₦airaland Forum

More post-match analysis before I go and gloat on the Arsenal thread. Lol!

Stealthy:
We have a tough match tonight. It's very different from last year. Last year, Arsenal had to get a result at the Nou Camp to progress. This time, Arsenal can afford to lose & still progress (3-2, 4-3, etc).

I hope Pep goes with Milito in CB and not Busquests.

Here's what we need to do to progress:

1. Messi has to dribble. His dribbling was out of sorts in the 1st leg. He really needs to do it well this time. Arsenal doesn't have the best defenders and if Messi shows up for this game, they will either foul him or allow him to run in.

2. We have to be clinical in front of goal. We will always create chances, even against teams like Inter. The key thing is to take our chances and not be wasteful, as we were in the 1st leg. MVP must take their chances tonight.

3. The LB must not attack. Arsenal know that our wing backs always attack and exploited it in the 1st leg. With MVP + IX, we don't need both wing backs attacking, especially with a makeshift CB pairing. I hope it's Adriano, but I know Pep will use Maxwell.

4. Busquests (or Masch, if Busquests plays CB) must cover Alves' wing when we lose the ball - Arsenal will try to exploit his wing with the dangerous Nasri.

5. Messi must play on the right. This way, he can take out Clichy time & time again and also pull either a CB or the DMF out of position.

6. We must not overplay at the back. Once there are attackers closing in, our defenders should go for the long ball. Arsenal will try to disrupt our play by defending from the front, but we can use this against them by using the long ball (not our usul tactic, but it worked pretty well against Espanyol).

7. We must attack speedily. Arsenal does not have a good defence, but if we over-elaborate and allow their defenders settle down, it will be difficult for us to break through (as happened in the 1st leg).

8. We must take advantage of set-pieces. We are one of the worst users of corner-kicks. Our opponents are always happy to concede corners against us cos we almost always go for the short pass. Even though our best headers are unavailable (Puyol, Pique), we can still be more creative with cornerkicks.

9. We must defend corner kicks well. With Bendtner & Chamakh likely to play, Arsenal will have some aerial threat. We don't defend corner-kicks with 2 men on the line (we're the only team I know that doesn't do that). We need to do it today.

10. T[b]he Camp Nou crowd have to be more vociferous than the Emirates crowd were during the 1st leg.[/b]

Finally, Pep must psyche the guys up psychologically for this match. We need 3 clear goals to be comfortable. Therefore:

A. No showboating when we take the lead. We must take no prisoners tonight.

B. We must be calm at 0-0, if Arsenal take the lead, or Arsenal equalize after we take the lead.

C. No silly subs from Pep.

My prediction/prayer: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal

medjai:
Messi now has 8 goals in CL. He's currently the highest goal scorer.

medjai:
^^ whatchu expect, gaynners are inately skilled in the art of excuse making. Pre van Persie sending off, they had no shot on target, post sending off, na the same thing. Abeg, make we forget BS. . .

This was a flawless performance. Well, nearly, save for Busi's mistake. If it hadn't been for Almunia, it would have been a cricket scoreline.

True talk man. We were very dominant.

Messi will win the ballon dor again at this rate.

I was spot-on on the scoreline! Stealthy is Pep's new technical adviser. Lol!

Ok, here's my analysis:

We were truly dominant in this match and allowed our quality to show.

Pep took a gamble by playing Busquests in CB - once again, Busi cost us a goal in that position. But in fairness, he was decent other than the og.

Mascherano was excellent in the DMF role and saved us when Bendtner was almost clean thro.

Adriano was very good at LB (as I expected) but he made the wrong decision too often. Abidal is our best LB by some distance.

Talking about Abidal - he was our best defender once again. Is the guy getting older or younger? I don't recall him being this mobile in the past.

Xavi and Iniesta did their usual damage. They were both dropping very deep early on, but they had to do that for us to maintain possession which we did excellently. They both went into their dangerous moods as the match progressed.

Dani's runs were impressive. Arsenal had absolutely no answer to him, other than Nasri tracking back, which was good for us - less pressure on our defence.

