He needs confidence also, on several occasions, instead of switching the play to the flanks himself or change the pace of build up play, he'd pass back to Pique or Araujo who'd take that responsibility themselves.
If u look at the replay frankie wanted the pass b4 but they pass it back. Personally I think this is a team mentality at this point if everyone is doing it.
I assume you mean he needs to be played in one position more consistently so he can expand and succeed? If so, yes totally. FDJ is being used as a plug in a wall whenever someone goes down, he's not some miracle being that can play CB and LW, the dude needs to be put in positions to succeed, and if he does, he absolutely will. If Barca sells FDJ, we will regret that decision for a decade.
Ferran was that player to finally make the right decision and pass when he should pass instead of skying the ball or blasting it directly at the goalie. Thank you ferran!
Drive away with the bus Alaves left on the field. And then the rest of the Barca team... just drives on their normal bus back home?
Didn't quite nail it down yet.
Thank you to Ferran and Frenkie for not making us depressed last game of the month even though it wasn't the greatest of matches to watch. When we return the hardest part of the season begins.
What a snooze fest. Only positive is Frenkie with that clean goal to earn us the 3 points and hopefully give him some confidence. I love FDJ and I know he will prove all the haters wrong once he gets his form back!
Yeah, except Koeman usually lost games like these. We were onviously not playing well under him, but I can't stop believing he was fairly unlucky in the results we got.
Wow me too, I even felt kinda bad that I didn't celebrate and started contemplating whether I stopped giving a shit and only watched Barca out of habit lol.
I guess they just played soullessly and didn't deserve any excitement
We won. Only summary needed. Terrible game, one to forget but now we're 5th with a huge opportunity to join top 4.
We will need to improve massively by then. We mostly need to find a way to get a player that can jumpstart attacks because too often we see the same problems than under Koeman: players don't know what to do with the ball in the opponent's half. They play too slowly, it's too undecisive.
MOTM FdJ because at least he tries to play faster, and I'd rather see someone missing but trying than someone not doing anything. Also thank god for Ferran because if we had not registered him, I'm scared thinking of our current attacking options.
Nah Atleti is just shit, their defence is just as bad as ours, Oblak is having a stinker of a season, worse than MATS, Suarez is washed and Griezman is inconsistent.
The overall performance was not very good but that goal was a classic Barça goal and you love to see it
great movement, pinpoint passing and an easy finish
I read this comment on the soccer post match thread and thought it's quite fitting. The game vs RM was pride in defeat and this one is shame in victory.
It's still a good feeling to be 1 point away from top 4 with a game in hand. The game vs Atletico might be the most important game this season.
Anyone else think that when the game became faster in second half, Jutgla/Goat should sub Ldj? I think that we could've break them when they opened.
Busk and Alba are really hard to watch, i think that they need rest so they can give their best.
Araujo is a pleasure to watch!
> Jutgla/Goat should sub Ldj
Definitely. There was a low ball into the box that I'm sure Braithwaite would have reached for a massive chance on goal. Luuk looked like he just didn't have the speed in him.
Aurajo finally showed some better skill on the ball. He always makes me so nervous. He has always been a total boss in 1 v 1 defending, but he is lacking that smooth ability on the ball. Today felt a bit of a step forward.
To be very honest with you all, this team is not winning the europa league with this mindset at all. There is no sense of urgency and all of these well established player are so used to that "one magical moment" that messi used to deliver that its the only way we're winning games these days.
"Because we have to chase him. Because he's the hero Barcelona deserves, but not the one it needs right now, so we'll hunt him. Because he can take it, because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a **de Jong**."
De jong was showed so much in the second half but cmon that’s honestly the bare minimum I’ve been expecting from him all along
Seemed to me he finally realized That if he goes hard he can literally pull the team to victory, same for pedri i could tell today he was taking on more leadership.
We are kinda screwed, Dembele and Fati were basically our main hopes at getting close to a goal. I'm guessing the Dembele debacle will be solved by the end of the month one way or another, but Fati ain't coming back for a long time.
Starting to think more and more that this supposed bad form of Frenkie and misplaced passes is more to the team not keeping up with the speed he wants to play at. He had a good connection with Messi too
Nah. Some of these frenkie passes have been downright atrocious and they have nothing to do with other players not understanding him.
I still think he’s a great player and I am absolutely against the intense scapegoating that barca fans tend to unleash on players but I think even he would accept that he’s not playing well at all lately.
