₦airaland Forum

oyadashme:
Not sure I understand the logic behind this, it could work if we ramp up on few things e.g.e-payment via mobile or web, mandatory use of cheque/atm over a certain amount of money etc.

T[b]he policy is not unheard of as some western countries will not let you withdraw money above a certain amount without prior notice to them[/b] and if you don't give them that advance notice you will pay a penalty.

The banks will eventually introduce some fancy account types that will avoid this penalty, I think we are in for interesting times and potentially a big mindset shift in the economy,

And do you know what range this is? Surely it's MUCH HIGHER than $1,000. The fact is that this policy was clearly not well thought through (typical in this country) and not all stakeholders were consulted (again typical Nigeria) - note, banks are not the only stakeholders in banking matters - consumers are also stakeholders.

I know the intention is good, but this will do more harm than good as I've posted earlier.

AjanleKoko:
Line up for Saturday's game: Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Xavi, Villa, Messi, Mascherano, Keita, Sergio, Pedro, Milito, Afellay, Jeffren, Fontàs (26), Thiago (30), Montoya (40), Sergi Roberto (28), and Gerard Deulofeu (41). From TotalBarca.

Madridistas will post 100 articles where 'the world' agrees that Barca is a team of cheating referee-buying scumbags, who by the way play fantastic football.

CR7: Barca are a fantastic team but they cheat too much.
Adebayor: Barca are a fantastic team , but they cry too much.
Mou: Barca are a fantastic team, the players are fantastic, even their coach is fantastic, but they have bribed the entire world to award red cards in their favour.

Gone are they days when people used to lose quietly. Now, we hear stuff like this:

'We were controlling the game before the red card. We had a plan to keep the game at 0-0, then bring on 3 forwards, and now move to a phase 3 with a number 10 behind the three forwards'. Na so. The game na playstation?

We should ask for Barca's 'Hypothetical' version:

'We were doing okay. Real don't even want the ball right now, and we've been diving every time they try to get physical. That has slowed them down somewhat. But we know it's only a matter of time before they ask for their red card, and we'll plead for Stark to give it to them. We'll then take them apart.'.

I'm very surprised to see Deulofeu in the list. Hmmm - the guy might not play, but Pep obviously considers him one to make this team in the not-too-distant future. I've seen his vids and he's something special.

All in all, a lot of youth players in the team - do we finally see Fontas play?

Sociedad is only 3 points above the relegations spots, so they'll not lie down easily.

Here's my line-up for the match:

Valdes

Montoya-Pique-Milito-Masch

Thiago-Busi-Keita

Afellay-Villa-Jeffren

Subs to be used: Pedrou, Fontas, Sergi

Grassroot:
I believe his intentions are good but I think this is a very dumb idea to realize his intentions. If he wants to reduce liquid cash flow in the economy, then he has to promote development of electronic transactions and make Nigerians put faith in it over time. In that case, it would come naturally for people to move around with little cash knowing that their money is better secured and better managed electronically.

By the way, 150,000 is not very much (its just a little below 1000 USD or 750 Euros). Even in advanced countries with well developed electronic systems, this money is not too much to carry about. This is very silly because it is not really a large sum of money. There is no where in the world where such restrictions are imposed and I don't think our economy is mature enough to sustain such restrictions. This is only going to make more persons to be dubious as they would now try to beat the system. Banks might also break the rules secretly and this would cause a bigger circle of crime than he is trying to prevent. At times, I wonder if these so called "leaders" consider the effect of their policies before even letting them out. Its really very funny.

I quite agree with this poster. Why does it have to be a law? If they want to improve the system, why not just make it easier for people to do electronic transactions? Look at ATM use for example: did CBN have to make any draconian laws for people to start using ATMs? once the system is robust, people will naturally go for the better option. You don't need CBN for people to know the risks of carrying lots of cash, but as it is, the infrastructure is not there yet (and not likely to be in place within one year). For electronic, cheque and credit card systems to work well, we need not only the electricity & internet facilities, but also a proper judicial system as well as a good credit rating system, both of which are almost absent.

Besides, why does the CBN have to limit how much people can withdraw (and even worse, deposit!) in a day? Sometimes, it's good to compare what we're doing to what others are doing. I have been to many countries, but I have NEVER seen anywhere where you are not allowed to withdraw more than $1,000 in a day. Sure, you're ENCOURAGED to go cashless, but not in an authoritarian way like this. Give people the right incentives and they'll move where you want them to go.