Messi, oh Messi. The boy started in slow motion, but warmed up as the game went on. Arsenal must hate to see his name. 4 goals last year, 2 today. His 1st goal was supreme confidence. And he didn't allow the pressure to get to him for the PK.

Villa & Pedro weren't as sharp as they could be (tired from playing on Sat). They both could have done more.

Afellay had a few good minutes and it's good to see him make a cameo in this one.

Valdes had a quiet game. Arsenal offered really little in attack. They say we're Messi-dependent, but they sure are Fab-dependent. The guy was obviously not fit, but Wenger had to play him. He gave a great assist for our 1st goal! I wonder whether this will make him want to come to Barca the more or not. I still think we don't need him and should spend our money to bolster our defence, give Dani an improved contract, buy a sub for Villa & pay back the loans.

I know Arsenal fans will hold on to the red card as the turning point. However, who can deny that Arsenal deserved at least one red card in this match? Van Persie should have gone in the 1st half for his push on Dani. Kolcieny was also fouling persistently. Some refs would have given him a yellow card for the PK foul on Pedro. Finally, there was the foul by Djourou on Messi in the 1st half which should have been a PK. All in all, the referring was about ok.

Overall, we were VERY wasteful in front of goal and a better team would have punished us. Our strikers need to be more clinical (like Xavi  ). A better team would have punished us on the counter.

This match is a real morale booster for us and I'm now confident we can win it all.

This match was especially heart-warming because Arsenal fans are some of the most boastful around. See the kinda comments hey were making here after the 1st leg. I don't usually do the fan wars, but men, these guys nearly brought me into the cat-fight.

I'm too excited to even sleep early!

Eddiebomba - I told you Arsenal defenders aren't great. Kolcieny was owned many times.

Where's mukina2 and all those Arsenal fans who forgot that this is a 2-legged tie? All celebrating a 2-1 home win in UCl like they'd won the trophy.

Hannie, my comprehensive analysis comes up soon. Nice to have you on this thread,

We have a tough match tonight. It's very different from last year. Last year, Arsenal had to get a result at the Nou Camp to progress. This time, Arsenal can afford to lose & still progress (3-2, 4-3, etc).

I hope Pep goes with Milito in CB and not Busquests.

Here's what we need to do to progress:

1. Messi has to dribble. His dribbling was out of sorts in the 1st leg. He really needs to do it well this time. Arsenal doesn't have the best defenders and if Messi shows up for this game, they will either foul him or allow him to run in.

2. We have to be clinical in front of goal. We will always create chances, even against teams like Inter. The key thing is to take our chances and not be wasteful, as we were in the 1st leg. MVP must take their chances tonight.

3. The LB must not attack. Arsenal know that our wing backs always attack and exploited it in the 1st leg. With MVP + IX, we don't need both wing backs attacking, especially with a makeshift CB pairing. I hope it's Adriano, but I know Pep will use Maxwell.

4. Busquests (or Masch, if Busquests plays CB) must cover Alves' wing when we lose the ball - Arsenal will try to exploit his wing with the dangerous Nasri.

5. Messi must play on the right. This way, he can take out Clichy time & time again and also pull either a CB or the DMF out of position.

6. We must not overplay at the back. Once there are attackers closing in, our defenders should go for the long ball. Arsenal will try to disrupt our play by defending from the front, but we can use this against them by using the long ball (not our usul tactic, but it worked pretty well against Espanyol).

7. We must attack speedily. Arsenal does not have a good defence, but if we over-elaborate and allow their defenders settle down, it will be difficult for us to break through (as happened in the 1st leg).

8. We must take advantage of set-pieces. We are one of the worst users of corner-kicks. Our opponents are always happy to concede corners against us cos we almost always go for the short pass. Even though our best headers are unavailable (Puyol, Pique), we can still be more creative with cornerkicks.

9. We must defend corner kicks well. With Bendtner & Chamakh likely to play, Arsenal will have some aerial threat. We don't defend corner-kicks with 2 men on the line (we're the only team I know that doesn't do that). We need to do it today.