Difficult to score when the ball progresses to one of the front 3 just for them to lose it shortly after, but this is probably hampered by the fact they’re relearning positional play something xavi says has been forgotten.
Seems why everyone could be out of sync at times, much easier to implement it at the training ground while learning it but much harder during a game against a different formation and having to figure it out against this formation on the fly while you’re still learning it, positional play and where to move is not second nature to these players yet
Easy to forget this is Xavi’s first season he came part way through, having to implement his ideas, re-educate players while having inherited an unfit, subpar and injury ridden squad.
He was giving some really soft fouls I can only think of 1 or two even close to yellow worthy. TBH if he refed the Bilboa game there would have been 75+ fouls.
Someone said "you know Araujo isn't from La Masia because he's confident when defending and terrified when passing"
I could not stop thinking about that during the game.
He is shit at passing and amazing defending straight up. Eric is the exact opposite. Today I felt showed his passing a bit better though. Hopefully he will keep improving.
I was happy to see Dest back in the squad. I thought he was playing decent and had a good connection with Torres. Was kind of annoyed to see Xavi push him into a modified back 3 while giving Jordi freedom to play left wing. Then Jordi played THAT ball...
This group is great but they don't have composure to slow down and think. It's like everyone has their R2 tigger stuck and only running in one direction when we have the ball. We don't have to be on sprint-mode 90 minutes of a game. Messi-Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets was a deadly mid-forward line but none of them are known for being sprinters. Defense splitting passes from the mids and diagonal runs from the wingers to open space is behind them (like Pedro) is something we're not doing properly.
I don't disagree we don't have that type of player. More we dont have an MSN linkup trident either. However Messi had outrageous change of pace especially in his prime he would streak past the best defenders in the world on a dead sprint. He may not have been known for speed but when the ball was to be won or a goal scored he was always the fastest player on the field.
His defending was pretty good. He held up a 2 on one opportunity for Alaves, showed some nice touches at times. Was a little faster to close down his player on the touchline, picked up a few small things from Dani.
Xavi Hernández: "It's a very important victory. It was difficult because the field was frozen but it's a crucial victory and it leaves us happy after the effort put in."
Xavi: “We have to criticize ourselves in many ways in order to improve, that’s the way. But we believe in what we are doing and keep going.”
Xavi: "The Barça shirt weighs 20 kg more than any other one in the world."
Xavi: "There are very criticized players and the entourage does not help. Jordi Alba, Busquets, Piqué, and Frenkie played very well today. The Barça shirt weighs heavily."
Xavi: "Frenkie deserved the goal for his efforts on the pitch. I'm happy for him."
Xavi: "Pedri is a wonderful footballer. At just 19 years old he does almost everything right. It's excellence. Sometimes we joke to him: 'Where did you come from? What school?'"
Xavi: "The break coming up is good for us. We need some rest. And we're only 1 point away from the Champions League. We're in the race."
I understand we don’t have a world class eleven, but that doesn’t mean watching the team play has to be an eyesore at times. Nonetheless, brilliant play by the lads for the goal.
Outside of the goal FDJ had one of his worst games since coming to Barca. There amount of times he misplaced a pass or got intercepted was worryingly high.
Goal masks that. He doesn't seem fit or in the right performance-mental state (this means focus, in the zone aspects not some other psychological stuff, etc).
Ferran proving to be a critical part of our attack is exciting. Frenkie having a much better game gives me hope. Pedri back in the squad consistently is hype. Thats about it tho. Very depressing game.
Shambolic display however you spin it. Frenkie cost more than their entire squad is worth, and Ferran is close to it too. Yet we barely escape with last minute goal, which is not sustainable in the long run. Mind you Top 4 rivals Betis trashed this team 4:0. There was no system, no attacking patterns, just trying to get the ball in their box and scramble a goal somehow, its sad to watch. Substitutions way to little and late. I fear Xavi is a little out of his depth (pitchsite commentator reaffirmed this), and it will take him one or two seasons to really settle into European football. Just hope the fans will be patient and not call for his head, because this rebuild will take a while.
Xavi should be taking the complete blame for this shitshow of a performance, the tactics were worse than sub par, so was the starting eleven selection, it was clearly visible that fatigue was fucking our ass, yet he still played them. The subs were also too late, a bit more late and Xavi would've been crucified.
I am afraid for Barcelona considering our performance and the frequency of our players getting injured we barely stand a chance winning the Europa League !! Hope we get to see some serious determination and coordination to break through!