For the banks, it will even be worse because people will now just split their transactions into many units to meet the law. Banks will now have many more transactions than they currently do. Surely, that cannot be a good thing.

As others have also pointed out, this will also result in lots of people simply opting out of the banking system for their transactions, completely negating the intentions of the new law.

AjanleKoko:
See serious lamentation below

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/912532/mourinho:-barcelona-have-knocked-us-out?cc=3888

Cules . . . I thought our friend here planned to play with 10 men . I mean, I thought it was his game plan all along

Mourinho: Barca are in final


April 27, 2011

By ESPNsoccernet staff

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has conceded that his side have no chance of reaching the Champions League final after a 2-0 first-leg defeat to rivals Barcelona at the Bernabeu.

Mourinho was sent to the stands in a tempestous game that saw Barcelona substitute goalkeeper Pinto sent off at half-time, before Madrid midfielder Pepe was dismissed for a tackle on Javier Mascherano. Lionel Messi exploited the space to claim a late brace and now Mourinho feels his side are out of the tie.

"The return game is mission impossible,'' he told the press after the game. ''Barcelona has qualified for the final. Sometimes I feel disgusted about this football world of ours. Yes, we have already been knocked out.

''We had the intention to keep the game at 0-0, then bring on a striker, then a third phase with a No. 10 behind three forwards. But the ref didnt allow it.''

Mourinho continued his post-match rant by targeting Barcelona's record in the competition, most notably their win over Chelsea in the semi-final in 2009.

''I would be ashamed if I was Barca how they won Champions League in 2009,'' he said. ''It was the scandal of Stamford Bridge. This is the scandal of the Bernabeu.

"I don't know if it's because of Villar, the UNICEF publicity or what, but I don't understand why this keeps happening. No one has any chance against Barca. Where does all this power come from? To win like this is very nasty.

"What did I say to the referee? Nothing, I just laughed. If I say what I feel now, my career ends. I just wonder why."

Lol! Abi o! Mouthinho is a clown. He talked about playing with 10 men, but thank God refs are no longer falling for his mind games. His worst nightmare is here as his team keep getting red cards against us. But if he must blame anyone, he should look in d mirror. Who plays at home with 3DMF, while keeping Kaka, Higuain, benz on d bench? If his players played soccer, not rugby, they wont get so many red cards.

Mwhile mou & others keep talking bout the 2009 final, forgetting that abidal was wrongly sent off, but 10 man barca still rallied to score.

Great win & congrats to all cules. Max possession ensured madrid chased the game from the start. Pepe finally got the red card he's been asking for with his rugby tackles.

Our depleted side beat gave madrid their 1st home loss in this season's CL! What if we had every1 available?

I said before that we need 2wins, 1 draw from the 4 classicos - we got our 1st win at the perfect time. We can now finish them off next week.

Mou has himself to blame for parking the bus instead of playing creative soccer - pep has bought a locksmith to unlock tough defences. His name is Messi - I want to hear mama gee & the other beefers say this guy aint the world's best!
Villa looked sharper today & it seems his mojo's back.

Good possession game so far. We can frustrate madrid if we keep this up (CR7 is already frustrated). Thiago may need to come in for keita to spice up MF. Pedro has been quiet & may also need to go out. I'll like to see Villa more in the middle not RW. Messi to keep roaming. Back four looking ok.

With my line up, we still have a CB MF & FW in reserve - milito, thiago, afellay. Fontas would have been an option but he has played 0 mins since his temporary promotion (why pep?).

I agree that Pep shouldn't have allowed mou to drag him into the cesspit-it's another sign of naivety by our young coach.

I'm not happy about ini's injury. Did he get injured in training or against osasuna?
We can beat madrid or at least get a score draw if we line up like so:
Valdes
Alves-Puyol-Pique-Masch
Xavi-Busi-Keita
MVP

No point putting Puyol @LB. He'll be outrun by mou's wingers all night.
Messi should play on the right-it's less crowed than the centre & he will definitely draw players out of position, creating space for villa & pedro to do damage.

Mcleo007:
Can't believe I'v been a nairalander for over 5yrs and haven't discovered this thread. Well, here I come folks. Let's keep it rolling!