10. The Camp Nou crowd have to be more vociferous than the Emirates crowd were during the 1st leg.

Finally, Pep must psyche the guys up psychologically for this match. We need 3 clear goals to be comfortable. Therefore:

A. No showboating when we take the lead. We must take no prisoners tonight.

B. We must be calm at 0-0, if Arsenal take the lead, or Arsenal equalize after we take the lead.

C. No silly subs from Pep.

My prediction/prayer: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal

AjanleKoko:
^^
I feel you bro, however we are taking about over-respecting here. We always respect every opponent, not the least Arsenal. But before the first leg, even Pep was talking about losing the game. I didn't like that at all. We must always play to win with the men we have available. At least now we are fully aware that Puyol won't play. Well, stuff happens, we do the job with the men we have, period.

Arsenal are the ones who should be afraid coming to the Camp Nou. I am just saying, we don't need to be too scared of the opponent. Some cules here are sounding scared. Believe you me, we can tear them apart if we play our game, our boys can do it, and I believe they will.

AMEN!!!

hannie:
God bless u my brother . . .your other cules no wan gree, dem go gree in few days time  

Thanks for the compliment.

However, I still believe in Barca and I'm sure we'll progress into the QF at Arsenal's expense. I think it will be closer than the 4-1 of last season though.

hannie:
sebi I told u that all your prognostications wont work . . .Pep and Messi are trying to prove that Messi and not, Xavi or Iniesta is the most influential player in the team . . .PEP will soon regret it, mark my words again  

Well, I don't know where you got your conspiracy theory from. I admit we're quite fortunate that Messi isn't as injure-prone as he was a few seasons ago. Hopefully Pep will get some boldness and start to rest Messi, irrespective of whether Messi wants to play 90 mins or not. After the Arsenal match, we face Sevilla away, but the home games against Getafe & Almeria should be opportunities for Pep to play subs like Afellay, Keita, Masch, while giving some 1st-teamers some rest,

AjanleKoko:
Stealthy,
I'll tell you why I think we give too much respect to Arsenal. Let's look at the last three encounters:

1st Leg last season: the first 15 minutes were like a blitz. Almunia pulled off something like 6 saves in quick succession. It was a total blitz, but Barcelona managed to not score a single goal despite the intensity of their domination. Second half, what happens? The team scores two goals, take their feet off the gas, start acting tired, and voila! Arsenal equalize.

2nd Leg last season: Arsenal grab an early goal through a defensive mistake. What followed next? The players blitzed the heck out of Arsenal. We forced them into an equalizer, and tore them to pieces. Messi happened to grab the goals, but the players fired on all cylinders to blast Arsenal to kingdom come. Of course Arsenal blame their many injuries etc, but we were also playing without our regular back line, and there was no Iniesta.

1st Leg this season: Barcelona manage to score in the first half, and somehow take control of the half. Somehow we create five or so chances (which we always struggle to do away in CL, even against FC Copenhagen), but Messi manages to fluff two sitters. Villa and Pedro also get close. What happened after 70 minutes? We take our feet off the gas, and voila! Arsenal score two goals.

In both away games, Barcelona could have put the game away and close it down. But they did not, and they ended up conceding soft goals, even a penalty and red card last year. Same thing against Inter, in the first leg of the semis. Pep's brave assertions that the road trip did nothing to the boys notwithstanding, the boys played languidly, and Inter forced three soft goals out of us, two of them looking like offsides.

What's my point? We're not the Harlem Globetrotters, though we seem to think we are. If we say we are the best in the world, we must be able to play with the best of them. I don't consider Arsenal to be the best English team in the CL this year. What if we were playing Spurs, a young side full of energy? Or maybe a Chelsea that's full of big men, though not playing at their real potential. But somehow, when we played Real Madrid under Pep, we have always played like demons. Are we saying the English teams are better than Madrid? I don't really think so.