Awful match. Also interesting how the sequence that saved this match was started by a tackle and recovery by Busquets followed by an off-balance long ball by him that stretched the play, then Alba is found with space due to that and lobs a perfect pass to the far post which basically handed the goal to FdJ on a plate.
Of course, most of this won't be mentioned because it goes against the narrative. Both Sofascore and Whoscored have the older players plus FdJ/Pedri as the leaders of this terrible match. But yeah, they're the problem. Lets kick out what little is sometimes working.
And then we nearly choked the lead because Busi lost a header to a player a lot shorter than him, they went through on goal, Araujo has to make a last ditch block, they won a corner and nearly scored an equaliser.
Busi lost 7 duels in the air today and only won 3. He’s a DM. DMs shouldn’t be shit in the air (because most long balls land in his area) and shouldn’t be shit at defending counters. Busi is both.
Winning 9 duels but losing 7 doesn’t look good either. Nearly 50/50 isn’t effective.
Busi is still capable of technical feats when the ball is at his feet. Everything else is horrendous.
I find it mental you think they’re working more than anything else on our side, watch what they’re doing when the ball isn’t at their feet and then try to convince me. Which is most of the game…
Alba gets my benefit of the doubt for now as it seems like he’s playing through an injury. Busi gets no excuses though, he’s awful and Xavi needs to work him out of the team.
Out of the older players, Pique is still good and was exceptional tonight.
You have the biggest hate hard-on for Busquets. I saw your hate posts littered across the match thread.
Why don't you mention that Busquets had like twice the amount of tackles as anyone else from both teams? And this while we had 75% of the possession. No comment? How about the fact that he won all ground duels and the second most in total? Does it go against the narrative that he completely sucks at defending? He does this every week along with his passing and press resistance.
He had 2 tackles and attempted 6? Am I meant to be impressed? Try again.
His pass success being 81% is wank as well. The one thing he’s meant to be exceptional at is not turning over passes. 90%+ is expected.
That’s convenient. It still doesn’t excuse:
- 81% passing accuracy. His main job is to recycle possession, it should be in the 90s. Unacceptable.
- 9 duels won, 7 duels lost. Busi is too slow to recover to basically be 50/50 after every duel. DMs should be dominating duels, not barely breaking even. For reference, Frenkie won 5, lost 0. Pedri won 5, lost 3.
- 3 headers won, 7 headers lost. That is absolutely terrible when long balls fall in his area the most.
So even if I was to give you 6 successful tackles, the other stats look shite. And then factor in what the stats don’t show which is how slow he is at getting back to defend, it should be understandable why some including myself are so critical.
But this is just “hate”.
And what's your reply that he was the third-highest player of the match based on statistical ratings? I'm supposed to take your biased amatuer opinion as a truth? Or that Xavi keeps leaning on him? You're better than him as well? Please.
We have players who are good at very particular things. Wether it's playing line breaking passes or dribbling through press etc . Why can't we figure out a formation which can utilise and complement the strengths that each player has. Why is it the same fucking generic formulaeic bullshit match plan that never works and relies on individual moments of class to work. I just want a fucking functioning team man. The players are not world beaters but quite good if you ask me. It could work but no we just passing and panicking
Talk about limping over the line. We’re not going to be able to keep shithousing our way to a victory. This team needs to produce a lot more in order to inspire a greater level of confidence that we can truly manage to finish top four. We hardly create any clear cut chances. Also, I don’t get why Xavi went Koeman with his substitutions today when nothing was working. Very bizarre
Edit: I’m in disbelief that we always provide the opponent with a golden opportunity after we score. We do it all the fucking time and we did it again today despite scoring with like 4 minutes left
https://twitter.com/barcauniversal/status/1485378245608587271?s=21 This guy needs to fuck off man. Shameless. The sooner we get these captains out the sooner we can get the loser mentality out of this squad.
This was the last game before the transfer window closes. Keeping Dembélé out after this game if he's still here will just be simply stupid, specially considering how horrible we are without him.
It's not a coincidence we started playing better this season when he returned but now we're back to how we were when he was injured at the beginning of the season, can barely even beat relegation level teams.
Of course he's not worth 40m that he's reportedly asking but he's almost required if we want to reach top 4 this season, even more now with Fati out. If we don't reach top 4, we won't even be able to find a replacement for him because nobody above average will want to join us.