You're welcome to the thread bro. You came just in time for us to win the UCL together! Good to see another Cule on the thread & nice analysis so far.

biolabee:
@medjai

jardel 55 01/02

caceres to be recalled

Any source on Caceres? That will be good news. And it'll also be good to use Botia's buy back clause. If we bring in these 2 & promote fontas, batra, maybe montoya & get rid of Milito, Maxwell (I like them both but they're weak links) then we'll have a good mix of defenders.

I hear we're still chasing g. Rossi- he'll be a good addition, plus Bojan can go in d other directn on loan. But I'll rather bring back Keirrison to see what he can offer.

[/quote][quote author=AjanleKoko link=topic=445800.msg8190774#msg8190774 date=1303589778]Well, you got your wish, and Pep decided to rest most of his regulars save Villa. The stubborn Lionel Messi of course insisted on playing, and the Ballon D'Or finalists all got a runout. Messi even got one more goal, and achieved his half century this season. Not bad, all he has to do is find a way past Madrid, and a third successive WPOTY is done and dusted.

At the end, I was alarmed to see Maxwell limp off after taking a knock late in the game . Hmmm . . . maybe we'll see a Barca B debut on the left wing, or maybe even Milito on Wednesday. We go survive sha.

I hope they buy Botia back, and summon Carceres from Sevilla. We need serious defensive cover.

Agree with u totally. I'm  confident that we will give mou & his boys a lot of worry midweek. Hopefully either Maxwell or Adriano will be fit for madrid, else masch can cover (I'm very impressed with his play lately).

I'll like to see Keita start ahead of Pedro while Ini switches btwn attack & mf. This is just to give us some muscle in d middle, against mou's beasts.

AjanleKoko:
Guys,
Let's keep supporting Villa and all our boys. They gave us a great season, great goals, famous wins in all competitions, whatever happens in the Champions League. Messi, Villa, Pedro . . . everybody. Even Pinto, Affelay, Adriano, Masch . . . they all came through when it really mattered.

Let's forget the Cup defeat. We are winning the league. Let's even forget the Champions League. If I was Pep right now, i would do like all those movie basketball/American football coaches, and tell the boys to go out and be themselves, tonight, on Wednesday, and any other night. No matter what happens, we're still Barca, and we continue challenging next season.

We passed tough tests in all competitions. Arsenal in the UCL, Bilbao in the CDR, Madrid, Valencia, Villareal, Espanyol, Sevilla, and Athletico Madrid in the league. We have been severally complimented, even by our enemies. They're all parking the bus, scared to come out and play against Barca. Imagine Arsenal: Playing with 11 men against Barca is tough enough. How cool is that?

One thing I noticed from this Cup defeat . . . so many footie fans around the world have been desperate to see us lose. Too bad for them. Whatever Real does in the CL semis will never wipe away the stain of 5 back to back clasico defeats, including the famous manita. They can never beat us 5-0, not any time soon, anyway. To eke out a lousy cup win, they have to turn footie to American footie. Good for them. Even their talisman has thumbed them down as a sorry side.

Our Mephisto, Mou, also can't come away from this season intact. He suffered his heaviest defeat at our hands, he's not winning the league this season, a first for him since Porto, and he has to play extremely negative football to get a trophy, any trophy, for the great Real Madrid. He even lost his impeccable home record, a record we all respect, at the hands of a lowly team.

We are BARCA.

Gbam!!!

Playing villa today has worked quite well since he managed to score. The big boys should all go out early in d 2nd half, we should score one or 2more b4 then.

We face osasuna 2day in nou camp. I expect Pep 2 rest the entire 1st 11. None of all this talk of the league not yet won. We're playing Mou's 'new madrid' for the big prize so no slip-up is allowed.

Here's my team 4 tonight:
Pinto
Montoya-Fontas-Milito-Maxwell
Thiago-Masch-JDS
Affellay-Keita-Nolito/Jeffren

I know it's a strange looking formation but this team can beat osasuna @home. Masch can take care of their new star, the dangerous Kike Sola.

Why have I put Keita of all players in attack? I've noticed that Pep uses Pique as a striker when desperate (eg last few minutes against RM in Valencia). Instead of sacrificing a key CB, why not develop Keita into that alternate striker? He is good in the air & also has a ferocious shot. I feel its worth a try.

Madrid will play away to Valencia & I'm sure mou will rest his key players & play for a draw.

mama-gee:
[color=deeppink]Where was "magical" messi when you need him most?

The so-called legendary/best player in the world was nowhere to be found throughout the match.

Joke of the century![/color]

What's this one doing here? Where have u been all season? U came here to celebrate when arsenal beat barca in london, forgetting there was a 2nd leg. Now we lost a tight cup final & u come here to talk. Very rich coming from a supporter of a team that hates trophies & lost a cup final to mighty birmingham.

In any case u obviously didnt watch d match as Messi set up a no of chances in the game.

Abeg leave us & go concentrate on ur 'exciting' EPL.

AjanleKoko:
Hmm, maybe so. Even more disturbing is Villa's form. He ended up killing a lot of moves. Messi and Pedro worked their butts off, but Villa did nothing apart from running into defenders. I think the old MVP would have pressured the back line a lot more, and gotten a goal, especially in that spell where we controlled the game.

We also suffered a bit at the back, and will continue to do so this season, even if we get past Real and play in the CL final. Manchester United's lightning-fast counter attacks might just do us in. It's a pity we lost Puyol and Abidal this season; we really need to get more defensive talent into the club for next season. Rather than that Fabregas adventure, it's better to spend money on some solid defensive talent.

We eventually paid for Pique's many forays up front. Not that I blame him, he had to push up to help win balls in the middle. Pepe, Alonso, and Khedira were getting ultra-physical with our guys in the middle.

Ironically, Madrid still lost a man, a pointer to their physicality. Which gets me wondering: That might actually work to Pep's advantage if he thinks about it a lot in the coming week

You can't really stop a team from being physical. It's all part of the game. I don't see physicality as an excuse.

Congrats, Madrid finally man up and see silverware this season. Nice one.

I agree on Villa-he has obviously lost his confidence & needs a goal badly (should he have taken the penalty in madrid?). His bad form affects us worse since we have no sub for him currently, with Bojan out.

We were unlucky wit d injuries to Puyol & Abidal (at d same time!). We definitely need defenders in d summer. We also need another striker-we have 0 options upfront.

Anyway, looking at it critically, we could have won this match if we didnt over-pass in front (never works against catenaccio teams) & if the ref was less tolerant of RM's rugby tactics.

Like I said earlier, it's good that this isn't d big prize. Pep needs to figure out a way to break this is new madrid.

Luckily Puyol will be back for UCL. Also, RM's players looked more tired than ours last nite. Hopefully Pep will rest d entire 1st 11 for Osasuna.

I believe we will win the CL tie. A score draw away plus a win at home is fine.

AjanleKoko:
I still don't agree with you, Stealthy.
This is a cup final and can go either way. Look at it this way, we could have lost at the Bernabeu, dropped 3 points in the process,  and also lost here tonight. How would you have liked that? Or you think a second-string side, assuming we have one, wouldn't have been thrashed at the Bernabeu?

Besides, Mou played exactly the same system he did on Saturday, a 4-3-3, with 3 attackers and 3 defensive midfielders. I believe he also played his best side, his form team. The fact is, it wasn't all about tactics. Madrid were clearly hungrier, more motivated in this final, and they stuck to their philosophy. I think our guys played a lot better than the weekend, and were unlucky to have lost. The final was a true Clasico, and was very close. Any team could have won it.

I won't be surprised if Mou plays the exact same system next week. It's up to our guys to find a way to beat them. and make it to the final.

Ok, we can agree to disagree.

Mou is a smart coach & he has figured out a way to use this Real Madrid team to stop us as he did with Inter last year. He tried out his ultra-defensive tactics in the 1st half of the league game and switched to a less defensive one in the 2nd half. For this final, he kept the ultra-defensive all thro and it was quite effective - we didn't get any shot on goal in the 1st half. Even in the 2nd half, we didn't create chances as we normally would.

Fortunately, this isn't the biggest prize. It's up to pep to figure out a way to beat Madrid (ultra-defensive or not). We must knock them out of the UCL.

We just lost the CDR. I hate to say this, but I hope you guys can now see what I said about Pep playing his best team in the league classico. This just allowed Mou to fine-tune his strategy.

Something that really pissed me off in this match: Our guys don't seem to understand that you can't be doing 1-2s when the defence is packed. One of the best ways to score with a packed defence is to shoot from outside the box. The keeper has less room to see and you can always get a favourable deflection.

The ref was also very stupid. He allowed Madrid to use all the rough tactics in the book. Those guys wanted to turn this to a wrestling match. Hopefully, the UCL refs will be less tolerant of the persistent fouling. Besides, Pedro's goal was not offside and it's a shame it was cancelled.

Anyway, the big prize is still to come. I hope Pep has learnt his lessons here. Mou has turned Madrid to a catennaccio side and it's up to Pep to figure out how to make his team break down a typical mourinho team.

Johnpaul88:
My line up for the match

Pinto;
Mescherano, Puyol, Pique, Adriano;
Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta;
Alves, Messi, Villa;

The ref for tonight's encounter is Undiano Mellanco. I hope he lives up to expectation.

I wish us a happy ending. Amen!

JP! How can you put Masch as RB? U know Pep doesn't experiment much, especially not in a cup final. It will be our traditional starting 11 for this one, except pinto. Only other change may be Afellay over pedro.

holydante:
Hi Guys,

@Stealth, saw your comment on Total Barca site, i really do not think there is nothing much to bother about those permutations, JM and Madrid is fixated on us Barca, people almost forgot that this is supposed to be a clasico, with Madrid playing at home and having lost to Barca severally in the past and also with the presence of their so called ''special done'', the onus is on them not us, we are topping the league and topping them.

Pep has always proved predictable in his line up and formation, and we all have to live with that.

Footie is not all about plotting and tactical bum-haha, other elements are factorized and officiating has come to be a very big factor, if Madrid players had collected all the deserved cards in the 1st half and Villa had been awarded his deserving penalty, perhaps we all could be singing another song. I  bet if JM comes out tomorrow and tells the world he purposely allowed the Manita thrashing as a game plan in order to get back at Barca in future, everyone will be suckered in ,

We should respect him but do not need to deify him.

We are Barcelona

I understand your points. My worry is mainly to do with Pep falling for Mou's antics as happened last year. Anyway, this time we have a better team and Mou has a team that is less capable of playing park-the-bus than Inter of last season. I feel we can win the copa del rey & also go thro to the UCL finals (and hopefully win it too). Madrid is a very good side, but once we have no major absentees, we have a better 1st eleven that should beat Madrid in at least 2 of the remaining classicos.

I expect pep to field his best available 11 in all the remaining classicos.

I'm very happy with the performance of Adriano, Masch & Afellay lately. I've always believed they'd come thro if given the necessary minutes and since Pep started to use them more (mainly forced by injuries, suspensions), they've all proved their worth. At least we now have a somewhat reliable bench.

^^^^^
Who needed a win more, us or Madrid? Which of the two coaches rested players?

I don't fear Mou's tactics - I fear Pep's sometimes naive decisions, which play nicely into Mou's hands as we saw in last year's UCL semi finals.

Mou has already given up on the league - his main aim now is to knock us out of UCL and Pep must not allow him.

I've noticed that almost no one is talking about the tactics of this game.

Think of it, RM was playing Barcelona at home, with 8 points between the 2 teams. Which team needed a win more? RM of course.

But what did Mou do? He did not even play all the best players at his disposal. While Pep got sucked into playing his flat out best 11, Mou opted to make some subtle changes to his team and did not play his flat out best 11. His changes were so subtle that not many people noticed that Mou was making tactical experiments, while Pep just put all his aces on the table.

Central Defence: Pep was moved to midfield while Albiol was brought in. If Mou was aiming to win the match, he would have played Diarra in midfield to give himself the luxury of using his best CB pairing (Pepe+Carvalho).
Midfield: Mou chose to leave Oezil, probably his most creative player, off the field until the 2nd half.
Attack: Mou did not use his best attacker (Higuain) even though he was fit. Even Adebayor only came in after Madrid went a man down.

Why did Mou do all this? It's basically what I've been saying for a long time: Mou saw this match, not as a must-win (as Pep apparently saw it), but as a match to use to fine-tune his tactics for the more important classicos coming up. He hyped up this match in the press and Pep unfortunately fell for it and played his best 11, which is exactly what Mou wanted. Mou didn't care much about losing last night and that's why he kept some of his aces in his pocket, waiting for the best moment to deploy his arsenal.