Under Pep, the best performance by the squad I have seen remains the Rome final against Manchester United. Not the so-called Manita Clasico, cos we will see what happens at the Bernabeu under Mou. Man United were at their imperious best, but we crushed them. This was a side that tore Arsenal to pieces in the semis, while we hobbled past Chelsea. I'm sure bookmakers had all their money on United. But look at that game. We played like champions, and taught United a grave lesson in footie. It was a final, and they weren't kind to us, they just simply could not play us. Why could we not play like that against Arsenal? We are much better, much stronger, and much more experienced now. Handling Arsenal should not have been a problem.

Just like I said when the squad travelled to the Mestalla, I don't see any reason why we can't edge Arsenal out if we play the way we can play. My fear is that somehow the boys won't approach the game like they will die for the result, and somehow fate will gift Arsenal the game. If that happens, well, we deserve to be out. Football is still a game played by 11 men with skill and concentration. We have more skill than anyone else, Arsenal included. It's now up to us to show that we can concentrate for 90 minutes.

We did not respect Arsenal last year. After we went 2 goals up, we thought we'd won & started to play. They hit us with 2 goals. Stupidly, we did not learn our lesson this year, thinking "we beat these guys silly last year" as though last year makes any difference now. We went only 1 goal up & our guys started to show boat. We were hit with 2 goals again. Note: this year, fatigue also added to our issues.

We always give our best against RM cos we respect them and recognize their potential to sting us. We have underrated Arsenal this season and that's why we're in a must-win situation right now.

Against Inter last year, we did not respect them enough in the 1st leg. We thought "we've beaten these guys already this season". After going 1 goal up (and knowing the team would be tired after the long road trip), Pep should have told the boys to conserve their energy, slow the pace of the game and wear Inter down with slow passes. Instead, we kept attacking & got hit on the counter over & over again. In the 2nd leg, we over-respected them. 1st, Pep put Milito as LB to counter Inter's attack from the flanks. Also, he kept Busquests on even though Inter had gone 1 man down and no longer posed any attacking threat.

We respected Man U in the 2009 final cos they were the favourites - our boys were very nervous in the 1st 15 mins of that match.

True, we're a better team than Arsenal, but not respecting our opponents puts us in trouble time & time again, eg:
Against Sevilla in the Cup last season. pep played the 1st leg in Camp Nou with our 2nd team. Sevilla won in Nou Camp & knocked us out of the cup.
Against Hercules. Pep (like everyone else) though newly promoted Hercules would be a walk-over. We did not start with our best team. Hercules taught us a lesson.

I still feel we'll beat Arsenal on Tuesday. Man-for-man, we have a superior team. But we must not go with the cavalier attitude of "we beat them 4-1 last year, so we'll surely score tons again this year". This Arsenal team has matured considerably over the last 1 year. Meanwhile, our defence is makeshift and our attackers our tired. Pep needs to psyche the boys for the game.

AjanleKoko:
Puyol not yet cleared to play. He might not play against Arsenal.In my opinion it matters little,as the boys just have to play their game and do what they know how to do. Like I keep saying, we give too much respect to Arsenal. They can play, but on our day we can destroy them at the Nou Camp. Whoever can play will play. We played two tough games and survived well, so I don't see why we can't even stick Keita at centre back if we have to, and still beat Arsenal.

I don't quite agree with you.

Arsenal is 2nd in the EPL and they came from behind to beat our full squad (only Puyol missing) less than 3 weeks ago. We should definitely respect them and understand that they can do us a lot of damage. Worse still, they got a lot of self-belief from their win against us at the Emirates and they only need a draw, so they're not under much pressure.

We need to be at our absolute best on Tuesday cos it will not be an easy match. Even with Walcott & Van Persie out, players like Nasri, Arshavin & Cesc (if he plays) can cause our makeshift defence a lot of trouble.

medjai:
Can't believe Messi's played all 90 in this one.

I'm with you on this one. I don't know why Pep never takes Messi off. This is the same Messi that was strolling in the 2nd half against Arsenal yet he has played 90 mins in every single match since then!