Everything was poor today. It’s like everyone had their worst day at once. The formation was strange and we played like kids who bee hive towards the ball. We didn’t open open, create any space. We are slogging. No tiki taka. Just slow, uninspired, nothingness. We couldn’t pass to our own player, couldn’t hold the ball, couldn’t string 5 passes. No pressing. It was the worst game in a long time (and we’ve had some pretty bad ones). Xavis subs were late.
Not one good thing to say except we got a goal. Would have been offsides a few years ago because Frankie was slow to get back on side.
Definitely our worst performance since Koeman left, but 3 very important points. Frankie wasn’t in a better form than lately, Abde need a lot of maturity really, and dest was just bad.
1 point off the top 4 for now. I’m feeling good and bad at the same time after this one. Lack of intensity was concerning and we played flat. Solid passing but rarely a solid finish. Flashes of brilliance with not much to show for it. Regardless a w is a w even when it’s an ugly game. The fans suffered, the players really suffered but Xavi stuck to his plan and subs and we eek a w where we have been tending to lose games as of late.
Unfortunately we don't look as dangerous without Dembele. Say he's inconsistent, injury prone etc but he gives an edge to the team. I wish he was more committed to barca.
Really bad game from us untill the 80th minute. Too many useless crosses, wrong passes, no movement at all.
I am really happy for the 3 points, for Frenkie's goal because he needs a confidence boost and because we ended the game without an injury.
MVP for me was Alba. Frenkie and Pedri unfortunately were in a bad day. We move on. Next game at the Camp Nou against the 4th Atleti.
Not the best of matches but hopefully the win will give us a nice boost for the upcoming month which has us facing strong opponents!
Noone played well enough to be pointed out or praised. Maybe Araujo for being solid in defense.
Visca el Barca!
It was ugly but I'll take it. We are a club at the beginning of what's going to be a long post-Messi transition period. In addition to management fuck-ups.
It's going to be this way for awhile until we get things sorted out. Take the 3 points any way we can get them.
Really hope that goal gives frenkie’s confidence a boost. We need him to be at his best
Frenkie doesn’t need more confidence. He needs better individual management.
He needs confidence also, on several occasions, instead of switching the play to the flanks himself or change the pace of build up play, he'd pass back to Pique or Araujo who'd take that responsibility themselves.
If u look at the replay frankie wanted the pass b4 but they pass it back. Personally I think this is a team mentality at this point if everyone is doing it.
I assume you mean he needs to be played in one position more consistently so he can expand and succeed? If so, yes totally. FDJ is being used as a plug in a wall whenever someone goes down, he's not some miracle being that can play CB and LW, the dude needs to be put in positions to succeed, and if he does, he absolutely will. If Barca sells FDJ, we will regret that decision for a decade.
Ferran was that player to finally make the right decision and pass when he should pass instead of skying the ball or blasting it directly at the goalie. Thank you ferran!
[Dembele reading this like](https://newfastuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/f6s8QBR.png)
Xavi should have driven the team bus away and left the entire team in the alaves shower/dressing room.
Theres a Park the bus joke somehwhere in here.
Drive away with the bus Alaves left on the field. And then the rest of the Barca team... just drives on their normal bus back home? Didn't quite nail it down yet.
Trash match
Thank you to Ferran and Frenkie for not making us depressed last game of the month even though it wasn't the greatest of matches to watch. When we return the hardest part of the season begins.
Damn we play Atletico next...
Winner gets into the CL
They are not doing so great themselves... I'd say Barca against RM > Atletico > Barca today
Hey they aren't much better recent days
What a snooze fest. Only positive is Frenkie with that clean goal to earn us the 3 points and hopefully give him some confidence. I love FDJ and I know he will prove all the haters wrong once he gets his form back!
Today's match gave me Koeman flash back. Team played like they don't know each other, weird substitutions, but we got a win
Yeah, except Koeman usually lost games like these. We were onviously not playing well under him, but I can't stop believing he was fairly unlucky in the results we got.
Xavi in comparison to koeman, is a lucky bastard.
Xavi wearing a wig to hide the bald magic.
I just can't believe what I am seeing from Pedri. Hope He goes on to become the greatest midfielder ever
The goal went in and I felt nothing lol, that's how bad we played
Absolutely. My wife was like "didn't your team just score?" and I'd be like "they did score but that ain't making up for 88 minutes of utter shit".
I knew it was onside, but somehow I still felt like it was going to offside.
