This evening at 8 pm bt,
Barcelona plays the fifth game of the season against Espanyol Barcelona.
Barcelona plays the fifth game of the season against Espanyol Barcelona.
Like Barcelona, Espanyol has seven points out of their four previous games. They are ranked eigth in the Liga.Last Wednesday, they lost 2-0 against Sevilla, playing with Kameni - Sergio Sánchez, Jarque, Pareja, Finnan (32 Chica) - Ángel, Lola (63 Callejón) - Luis García, Sielva (63 Moisés), Valdo - Jonathan Soriano.
Espanyol squad list:
Kameni, Cristian Álvarez, Sergio Sánchez, Pareja, Jarque, Chica, Moisés Hurtado, Sielva, Ángel, Lola Smiljanic, Julián López de Lerma, Nené, Jonathan Soriano, Tamudo, Luis García, Corominas, Callejón
Barcelona squad list:
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal, Xavi, Touré, Keita, Iniesta, Gudjohnsen, Busquets, Messi, Eto'o, Bojan, Henry, Pedro
Before (what are your expectations, what should be the line-up,...), during and after the match, you can comment on the game here.
Posts
74 comments:
The Derby! What would be better to boost adrenaline! And both stress with excitement, the best mixed of feelings in the game!
Beside of all those passionate feelings I come to this game with three concerns!
THE FIRST > is the nightmare of rotation, it is unlikely happening specially when we know that Barcelona is coached by a Catalan! But keeping the CL game in mind, you never know if pepe will open that box of surprises, but I guess we already discussed this in Pedro replaces Caceres in Espanyol list post before.
THE SECOND> sticking to the defense structure we have seen in Betis game, meaning to use two classical full backs on left and right, rather than bouncing back to the 3 central backwards structure.
THE THIRD> Using henry on the left instead of iniesta: something I believe it MUST happen during the season, but NO not in this game, this game need iniesta! The reason why I prefer the iniesta - ito/henry- messi, over henry-eto-messi, is the fact that u need iniesta to drop back to midfield when the team loose ball, I want keita to play behind xavi in this game more than assisting the left wing as he is doing recently, we cant ignore the fact that espanyol have the tools needed for counter attack, more than most of the teams in Spain, there 2 forward wingers drop to midfield creating a 5 men in the middle structure, that will be too much for one DM to handle the threat, and too much for 3 Barcelona midfielders to dominate possession, which is a key factor in Barcelona game.
Thats why in this game I prefer iniesta the winger who drop to midfield when loosing ball to create with xavi- keita- busq and advanced alves a croudy midfield to earn the ball faster.
One side note, Gudi need to wait till CL game till he earn his bonus for that goal.
My favorite selection – taking on account that everyone is perfectly fit and inform is”
Valdes, Alves, Payol, Pique, Abidal,Defensive midfielder, Kieta, Xavi, Messi , Henry, Iniesta
Defensive midfielder: The one inform is busquits no doubt! He is the favorite, but if he still feel surprised when the coach tell him he will start, then the coach need to make sure he is mentally ready for an away derby, if he is, then of course he is the guy inform, or else the experienced Yaya is the secured option.
Henry: eto strike twice in the last game, that give him the ticket to start the game, but, isn't he too tired to play? This game is physically demanding!
Tactically, I will stick to THE SYSTEM that I guess I made you sick of it for repeating it again and again, but in football you have “THE SYSTEM” and “THE SYSTEM’ (prime) “ which is derived from the main system with some modifications, like isotopes in chemistry. You make a tactical touch to your tactics to customize it based on the team you are facing and where (home/away)
So The only touch I hope to see, is simply that kieta play behind Xavi rather than his role as an iniesta assistant on the left, why?
The team goal status is scored 13 goals, with 6 goals against, in 5 games. A very good record for offense, almost miserable for defense – taking in consideration the teams Barcelona played against ! Ok I also like the idea of lets score more to win, but believe me in football, to win titles, its much better to win 1-0, that 6-4, call me boring, I will take it, but I just cant deny this fact.
So what needed is to improve the defense stability even if it was through taking “a little” from the offense account, So what we can do is to use keita between the DM and xavi so he can help breaking down the counter attacks in the middle. I believe this option is more than needed for the CL games in the advanced stages, when you go to play in old trafford, or emirates… you need to close your field and drag the game to your field to finish it, and this is the best timing to make the players comfortable with it.
