in this team.
Hopefully, everyone now sees why Guardiola wanted that classic striker. It's about the only way to break 10 men in the box. And with Alves, you have the guy to feed him balls.
Didn't see the Hleb tackle up close, but the ref is letting Racing get away with some stuff. I sure wish we would start putting the boot in, as well. Hard fouls in return would squash that crap immediately.
Can't see us doing much better in the second half. I'd love to be wrong. Iniesta for Hleb is looking like a very bad deal.
1. We should have signed Adebayor. 2. I don't understand Busquets in the lineup instead of a real creative force like Iniesta or Bojan.
Unleash the MESSIIII
Seriously, what is wrong with the refs in the spanish league? First the tackle on Hleb and then the penalty we should have had. We are getting robbed! Pffff.... Feeling like a Madrid fan.
That was really a penalty!
no we shouldnt sign adebayor,we would play only with crosses if we had.todays match is pepe's fault not just a strikers
i agree with alex,unleash the beast,
unlucky pedro
ok now bojan for pedro and we have the team that should have started the game
Second amtch day. The Spanish referees are starting to decide the Liga...
arrgghh!! how could they not score that 2 chances in front of goal!
Should have had a goal in the 68th.
70 minutes and no goal?
I really hope we look better in CL.
Penalty!!!
Finally the referee does something right. Maybe the LFP should try to hire some foreign referees that isn't total shit.
GOAOAOAOAOAOALAALLAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoke to soon.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.
goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal
and the beast has roarrred!!!!!!
dont care how we score as long as we get the 3 points today,i hope pepe learns sth from today
For those who watch the game on some quality service: Did Christian really intentionally played with his hand?
Hope that this will unlock the deadlock and that few more goals are to be scored.
The commentators says he did but from my point of view he didn't. However he made himself "bigger" and he wouldn't have stopped the ball without his hand.
I really hope this doesn't finish @ 1-0, our guys deserve more
i watch the game in a huge tv and cristian found the ball in his elbow and he put the elbow there,it was dead clear penalty
damn 1-1
in the middle of the goal... valdez su**s
2 shots in 2 games = 2 goals
great valdezzzzzz
Darn darn darn...they get 1 chance - Goal....
alex i am holding you responsible for this,you didnt like the 1-0 ^^
damn things are gonna get hard now
Relegation? too soon? after this we will be in the 16th or 17th place!!!
Do you miss me yet?
10R
damn 20-1 chances .also why didnt their keeper get a yellow yet?
I though't that Pep could bring something to this team but after what i have seen from the first two matches im very dissapointed with the way the team are playing and with the way Pep are coaching. I want to see emotions on the bench and when the way we are playing isn't working changes need to be done, QUICK. The 4-3-3 system clearly isn't working against teams like Numancia and Racing. After the 1-1 why don't pull up Pique in the box to give us another option when we attack? All our dwarfs cant do anything with the ball on the ground when there are 9 players + a keeper inside the box. And just like with Rijkaard Barca can't score from a corner and now without Ronaldinho clearly we have no one that can take a free kick. That is something the team need to train on. I hope we win the title this season and we have a chance because Real looks a lot weaker then last season but on the other hand the team behind us look a lot stronger. I have my doubts if we even can reach a top-4 position.
that kind of play is nothing. that goalkeeper is nothing. that defense is nothing. that transfers are nothing.
two chances for the opponents and two goals? is this just a bad nightmare?
It wasn't very good, but like against Numancia we deserved more. One out of six. Guess some journalists are already looking how long ago we had such ind of start.
Frustrating that the negative attitude of Racing got rewarded. And the referee held his cards far too long. That Hleb tackle was red, we should have got another penalty. If the guy does his job, we win this easily.
Everything that we seemed to have built up in the pre-season until the first Wisla game seems gone already. Back to the future. This is May.
Master move by Laporta setting the assembly late August. He wouldn't have survived it if it would have been next week...
its all like watching last season games again.we NEED to change formation some times,we are too predictable,
also most of our players think they can win the matches without a sweat.
pepe didnt bring anything new to the table soz,its like he isnt there and rijkaard is.
lets hope that in the next league game they dont disapoint.i dont think we will take the championship ,no way,we lack alot infront and in the midfield(keep guddy and keita for next year too#sarcasm#)
Hleb could be out for two weeks.