Messi has played 90 mins in every match since 5th February and we've had midweek matches almost every week in that time! He has played more minutes than any other Barca player this season. This is not a good sign - Pep over-relies on Messi, unnecessarily too.

05/03/11: Barca vs Zaragoza. Messi plays 90 mins
02/03/11: Valencia vs Barca. Messi plays 90 mins
26/02/11: Mallorca vs Barca. Messi plays 90 mins
20/02/11: Barca vs Bilbao. Messi plays 90 mins
16/02/11: Arsenal vs Barca. Messi plays 90 mins
12/02/11: Gijon vs Barca. Messi plays 90 mins
09/02/11: Argentina vs Portugal. Messi plays 90 mins
05/02/11: Barca vs A. Madrid. Messi plays 90 mins
02/02/11: Almeria vs Barca. Messi dod not play as we'd won 1st leg 5-0

Look at the stats above. At this rate, Messi will either tire soon or get injured, neither option of which is attractive. I have a feeling that there's something in his contract/endorsement about playing so many minutes in a season cos it's just abnormal. Even when we're embarrassing teams with 5+ goals, Pep always keeps Messi on. Once Messi starts a match, he's never taken off (I recall him being taken off only once this season).

Keita was our hero once again! Two consecutive matches now where he's been the man of the match (IMO). He took his disallowed goal very well and was in the right place for the allowed goal. He's not one of my fav players on the team, but he has definitely performed of late.

Bojan needs to go out on loan - the boy can't even control & pass the ball these days.

Milito was very good in CB. Good to see him in some good form.

Masch was very mobile as usual & his passing has also improved. Busquests had better watch out!

I honestly can't believe the ff players are in the starting line-up:
Alves, Xavi, Messi, Pedro

We don't need to win against Zaragoza (and I even believe our B team can see them off). The most important match for us in the short term is on Tuesday. We must win and Arsenal can be a threat on their day.

I hope Pep pulls Messi & co off at half time.

I'm also surprised to see pep himself - I thought he'd rest himself for this match to recuperate. I wish him a quick recovery.

Good morning Cules!

Good news that Valdes is back today and Puyol should be back in time for Arsenal. All this while the Arsenal injury list gets longer. Arsenal is a threat and the less potent they are on Tuesday, the better for us.

SInce we have 2 returnees, here are my revised line-ups for both the Zaragoza match tonight and the Arsenal match on Tuesday.

Today:

Pinto

Batra-Pique-Milito-Maxwell

Thiago-Mascherano-Keita

Afellay-Bojan-Nolito

Subs to be used: Jeffren, Vasquez, Fontas

Jeffren in for Keita (Afellay moves to MF), Vasquez for Nolito, Fontas for Pique/Milito.


On Tuesday against Arsenal:

Valdes

Alves-Puyol-Abidal-Adriano

Xavi-Busquests-Iniesta

Messi-Villa-Pedro

Subs to be used: Afellay (if Pedro gets tired), Keita (if Xavi/Iniesta gets tired)

Messi to play on the right, not in centre. He will wipe the floor with Clichy & take one CB out of position each time he cuts in. Pedro plays on the left, where he can also cut in for the shot.

Ogazi, you are a bearer of good news! I've just read this somewhere else too!

So Puyol+Abidal in CB, with Milito, Fontas on the bench. Problem solved!

AjanleKoko:
No be the same match, where Pep switched formations, pulled off Masch, brought in Pedro, and sent Adriano to cover LB?
In the three games I have seen Busi play CB, the formation lasted maximum an hour. First was against Almeria in the second leg of the CDR semi-final. Busi was pulled off for Pique in the second half, after playing CB in the first half. Second was against Bilbao, and Masch had to be pulled off. Third was last night. In all three games, Barca went on to win, after they adjusted him back to his normal role.