Why this game suit that change? First it’s a derby against a team who master Counter attacks, playing outside your field with a bad defense record on your shoulders in the last few games.
Beside, espanyol will play their offense in that space between Barcelona defense and the midfield, they have the players with the mobility needed for that, and having only one DM to work with this, even if one of the 3 CB moved forward to act as a second DM, may not be enough. I prefer to drop Kieta back and leave the offense work for Xavi, alves, messi, henry/eto and iniesta so they move forward with no fears, rather than playing only one DM and causing lot of concerns so Xavi, alves, iniesta, and kieta move forward while looking to the back.
Now of course during the game, the match conditions may dictate some changes in the roles of players, but I would love to start the game that way, defense with depth, solid midfield, and a killing forward system.
Good luck!
guardiola needs to settle down with all this rotation.. ... the season just started... these are professional atheltes if they are tired then something is wrong with them.. the most importANT thing in football is rhytm- momentum.. you can have all the superstars in the world but if the team is not used to playing together... they will never acheive their best.. barcelona's performance for the last two years and the galacticos have proved this principle. We need one team of 14 players that plays at least 80% of our games. They can take 20% of the games off.. that is more than enough rest for a professional athlete making millions of euros a year. But every game pep changes the defense ....every game he shuffles the formation... we need comsistency.. ESPECIALLY in defence where we have been AVERAGE at best. One day its pique ( who has looked to be our best defender) then marquez then puyol ( i know he's been knocked up) than caceres then abidal is missing ( who looks terrible)... we need then we play with 3 at the back...WHAT IS GOING ON... he needs to pick a back 4 or a back 3 and play them for ten games straight barring injury or suspension.. so they can get some chemistry...
On a lighter note....XAVI + INIESTA......oooooh pure magic baby... CESC WHO!!!!!??!?! arsenal can keep him.. xavi is 28 and iniesta is still 24 .. .. 5 more years of domination from this pair then iniesta will shine alone.
Busquets..... well this is a surprise... toure and keita cant get a game because of this guy.. he is strong and gives the midfield that nasty streak that they have lacked for a while..
Eto.. and pep .....hugging.? ......WOW!!
i hope that line-up will be this
valdes
alves--puyol--pique--abidal
xavi--toure--iniesta/keita
messi--etoo--henry/iniesta
NO.... PLEASE LEAVE HENRY OUT OF THE STARTING LINE UP!
It's better to let him in replacing Eto'o or Iniesta in the second half.
trust me:
valdes
alves pique puyol abidal
xavi toure keita
messi HENRY iniesta
KAYR
after the game we will all be like thank you pep for putting henry after he scores a hatrick...
i bet all my life if henry starts the game he will be rated tommorow after the game 9 and above.
KAYR
Barca 3 espanyol 2
Thierry henry hatrick
KAYR
PLEASE go see thierry henry barcelona season part 1 and then part 2 and you will see that the real henry is not the one most of you think he is.
KAYR
We got it, KAYR, no need to repeat your point four times... El Mundo Deportivo claims that Henry will start.
P.S. If you don't want to be marked as Anopnymous, click next to Name/URL and fill in "KAYR" in the Name box if you post a comment.
Catalunya Radio claims this will be the line-up:
Valdés
Alves, Puyol, Márquez, Abidal
Xavi, Busquets, Gudjohnsen
Messi, Eto'o, Iniesta
I almost mentioned that there is a bonus for Gudi for that goal he scored, i thought its better to offer him that bonus in the CL, rather than in this game.
He has better finishing than kieta, for being a originally forward, his defense contribution, even though he is a determinate guy, still not a kieta.
So pepe choose experience and understanding in defense over form, putting Marquez instead of pique, now The 3 CB is a must, or else it will be a hard night for the two slow CBs if abidal moved forward, with alves of course.
Man, you can earn money if you can predict Guardiola starting teams...
Should be a nice Line up PEP, but i would love to see Piqué instead of Marquez.....Please no Henry in the line up, iniesta is way way better on the left
I really want to see Toure starting in the first team... he seemed kind of left out, it isn't fair on him because he is Barca's player of the year last season...