I just hope that in spite of all his plotting, scheming & tactical advantages, Mou's team will be unable to beat Barca when it matters.

cisse7575:
a point is ok. mou rested some players thogh, it doesnt matter just hoping abidal n puyol feature in d next 3 elclassico

Abidal is not playing till next season, after his surgery.

Pep took a big risk playing Puyol tonight. hope he can make the copa final.

AjanleKoko:
Don't you think that we would have been thrashed today, if we had turned up with a different lineup?
Madrid aren't joking around, and neither should we. I expect it to be a gruelling and bruising four games. We are at least sure of the league this way, nobody knows for sure what'll happen in the CDR and the Champions League. It would have just been three points thrown away, and I'm sure Pep knows that.

Not necessarily. We may not have won (as it is, our best team also did not win), but even a narrow loss would be ok. 1st, RM would have been shocked to see a team quite different from what they planned for. 2nd, our 2nd stream guys can also hold the ball quite well. Even if real won, a 5 point gap with 6 matches to go is still a big gap and Real still has to go to Sevilla & Valencia. 3rd, a Real win wouldn't be of any psychological advantage if the win was against our reserves. But imagine if they managed to beat our best 11 tonight - it would have been as bad as the loss to Arsenal, which we barely overturned in Nou Camp.

Here is where/why I worry: Real has a bigger squad than we do. Mou will start oezil, Adebayor, maybe Kaka, maybe Higuain in the CDR final. pepe will likely move to CB, Diarra may play DMF. He basically has lots of options. Pep has a few options, but I can bet that our starting 11 will be the same for all 4 matches. Mou is a smart guy - it's only a matter of time before he finds better ways to nullify our threat and ways to exploit our weaknesses. He will keep fine-tuning his game plan (we basically saw 2 tactical approaches in 2 halves today), while we keep to our one & only game plan, with the same players.

I hope we win the Copa & beat Real to make the UCL final.

The good thing is that we're home to Osasuna next weekend so hopefully, they don't try to do a Gijon & we can rest a few guys for the UCL match-up (Real is away to Valencia, but Mou may just send in Granero & co, rather than his big stars.

Villa's form is really worrisome. unfortunately, Bojan is now injured, so we cant sub Villa off. I hope he gets his confidence back real soon.

1-1 draw is ok (like I said we can't expect to win 4 straight matches against Real). More importantly, no player got injured - Puyol's injury is hopefully just a minor strain.

I think Mou will be the happier of the 2 coaches. He can go and strategize based on what he saw today: His triple pivot worked to a limited extent. Adebayor won almost every aerial ball he went for. Real also came close from several set plays (pep has to work on this). I expect to see Mou play 4-4-2 in the UCL, with Higuain & Adebayor in attack & Oezil playing 90 mins. Pep will play the same players for the 4 matches.

Real will be a lot more dangerous in the copa & especially UCL matches, so we shouldn't get over-confident.

Albiol gets a red card: Mou gets what he says

Messi finally gets a goal against Mou.

Puyol being stretchered off doesn't look good. Now you guys can see what I said about including someone who hasnt played in 3 months in the starting 11. I just hope his new injury is only a cramp.

Here's my half time analysis:

I still feel Pep should have rested some stars. By playing his absolute best team, he is playing into Mou's hands. Notice that Mou is not playing Higuain, Adebayor & Oezil. He also has Kaka available, so can make tactical changes in future matches. He knows barca will play in only one way and is going to use this match as his test as I wrote earlier.

So far, Mou has used 3 DMF to try to stiffle our play. Mou will not normally play Albiol in a crucial match, but it's all part of his testing (since Carvalho will not be availble in UCL 1st leg). I'm sure Mou can judge the effectiveness of the defensive midfield trio & obviously will not use this combo again till the 2nd leg UCL (based on scorelines then).

We should be ahead by now, but Casillas has saved RM so far. I like the slow way we started the game, just keeping the ball and making RM run around. That was good to watch. Adriano has been outstanding - I've always known he'll come good with more minutes (same thing I said about Masch & Afellay). I pity Maxwell now cos he'll find it hard to get minutes.

The Casillas tackle on Villa was a penalty - I don't know why the ref didn't give us that.

Puyol hasn't looked rusty, which is very good. I still doubt he can last 90 mins.

