Conversely, the avoidance of a thumping can act as a confidence builder even if we don't progress.
Conversely, the avoidance of a thumping can act as a confidence builder even if we don't progress.
If you don’t send this signature to ten people, you will become a Spurs fan.
No point in trying to predict how results will effect the team. After beating City we take a serve beating at Southampton the following game. After Barca we have Utd at Old Trafford. We lose I wouldn't blame it on the CL game.
Barcelona are not as great as they used to be. Their front 3 is immense and the best in football but that defense is wobbly and their midfield is nowhere near as as strong when the GOAT Xavi was running things.
Saying that, we lose 4-1 over 2 legs.
From Arseblog this morning. Mirrors my thoughts.Originally Posted by Globalgunner
Gabriel can play with both of them pretty well, so that’s a step forward for this squad. I’m not yet 100% convinced that he and Koscielny go together as effectively as one of them + the BFG, where the contrast in styles brings out the best of both defenders. The German’s reading of the game allied with the more aggressive, high risk approach of Koscielny or Gabriel seems a better fit.
We hear all the time about how Mertesacker’s pace is an issue, but it’s more a sound-bite than reality. The red card against Chelsea had something to do with that, and a mistimed challenge, but it’s usually very rare that we see forwards streaking away from him. Indeed, we saw that it can happen to Gabriel against Bournemouth, so it’s not as if his presence prevents that kind of issue completely.
What I would say is that we’ve generally been much better as a team in preventing those kinds of opportunities for the opposition. That pass to Costa at the Emirates could have been stopped – where’s your lunatic tackle there, Flamini? – and with a more solid midfield I don’t think that passage of play would have worked out the way it did. There are teams that have won titles with defenders just as slow, so it’s not all down to how fast you can run. That’s a pretty primitive way of looking at it.
I'm not sure I agree that Barca are not as great as they used to be, they are different to that great team that Pep managed and don't play pure "tiki taka" like they used to but if anything they are more versatile these days.
They have come off the back of the treble, I think last season saw their team really settle into it's style and form it's identity. I see no real reason why their current team can't dominate like the Pep team did, they have pretty much won all of their big games for a year, many of them with ease by systematically dismantling their opponents.
I do agree that their Midfield is not as strong, but they have different qualities now, the Busquets, Rakitic & Iniesta trio is as good as anything out there, they have superb depth now too with the likes of Arda Turan and Sergi Roberto filling in, even Mascherano plays their sometimes.
They have more depth in Defence too...it's their weakest area but it's still way above average.
When have they not, when they came over the 1st time they controlled them game but just missed chance after chance, even when we beat them they controlled large parts and we just caught them on the break.
They're a far more versatile in their play, previous sides have been all about pass pass and if you played the right way (like Chelsea) you could more often than not stifle them and restrict their chances, now they have pace and can be more direct, they also have several genuine goal threats whereas before they relied too much on Messi.
Personally I think they're more dangerous and have more goals in them now, honestly think their forwards will have a field day against our defence and only Cech will keep the score down, Suarez, Neymar and Messi that's an unbelievable front 3, most teams would love to have just one of those three (we would) and they've managed to assemble 3.
The fact is other than our keeper none of the areas of our team are that great, up front we're not great, the midfield isn't all that and neither is the defence.
Last edited by Özim; 09-02-2016 at 10:01 AM.
You're never going to have a semblance of control against Barca. Just have to hope you can weather the storm and make the most of the limited chances that may come your way.
The thing about them now whcih they didn't have in the past is that they have several players who can score a goal out of nothing and don't require passing it into the net, even if a team gets on top the likes of Suarez and Neymar can hit a 30 yarder and put them back in it, far more dangerous a team than before.
Yeah totally agree with this, offensively no other team comes close to them in the world, it's not just Messi now, it's him, Neymar and Suarez. Even without Messi they were still blitzing teams, I watched them tear Real a new one in the El Classico without Messi.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote