I think we didn't do too badly. Valencia is a good team and they played well today. We could have won and we could also have lost. I have two major worries though:

1) We don't have a backup for Alba. I like that Roberto is a utility man, but then a jack of all trades is usually a master of none.
2) Our attack is overly dependent on Messi, especially with Suarez being inconsistent..

In other news... Alena is a gem!

I think we can scale the tough fixtures ahead. I just hope we don't get more injuries, especially to Messi and Alba. They are freaking irreplaceable.

Debroslink:


A striker with just one goal in 2 years of UCL football. Dude didn't even shoot on target in the whole match tonight.

I watched him closely and saw he was past it.
At some point, he had the all the space to run towards the goal with the ball but he didn't just have the pace and easily gave up possession of the ball.

andrew444:


Didn't Madrid struggle to win small teams in laliga last season ,didn't they end up as European champions? How did you watch your own football ? Do you use your nose or your neck as your eye ?

What type of Barcelona fan do we have here ?

Now if I praise IKON360 as a true fan e go dey one kind

I really feel like insulting some plastic fan here

I will repeat my self once again

95 percent of people here are plastic fan and they know their self .

Where are the anti coutinho Suarez and velverde crew ?

Mtscheew

I don't quite get the point of this post.

Watching suarez dribble is like pouring sand in the eyes


Coutinho was average again

Sergi roberto can murder someone in the team and still play

Hehehe... Where are the pro Suarez? They should come n defend their mcm o

Suarez looked really tired today, hope he gets charged up quickly. Still one of the few elite 9s in the world.

HumbleBoy21:
Since all you care about is laliga, I am done here.

Oga resting Messi and Pique and even the first eleven does not guarantee CL. One bad game, we're out. Stop talking like if we rest these players they would just hand CL over to us.

calculator123:

Lol, I can bet that with what Valencia played this night, only Mancity and Liverpool might defeat them

oga calm down na, is it the same Liverpool that couldn't defeat Leicester city or Man city that lost to Newcastle?? If Valencia are so good, they should be 1st in La liga na...
We bossed these guys, their saving grace was some good fortune and Neto.

Debroslink:


A striker with just one goal in 2 years of UCL football. Dude didn't even shoot on target in the whole match tonight.

did you see his run for the 2nd goal? You won't, I congratulated him, the guys at the viewing centre where I watched the match celebrated him, the commentators celebrated him, but you...

10Dove:
Hehehe... Where are the pro Suarez? They should come n defend their mcm o

Olamyyde:
Watching suarez dribble is like pouring sand in the eyes


Coutinho was average again

Sergi roberto can murder someone in the team and still play

you people really don't watch football (I don't want to insult sha) with proper expectations. That 2nd goal was purely thanks to Suarez. But you won't see that one, none of you saw that Messi lost possession that resulted in the penalty that Valencia scored. Why always Suarez? And the person saying Coutinho was average, I have nothing to say to you

Kingsley10000:
see flimsy excuse,the el classico we can still win with our second fiddle team....

if we keeping playing like this,organised teams like psg,liverpool,man city,juventus,Dortmund,ajax even man-u will remove us

It's not all bed of roses for your "organised" teams. Juventus lost 3-0 against Atalanta, and played 3-3 against Parma (12th). Man city lost against Newcastle (15th), Dortmund drew yesterday, Ajax lost 6-2 against Feyenoord last week, Man United drew Burnley (17th)
IICRC you don't even come here when we win, but the moment we are trailing you run faster than flash to come and be giving us benchmark of other teams.
We drew against Valencia, we move on, focus on other games, hope the fixtures of our rivals favour us and no more injuries, instead of going to Netherland and be calling teams that would beat us.

andrew444:


Didn't Madrid struggle to win small teams in laliga last season ,didn't they end up as European champions? How did you watch your own football ? Do you use your nose or your neck as your eye ?

What type of Barcelona fan do we have here ?

Now if I praise IKON360 as a true fan e go dey one kind

I really feel like insulting some plastic fan here

I will repeat my self once again

95 percent of people here are plastic fan and they know their self .

Where are the anti coutinho Suarez and velverde crew ?

