Barca draws Man City

[Ghosting]

I have a feeling City is gonna play an open game with us. Hope they do and we show them what happens when you leave Barca space and time to move.

We can hope, but they got overrun in midfield against Bayern, after that game they played 4-5-1 against Chelsea, so I'm thinking they learned their lesson.

 

[dakeb_MCFC]

Four more goals, four more different scorers.

You can't stop City scoring goals.

Even scored one for Fulham to make it fair.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

 

[The Observer]

I doubt Bartra will start vs. City. Only if Masche gets injured somehow.

Leave that to

Meanwhile:

Kompany.

 

[te amo barca]

On paper their defense looks solid:
Clichy - a fast left back who likes to attack
Nastacic - wonderkid
Demichelis - an experienced defender
Kompany - one of the best defenders in the world
Zabaleta - one of the best rbs in the world
Kolarov - a good back-up with a wicked shot
Richards - fast and strong
But during the games their defense looks horrible. I remember Zabaleta being dribbled 13 times by Ribery, Nastacic being a clown and help Torres to score, Kompany at that gif, Demichelis being a joke every match, Clichy being horrible in tackling and so on.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Kompany just makes dumb mistakes, overall he's a great center back, Demichelis is pretty good but can't stop fast breaks at all, Nastasic was great last season but hasn't been nearly as good this year, Zabaleta is good though the best of the best give him problems, and Clichy has been meh for a while now. It's a fairly good defense overall, but I can't see it triumphing against Nemesis, with Alba + Alves and Iniesta/Cesc...

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

Lol the own goal was crazy and a complete by chance event. Even Thiago Silva has conceded own goals I'm sure. Anyway, every defender makes mistakes. Kompany is still in the top 3 CBs in the world right now when he's fit and in form.

 

[footyfan]

I'm actually really looking forward to the games because Man City are not the type of team that can sit deep or even maintain a very good line of pressure like Bayern or Milan. Bayern's against Barca last season was close to perfection, I don't think I've ever seen a better defensive performance (ignoring ball hogging Barca-style as defence).

Will/Can Pellegrini mould Man City into that kind of team? I somehow doubt it.

 

[The Observer]

Let's be honest here. It's not about what Pellegrini is going to do. It's all about whether we have Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Alves and Neymar well rested and at full fitness or not. This hasn't happened for quite some time now in a big game and it's annoying. Some key player is always injured or playing on painkillers or short of match fitness etc. My hope is that Valdes, Xavi, Messi, Alves all had their long term injuries NOW and therefore will stay injury free in the second half of the season.

 

[Chainsaw]

We can hope, but they got overrun in midfield against Bayern, after that game they played 4-5-1 against Chelsea, so I'm thinking they learned their lesson.

And they lost to Chelsea too. Compare to Mancini's Man City, Pellegrini's Man City is much stronger in attacking but also weaker in defending. I'm doubtful about their ability to defend properly, specially when they face the likes of Messi, Neymar, Iniesta and Fabregas. They have a lazy midfield with the likes of Yaya, Nasri and Silva and their defence open up pretty much easily. Beside the individual players I think systematically they cannot play a defensively solid match, no matter what formation they play.

 

[Ron Weasley]

The interesting thing is, we (City) played REALLY badly in that Fulham game, and yet we still scored 4 goals and missed 4 or 5 other solid chances. Dzeko could have had a hatrick, and yet didn't score at all. And yet at the same time, comedy defending and losing control (at times) of midfield.

But remember this is with no Aguero and, no Nastasic, no Zabaleta and no Jovetic. I would imagine we will play a whole lot better against you guys, at home certainly.

 

[Tomchin]

But remember this is with no Aguero and, no Nastasic, no Zabaleta and no Jovetic. I would imagine we will play a whole lot better against you guys, at home certainly.

Has he been injured recently? Haven't heard about him for quite some time?

 

[Ron Weasley]

Has he been injured recently? Haven't heard about him for quite some time?

He got injured pre-season and has not been fully fit since. He had made the very occasional appearance from the bench for 10 minutes, but mainly he has been injured. Apparently he is nearing fitness and coming back, and we were hoping to see him at Fulham, but then no show again. Some say he was ill, others that he got injured in he tunnel (which I can believe!). The guy has been so unlucky it is unbelievable.

But he looks to be a great talent and I can't wait to have him available. He's not a true striker - more like a more direct version of Silva and MUCH more of a goal threat.

 

[Jayuk]

50/50 tie i would say, both teams are dodgy defensively and both teams are deadly attacking.

 

[MrKnowitAlll]

we've been practicing

 

[zanela]

In light of Yaya's Fk efficiency this season, and the fact they 've some really good headers of the ball, I just want Barca to minimize conceding set-pieces over both legs.