Lliga | Round 3: FC Barcelona - Deportivo Alavés 1-2

I am proud of you guys beıng able to pur thıngs ın perspectıve wıth thıs loss. I expected the websıte to have downtıme because of meltdown.

Horatio said:

I am proud of you guys beıng able to pur thıngs ın perspectıve wıth thıs loss. I expected the websıte to have downtıme because of meltdown.

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We always pur when we put things into perspective.

Meeeooow

The time has come.

I feel like this happens every year in the beginning, points are always dropped against teams where it should just not be possible it is a short time lesson that focuses our player's about the level of Barcelona and what happens when they don't reach it. With regards to the line up well I guess there is also a lesson for the coach although that team should have still easily dispatched Alaves. There is no doubt in my mind that real will also "tumble" in a game or two if not more than one. It is always better at the start then the end of the season anyway.

KingLeo10 said:

this must be why they win la liga with such consistency.

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serghei said:

Not quite. Betis, Gijon, Malaga are not exactly top teams. They can mess up as well.

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Malaga is not a top team but a difficult team to play against
Madrid usually have no trouble winning easier games but they lose points in almost all their difficult games and that is where they lose points and the league

Alaves against Barca and Atletico - 7 shots total, 5 shots on target, 3 goals, unbelievable efficiency.

serghei said:

Well, that mentality made us lose this game. It's just Alaves at home right, we'll win this by default. Guess... not.

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That's exactly what I said in Paco's thread before the game when someone said those words. We as fans can do that as we don't play but players and Lucho should never take any opponent easy.

We clearly underestimated them. I like rotations but it was too much of them this time. You can't change half of your team and expect results, especially considering that two of the players (Paco, Cillessen) were playing their first match for us after 2-3 trainings with the team, then Digne and Denis are also newbies in the team, Mathieu returning from injury and Neymar just returning after spending last 4 months in Brazil. There was absolutely no chemistry in this team and it was expected. I think if we'll play the same lineup in 4-5 months they'll look a lot better but now was not the time to do that. But yeah, Lucho probably thought the same thing you mentioned (it's just Alaves). Yes, most players underperformed but I think this loss is mostly on Lucho. He also admited his fault.

I'm ok with resting Suarez if he's tired (we don't want him to get injured and miss a lot of time) and also Messi starting on the bench to not make his injury worse (we absolutely can't afford to lose him longterm). I can also understand not forcing Iniesta back but other than that we should start our best XI if we're already playing without our two best players. Especially defense. Roberto and Pique should've started, Umtiti probably too instead of Masche who I believe was overplayed with his NT after returning from his minor injury before NT break.

But it is what it is. 3 points are lost and congrats to Alaves for taking them. Geting 4 points from Calderon and Nou Camp, not many teams will do that. They deserved them with good defending and being concrete/clinical in their few attacking actions. A bit of time wasting in last 15-20 minutes with all their "injuries" but we've seen much worse of that from much better teams so I won't grudge that against them.

We should now look ahead. Team is mentally strong enough to not let one loss affect them too much. We need to start CL on a good note and then also get 3 points in Leganes (hopefully not again with 6-7 new players in the team) before facing Atletico.

Messi983 said:

That's exactly what I said in Paco's thread before the game when someone said those words. We as fans can do that as we don't play but players and Lucho should never take any opponent easy.

We clearly underestimated them. I like rotations but it was too much of them this time. You can't change half of your team and expect results, especially considering that two of the players (Paco, Cillessen) were playing their first match for us after 2-3 trainings with the team, then Digne and Denis are also newbies in the team, Mathieu returning from injury and Neymar just returning after spending last 4 months in Brazil. There was absolutely no chemistry in this team and it was expected. I think if we'll play the same lineup in 4-5 months they'll look a lot better but now was not the time to do that. But yeah, Lucho probably thought the same thing you mentioned (it's just Alaves). Yes, most players underperformed but I think this loss is mostly on Lucho. He also admited his fault.

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We did. And what's worse, in the presser Lucho said he didn't expect Alaves would play a 5-4-1, and that it was difficult to adapt to that. So he didn't cover all his bases. That's something he really should had anticipated, as one possible scenario.

Absolutely shameful result. Wasn't able to watch the game live (1st game I have missed in 3 years) because I was at a birthday party and then my friend showed me the final result and I was so pissed afterwards and the result was an awful hangover Thanks Lucho

I must say I was suprised we lost against Alaves, specially on Camp Nou even though Messi and Suarez didn't start.. Hope we learned something from this loss.. Now we face Celtic where we must win!

serghei said:

We won zero points.

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Wow, thanks for the thorough insight and analysis. I owe you.

Just hope we learnt our lesson don't rest too many

barcafan161 said:

Just hope we learnt our lesson don't rest too many

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Amen! Hopefully!