I think he still needs to understand positioning. Busi is good at moving all over the pitch, breaking up play, holding the ball up excellently, and delivering the link play with the forwards. In fact, he rotates the deep-lying playmaker role well with Xavi. But being CB is all about positioning and awareness. You must be able to anticipate how the attack is going to rotate, cut off forwards from running into space, cut off balls from getting to players running into space, cut out crosses from the flanks, etc. As a CB, if you're out of position, you team is more or less a goal down, and we saw that from Valencia many times last night. They were kind of unlucky in some instances, in some others, Abidal was able to intercept quickly.

Maybe they should try Fontas. Alves would have to close down and track back quicker to support him. Milito and Abidal won't be a good pairing, cos they are both left-sided. Let's see what Pep comes up with sha. I no send. We just have to raise the intensity a little. Arsenal will definitely play us, but I know if we play at our peak, we can destroy them.

Agree 100%. I saw the Gaol.com ratings and I thought to myself "these guys must be smoking something!". Anyway, goal writers come up with crap every now & then, so it's good not to trust their judgement too much. Anyone who didn't watch the match would think Busquests was excellent at CB, while he was actually poor. He's very good at DMF though & that's where we need him the most.

ogazi007:
messi must be rested aginst real zaragoza,who else is with me on this?

Here's my line-up for Zaragoza:

Ruben Mino

Batra, Pique, Fontas, Maxwell

Thiago, Masch, Keita

Afellay, Bojan, Nolito

Subs to be used: Milito, Jeffren, Vasquez

Why have I gone for this line-up?

1. We need to rest every player who will play against Arsenal. The only player not to be rested would be Fontas, who is my choice to partner Abidal against Arsenal. Milito is also an option, but he has conceded a goal in practically every match he's played for us this season. Milito comes in as a sub.

2. We can afford not to win this match. It's better to drop points against Zaragoza and beat Arsenal than the reverse.

3. Players like Afellay, Keita, masch, Bojan need some playing time as they're useful squad members.

4. Ruben needs to play to get some team experience - imagine if Pinto was actually injured yesterday, Ruben would have had to come in for him.

5. Maxwell plays because I see Adriano as more useful in our match against Arsenal.

AjanleKoko:
Sorry but Muniesa or Fontas isn't likely to play against Arsenal. I doubt Pep will risk the young boys against Arsenal's direct play. Let's see sha. Still betting on Puyol playing . . . though hope is fading by the day

If Puyol isn't back by the Arsenal game (we all pray he is) who do you think will partner Abidal in CB?

Good goal by Messi & excellent assist by Adriano. I knew Messi would make up for his early misses. I was hoping Villa would score too but stuff happens,

Thank God we finally won the match. Mou will be peeing in his pants now lol - all the pressure is on him!

I've never seen us change formations so often in one match, but Pep is clearly learning.

One big lesson in this match - Busquests cannot play in CB! He was terrible until pep switched things around. His positioning was shocking while playing CB.

I feel pep should just play Muniesa/Fontas in the CB role against Arsenal, with Busquests in DMF. Whoever will play against Arsenal should partner Pique against Zaragoza on saturday. The other option would be Abidal and Milito in CB - it will look awkward (both being lefties), but should be manageable.

holydante:
I get  ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ feeling that Pep is fine tunning  ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ lads for  ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ CL match by trying out this formation

Agree 100%

Pep's intentions are more obvious in the 2nd half. It's Abidal at LB, with Busquests & Pique in CB. Obviously, it will be Busquests & Abidal in CB against Arsenal. Busquests hasn't looked comfortable in that position and I hope Arsenal's attack is too depleted to threaten us much next week.

I hope Adriano plays LB instead of Maxwell, though Maxwell is slightly better at defending, but Adriano covers much more ground & is more confident.

holydante:
I get ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ feeling that Pep is fine tunning ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ lads for ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ CL match by trying out this formation

Agree 100%

holydante:
" ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ Man in the most secluded zone"

Lol! That's a nice one!

I like Adriano's energy, although he still has some rough edges, it's not clear whether he's playing LB or MF though.

I was very worried when Pinto looked like he injured himself - imagine not having any of our top 2 goalies!