Madrid have been very dangerous with set pieces & I hope Pep starts to sort out our weakness in that area (putting men on the goal when we defend CKs is a good idea).

We can win here, but again, the important thing is not to lose & not to lose players to injury.

On an aside, ManU lost in the English FA cup so we're the only team left in UCL gunning for a treble.

eyoniggar:
Stealthy,isnt that the same thing I have speculated over and over again? I see no reason why some cules would wish a draw or a loss today. A win today
is a confidence booster.

Ok, looks like Pep is on the page with you guys and has gone with the best squad. I'm VERY surprised to see Puyol starting - surely he's not match fit yet (just medically fit). I hope Pep is not making a mistake there.

As a cule, I hope we win this and avoid injuries.

I'm not saying Pep should plan to lose. In any match when Pep chooses to rest Messi and co, does that mean he plans to lose? I'm just saying he doesn't need to try to win all 4 at all costs. If someone throws 4 balls at you, if you try to catch all 4, you may catch only 1. But if you already made up your mind to catch 2, chances are you'll catch those 2.

If we play into his hands, Mou will have an answer to us by the time UCl comes along, the same way Arsenal had an answer to us at Emirates & Sevilla had an answer to us in the league.

Mou doesnt need 3 points tonight (I actually think he will just use the match tonight to try out some of his tactical options). He has given up on the league already. He will try to win the copa, but not at all costs. He knows that if he loses to Barca tonight & loses the copa, but wins UCL, he will have bragging rights over us for the next one year. If he wins UCL, he will also be the 1st coach to win it back to back, so that is his priority for this season.

Think of it this way: If tonight's match was against any other team, would Barca not rest players for the copa final? Our objective is to win trophies, not beat Real Madrid home & away.

If we draw (or even lose) tonight, win the copa, win the home leg in the UCL & draw the UCL away leg, would we have been successful or not?

We can win all 4, but it is very difficult & unlikely. Why risk players today when we can forget the league match and prepare for the more critical matches?

Pep should rest some stars tonight & let Keita & co do the business tonight.

AjanleKoko:
Puyol is included in the squad for tonight:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2011/04/15/2443177/carles-puyol-included-in-barcelonas-squad-to-face-real-madrid-on-

Johnpaul88:
My take on this is that we need to start off on a good note. The games are in quick successions that there may be too short a time to sit back and learn and fine tune your strategies given your oppenent's method of play. It will all happen too fast and may affect the player's psychological approach. If u can consider our four games with almeria and inter, u should also note that time space of both, are quite different from what we have now. We are talking about a space of 18 days!
In my opinion, today's game is the most important cos it will serve to set the pace. If we exert our superior nature today, i bet u they will be in our shadow throughout the period. It will be hard to shake off. They will need more than Mourinho to pull it off.

I will suggest we play our best today and enjoy the ripple effect as others come along.

Valdes;
Alves, Puyol, Pique, Adriano;
Xavi , Busquets , Iniesta;
Pedro , Villa , Messi;

We need a sound starting, a good result and a good confidence builder. We can't lose today and expect to win the copa final at least.

No coach in his right mind will start a player who has been out for 3 months with injury. Puyol will likely come in as a sub tonight, but there almost zero chance that pep will start him. Pep travelled with Bojan, Masch & Abidal but we know none of those 3 will play. Puyol is in the squad, but will only play for a few minutes.

If we play our best now, we may win tonight, win on Wednesday, but I bet you by the time the UCL games come along, Mou would have figured out the best way to beat Barcelona with his Real team. And don't say we cannot lose to Madrid because we can. I still maintain that we're better off choosing our battles. Thank God for the 8 point lead in the league - this is the time to take advantage of that lead.

There's also the chance that Mou will instruct one of his players to take out Messi or one of our other stars in the league match. That player gets a red card, but will not miss the UCL matches. But the injured Barca player would end up missing the crucial UCL matches.

ddippset:
we dont have to rush back puyol. lets keep him 4 the copa. we can use milito and pique. let xavi and iniesta try to keep the ball all night.

I'm pretty sure that Puyol will not play much today - he may come in about 10 mins to the end just to get a run-out.

ddippset:
we need to call 4 caution. we need to win all four classicos. mourinho only needs a 1-0 win and he will start calling himself the special one. any loss 4 me would be a catastrophy. lets forget about the 5-0. no team in the entire world has as much stars as madrid. they spent millions and millions.