O my days!!! BArca played so gd but yet again... they are lacking the finishing ability. And for flip sakes man!!! Valdes just gets on my flipping nerves!!! Just get rid of him man!!!
man.. what is wrong with us.. we got a great team, we have great chem, but we cant do anything with it. I love barca.. but we gotta step it up.
Well, I've defended Pep and the boys up until this point. Not any more. This is basically last year's team, minus a lot of talent (Ronnie and Deco). Having said that, I supported selling those two players, but that was on the premise that it was necessary to instill some spirit and attitude into the side. We're just a worse team now, and we still don't have the spirit. Same old shit...lots of possession, but game ends in a loss or draw. I'm on the verge of not renewing my club membership if this club doesn't change direction in a very big way. Sorry for the rant, but I'm really pissed off right now. Maybe I'm overreacting since it's only two games in, but screw these guys.
And one other thing. Commentators made a big deal that we outshot Racing by such a large margin. True, we get off twenty shots per game, but that is very misleading. How many of our shots are terrible, aimless blasts into a wall of defenders from outside the box? A lot. Twenty shots per game doesn't mean shit if 13 of those shots are shit.
Damn ref!!! Giving free kicks when there not there and not giving red cards when there needed! Where they get this guy from?! If these are the refs la liga has to offer...
Heads up: Rijkaard's start was even worse...
The frustrating thing is that all the guys are there and that they are fit, so it's not as if we can expect something new until January. The squad just doesn't give enough possbilities to change the system, to throw someone in at the end.
Like someone said here: bring in foreign refs!
We need a Wenger :)
the thing is pepe lost this match,his line up was terrible,
everyone knows that garay shoots free kicks with power,he is not the kind of guy to pass the ball up the wall.so why did the wall jump?cause they didnt know.pepe didnt tell them this,heck maybe he didnt know too(small details makes a winning team),also you cant blame valdes because the ball hit another foot and changed direction.
the shots of us are ludicrous. any player takes the ball and stay with it up to 3 seconds. the opponents are at any time able to sort their defense. furthermore they're continue passing until there is no way to shot anymore and than they did. did we take one shot from distance? and why the fuck is alves always playing flanks? how many goals did we take by header last season? 3 or 4? and i don't understand pep why messi is sitting for abot 60 min on the substitutes' bench. diego had the same trouble like messi since the olympics. the season just began and the players should habe enough energy by now.
oh man... the last 3 games made me so angry. and valdes gets on my nerves. i hate that guy. pep should not let him play anymore. he is a guarantee for not winning.
I usualy try not to be harsh but i will change that habit for once:
FIRST OF ALL: anyone critisize valdes for the goal know nothing about football, i am getting sick of those who have to blame the guy for every goal, it was AGAIN bad positioning,bad set pieces and bad leadership by payol to distribute his troops when they sounded like big mess in the box before the shot was taken.
SECONDLY: the selection was not the best, young players must take their time, don't burn them thru hooking responsibilities on their shoulders from beginning.
THIRD: for those who criticized offloading eto, he will always perform like today in the box against 6 men in the box, the team needed a crespo type, and they didn't get it.
FINALLY: no the team is not as bad as some here trying to judge, this team can win the title, The fair thing is to wait till January to evaluate the new project, still too early and too emotional to judge.
I just cant believe!!!
Where to start
Abidal was so fucking bad that I just have no words for him,he is just retard
The next one is Valdes who is such shitty keeper,I mean one shot on the target and one goal,fuck him
Also Keita was misserable,15 mil. for him,what a waste
Our play is old same shit all over again;
pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass
Where the fuck is finish
R10 where are you now my friend
PEP I sign under ur comment:)
Bullshit foul call on Puyol for the Racing freekick. Really disgraceful call from the ref. Was Puyol supposed to jump out of the way and let Munitis walk it in? He got all ball because he actually jumped up unlike Munitis. I though the youngsters played well today. I like the way Busquets plays. Pedro had a good game too, a shame Hleb was injured as I'm sure he would have created something in the 2nd half. At this point, hope we win our CL game midweek. I don't feel Pep is at fault for this tie which feels like a loss. We should have finished our chances, and the goal they scored was bullshit. Oh well.
i think we need to give some time to guardiola, he will make changes in tactiks after this 2 games and i think he will do everything wright. too bad hleb got injured , racing played rude, ther should be red cards. let's see what game we will play in CL, i hope ther will be allot of improvments.