Mtscheew

Thank you, this match was unexpectedly difficult but we have to step up. The reason Valencia attacks were better than a lot of other teams was that they string their passes better, and they kept their defensive shape limiting the runs of Suarez and Messi. Dembele would have helped in drawing them out of shape but Coutinho did quite well. Did you see how Rakitic bossed the midfield, that guy is easily for me our best midfielder, he can play CM, play DM too. We didn't even miss Busi. Malcolm will need to be slightly as versatile as Dembele, Dembele can play from the right and the left, Malcolm prefers the right and so he was so ineffective at the left. Well let's see him against Madrid sha. Semedo can dribble, he can run but he can't mark like Roberto, and he just won't cross the ball, I tire for him o. Sha the match was fun

lol,barca fans are too dimwitted because of champions league,lol u guys aint winning shit.

IKON360:



you people really don't watch football (I don't want to insult sha) with proper expectations. That 2nd goal was purely thanks to Suarez. But you won't see that one, none of you saw that Messi lost possession that resulted in the penalty that Valencia scored. Why always Suarez? And the person saying Coutinho was average, I have nothing to say to you

What I'm saying is that suarez has more cons than pros nowadays. His hold up play is becoming shit. If he can't score goals in the ucl, he should start getting ready to leave.

The only attacker i see stepping up in the ucl after messi is dembele.

IKON360:

did you see his run for the 2nd goal? You won't, I congratulated him, the guys at the viewing centre where I watched the match celebrated him, the commentators celebrated him, but you...

Which commentators celebrated him? I'm sure you lots were screaming on top of your voices. So how did you hear them? I watched the match alone in my house with sound system and the commentary was full of praise for Messi.
Keep praising his run or dummy. Dude has zero shot on target, zero impact. Keep celebrating mediocrity.

IKON360:



you people really don't watch football (I don't want to insult sha) with proper expectations. That 2nd goal was purely thanks to Suarez. But you won't see that one, none of you saw that Messi lost possession that resulted in the penalty that Valencia scored. Why always Suarez? And the person saying Coutinho was average, I have nothing to say to you

Messi paid for his mistake by scoring 2 goals which salvaged the situation, so no one can blame him. What did Suarez do today to reduce the criticisms he's been getting.

Olamyyde:

What I'm saying is that suarez has more cons than pros nowadays. His hold up play is becoming shit. If he can't score goals in the ucl, he should start getting ready to leave.

The only attacker i see stepping up in the ucl after messi is dembele.

God should please quickly heal Dembele and restore his super form. We need him to complement our attack in this trying period of February - May.

Take a look @ our rivals... Benzema Bale are scoring, Liverpool front 3 are scoring, Man city kor, even old Robben is scoring, yet IKON360 is preaching dummy or runs for a striker who has one goal in 2 years of UCL.

IKON360:



you people really don't watch football (I don't want to insult sha) with proper expectations. That 2nd goal was purely thanks to Suarez. But you won't see that one, none of you saw that Messi lost possession that resulted in the penalty that Valencia scored. Why always Suarez? And the person saying Coutinho was average, I have nothing to say to you

THIS!

Debroslink:


Which commentators celebrated him? I'm sure you lots were screaming on top of your voices. So how did you hear them? I watched the match alone in my house with sound system and the commentary was full of praise for Messi.
Keep praising his run or dummy. Dude has zero shot on target, zero impact. Keep celebrating mediocrity.

When I saw this, it became absolutely unnecessary for me to add to it... runs and dummies! Lol... strikers are scoring on the biggest stage, people are celebrating runs and dummies.

IKON360:

oga calm down na, is it the same Liverpool that couldn't defeat Leicester city or Man city that lost to Newcastle?? If Valencia are so good, they should be 1st in La liga na...
We bossed these guys, their saving grace was some good fortune and Neto.

We bossed them yet conceded first The truth is Valencia isn't an easy team to beat especially now that the quality of teams has improved drastically

IKON360:

Thank you, this match was unexpectedly difficult but we have to step up. The reason Valencia attacks were better than a lot of other teams was that they string their passes better, and they kept their defensive shape limiting the runs of Suarez and Messi. Dembele would have helped in drawing them out of shape but Coutinho did quite well. Did you see how Rakitic bossed the midfield, that guy is easily for me our best midfielder, he can play CM, play DM too. We didn't even miss Busi. Malcolm will need to be slightly as versatile as Dembele, Dembele can play from the right and the left, Malcolm prefers the right and so he was so ineffective at the left. Well let's see him against Madrid sha. Semedo can dribble, he can run but he can't mark like Roberto, and he just won't cross the ball, I tire for him o. Sha the match was fun

Semedo is better defensively than Roberto jor. Just his final ball in attacking play that's lacking.

Parejo bossed our midfield yesterday, a one man wrecking show

Ozkar:
Semedo is better defensively than Roberto jor. Just his final ball in attacking play that's lacking.

Not just better o, way better defensively.

Chrisus:
Parejo bossed our midfield yesterday, a one man wrecking show

Someone said Rakitic bossed yesterday... I couldn't control myself from laughing... tho he wasn't helped by having a Vidal that runs around doing nothing on the pitch, but Parejo was absolutely #class yesterday.

Debroslink:


God should please quickly heal Dembele and restore his super form. We need him to complement our attack in this trying period of February - May.

Take a look @ our rivals... Benzema Bale are scoring, Liverpool front 3 are scoring, Man city kor, even old Robben is scoring, yet IKON360 is preaching dummy or runs for a striker who has one goal in 2 years of UCL.

Asin we need dembele so much...he is the most unpredictable of our attackers apart from messi. Coutinho has become an average player because la liga defenders know he is predictable. See the cut-inside shot he took yesterday. The keeper already knew he would shoot there.

IKON360:

Thank you, this match was unexpectedly difficult but we have to step up. The reason Valencia attacks were better than a lot of other teams was that they string their passes better, and they kept their defensive shape limiting the runs of Suarez and Messi. Dembele would have helped in drawing them out of shape but Coutinho did quite well. Did you see how Rakitic bossed the midfield, that guy is easily for me our best midfielder, he can play CM, play DM too. We didn't even miss Busi. Malcolm will need to be slightly as versatile as Dembele, Dembele can play from the right and the left, Malcolm prefers the right and so he was so ineffective at the left. Well let's see him against Madrid sha. Semedo can dribble, he can run but he can't mark like Roberto, and he just won't cross the ball, I tire for him o. Sha the match was fun

lol semedo marks better than Roberto.. And rakitic bossed the midfield only wen Valencia parked the bus.

Debroslink:


God should please quickly heal Dembele and restore his super form. We need him to complement our attack in this trying period of February - May.

Take a look @ our rivals... Benzema Bale are scoring, Liverpool front 3 are scoring, Man city kor, even old Robben is scoring, yet IKON360 is preaching dummy or runs for a striker who has one goal in 2 years of UCL.

you see how your brain is faulty, Liverpool front three that scored everything, did they win UCL? Benzema and Bale which of them has as much goals as Suarez this season and last season combined? Oga just go and be analysing bottle top football, that's what fits you.

Olamyyde:

What I'm saying is that suarez has more cons than pros nowadays. His hold up play is becoming shit. If he can't score goals in the ucl, he should start getting ready to leave.

The only attacker i see stepping up in the ucl after messi is dembele.

uh a fit Dembele, a confident Malcolm. And Coutinho. Suarez has already conceded that he is ready for a 2nd striker in the team. In yesterday's match what do you think K.P. Boateng would have contributed?
Hold up play is efficient when you know support is coming, if not you go solo or draw a foul. Suarez doesn't have the pace of some years ago, neither is he good at dribbling but my question to you is this, who else do we have?

calculator123:

We bossed them yet conceded first The truth is Valencia isn't an easy team to beat especially now that the quality of teams has improved drastically

exactly conceding isn't a testament to loss of superiority, of the 5 matches Man city have lost this season, they scored 1st in 4 of those matches. We just need to be able to control opposition counter attacks better.

Any news about Messi ? is he fit for classico

Debroslink:


Messi paid for his mistake by scoring 2 goals which salvaged the situation, so no one can blame him. What did Suarez do today to reduce the criticisms he's been getting.

did you also see the 1 v 1 that Messi skyed? You are talking as if Messi works so well in isolation, that first goal was a penalty won by Semedo, the second was a Suarez run and pass to Vidal who later assisted Messi. Why do you think Messi plays better with Suarez and Alba than anyone else in the team? Because they are slouches? These are the best players in their positions in the league.

You are the one criticising without probable cause when he was scoring you disappeared from this thread. Yesterday he didn't score, you have reappeared. Na wa for you o

Debroslink:


Which commentators celebrated him? I'm sure you lots were screaming on top of your voices. So how did you hear them? I watched the match alone in my house with sound system and the commentary was full of praise for Messi.
Keep praising his run or dummy. Dude has zero shot on target, zero impact. Keep celebrating mediocrity.

you had sound system yet your ears were not working I've always suspected you are not a keen observer now you've removed all doubt.
Suarez is mediocre, ok. Now recommend strikers that can improve on his role in this team