So, who should have been subbed off if not Dembele?
Imagine a ten men Barca side with Messi and Dembele, both of which do not like going back and both of which being terrible at it ...
So, who should have been subbed off if not Dembele?
Imagine a ten men Barca side with Messi and Dembele, both of which do not like going back and both of which being terrible at it ...
FC433
New member
Definitely Vidal. I have one issue with EV, he is not brave enough. You want to attack in a league game that is worth only three points at home and the score is 1-1. You do not take off your fastest player and send an invitation to the opposing team to attack you.
It has always been the same issue. He is not brave. Madrid rarely dominated, rarely played well under ZZ, but they were always brave and played attacking football. That what cost PSG.
The score does not matter, it is a bit too early, but EV view of the game and his desire not to lose more than winning is what worries me.
George_Costanza
Active member
Playing underperforming players like Pique cost us 2 points.
xXKonan
Senior Member
Doesn't stop guys like BBZ saying this is why shouldn't rotate.
Then later on in the season when our 30+-year-old players are dead physically and we will have posts screaming why are our players fucking physically spent. There's a reason why we should rotate. like most of our XI are 30 or older they will be gassed by the time the CL knock out rounds start.
Joan
Well-known member
I've seen that argument, ' every time we rotate we lose points, see?1!?' Gibberish. Shame for the red, we were playing quite well before it. Should keep rotating.
serghei
Senior Member
I think Girona had the edge over us in terms of intensity even 11 vs 11. In 10 vs 11 they had even more. They could've won the game but were a bit too scared I think. If we decided to press more and try harder in the last 20 mins we would've won.
Ref made every single decision in their favor tonight.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Girona's a good team that plays with a lot of intensity. Something this team better get used to in the KO rounds of the CL.
Hopefully Valverde is doing his job and trying to sort this out, and hopefully Bartomeu isn't too trigger happy with renewing his contract as reports this morning or yesterday stated he might be.
Joan
Well-known member
Pretty much this. (1) ref (2) suspicious red. Can't do much against it.
Your suggestion would not mean bravery, it would mean total insanity ... sub off Vidal and play what, 4-2-3 ... I mean that would have been catastrophic in any level...
Like I said before, when you are down to ten men, you just cannot keep on playing with two players that are not willing and cannot play defensively and press the opponent. And since Messi is irreplaceable the only option to be subbed off is Dembele ...
Valverde did everything the right way tonight, but of course he is always the one taking the blame (normally this is always the case with the managers, but in this forum things are really getting too far from a long time now)
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xXKonan
Senior Member
Funny thing is before the red card this was the best we have played all season.
While it's true the starting team today could improve a bit with creativity, But the movement and the energy the Midfield provided up until the red card was much better than what I saw from the Gala Midfield this season.
Perhaps Bojan is right, maybe we shouldn't play Rakitic and Busi together anymore.
While it's true the starting team today could improve a bit with creativity, But the movement and the energy the Midfield provided up until the red card was much better than what I saw from the Gala Midfield this season.
Perhaps Bojan is right, maybe we shouldn't play Rakitic and Busi together anymore.
FC433
New member
I believe this is exactly what EV was thinking. It could be insanity, but I like to call it bravery. It is a matter of perspective. I saw subbing off Dembele as an invitation. I could, sort of, understand that sub if it were 1-0, but not 1-1.
What is so scary about risking not losing 3 points in a competition that we won last season and we will have a chance of winning it every season?
xXKonan
Senior Member
There's something to build on going before the red card.
However, there are some interesting observations between this lineup and the Gala one. The Gala one people trust a lot but to me that one relies so much on individual brilliance and it's sluggish as hell and not exactly energetic. Seriously it feels we are relying too much on Coutinho, Messi and even Dembele to pull something out of their asses to win us games.
The XI up until the red card was quite different. It didn't have the creativity of Coutinho in the Middle but it had more energy in it and movement and fluidity than what we have been bitching so far this season. Having a Midfield that can do that can do so many wonders.
Arthur who didn't have a perfect game and Vidal who himself is 31 years old, and coming off a long Knee injury+Busi the regular in the Gala XI provided much more spark than what we have seen out of the Midfield for quite sometime.
Coutinho provides the creative spark so there's no reason to bench him. But the focus really should be on both Rakitic and Busi, I'm convinced at this point that starting both of them at the same time is holding us back in a number of ways.
For me out of the two, I do think Rakitic is easily the weakest. With Busi's problems, he at least can provide much more on the ball from deep compared to Rakitic who while in the DM spot isn't bad he just doesn't have Busi's ability to wiggle out of jams with the ball.
However, there are some interesting observations between this lineup and the Gala one. The Gala one people trust a lot but to me that one relies so much on individual brilliance and it's sluggish as hell and not exactly energetic. Seriously it feels we are relying too much on Coutinho, Messi and even Dembele to pull something out of their asses to win us games.
The XI up until the red card was quite different. It didn't have the creativity of Coutinho in the Middle but it had more energy in it and movement and fluidity than what we have been bitching so far this season. Having a Midfield that can do that can do so many wonders.
Arthur who didn't have a perfect game and Vidal who himself is 31 years old, and coming off a long Knee injury+Busi the regular in the Gala XI provided much more spark than what we have seen out of the Midfield for quite sometime.
Coutinho provides the creative spark so there's no reason to bench him. But the focus really should be on both Rakitic and Busi, I'm convinced at this point that starting both of them at the same time is holding us back in a number of ways.
For me out of the two, I do think Rakitic is easily the weakest. With Busi's problems, he at least can provide much more on the ball from deep compared to Rakitic who while in the DM spot isn't bad he just doesn't have Busi's ability to wiggle out of jams with the ball.
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