I guess Pep will take off Xavi at some point & bring in Afellay/Pedro & maybe Keita for Adriano/Masch. It all depends on how the scoring goes.

I expect us to score in 2nd half - we're clearly the better side so far.

There's been a lot of talk about the Arsenal match, so I'll add my two cents:

I don't care whether Arsenal come with a full strength squad or not, so long as we beat them. Let them have an excuse, I don't care. We also have an excuse that we went to London with Puyol missing and the rest of our squad suffering from fatigue. It doesn't change the fact that we lost the match. I'm happy to see Arsenal ruling out more players for the 2nd leg - it will hopefully put less pressure on our makeshift defence (you guys forget that we also have players missing!).

Any news on puyol anyone?

Interesting line-up by Pep today.

It looks like he's giving Pedro a rest. Interesting to see Adriano playing & this is one of the few times I've seen pep play with 2 DMFs. The objective is clearly not to lose. (Wish he had both Busquests & Masch against Arsenal too).

Messi has missed two good chances. The 2nd one was worse cos Villa was ready for a tap-in. We need to score soon o, before valencia gain confidence.

medjai:
Meanwhile, Barcelona B played a 4-4 draw in the Segunda division yesterday. A certain Soriano scored a hatrick. I think that's one guy we should be watching out for.

Good digging medjai.

I've heard of Soriano but haven't seen any of his videos yet. I think Bojan needs to go out on loan and develop a bit - he actually seems to get worse with each game, but I know he has the potential & he's one of my fav youth players in the team.

Meanwhile I feel we should bring back Keirrison from his loan spell. I've not seen him play since he left Fiorentina, but I expect he should be ready to play for us now.

AjanleKoko:
Look at Pep asking Messi in the final minutes if he wants to come off:

[flash=640,390]http://www.youtube.com/embed/hGj249jS1dA"[/flash]

Can you re-post that please? Can't view anything,

medjai:
It's called Karma. Deportivo played a 10-0-0 formation

And see what Mouthinho has to say about that :

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2011/02/27/2370807/real-madrid-coach-jose-mourinho-we-played-against-one-goalkeeper-

Real Madrid Coach Jose Mourinho: We Played Against One Goalkeeper And 10 Defenders

Good news: Madrid was held to a draw at the Riazor, so we have a 7 point lead again!

RM actually played their hearts out & were unlucky not to win. This is Mr Mouthinho getting a taste of his park-the-bus philosophy. I wonder what he'll say after this match.

sweetguy10:
Abidal , Keita and Iniesta . These three guys won the match today . I was also harsh on Keita but he surprised not only me but my friends as well today . Abidal is on fire !!! , Messi and pedro are both losing form , Guardiola should please rest them for God's sake .

I agree 100%. Pep must use our team B against Zaragoza next weekend cos we need the 1st team fully fit & fresh for Arsenal. Thank God we have a 7 points gap - we can afford to take a few risks in order to remain in UCL.

medjai:
Asper why we never boot the ball out of defence, I read one of Xavi's interviews where he said it surprises him when Jamie Carragher or John Terry boot the ball out of their defence and they get applauds from the fans. He said if you try such at Barca, you get "whistles" from the fans. I think it's a part of our playing philosophy but sometimes, clearing the ball is just the right thing to do. But then, given the way we play, clearing the ball just disrupts everything and again, the average height of the squad is 177.88cm, that's about 5'6", we don't have people to contest the ball in the air if the ball is played out.

I support the passing out of defence - it's a crucial part of our ball holding philosophy, but when the opponents have decided to press heavily (eg Arsenal), it's sometimes wise to just boot the ball when a striker is running at you.

Messi is now 2 goals ahead of Ronaldo for the pichichi.

I'm sort of happy for the injuries & suspensions. If not, we would have played this match with the 1st 11. There's no way Pep (or any other coach) would have rested Valdes, Xavi, Puyol, Alves for a match away to Mallorca. But now, we've won comfortably with Alves & Xavi rested, while we await the recovery of Valdes & Puyol.