※ CONFIRMED
Valdés
Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal
Xavi, Busquets, Gudjohnsen
Messi, Henry, Iniesta
have u guys noticed that all the teams barca plays against have their next game against madrid? it is like that all season... isn't that strange?... i don't know what i should think about it...
yeah! i know.
very lucky schedule for madrid and villareal.
little bit unfair for us.
I just heard on skysports extra (watching betis V madrid) that Henry is in the starting line up.
please change to the old style where the same page opens for the comments as the main site cause for me it opens in a really small window and its hard to participate. I know someone gave a suggestion regarding this new system, was a horrile one to say the least.
Barca for life!!!
the same thing over and over again!!!
if it was BARCA they probably have put in another defender not a striker since 75!!
anw we will crush them tonight!!
VISCA EL BARCA!!!!
cyprus..
kman i have tha same problem!! :(
luis that is tha same 2 years in a row.. and then villareal check on valencia and athletico and you will find more strange things.. not this year only..
it seems alright to me.. but i think pep should do a poll kinda thing and make sure yo can ony vote once. So, it wld be the the old format V this new one. my suggestion
eto on bench for henry!!! rotation? resting players? pleasing henry?
Valdes has done what he did against Liverpool, try to catch the ball. Why not punch it over for a corner? I hope we win tho
Guardiola has made a big mistake!!!not even a rookie coach should make such a mistake!!!
you put out your highest scorer on the bench in the name of rotation? just plain stupid for someone who played at the hghest level.
when a striker is HOT..never ever rest them.
Frank did all his rotation...but never kept samu out when he is hot.
win or loose he made a mistake.
our defense...full of dumbasses...
every counter is a goal, no matter what...
this rotation is garbage as well...why not stick with the best 11 players? my goodness...
imo barca is playing very well..but lack of scoring goals..i`m even surprised that the middfield is working with gudi
For bollocks sakes!!! Valdes pisses me off so much!!!
Anyway, Barca is playing very well... but still lack of luck. Come on barca, keep this up!!!
why im not surprized we did every thing and then they score
good job ref.
till now all his dicisions are wrong with no exception, the goal, the red card, every thing
and by the way playing with 10 players espanyol will play 10 players in the box
I see BARCA roling but i think the ref is annoying the players.. i bet he did not remembered that nene had a card that's why he gave a second one!!
anw the team is performing just fine.. the counter will always be counter thats the nature of the game!! it's dangerous every single time but if we dominate like this every game the goals will come!!
and it was a foul on valdes!!
your opinion on the matter??
i do not try to defend valdes he should not have tryed to keep the ball in anw but i think it was a clear foul!!
second half SERGI (card) GUDI OUT
TOURE ETO IN iniesta retreat in midfield henry or eto'o on the flangs and we will be fine!!
We had so many chances at with a man less Espanyol is going to have a hard time this half. Hopefully Eto´o comes in. He seemes the only one capable of scoring. I also think Henry has been very unlucky. First of all the ref whistles every time he jumps in the air. Second, he had a very good shot after 10 mins. which nearly went in and that sitter he had. Come on thats just so unlucky.
btw PEP i changed my mind about the post think is just fine now that i have used to it!! nice jop once again!!
First half, good game for barcelona.
What they lack is good positioning in the box for the crosses, everyone is running to the same spot, whats needed is a better positioning with runs to the posts and a player in the middle.
Gudi for kieta wasnt the best option, but lets wait till the end of the game.
valdes had to push that ball to the corner, though it was a foul.
ref get bluffed by the second yellow card.
iniesta in gudi place, yaya for Busi and eto with henry in.
i knew he would do that taking a defender out good move pepe . !!!!!!
Why did the game get suspended? I wasn't paying attention for a few seconds and I come back and see that it's stopped...
Fans were starting to rush the field.
Does that mean the score stands at 1-0?
Espanyol fans are just trying to waste time. That delay cost us at least 7 minutes.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
F*** Lines man.. Ref u rock... prahh
shouldn't be a penalty. that ref's gonna get huge shit. but i'll take the win any way i can. the espanyol fans are going to riot like crazy. we got away with a huge one.
GOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLL!!!!
13th minute of extra time!!
MESSI PENALTY!
pepe is a very good coach i have to say he knew how to put pressure on enspanyol and the win is well deserved this was amazing . thank you barca ...........
GOAOOOAALALLALALALLAAAAAZZZOOOO!!!!!!!!
wat u mean its not a penalty? He chopped down eto from behind. theirs no argument
OMFG that was intense! great to see henry get some results. i'm speechless. very impressive to see them get back in the game after the break as well.