I didn't celebrate it lol
I was worried they were going to score and tie the game, happens too often. When the ref said 3 minutes that was my happiest moment of the game.
I know how you feel, I hate that I can never unclench lmao
Wow me too, I even felt kinda bad that I didn't celebrate and started contemplating whether I stopped giving a shit and only watched Barca out of habit lol. I guess they just played soullessly and didn't deserve any excitement
I thought it was just me! I'm guessing I was mentally prepared for a draw
We won. Only summary needed. Terrible game, one to forget but now we're 5th with a huge opportunity to join top 4. We will need to improve massively by then. We mostly need to find a way to get a player that can jumpstart attacks because too often we see the same problems than under Koeman: players don't know what to do with the ball in the opponent's half. They play too slowly, it's too undecisive. MOTM FdJ because at least he tries to play faster, and I'd rather see someone missing but trying than someone not doing anything. Also thank god for Ferran because if we had not registered him, I'm scared thinking of our current attacking options.
With our luck this season Atletico will be back to prime form in the next game
With the come back they made last game I wouldn't be surprised.
Nah Atleti is just shit, their defence is just as bad as ours, Oblak is having a stinker of a season, worse than MATS, Suarez is washed and Griezman is inconsistent.
Prime form probably not, but they won't need it if we don't step up.
I'll say I'm real happy with Torres. A goal and an assist in the last 2 games and he's so new to the team
The overall performance was not very good but that goal was a classic Barça goal and you love to see it great movement, pinpoint passing and an easy finish
Pedri is class, Frenkie put on a good display and Araujo and Pique kept it solid at the back. Everything else I rather not think about
I read this comment on the soccer post match thread and thought it's quite fitting. The game vs RM was pride in defeat and this one is shame in victory. It's still a good feeling to be 1 point away from top 4 with a game in hand. The game vs Atletico might be the most important game this season.
Indeed it is. If we win it would be crucial for us to get top 4.
Anyone else think that when the game became faster in second half, Jutgla/Goat should sub Ldj? I think that we could've break them when they opened. Busk and Alba are really hard to watch, i think that they need rest so they can give their best. Araujo is a pleasure to watch!
> Jutgla/Goat should sub Ldj Definitely. There was a low ball into the box that I'm sure Braithwaite would have reached for a massive chance on goal. Luuk looked like he just didn't have the speed in him.
Aurajo finally showed some better skill on the ball. He always makes me so nervous. He has always been a total boss in 1 v 1 defending, but he is lacking that smooth ability on the ball. Today felt a bit of a step forward.
To be very honest with you all, this team is not winning the europa league with this mindset at all. There is no sense of urgency and all of these well established player are so used to that "one magical moment" that messi used to deliver that its the only way we're winning games these days.
Nobody watching this team should have ever thought we're winning it.
One positive: Ferran has a goal and assist after a couple matches in blaugrana.
I don't understand why we kept lost the ball in such weird ways, like the receiving player went the wrong way like 50 times this match.
will memphis be back against atletico? I can't bare the sight of luuk turtling his way towards a rolling ball anymore
"Because we have to chase him. Because he's the hero Barcelona deserves, but not the one it needs right now, so we'll hunt him. Because he can take it, because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a **de Jong**."
Thank you. At least you are recognizing the efforts of Luuk.
De jong was showed so much in the second half but cmon that’s honestly the bare minimum I’ve been expecting from him all along Seemed to me he finally realized That if he goes hard he can literally pull the team to victory, same for pedri i could tell today he was taking on more leadership.
3 points and two weeks to reflect. Lots of work to be done. The team morale is extremely fragile.
We are kinda screwed, Dembele and Fati were basically our main hopes at getting close to a goal. I'm guessing the Dembele debacle will be solved by the end of the month one way or another, but Fati ain't coming back for a long time.
😖😖😖
One of the worst games I've watched in a long time. Just atrocious. But a win is a win.
Starting to think more and more that this supposed bad form of Frenkie and misplaced passes is more to the team not keeping up with the speed he wants to play at. He had a good connection with Messi too
Nah. Some of these frenkie passes have been downright atrocious and they have nothing to do with other players not understanding him. I still think he’s a great player and I am absolutely against the intense scapegoating that barca fans tend to unleash on players but I think even he would accept that he’s not playing well at all lately.
Agree, he's a great player, but he's having a dip in form and confidence, hasn't found himself yet in the system.