Abidal has been a revelation so far in CB, while Adriano has shown he's a useful squad player. Keita & Maxwell also got more minutes than normal which is good for them.

Up next: Valencia.

I feel we can beat them too. Mestalla is no longer what it used to be. I've seen a no of Valencia games this season and they're not as tough as they used to be.

Excellent win at the end.

Villa's goal (though slightly offside) was a masterpiece. And he made a grown man crawl on all fours (pele o - Dudu Aouate!).

Pedro just raised the roof with his goal. He'd switched to the left (as I suggested) and gbam - goal!

I liked Pep's subs - good to rest the forwards once we went 3 up. I still don't know why Messi never goes off - I'm beginning to suspect there's some contractual agreement to that effect. Even when we're mauling opponents, Messi keeps playing 90 mins. Now, we have a difficult away trip & a tired-looking Messi still plays 90 mins.

Montoya played well, but I was hoping the 3rd sub would be a CB cos it's still not clear who will partner Abidal in CB against Arsenal. I hear Puyol may be fit for that game (amen!), but there has to be a back-up plan. I was hoping to see Muniesa or Fontas as a late sub, but neither of them was even in the squad tonight.

One point of note - our goal difference this season is almost as high as our points!!! +63 GD, with 68 points. It's almost unbelievable!

Hopefully RM doesn't get a win tonight, so we can have some more breathing space at the top.

RuuDie:
well. . . .u obviously missed keita's super pass to messi for the goal!

He's been good so far today, but I'll still like to see more minutes for Afellay.

AjanleKoko:
I was watching some videos this afternoon of some PSV games, and I was able to see Afellay in action. I was like wtf! And this guy is a benchwarmer at Barcelona.

This is what I've been saying for a while. Afellay, masch & Adriano are experienced players whom we got to bolster our squad, but Pep uses them far too sparingly. Henry, marquez, Toure all left due to Pep's minimal rotation. He needs to rotate more else these guys won't fit in fully & eventually look for other clubs,

Halftime at Iberostar Estadi: Mallorca 0-1 Barca

Points of note so far:

We nearly conceded a goal because Adriano lost possession while trying to play out of defence (he conceded a corner kick & Webo got a good header). Pedro also lost the ball later while helping the defenders & Mallorca got another chance. Pep really needs to tell the guys to boot the ball out of defence when opponents press our defenders.

I'll like to see Messi play on the right, with Villa in the middle & Pedro on the left. Pedro is usually quiet when playing on the right wing & we don't get the best out of him. When Messi plays on the right, the opposing team needs to put two men on him (their LB & one other player). With Alves/Adriano also charging down, they need one more player on that wing, usually their DMF. This frees up the centre for Xavi & Iniesta to do max damage. When Messi plays in the middle however, it's easier for the midfielders & CBs to limit his damage. Also, when Messi plays on the right, he can cut in & shoot. Once he cuts in, at least one CB must leave his position, leaving Villa space to run in.

Maxwell needs to stay back more often. We need only one fullback running forward (Alves on the right in most games). Having both fullbacks attacking leaves too much space at the back. Also, Maxwell is not good in the attack anyway, so why go forward. On the other hand, he's quite a good defender but with his lack of space, once he goes forward, he struggles to track back.

Talking about Maxwell, that was a great set-up for Villa & I can't believe Villa didn't even get a strike on that. Villa has actually looked off-colour so far. Hope he comes good in the 2nd half cos unfortunately we have no options in his position (I don't consider Bojan an option this season).

The goal from Messi was a very lovely assist by Keita. I've been harsh on him, but he has actually played very well today. He's actually been one of our most mobile players in the game.

Messi still looks a bit tired & I hope Pep does not play him against Zaragoza next weekend to give him 1 full week of rest between Valencia & Arsenal.

Adriano has run with a lot of power as usual (though he's far from Alves) and I'll like to see him play as LB more often (he & Maxwell rotating).

Abidal has been solid in CB, along with Pique. He has been one of our best players so far this season,