Well sometimes you have the refs on your side and as a barcafan that is not common. Espanyols goal shouldn't have been allowed, Valdes got a elbow in his ribs. The red card was wrong and so was the penalty. That was a great clean tackle. We played pretty good and should have scored on some of our chances but Kameni was superb as always when we face Espanyol.
Visca Barca. Btw plz go back to the old commentaries, hate the little box. Keep up the good work, both Pep and Guardiola.
BARSA BARSA CON LA MANO DE MESSI YEAH HECK YEAH MOTHA BEPPING 3 PTS visca el barsa
A win...
to barca aficionado:
I'll have to watch the replay again but the replay they showed on my feed showed that he got all ball and Eto'o fell more due to his momentum because he was surprised than because he was brought down.
I'm not complaining. I'm a huge Barca fan. I'm just saying if you're an Espanyol fan you're gonna be pretty upset that call was made at the last minute of play. They didn't even have a kickoff after the penalty. It's just going to create controversy.
Just unbelivable!!!
I have no words for this.
We score in the last second of the match but finally luck was on our side for once.
Henry was good and he was trying really hard to score and he did but that goal was....
Enough said,our guys deserved to win and they did....
Més que un club!!!
that was the most intense match ever...theyr goal wasnt the fairest and we all know that wasnt a penalty as he juss kicked the ball...but its not like us barca fans give a shit...im very happy with the win, obviously.we played a good game,made alot of chances but again we just couldnt score.but the whole match was just brilliant, so dramatic n intense did u see everyone(two club presidents and ppl sitting beside them)jump n shake when the person tackled from behind wondering whats gonna happen.scoring in the 103rd minute...the fans...just everything.i wasnt very happy with a few ppl tho,one of them being henry, sum of u say he played pretty well but i disagree.hes just not making the runs,not jumping for the ball all the time,holding the ball too much...messi did well,eto'o wasnt the best but he also didnt play bad,busquets had to go,gudjohnsen did too.even tho we it wasnt the fairest match in many ways,we did deserve to win.another thing, valdes should have juss tryed to tip it over the net but it really was a foul...anyways, really glad we won.
btw...did anyone here watch the madrid match?...so disapointing...
Penalty or not we should have won anyway with Henry's goal since the goal espanyol made should have not counted due to the foul made on valdes but thats just the game, unpredictable.
ok james. My feed was a bit choppy but it looked to me like he was cut down, but i believe in being fair, & if the penalty was undeserved, it will take some of my elation out of the win.
Speaking of being fair, am i the only one who thinks busquets tries to get the most out of every collision? That 1st yellow he caused looks suspect to me, and i HATE divers. I think guardiola needs to talk to him about that. I dont want a c.ronaldo on our team.
FVCK! What a game, never seen anything before, costed me at least 5 years of live.
fully deserved win, damn, I'm so proud now! of course we should've buried some chances, but this win is even sweeter than a humiliation!
Great spirit from the team and the penalty, I don't know, it was a tackle from behind and after the goal for Espanyol, which came after a clear foul on Valdés, I think it's safe to say that the penalty was fair.
I can't believe it, you have to love this guys, every single one of them, and of course Pep for his guts and bravery to play with 4 forwards, 2 attacking mids and of course Dani Alves, who OWNED the right side tonight! :-)
to a9 yes i did the whole match was stressful!!!! and i knew that our would be hard from the moment real scored the second goal in extra time like the last 18 months..
ANW
I will take a win like that every day!!!!!!! (ok not every day i had 1-2 heart attacks :) )
anw we rocked!!!! i like the new styl but we have to put the correct plaeyer in the correct place more often to finish games erly!!! do the ref have tv in the rooms?? he was bad all game for us exept the red (my opinion didn;t knew that was second) and the penalty if it was real it would be ok to give a penalty like that but to us you do not see that often!! anw pep is not holding back anything!! he will get the best from everyone!!!!!
we had at least 10 extra good chances!!!!!
we must find out what is wrong with the deffence fast!!!
a9 ... what the hell r u talking about??
1) guddy needs to be a starter, today he added a different style in midfield, u saw how we had chances from the kick off.
