Ronald Koeman

fergus90

fergus90

Senior Member
Going forward we look much better and there are a few players capable of scoring goals. Only Bayern and Liverpool (despite their patchy start) are clearly better than Barca right now, Madrid has issues, so do City, so do PSG. However the weakness of the backline, which despite the 5-1 score, gifted 6 opportunities last night which a better team would exploit at least 1 or 2 more of them.

I think at the Camp Nou we will beat most teams both domestically and in Europe, however, a defence consisting of Roberto, Pique, Lenglet could quite easily get bullied for pace and power by a few decent sides. I hope Araujo gets given a consistent run of game time now and a chance to cement a place permanently.
 
MagIX

MagIX

Senior Member
fergus90 said:
Going forward we look much better and there are a few players capable of scoring goals. Only Bayern and Liverpool (despite their patchy start) are clearly better than Barca right now, Madrid has issues, so do City, so do PSG. However the weakness of the backline, which despite the 5-1 score, gifted 6 opportunities last night which a better team would exploit at least 1 or 2 more of them.

I think at the Camp Nou we will beat most teams both domestically and in Europe, however, a defence consisting of Roberto, Pique, Lenglet could quite easily get bullied for pace and power by a few decent sides. I hope Araujo gets given a consistent run of game time now and a chance to cement a place permanently.
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I don't know if playing at home is so an advantage now ...in this situation without spectators, for me the advantage of playing at home has changed, it affects less than before.
 
Birdy

Birdy

Senior Member
It's early to judge.
Certainly there seems to be more structure and more intensity than all EV years.
But still..
There are so many holes in the XI and malfunctions (like Messi's position) that prohibit any real challenging beyond QF in CL.
LaLiga is a different story. We can definitely win it with Madrid being the only actual contender, and currently playing like shit.

But it's still a long way to go
 
G

Gnidrologist

Senior Member
MagIX said:
I don't know if playing at home is so an advantage now ...in this situation without spectators, for me the advantage of playing at home has changed, it affects less than before.
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Barca crowd is very mild. Mostly aesthetics seeking local hipsters and bunch of tourists. There's hardly ever that much of a vicious support that we are used to see in lots of other grounds. Still there's some x-factor at Camp Nou for some reason. It actually baffles me. Maybe they are right about some pitch length metaphysics that helps Barca win i dunno.
 
George_Costanza

George_Costanza

Active member
fergus90 said:
however, a defence consisting of Roberto, Pique, Lenglet could quite easily get bullied for pace and power by a few decent sides. I hope Araujo gets given a consistent run of game time now and a chance to cement a place permanently.
Click to expand...

Individual quality is overrated. I can't name Bayern Munich players except for Lewandowski, Neuer and Mullar. Bayern and Liverpool success in UCL is based on a collective value rather than individualistic. All their players know how to manage both an offensive and defensive phase. All their players collaborate and play more fluid speedy football. If you are good at something try to do it fast. Menotti once said the point of training is to increase the speed at which one can be precise. So back to your point, defense shouldn't be an issue if other players (MFs/forwards) defended too when they don't have the ball.

If we want to compete with the best, this is the way we should play.
 
fergus90

fergus90

Senior Member
George_Costanza said:
Individual quality is overrated. I can't name Bayern Munich players except for Lewandowski, Neuer and Mullar. Bayern and Liverpool success in UCL is based on a collective value rather than individualistic. All their players know how to manage both an offensive and defensive phase. All their players collaborate and play more fluid speedy football. If you are good at something try to do it fast. Menotti once said the point of training is to increase the speed at which one can be precise. So back to your point, defense shouldn't be an issue if other players (MFs/forwards) defended too when they don't have the ball.

If we want to compete with the best, this is the way we should play.
Click to expand...

It's not about individual names or profiles I just think defence will be an issue against better teams. Pique and Lenglet as a Centre-back pairing have shown on numerous occasions they struggle with pacey and/or physically imposing forwards. Some of Lenglet's positioning on Tuesday was laughable, Pique has to get himself sent off. Roberto is a decent utility player but he also struggles against wingers with quality.

None of this can be put on the coaching staff though, they've simply been left with the defence in this shape.

Of course you need a good system but you also need players with the right traits to implement it and in regards to both Bayern and Liverpool they have some of the best players in the world in each position. Bar the three you mentioned, Kimmich, Alaba, Gnabry, Goretzka, Sule, Davies are all established internationals.
 
Andresito

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Gnidrologist said:
Barca crowd is very mild. Mostly aesthetics seeking local hipsters and bunch of tourists. There's hardly ever that much of a vicious support that we are used to see in lots of other grounds. Still there's some x-factor at Camp Nou for some reason. It actually baffles me. Maybe they are right about some pitch length metaphysics that helps Barca win i dunno.
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Well it's the biggest stadium in Europe. With it being open without a roof it probably adds to the feeling that it's even bigger.
 
L

Laplacian

Senior Member
De Jong and Coutinho just aren't good enough to sacrifice a solid and balanced 3 man midfield. Even if they were, you should never build your team around a "DM"/Deep Lying Playmaker; they should be versatile and talented enough to suit your needs, not the other way around. The midfield is just hilariously far too weak, passive, and not creative enough to compete at a high level, and it's not just because of Busquets as well.

Tactically we are sacrificing so much for players who won't even be talked about 5 years after their retirement. It was worth it with Messi, but at this point it's getting ridiculous.

Edit: 1st half, literally 6 players in the center all the fucking time. Why the fuck do you hate right wingers so much?
 
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KingLeo10

KingLeo10

Senior Member
"Players need to play in their right positions"

proceeds to start Busquets every game

proceeds to ignore RW

Another fraud.
 
L

Laplacian

Senior Member
Um no. Pedri over an actual right winger...? It's a dumb selection. If he got his Depay and Wijnaldum, he would have played them in RW? Shoved Ansu to the right to accommodate his boy? I don't see how those two players solve our issues.
 
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