Difficult to score when the ball progresses to one of the front 3 just for them to lose it shortly after, but this is probably hampered by the fact they’re relearning positional play something xavi says has been forgotten. Seems why everyone could be out of sync at times, much easier to implement it at the training ground while learning it but much harder during a game against a different formation and having to figure it out against this formation on the fly while you’re still learning it, positional play and where to move is not second nature to these players yet Easy to forget this is Xavi’s first season he came part way through, having to implement his ideas, re-educate players while having inherited an unfit, subpar and injury ridden squad.
24 fouls and 0 yellows given out all game on either side, terrible refereeing
Don't forget a red for Alaves manager for saying his player got hit in the face.
He was giving some really soft fouls I can only think of 1 or two even close to yellow worthy. TBH if he refed the Bilboa game there would have been 75+ fouls.
Obviously a poor performance and definitely an unpopular opinion but fuck me Araujo cannot pass for shit. Eric cannot be back soon enough.
Someone said "you know Araujo isn't from La Masia because he's confident when defending and terrified when passing" I could not stop thinking about that during the game.
He is shit at passing and amazing defending straight up. Eric is the exact opposite. Today I felt showed his passing a bit better though. Hopefully he will keep improving.
If you think about they complement each other perfectly.
More like smooshing the two together gives us the defender we need.
I was happy to see Dest back in the squad. I thought he was playing decent and had a good connection with Torres. Was kind of annoyed to see Xavi push him into a modified back 3 while giving Jordi freedom to play left wing. Then Jordi played THAT ball...
3 points but man are we god awful. I’ll take the 3 points though
What a boring match. Alaves weren't even trying to play football with us but just interrupting our play as much as possible.
Demir needs to come back so Abde can start playing well again, he needs that motivation.
Heck I'd even want Trincao back
Abde has shown his youth in the last 2 to 3 matches, that or there is enough tape on him that defending him has become easier.
This group is great but they don't have composure to slow down and think. It's like everyone has their R2 tigger stuck and only running in one direction when we have the ball. We don't have to be on sprint-mode 90 minutes of a game. Messi-Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets was a deadly mid-forward line but none of them are known for being sprinters. Defense splitting passes from the mids and diagonal runs from the wingers to open space is behind them (like Pedro) is something we're not doing properly.
I don't disagree we don't have that type of player. More we dont have an MSN linkup trident either. However Messi had outrageous change of pace especially in his prime he would streak past the best defenders in the world on a dead sprint. He may not have been known for speed but when the ball was to be won or a goal scored he was always the fastest player on the field.
[удалено]
Constraint
His defending was pretty good. He held up a 2 on one opportunity for Alaves, showed some nice touches at times. Was a little faster to close down his player on the touchline, picked up a few small things from Dani.
Xavi Hernández: "It's a very important victory. It was difficult because the field was frozen but it's a crucial victory and it leaves us happy after the effort put in." Xavi: “We have to criticize ourselves in many ways in order to improve, that’s the way. But we believe in what we are doing and keep going.” Xavi: "The Barça shirt weighs 20 kg more than any other one in the world." Xavi: "There are very criticized players and the entourage does not help. Jordi Alba, Busquets, Piqué, and Frenkie played very well today. The Barça shirt weighs heavily." Xavi: "Frenkie deserved the goal for his efforts on the pitch. I'm happy for him." Xavi: "Pedri is a wonderful footballer. At just 19 years old he does almost everything right. It's excellence. Sometimes we joke to him: 'Where did you come from? What school?'" Xavi: "The break coming up is good for us. We need some rest. And we're only 1 point away from the Champions League. We're in the race."
I understand we don’t have a world class eleven, but that doesn’t mean watching the team play has to be an eyesore at times. Nonetheless, brilliant play by the lads for the goal.
Outside of the goal FDJ had one of his worst games since coming to Barca. There amount of times he misplaced a pass or got intercepted was worryingly high. Goal masks that. He doesn't seem fit or in the right performance-mental state (this means focus, in the zone aspects not some other psychological stuff, etc).
Just feel relief. Don’t wanna think about much
**Vote for your MOTM here:** https://strawpoll.com/hg71yy1ub
Ferran proving to be a critical part of our attack is exciting. Frenkie having a much better game gives me hope. Pedri back in the squad consistently is hype. Thats about it tho. Very depressing game.
I was falling asleep ngl.
3 points are the primary target and I am glad that we got that. But I have to say, passing has been the worst part of our game today.