We dont need to win all classicos. No problem if we win all, but I don't think pep needs to try to win all. You need to pick your battles, in football, as it is in life generally. What is the cost of trying to win all 4 classicos? Fatigue, injuries, etc. Playing our best team in each match will also allow Mou to fine-tune his strategy for the all-important UCL semi finals. Madrid is a good team, with a smart coach - they will learn & improve with each match.

Even if it was a small team that we're playing 4 times in 3 weeks, it will be very hard to win all 4 matches. Look at last season, we faced Inter 4 times, the 1st match, we won 2-0 easily. We drew the 2nd match 0-0, but Barca was the better team. By the time UCl semis came, we lost (though the volcano played a part). Look at Almeria this season - we beat them 8-0 in the league, then 5-0 in the cup, then 3-0 in the cup 2nd leg and by the time they visited Nou Camp last weekend, they made life very difficult for us even though we won with a 3-1 victory.

I bet Mou may not even play his best team today as the UCl is now his main aim this season. If we beat Madrid today, win the copa, but madrid manage to make it to the UCL finals, will you guys be happy?

If I'm in Pep's shoes, I'll definitely rest some of the stars today. It will disrupt Mou's plans (of using this match as a test case for the key UCL battles)

Here is my line-up for all the classicos:

Today (league classico in Madrid):

Valdes
Adriano-Pique-Milito-Maxwell
Thiago-Busquests-Keita
Afellay-Villa-Pedro

Subs to be used: Puyol, Jeffren, Villa

On Wednesday (copa del Rey, in Valencia):

Pinto
Alves-Pique-Mascherano-Maxwell
Xavi-Busquests-Iniesta
Messi-Villa-Afellay

Subs to be used: Puyol, Keita

For the Champions League Matches:

Valdes
Alves-Pique-Puyol-Adriano
Xavi-Busquests/Masch-Iniesta
Messi-Villa-Pedro

Great to hear that Puyol is finally back!

I hope he can come on as a sub in the league classico, play 60 mins in the copa final & 90 mins against osasuna & in each of the UCl classicos. This is very good news indeed!

medjai:
Quote
Cruyff: Barça only need two Clasico wins

Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff believes the Catalan giants only need to win two of their four possible meetings with Real Madrid as they close in on a potential treble. The two sides meet in La Liga, with Real eight points adrift of Barça with seven games left, on Saturday with the Copa del Rey final coming just four days later.

The rivals are also almost certain to meet in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League meaning they will face a quartet of mouthwatering clashes within 18 days. But former Barça player and manager Cruyff, who recently returned to Ajax in an advisory capacity, does not believe Pep Guardiola's side need to concern themselves with trying to win all four games, pointing out that it is highly unlikely given how closely-matched they and Real are.
Can Real or Barça win all four games? Is it probable? On the contrary, it is very unlikely.
Johan Cruyff, Barcelona legend

Cruyff said in his El Periodico column: "Can Barça or Real win four direct duels in 18 days? No. Because they are two very good teams, two very good competitors, and they are going all out to try and win silverware. Can Real or Barça win all four games? Is it probable? On the contrary, it is very unlikely."

Cruyff believes that Barça would be better off focusing on winning the Copa del Rey final and the home leg of the Champions League tie. "You do not need to win four straight against your great rival to prove you're the best," he continued. "At least from the standpoint of Barça. Coming from where you came from, to earn what they've won, play like you're playing, your goal is not the full four.

"Your goal is to win the appropriate games of which there are two: the final of the Cup in Valencia and the return of the Champions League semi-final in Barcelona. One is worth a title, the other a place in the final. If the club were to win the Cup, even win three of four games, but lose their place in the final at Wembley would Catalans be happy then? Surely not."
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1416101.html

I agree with Cryuff 100% - there's no point trying to catch 4 balls in the air & getting none. We should not bother with the league classico (just try to avoid a defeat), aim to win the copa (but not try so hard as to get injuries) and give 110% for the champs league matches.

I keep saying that we cannot expect to win 4 straight matches against any decent team, much less a team as good as Madrid. 2 wins (copa & UCl 2nd leg), 1 draw (UCL 1st leg), 1 loss (league) is a success and I hope Pep does not allow the pressure from fans to win all 4 matches, affect his decision making.