2) everytime henry held the ball he was in a one on one or no1 was there to recieve the ball. and if eto was in his shoes for the first goal it wudnt have been as henrys leg reach is far more further,,
3) Basquets,,,y did he have to go? he did everything the coach asked him to do. he aint selfish and provided barca with many fouls,,
Anyway ne1 knws what laporta was arguing about???????????
if that penalty wouldnt have been called everyone would have been screaming saying it WAS a penalty
anonymous to a9 deffence i thing he ment that he had a card and gudy well someone should had to leave so who else??
about henry i also think he had a very good game!!! 8+ from me!! he did every thing!!! and in styl.. as always..
basquets is down a lot but he has a reason.. he is kicked down!!
but i am with you he tries to get everything from every impact!! as long as he does not go down alone i am with him!!! i also think that he must biult up a few musguls!!
to anonymous:
1)HAHA...thats juss funny...juss cuz guddy had a good game against betis doesnt mean hes god.he had a very important goal...but dat doesnt mean anythin...hes very slow and not consistant...i have nothing against him but when u have a squad like barcas and seeing how he played to day he had to go off...
2)i think about 5-10 times i had to watch dani alves' cross pass henrys head n he wouldnt even jump...sure he woulddnt have got to all of em...but dammit TRY!...hes not always making the runs..he had a few good plays but this wasnt his best performance at all!...eto'o would have done better for sure and iniesta would also do much better on the left...i dun think thats sumthing u can argue with...
3)omg i was juss so tired of seeing busquets on the ground...the only times i saw him was when he was on the ground holding sum part of his body, and he didnt play horrible but i think he still needs to get more mature to start for barca...still needs sum expirience and is still young...but i like him..im not hating...surly gonna b a great,solid player for barca in the next few years.
btw:forgot to point sumthing out...im also tired of barca trying to play fancy when losing and theres no time left...all the flicks and backheels.sure its great to watch but sum times they juss push it...
HENRY was lively truout. We all saw Eto strygle on the left. That eplains why HENRY hasnt been the HENRY we all expect. I have said it times and times agian play ETO or buy Benzema and play him on the left, they would never be as good as HENRY on the left flank. HENRY is a CF who loves to drift to the left and cut in. Thats the only way we can get the last bit in him
we still have problems breaking down teams with parked defenses. When espanyol started defending in numbers in those last few minutes it was hard to break thru, but i think guardiola has taking a step in the right direction by playing messi behind the striker, thus using him as the link between MF and ATT.
thx kempe, forgot to wright the yellow, maybe that was a hand in the penalty box but he really has to chill...
About the penalty decision, the referee did something wrong anyway, If it wasn't a penalty then he was wring to whistle, if it was a penalty then he had to show a red card, now of course no barcelona fan will be happy to suspend another espanyol player before their game against RM, but thats whats written in the books, as far as I know.
ok goodnight now, we will have another talk tomorrow;)
I mean I will go to sleep, you enjoy ur time with debates, just don't fight :)))
Guys this is not time for arguing!!!
We won so everybody needs to be happy.
We are Barca fans and we should act like that...
All our players are fantastic and enough said for now...
Let us enjoy the victory....
Well said K-1.
Great victory.
That. Was. Awesome.
Fantastic match from beginning to end. It had everything. An utter delight.
Henry always should play instead Iniesta , it's his position and he know better to play like left winger .
Thanks Henry for tie today and thenks ETO/MESi for winning goal
CIAO BABEKA
First of all I'm glad Barca won but they are a long way from hitting their stride. I have a few points
1- Granted Valdes was fouled but why couldn't he tip it over the bar instead of that useless punch.
2- Basquets is showing plenty of potential and is bringing in something that Barca lacked in the past but he needs to mature if I were the coach I'd reprimand him on that totally avoidable yellow.
3- Henry will never be the same player he was at Arsenal so until I'm proven wrong Eto'o should get the starting CF berth.
4- Guardiola needs to pick a starting XI quick and stop tinkering with the team. I don't understand how you bench Eto'o after scoring a brace against Betis. Also am I the only one that thought playing with 4 forwards was dangerous and ineffectual all they did was crowd each other, Barca were very lucky to get the penalty and win the match.
5- Last but not least if Barca were to play Madrid tomorrow they would LOSE!
About the new comment thing with the pop-up:
I will leave the new version up for two weeks, so people can get used to it, and then I'll have a poll on it.
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