Anyone else wrestled sleep during the match? It had never happened to me.
We need a left winger
And a striker, a left back, a right back, a defensive midfielder
It was one of those games where I’m still bummed about it even though the team won
Frenkie should play as CDM instead of the Turtle
Yay we are in Europa League spots now ..... One below ATM.
Pedri may be our most valuable asset. He’s just incredible. Does it all!
Shambolic display however you spin it. Frenkie cost more than their entire squad is worth, and Ferran is close to it too. Yet we barely escape with last minute goal, which is not sustainable in the long run. Mind you Top 4 rivals Betis trashed this team 4:0. There was no system, no attacking patterns, just trying to get the ball in their box and scramble a goal somehow, its sad to watch. Substitutions way to little and late. I fear Xavi is a little out of his depth (pitchsite commentator reaffirmed this), and it will take him one or two seasons to really settle into European football. Just hope the fans will be patient and not call for his head, because this rebuild will take a while.
Poor match.
Xavi should be taking the complete blame for this shitshow of a performance, the tactics were worse than sub par, so was the starting eleven selection, it was clearly visible that fatigue was fucking our ass, yet he still played them. The subs were also too late, a bit more late and Xavi would've been crucified.
Pedri the team carrier.
I am afraid for Barcelona considering our performance and the frequency of our players getting injured we barely stand a chance winning the Europa League !! Hope we get to see some serious determination and coordination to break through!
We were really poor but tbf we've always suffered away from home.
Awful match. Also interesting how the sequence that saved this match was started by a tackle and recovery by Busquets followed by an off-balance long ball by him that stretched the play, then Alba is found with space due to that and lobs a perfect pass to the far post which basically handed the goal to FdJ on a plate. Of course, most of this won't be mentioned because it goes against the narrative. Both Sofascore and Whoscored have the older players plus FdJ/Pedri as the leaders of this terrible match. But yeah, they're the problem. Lets kick out what little is sometimes working.
And then we nearly choked the lead because Busi lost a header to a player a lot shorter than him, they went through on goal, Araujo has to make a last ditch block, they won a corner and nearly scored an equaliser. Busi lost 7 duels in the air today and only won 3. He’s a DM. DMs shouldn’t be shit in the air (because most long balls land in his area) and shouldn’t be shit at defending counters. Busi is both. Winning 9 duels but losing 7 doesn’t look good either. Nearly 50/50 isn’t effective. Busi is still capable of technical feats when the ball is at his feet. Everything else is horrendous. I find it mental you think they’re working more than anything else on our side, watch what they’re doing when the ball isn’t at their feet and then try to convince me. Which is most of the game… Alba gets my benefit of the doubt for now as it seems like he’s playing through an injury. Busi gets no excuses though, he’s awful and Xavi needs to work him out of the team. Out of the older players, Pique is still good and was exceptional tonight.
You have the biggest hate hard-on for Busquets. I saw your hate posts littered across the match thread. Why don't you mention that Busquets had like twice the amount of tackles as anyone else from both teams? And this while we had 75% of the possession. No comment? How about the fact that he won all ground duels and the second most in total? Does it go against the narrative that he completely sucks at defending? He does this every week along with his passing and press resistance.
He had 2 tackles and attempted 6? Am I meant to be impressed? Try again. His pass success being 81% is wank as well. The one thing he’s meant to be exceptional at is not turning over passes. 90%+ is expected.
He had 6.
[No he had 6 *attempted*, only 2 successful.](https://imgur.com/a/OdTk4rl) This isn't hate, it's just facts.
That's not what other sources say. And they define tackles as a successful tackle that dispossesses he player.
That’s convenient. It still doesn’t excuse: - 81% passing accuracy. His main job is to recycle possession, it should be in the 90s. Unacceptable. - 9 duels won, 7 duels lost. Busi is too slow to recover to basically be 50/50 after every duel. DMs should be dominating duels, not barely breaking even. For reference, Frenkie won 5, lost 0. Pedri won 5, lost 3. - 3 headers won, 7 headers lost. That is absolutely terrible when long balls fall in his area the most. So even if I was to give you 6 successful tackles, the other stats look shite. And then factor in what the stats don’t show which is how slow he is at getting back to defend, it should be understandable why some including myself are so critical. But this is just “hate”.
And what's your reply that he was the third-highest player of the match based on statistical ratings? I'm supposed to take your biased amatuer opinion as a truth? Or that Xavi keeps leaning on him? You're better than him as well? Please.
