Lliga | Round 14: Valencia CF - FC Barcelona 1-1

Catalan Fan

New member
Wish some of you fookers would cheer up a bit ! :banghead:

Top of the league after a tricky start and without Messi, most of the hard away games out of the way, wins at RM and AM, Turan and Vidal to come still...

I just saw the highlights and we could of put the game to bed in the first half apart from wayward finishing, but even so, a point there is NO DISASTER ! RM and AM both have tough games to come, including us at home.

All is not lost :cheers:
 

Chong Li

New member
Gotta love the negativity and pessimism by some posters in here.

Sounds like we're in 10 points behind RM.

Of course we should have scored more than once, but shit happens, can't win them all.
 

Kikan

New member
it is a long season and i'm so glad we have points to spare . Frankly, considering our thin paper squad i'm surprised we are at the top of the la liga . Over all fantastic 2015 and come jan the squad should be alot stronger , so be happy guys .
 
J

Jamie Cal

Guest
Fantastic outta Paco for their goal too. A whole lot of stars aligned for that goal to fall into place.
 

Dan1983

Prediction champion 2012-2013
I was hoping for a win of course, but we always seem to draw at the Mestalla. But still top and 2 points clear.
 

barcanuck

New member
Lucho went a bit too Tata in this game. Not a single sub? Gotta get Sandro on after he scored a hatty instead of Iniesta and move Messi in the mid.
 

amircule

New member
A draw in Mestalla is never bad, but valencia missed a lot of key players. We bottled a great chance to beat'em on their own ground....
 

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
Who's gonna he sub? All hell would break loose if he took Messi off.
Maybe he could have taken Rakitic off when we conceded.
 

Obiaseti

New member
2 point dropped not too bad. It was bound to happen at some point. We should and will move on. No need to panic yet we still have an ace up our sleeves in the form of Arda and Vidal. Looking at the positives I think Neymar and Iniesta had good games.
 

jairzinho

Senior Member
On another day, we could have scored 3 or 4. Well taken goal at the end but Valencia had luck with them today.
 

ThwiX

Best midfielder around
Still very angry and pissed off. Probably would feel more relaxed if we didn't give it away with only 8 minutes left. Those always hurt the most.
 

Neeraj

Senior Member
Overall thoughts and some perspective:-

-Mestalla away; traditionally tough game, on isolation, 1 point here isn't unexpected or a disaster

- Saw the Valencia injury list before the match and I was shocked. I knew they had injuries but this was ridiculous! All of a sudden the expectation was different - Valencia B vs Barcelona in sizzling form - a win was very much on the cards and this win would have been a milestone victory in the title race; both psychologically and otherwise

- Was a bit surprised at how Valencia came out. 10 men behind the ball at all times, it really didn't feel like a top level team at their home turf. Ofc, they were even more defensive because it was practically a changed 11 but their shape was defensive beyond belief.

- Even so, we made enough chances. I saw some posts on here, saying "we just showed up expecting to win", "this is what you get when you walk around at Mestalla", etc. I don't think that was the case at all. If you watched the first half, it was intense. There was crazy running and pressure from both sides, and the tempo was quick - transitions from defence to attach from our end was fast, with Alba constantly sprinting his ass off on that left flank. I expected the pace of the game to come down once players tired a bit in the second half.

- In the end, some poor finishing cost us the game. That happens. I would have been a bit more worried if we didn't manage to create much against this side, but we created more than enough against this bus - so that's not a concern.

- In terms of individuals, I thought Biscuits was not bad in the first half, had a poor second half. Rakitic for me had a really poor game - along with Messi. Messi clearly hasn't gotten his groove back yet - if you have noticed, since he came back - he has hit so many shots meekly straight at the keeper. I can recollect 4 of them between this and the previous match. His passing and dribbling too are off.
But this isn't a concern obviously, cause it's the GOAT we are talking about. He's going to get his mojo back in no time and going to be ripping everyone to shreds. It's just a matter of one or two games more.

- Having said that, as some here have mentioned, I do think that constantly looking for Messi in the second half lost us 2 points. You can never say for sure, but I'm fairly confident we would have won this game if we continued in the same vein as we have been playing upto this point.

In a world without "other" consequences - subbing Messi off - would have probably been the best move; purely from the game's perspective. The team would have then had more shots, Neymar would have taken on the keeper more and we would have (probably) looked more direct and threatening. However, we do NOT live in a world where actions don't have meaning - so subbing Messi off was never, ever, ever going to happen and more than rightly so.

- Lastly, I was most disappointed with the result because of how Valencia played. I thought they were poor, and didn't deserve a point in this game. Getting caught on the counter with 5 minutes left. 2 v 2 in such a situation, that's really infuriating. Also, just a nothing ball, a hoof upfield leads to a goal. And we aren't talking about a monster like Drogba here, would have really liked to see Pique (considering he is tall) handle that better.

Overall, great opportunity to make a huge leap towards the title thwarter by a make shift Valencia. However, we are still in great shape, leading ATM and RM with tough away games behind us, and can go into the new year optimistic about our reinforcements bolstering our squad and giving us the push needed when crunch time comes calling post Jan.
 
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Vlom

Previously known as Mehssi
Guys, 2 months ago we were whishing to be only a few points behind real madrid until messi came back and we could play Arda and Vidal... now we're 5 points ahead, the scenario is still as good as it gets :)
 

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