Today in England, Arsenal Thrashed a solid Blackburn Rovers 4-0. Looking back at that game and Barca's game, I have some thoughts to share:
Arsenal & Barca are famous for their attacking systems! the difference at this point is 1 man, Mr. Wenger, WHY??
simply, he never plays the same formation two matches in a row. That's what I believe Barca needs.
Look @ Barca's spending on new players this summer and look @ Arsenal's, their budget is too small! And still Wenger brings the best out of his guys, we need a coach that does that. A coach that imposes his style of play, not someone who abides to a president's decision to stick to a specific formation! that is pure nonsense. Football is a versatile game, a team can easily become predictable.
for the records Arsenal played a versatile 4-2-2-2 changing to 4-3-3 system, very creative with Cesc behind RVP & Ade with Walcott & Denilson pushing in from the wings. THAT's SMART
@ramzi
"FIRST OF ALL: anyone critisize valdes for the goal know nothing about football..."
sure? i don't understand why he is so different in comparison to other goalkeepers. sometimes it looks like each shot is a penalty. why did he select a corner so fast? there were about 20 player in our box. if he would wait one more sec, he would catch the ball easily because the shot was on centre of the goal.
"SECONDLY: the selection was not the best, young players must take their time, don't burn them thru hooking responsibilities on their shoulders from beginning."
young players should play at the end of a game when the resultat is safe and not from the beginning instead of iniesta and messi!
"THIRD: for those who criticized offloading eto, he will always perform like today in the box against 6 men in the box, the team needed a crespo type, and they didn't get it."
one more fault of laporta. our offense is predictable. nothing changed. it just got more worse. we need some new striker. instead laporta bought about 100 defender.
"FINALLY: no the team is not as bad as some here trying to judge, this team can win the title..."
not that way. lot's of things have to be changed to place barca in that position.
Well actually abidal was perfect tonight! he added depth in a 3 men defense giving alves the chance to move forward, i just don't understand what people are criticizing in his performance? but I think abidal, valdes, and henry will be the boxing back for the following period.
As I mentioned after first game, this team need time to polish, I suggest for those who have no patience that they take a vacation till January, then they start watching again, no one will be fired and no one will be hired, the team have what it need to bounce back , aside of the fact that they don't have a big striker.
The young guys where ok, but still too early to be toasted under pressure, comming from the bench specially for pedro is the right strategy.
@anony, my friend if he didnt take that step to the left, and the ball didnt deflect it will be too late for him to move later and then the goal will be scored on the left and everyone will spank the guy anyway.
If you watch the game again, based on the ABC of set pieces positioning, the ball was deflected in a spot where it has to be payol responsibility, ok he was marking another guy but isn't that that case every time - even little bit in first game goal- marking the wrong guy, plus the player made his run from the Busquets spot to payol spot without getting bothered till too late.
I don't know when u pasted my other lines in ur comment if that mean u agree on it or not.
Abidal was terrible for couple of reasons
1)He gave a bunch of no-man passes to the oposite site
2)His fault almost cost us a loss at the late stage of the game
3)He doesnt know where to go
If he go up he losses the ball or do shit like this
If he defend position he is too slow
and lazy so usually he fauls the opossite player and usually in very danger positions
And someone tells me after this horror show why do we need this guy!!!
Alright K-1 i am sorry, I was probably watching another game:)
Look Ramzi,I am not saying that Abidal hasnt had a few good moments but my friend,when you see him playing in Lyon and here it is just incoparable,from what I know he has been complaining from lack of fitness in last yera so he gave us a reason for bad playing,but now when all system is changed he is stil playing so lazy and unmotivated
Shame on you Abidal!!!!
Whoa, who said Abidal was perfect? What game where you watching? Hes actually the one whos at fault for AT LEAST %60 of the goals against us with his SHITTY defence..and i mean SHITTY, lazy whatever you wanna call it.
Hes almost always out of position when the other team counters.
All the danger comes from his side.
He cant cross the ball on the attack for shit.
Gives the ball away on half of his possesions. (Like tonight, and yeah he almost cost us the game at the end with his lazy pass which the other team intercepted)
We really dont need this guy on the squad! If we can get someone, ANYONE, else for this possition Valdes wouldnt give up as many goals. All the danger comes from Abidals side...but im sure everyone has noticed this already.
That is what I am talking about memo!!!
I just dont know what barca stuff saw
in this guy
Frickin retard!!!1
Just about everyone on this blog are shit fans of bara go support another teeam if you can support barca properly. The goal wasnt Valdes fault so shut up about him hes not as bad as youse say he is. And anyone saying pep out wenger in is just retarded.
What has wenger won in the past four years. True Barca fans would never ask pep out after two league games.
Fuck off shit fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I dont know either. I never watched Lyon games. The word was that he WAS good there... but ever since hes been wearing that blaugrana shirt he hasnt done a damn thing to represent it!
I dont think its a mystery why France is sucking balls right now. Their whole team looks weak, but im sure hes a BIG reason why they dont win!
@ barcafan number one
I completely agree! you said what true Barça fans feel. Sure its frustrating when we dont come away with 3 pts. but true Barça fans know whats up!
Visca el Barça!
The question is who was guilty for the penalty on Euro 08 when Italy beaten France
It was of course our dear Abidal who was also given a red card with his shitty defense!!!
i think that although the result wasnt there, the talent and skill was. Obviously the defense really has to step up, but the attacking minds are working (though it would help to score some goals)
but if you look at the possesion, its about 75% in barcas advantage. I think this will be the kind of football which will really help in the cl
do you remember how Rijkard started with barca when he joined the club, he needed time to i think guardiola needs time to, lets give it to him, and i bet we gonna get good results.
Of course Guardiola needs time but these 2 results are not acceptable. First a loss against newly promoted Numancia away and then at HOME we draw against Racing. My problem with Guardiola is that he does nothing during the match to change the team. I would like to have a good match coach. Look at Manolo Jimenez tonight. His team came back from behind several times and won against Sporting. Barca just can't seem to do that right now.
And anyone who says that Laporta forces Guardiola to play 4-3-3 don't know what they talk about. He used it already in Barca B.
this game wasnt as bad as last game. i dont know how we didnt win that. ok feels a loss but if hleb had stayed, if the ref got even half of the decisions right and if racing didnt get lucky shot we would have won.
to slate valdes for the goal is daft, nothing he could do about goal. as for pep i agree with dropping the players he did. people saying messi should have started would be the same ones responsible for messi getting injured again. pedro and busquets were the best players, and especially in the second half his team talk did the trick. they came out playing quick aggressive football, and he reacted in an aggressive way with his subs.
if they can keep them playing like they did for the second half then they will get better and better as the team gels. i dont like to be rude but those calling for guardiola to be sacked after two games are supporting the wrong team they should be wearing white, not our colours.
Up to memo post everything was alright,
but starting from that post we see impolite posts
to blame valdes or anybodyelse is ok , but to say "idiots" or "retards" or worse words on fans who replies here , this is unaceptable
pep,
I hope u don't agree their way of posting
The issue with this squad isn't so much the defense as everyone is suggesting, yeah valdez's shot to save ratio is inexcusable, but apart from that and a couple poor passes, the back four wasn't so bad. Their goal was courtesy of the referee. Awful call.
The problem lies with the attack. 1. Shooting- So many shots, so few goals. Need to work on shooting (iniesta) or buy a mid who can score (i dream kaka). 2. Heading- Where was samuel all second half? I'm glad we kept eto'o but I agree we need an aerial presence in the box. (nice hattrick adebayor)
I didnt get a chance to see the entire game I watched from the 30th min. They played badly in the 1st half and better in the 2nd. The free kick that caused the goal should not have been given according to the commentary i got on the game from tommy smyth and derek rae. Overall the second half was much better than the first and we should have killed off this one much earlier. I know many barca fans are hurting after this one (i saw several white handerkerchiefs at the stadium) but i said this before and I will say it again, this season will be difficult. We should not expect the title this season as it is a building process. The good news for us is that atletico dropped points today and madrid lost last week as well so they can only be 2 points ahead of us after tmrw. Give pep a chance. It is a work in progress.
calm down guys..
if one of the endless chances had been converted the score no one of us would have complained, on the contrary.
to be reasonable,
1- Barca played a much better match than the one against Numancia. we were much more dangerous.
2- Barca dont need a winger nor a cental forword, we need a 12th player called "A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK"
3- Hleb was great, Iniesta made something, Abidal played better than the last match.
4- and Pep, sorry but today i didn't see the May team, at least at the second half, the guys was fighting, but what to say? It just didn't want enter the goal.
5- I cant get the point from pushing the 18y old Bojan uner such a pressure.