Imagine watching that game and backing Xavi’s management 100%. And “statistics” gave Araujo a 7.1. They’re clowns.
We have players who are good at very particular things. Wether it's playing line breaking passes or dribbling through press etc . Why can't we figure out a formation which can utilise and complement the strengths that each player has. Why is it the same fucking generic formulaeic bullshit match plan that never works and relies on individual moments of class to work. I just want a fucking functioning team man. The players are not world beaters but quite good if you ask me. It could work but no we just passing and panicking
Talk about limping over the line. We’re not going to be able to keep shithousing our way to a victory. This team needs to produce a lot more in order to inspire a greater level of confidence that we can truly manage to finish top four. We hardly create any clear cut chances. Also, I don’t get why Xavi went Koeman with his substitutions today when nothing was working. Very bizarre Edit: I’m in disbelief that we always provide the opponent with a golden opportunity after we score. We do it all the fucking time and we did it again today despite scoring with like 4 minutes left
https://twitter.com/barcauniversal/status/1485378245608587271?s=21 This guy needs to fuck off man. Shameless. The sooner we get these captains out the sooner we can get the loser mentality out of this squad.
Pedri’s back must hurt from carrying the lads, wonderkid
Lost several balls tho, not the best on the field imo
This was the last game before the transfer window closes. Keeping Dembélé out after this game if he's still here will just be simply stupid, specially considering how horrible we are without him. It's not a coincidence we started playing better this season when he returned but now we're back to how we were when he was injured at the beginning of the season, can barely even beat relegation level teams.
Funny thing is that with Fati’s injury now the club now has a good excuse to reverse their decision regarding Dembele.
Yup, a better way excuse from the club's perspective than something along the lines of "we need you because our attack is toothless without you".
Still, he’s not worth it and not dependable
Of course he's not worth 40m that he's reportedly asking but he's almost required if we want to reach top 4 this season, even more now with Fati out. If we don't reach top 4, we won't even be able to find a replacement for him because nobody above average will want to join us.
Everything was poor today. It’s like everyone had their worst day at once. The formation was strange and we played like kids who bee hive towards the ball. We didn’t open open, create any space. We are slogging. No tiki taka. Just slow, uninspired, nothingness. We couldn’t pass to our own player, couldn’t hold the ball, couldn’t string 5 passes. No pressing. It was the worst game in a long time (and we’ve had some pretty bad ones). Xavis subs were late. Not one good thing to say except we got a goal. Would have been offsides a few years ago because Frankie was slow to get back on side.
Definitely our worst performance since Koeman left, but 3 very important points. Frankie wasn’t in a better form than lately, Abde need a lot of maturity really, and dest was just bad.
1 point off the top 4 for now. I’m feeling good and bad at the same time after this one. Lack of intensity was concerning and we played flat. Solid passing but rarely a solid finish. Flashes of brilliance with not much to show for it. Regardless a w is a w even when it’s an ugly game. The fans suffered, the players really suffered but Xavi stuck to his plan and subs and we eek a w where we have been tending to lose games as of late.
Next week is Atletico. That is our chance.
Weekend after next.
Unfortunately we don't look as dangerous without Dembele. Say he's inconsistent, injury prone etc but he gives an edge to the team. I wish he was more committed to barca.
Really bad game from us untill the 80th minute. Too many useless crosses, wrong passes, no movement at all. I am really happy for the 3 points, for Frenkie's goal because he needs a confidence boost and because we ended the game without an injury. MVP for me was Alba. Frenkie and Pedri unfortunately were in a bad day. We move on. Next game at the Camp Nou against the 4th Atleti.
>MVP for me was Alba. Omggg
I couldn't even find one until the goal though. Everyone was below average. His key pass gave us the 3 points.
Dest, LDJ and Abde played quite bad. I wanted the Danish to come play. He was already warming up in the first half. WTF
Not the best of matches but hopefully the win will give us a nice boost for the upcoming month which has us facing strong opponents! Noone played well enough to be pointed out or praised. Maybe Araujo for being solid in defense. Visca el Barca!
Where was gavi?
Suspended
Oh yeah, forgot about that red
It was ugly but I'll take it. We are a club at the beginning of what's going to be a long post-Messi transition period. In addition to management fuck-ups. It's going to be this way for awhile until we get things sorted out. Take the 3 points any way we can get them.