Was happy to see plenty of youngsters before the game started, so don't blame Lucho for the lineup. I think this is the first game I'm seeing in AGES where Messi was poor (not compared to his own standard, but poor in general). But that should hardly matter, that's the least of my concern. I'm still on the fence with some of the youngsters though, main one being Roberto. Xavi continued in the same vein as last season, making lateral passes most of the time and not adding much to midfield at all. Combining that with Roberto, who doesn't really seem to do much going forward either, and you have a snoozefest, especially when Messi is having a bad game.
I'm still not sure Munir is all that what people are making him out to be, he has been decent so far, but I'm not sure what he has done really for people to go all 'the next gem from Masia' about him.. Samper looked good, and IMO, Sandro has actually been the youngsters who has stood out for me so far. He looks like a different breed, pretty tall and strong, direct approach, I just like the energy and goal focus he brings.
Again, I'm a bit disappointed with the performance, expect a bit more from our youngsters (Roberto has been playing with us for a while now), but DEFINITELY do not subscribe to the opinion we should rotate less. I am completely in agreement with the experimental lineup chosen, If I could go back, I would choose this kind of line up again. If we can't beat Apoel with our backup, then we have issues with our squad.
