This evening at 8:45 pm bt,
Barcelona plays the third game of the Champions League group stage against FC Basel.
Barcelona plays the third game of the Champions League group stage against FC Basel.
While Barcelona leads the group with six points, Basel has lost their two previous games. Read an extensive preview of the game with an analysis of Basel here.
Barcelona squad list:
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Puyol, Cáceres, Abidal, Sylvinho, Xavi, Touré, Busquets, Iniesta, Hleb, Víctor Sánchez, Messi, Eto'o, Bojan, Henry
Before (what are your expectations, what's your prediction, what should be the line-up,...), during and after the match, you can comment on the game here.
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40 comments:
Starting 11:
Valdés
Alves - Cáceres - Piqué - Sylvinho
Touré
Xavi - Busquets
V. Sánchez - Henry - Bojan
Subs:
Eto'o -> Henry
Messi -> V. Sánchez
Iniesta -> Bojan
Abidal -> Sylvinho
Puyol - Cáceres/Piqué
My reasoning:
Basicly, this is a game we should win even with our backups. I know, its rather arrogant to say that but still, this is Basel and I belive we have the quality to se this through with some major rotation within the squad.
Considering rotations, this is not the optimal starting 11 in my opinion. But with Guddy, Márquez and Keita gone due to injuries and considering this is a match we should win, I belive we should give some of the talent a go.
Busquets has been perhaps the most positive surprise this autumn; we should play him as much as we can. Let us hope Guardiola does have a talk with in about bookings thou, since it seems he lacks when it comes to the "cool". The tendancy to draw bookings is quite alarming.
Cáceres and Piqué: Well, the former has a lot to prove. He is still young and I belive playing him whenever possible (against weaker opponents) is a must. The more he plays the better he will adapt.
Considering Piqué, atleast for me he has been a nice addition. First and foremost his positioning game has been quite good (not as good as Puyols but hey, we cant expect that). During the last game he was allright. A few passes wasnt as good as you would like (he's no Marquez) but over all he preformed well.
Giving these two players time is essential considering the longterm goals of the club.
Sylvinho... Yes, well Abidal needs a rest. Enough said.
In the midfield I would like to se Touré in the defensive position. We cant neglect such a player, even thou I belive Busquets has done a superb job playing in that position.
Given Yaya plays defensive, I belive we should use Busquets a few steps up the pitch. His major advantage over Touré is his passing game. Allways quick (althou not allways perfect). He needs time on the field... Our future star in my eyes.
On the offensive, I belive Xavi is must. This guy is perhaps the most important player in the whole team. We all saw how the last game turned out without him. Xavi is the key to victory and according to me more important than Messi or Eto'o.
Why do we need to play him against Basel? Well... Quite simple actuly, we need someone to dictate tempo, play the ball and anchor the offense. Against Athletic, this became quite clear. During the first half when Iniesta did not participate in ball distribution this became quite clear. The second half was a lot better. With Iniesta involved in the buildup, we managed to create so much more.
But Iniesta needs a rest. Thats why Xavi is a must!
Up front, Id say we should take a chance. Play V. Sánchez again, even thou his last preformance was rather dull. The lad needs experience and we should give him the benefit of doubt. Pair him with Bojan, the next Messi (yea I know its rather cheesy ^^), and se what they can accomplish.
The edge should be given to Henry. Centre-forward is is natural position, so let him play whenever we can spare Eto'o.
Rather risky you say?
Yes, it is!
But if things does not turn out like we want... Say we are down 1 or its a 0-0 at midtime, we do have Messi, Eto'o and Iniesta on the bench.
If we do have the lead, which I think we will have, we could allways bring Abidal or Puyol in if the back-4 looks insecure.
Thats my 5 cents...
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From two hours before until two hours after the game you can join a match chat (read more here)
The link in "here" lead to the old page.
I'm sticking with my original starting eleven... Márquez and Touré don't start because of the knocks they picked up in Bilbao.
-----------Valdés------------
-Alves--Puyol--Piqué--Abidal-
----------Busquets-----------
------------Xavi-------------
--Messi-------------Iniesta--
---------------Henry---------
----------Eto'o--------------
I know this is set up like a 4-1-3-2, but that's just my perference. So, formation aside I think this will be the starting eleven.
hint,I suppose that we are going to play with the away kit, as Basel home kit is identical to ours,
i dont expect an easy match at all, we hardly need an early openner but also we should do every thing to avoid receiving an early goal also!
good luck to our heroes
hint,I suppose that we are going to play with the away kit, as Basel home kit is identical to ours,
i dont expect an easy match at all, we hardly need an early openner but also we should do every thing to avoid receiving an early goal also!
good luck to our heroes
Changed it, Ramzi!
When the starting line up from the barca-homepage is correct, there also could be a fourth match without anybody who got the right starting eleven.
According to UEFA, this is our starting 11:
Valdes
Alves-Marquez-Puyol-Sylvinho
Busquets-Yaya-Xavi
Messi-Bojan-Hleb
Hey ramzi, great blog setup here. I am a die hard barcelona fan, from the days of rivaldo and guardiola being im only 18. But i feel our barca team this year is one i have not seen in a while. I feel we have depth, we have hunger , we have a good coach, and most of all, all of the players feel important and they realise that barca is a great team and it takes our team to win. There is one problem i see, and i think it is our fans , not all but alot, The fans at the camp nou are finally coming around , but the fans i read on alot of blogs , are doubting pep, are doggin the sense of team, and are really not being the barca fans we need. I am a man who loves my team, bad times and good, and i cant stand these "chelsea" style gold diggin fans that we seem to have some times. They get mad when messi and all the other starters dont start. Now dont get me wrong i love messi and i do think that a certain core of players should almost always start. The likes of iniesta, messi , Xavi, puyol dani alves etc should start almost always so that we have a strong base everytime we go out. But i am a strong advocate of our youth team players playing this year , seeing as that is where messi came from lol. If we give them a chance, think of the players we can generate out of our "cantera" we have guys with the same potential as messi and fabregas and iniesta comin up every year. Look at players like pedro, jeffren suarez, gai assulin, thiago alcantara, we have great players comin through and as long as they play , they will get better. But i love the way barca is handling them selves this season. We just have to stick by them all the time and stick by pep , he is doing a good job. We do need a new goalkeeper and left back tho. Ramzi and everyone esle, good job with the blog
can any one help!!! please link to watch game
www.rojadirecta.com
Pep strikes again:
Valdés
Alves
Márquez
Puyol
Sylvinho
Touré
Sergio Busquets
Xavi
Messi
Bojan
Hleb
Pep vs FcBarcelonablog 4:0 :-)
Just checked the line-up predictions and nobody even came close...
Three games, no winner.
I think it's easier to predict the lottery numbers...
He has so many options, that the possibilities are endless :)))
Basel line-up:
Costanzo; Huggel, Streller, Chipperfield, Eduardo Rubio, Abraham, Safari, Marque, Ergic, Derdiyok, Zanni
wow... I'd like to meet the person that called this line-up...
I like this selection, may be I would only prefer henry for busq, so hleb play in the midfield and henry up front, but I think busq and yaya will allow both sylvinho and alves to move forward to open flanks...smart move!
at least I mentioned iniesta and pique out, bojan almost in! thats an achievement with pep! I like this guy lol
0-2 after 15 minutes. Messi and Busquets. Game over...
0-3 Bojan...
poor basel... looks like basels players not running, only fast walking...
Is that Busquets first goal?
We are dominating at the moment, hope Samuel & Thierry come in later and get some chances as well.
No i dont think we need to put eto and henry under an injury risk in a finished game...
I think we need to take Alves out, and may be either messi or xavi
plzz give me some links where i can watch FCB live! plzz help
1 st goal/Messi:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2393558
cancelled goal:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2393579
2nd goal/Busquets:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2393591
Love you guys!!!
3rd goal/Boyan:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2393605
Point taken.
We may very well see a couple of substitutions at the half, and possibly if another goal comes before that.
Who do you suggest as subs? Sanchez?
messi10 said...
Goto www.rojadirecta.com, and watch it on tvu (download if you don't already have it). Its working for me :D
Anony I pasted this for u from the other post, i hope it help.
Henry should play second half for Messi. Good for his confidence if he scores and we should be careful with Messi.
myp2p.eu
Sanchez and caceres can have this chance, not sure if they are both on bench though...
tnx m8s! Macedonian FCB fan
last time i was right about the back line,this time I was right about the midfield its good enough for me
wALID...IF SO, i HOPE U SEND ME UR FORWARD PREDICTIONS FOR MY PREVIEW...opps sorry for caps:)
ramzi i downloaded the software which channel should i select??
I was watching on TV, just came to pc, I pasted the comment of another fan about the link, get into the chat on the blog, and may be there we get better answers
4-0 Bojan :
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2393765
5-0 Xavi:
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=2393724
Good game and a good result too.
It is also very important that none of our players suffered injury so now we can put all our forces on Liga.
Més que un club!!!
I slept through the game, anyone know a link for a replay?
Thanks.
Thank you for posting the goal highlights! Reading this blog and your comments on the game makes it almost as good as being able to watch the game, but some of us are stuck at work while the games are in progress.
Thanks to all for letting me experience the game through those that are watching it!
Ramzi! I hope can save some of your energy for the coming days as you have a homework to do, you dont have a lot of time before the next match, cant wait to hear you rambling again,
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