6- and why the hell are we playing 4-3-3 if we dont any natural winger?
7- and NOOOOOOO it wasn't valdes's fault!! not this time!!
8- in summary WE DESERVED AT LEAST 1 MORE PENALTY, THE FREE KICK WAS A JOKE FROM THE REF., THE BAR SAVED A BALL, ETO'O WAS SO CLOSE TO SCORE MORE THAN ONCE, BUT THE BALL REFUSED TO HIT THE BACK OF THE NET.
IT IS DISSAPOINTING, BUT I CAN SEE A LIGHT IN THE END OF THE TUNNEL.
what was also dissapointing was the number of fans who turned up at the match... we need more support!
i always feel really sorry that somebody blames every goal's faults for him.
he is one of the most underrated players.
Let me explain it all to you folks.
1. Abidal needs to be gotten rid of. All of you folks defending him are either idiots or wearing blinders. most goals scored against barca are from the left flank. check it. Also he does not offer help going forward. fullbacks should be able to help the attack especially by delivering crosses. its wonder he can even get the ball in the air. His defensive ability leaves much to be desired. In my opinion we should jus use victor sanchez there and let him grow in the position at least if he makes mistakes it will be slightly more understandable...though that doesnt mean he should, or use Corcoles.
2. if we use 4-4-2 we need genuine wingers on both flanks. that would mean messi droding back to RM instead of RF and Hleb/Iniesta LM. I hear Keita can play LM too? next is the problem of partnering Eto. I say split the job evenly bewteen Bojan & Henry. this gives Bojan playing time to gain experience and Henry time to regain form.
3. There's no problem with the youngsters getting full 90 mins playing time, they gave a good account of themselves (well i think pedro needs a lot more improvement)
4. the goal was not valdez fault. it was a deflection. SHIT HAPPENS. If he had delayed, the pace of the ball might have beaten him, so he had to move early.
5. I reiterate, though he his injured, Jeffren should get that left wing spot. I like Hleb playing there, but since He's injured i believe someone like jeffren should get the job. we need ppl who can break down tough defenses. messi on the right, jeffren/Hleb on the left. Xavi working from the middle.
Both (jeffren/hleb) are injured now so i dont know what guardiola is gonna do. This is why it is good to give youngsters, as many minutes as you can throughout the season so they can gain experience; cause we could have at least tried using one of our young creative minds live Thiago or gai, providing the first team with more depth.
@ Hussain
ha.. oh im sorry i didnt know there were little girls in here. look this is how i express myself, pissed off at ignorant fans who obviously didnt see the goal or even the game! if your gonna go as far as to say one of our players is shit, then back it up with some real knoledge of what your talking about.
Everyone who actually saw the match realized that it wasnt Valdes's fault. It was a lucky ass goal.
So if you cant take the intensity in this blog, if youre a little on the "sensitive" side, then why are you even in here!
You didnt even make a real comment, so run along little girl. Barça fans ONLY!
P.S. If you guys want a new keeper there's that 19 yr old b team keeper mino. very impressive youth. very athletic, good ball handling. better than Oier by far. he should get more minutes with the first team. Valdes successor should do much much better than valdes
Well "all the goals are abidal fault" and even the Global warming is a result for him farting too much, thats the typical judgment for the "smart guys" around, that the ones like me "idiots" feel pity to read.
What was abidal fault in this goal, just as an example, was it abidal who mess positioned himself then made that Aggressive risky move with a body contact against a foxy striker? it was a bad ref whistle but someone gave him a bad reason.
the first goal in the first game, Alves lost the ball on the right, Marquez and Payol and abidal, the 3 of them went together to the post and no one from the midfield was covering the left, as they had to, but then the fault was ONLY abidal!oh yea...and valdes of course:P
Three days ago this guy played for a national team called france, he was the best player on the field covering his role, Galas role, and even working for clichy on the left. He got the praise from every where, except some spoiled fans who only see who score, and who do a mistake here or there, they worship the first and shot the second.
Guess what, every player do mistakes, and statistically he didnt loose more balls in this game than anyone else, and for the football experts who are asking him to go forward, he cant go forward as long as u want alves to play as he do, and to offer what barcelona paid the millions to get him doing, do u really want abidal to go forward and alves stay back? he was one of the reasons why alves felt secure to play more as a wing than a backward specially in second half, he knew he left 3 CB behind with a DM helping him.
I am not saying he was brilliant but he was doing his job as his coach needed, he did it so well that when pep decided loose a defender for a forward he kept him in and pulled payol out.
football is not a circus anymore, so I hope the clowns start to dance somewhere else.
That goal was Marquez fault we already got rid of one mexican let's get rid of this useless one as well!!
he wasnt the cuase of the goal, i'm not sayin that. BUt he needs to be more productive when he has the ball. whenever he crossed the ball it wasnt good. and when he passed it wasnt helping building the play either. I saw one instance where the better option would have been to switch flanks wit a long cross but he opted to pass instead and it was a nonsensical one. He had 1 good game wit france, so what? it does not change the fact that his overall productivity is poor. Valdes will have a game where he saves like he's superman but how often does he do that? not often which is why we complain about him so much. Abidal is the same. he's played average or below average for barca most times. and if u got 2 CB's and a defensive midfield covering then i think that gives him licence to attack a little more than he does. If it's always alves then it becomes predictable. Barca aint a circus but Abidal is a fricking clown.
What I have seen was talanted midfielders passing the ball with no sense, taking no shots and making nothing other than fruitless posession, a striker whom we only knew he is on field when the team was warming up, then vanished, a deffence leader who always make a big mess and no one even mention it because he is the captain - and I like him- but I just prefer to be fair, rather than joining the majority who find the less popular player in the team and start to act like "hell look how i can punch him" knowing no one will punch back.
People forgot about all that, and moved to critisize the player who played his role on the field, as for the comment " I saw one instance where the better option would have been to switch flanks wit a long cross but he opted to pass instead and it was a nonsensical one." it show the attitude i am talking about, because i guess there was another instant when Xavi had to shoot the ball but instead he again played another safe pass rather than taking the risk of an attempt (Xavi is my all time favorite player so nothing personal) and there was another many instances when messi had to pass the ball but instead choosed to dribble all the players and then started dribbling the audience before going out dribling people in the streets, what about iniesta instances? eto?even though eto was not in the game at alkl so i doubt he generated any instances.
He is not offering his best, as with lyon, no doubt, but to critisize this guy for this game? its a stereotype now, more than an openion.
he is not an offensive backward, and no its not enough to have payol-the slow- and pique+another unexperienced DM to gaurd u from behind, its just easy to creat theories, but football is something else.
Last year Valdes was good, yes he was though lot of you will raise their eye brows now, because after a very bad two seasons, its not allowed to praise this guy anymore no matter what he offer, but as a person who know how it was before valdes (probably lot of u here were still watching cartoon by then), i have seen the after Zobi period till the Rustu era, I am not welling to gamble whom i dont know for whom i know, there are no good keepers for sale in the market now, i always hoped they sign a young one to compete with valdes on the long run but not to substitute him. Another fact in life, all keepers do mistakes, and till now valdes havent done any in the two games played, regardless of what some coral steriotype gangs say.
Its a friggin disaster that Pep doesn't play Sylvinho. This is really upsetting me. He hasnt gotten a minute since the pre-season. And Sylvinho is that kind of player you can throw in that can actually make a difference. Abidals attacking skill are REALLY bad. But Sylvinho has got a great foot for corners, crosses, passes. Geez. I've got a feeling we're gonna resent letting Abidal be the starting leftback for the season.
I agree with Ramzi, Valdes is a excellent keeper and if we are going to replace him there are 3 options out there if you look at the quality. Iker Casillas (Never going top happen), Petr Cech (Would cost us 50M+), Gianluigi Buffon (Same as Cech). Keep Valdes he is one of the 10 best goalkeepers out there.
its so funny that people are not after INIESTA, XAVI, MESSI, ETO, KEITA for not soring or @least hitting the target. If our midfielders cant shoot to save thier lives, then its a shame but we can all open our mouths and run abidal & valdes down. I am not their greatest fan but there must be a balance and if most of you here are BARCA coach, there would be loads of SACRED COWS (iniesta, xavi, yaya, messi espcialy) no matter how badly they perfom, Abidal & Vlades gets the blame for the only goal we concede in a 0-1 loss but your "golden sons" dont get a blame for not attempting to score from midfield. Am sure some of you wish HENRY played so you blame him too.. get real guys and lets call a spade a spade. INIESTA, SAMMY AND XAVI didnt do enough yesterday. Guddy would @least shoot at goal. enuff said
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