Champions League 2017/18

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
Think we would've beaten Liverpool in the semis

Valverde's conservative tactics almost had Chelsea put three past us at Stamford Bridge. The little bit of risk he tried gave us a win at home with Dembele playing. Imagine him doubling down on the conservative, pussy tactics from Roma vs Liverpool.
 

Joan

Well-known member
BkzyezPIAAEZnHQ.jpg


this picture feels so natural I often forget it's photoshopped
 

Joan

Well-known member
Valverde's conservative tactics almost had Chelsea put three past us at Stamford Bridge. The little bit of risk he tried gave us a win at home with Dembele playing. Imagine him doubling down on the conservative, pussy tactics from Roma vs Liverpool.

Pointless to discuss it, but conservative approach often works well vs. Liverpool. ManUtd, Chelsea recently and so on...
 

Devils

Senior Member
The most amazing thing about this final is that you can't actually fault the Liverpool players minus Karius for the loss.

Two gift goals and a stunner from Bale. The three goals that Liverpool conceded were all anomalies that you would never expect to occur in any final, yet alone a CL final.

Such a bizarre game.
 

FinBarcelonafan

Well-known member
You know you got tactics wrong when you're afraid of old Dzeko and Rome. Put Dembele in and play like men instead of trying not to lose 3-0..
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
Pointless to discuss it, but conservative approach often works well vs. Liverpool. ManUtd, Chelsea recently and so on...

Difference between Mourinho and Conte v Valverde. Mourinho even though he has regressed big time + Conte, are able to set up a team to play defensively and get something out of the game, and they have the players to play that game. That's usually their main approach too.

Valverde is inferior to both despite the great domestic double, and we don't have the personell to play that sort of game either. Valverde's conservative approach is to allow teams to press our midfield and toy with them. The post saved us against Chelsea, and we had Mr. Own Goal help out at home vs Roma, but at Stadio Olimpico we got exposed in the end for the fraud our CL campaign truly was.

For me it is simple.

If Valverde doesn't change up his approach he should be tossed out by December. Will it happen? I doubt it. I would like to be optimistic, but at the moment that would be borderline delusional.
 
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CatalinR10

Senior Member
congrats to the decent rm fans around here for winning another CL , odds are u will make it 5 in a row rather than Barca winning one soon enough.
 

West Saxon

Member
Sad for Liverpool. They were playing well until Salah was injured, but then just collapsed and couldn't impose themselves on the game. And while we're on the topic of Salah - that really was a disgusting thing for Ramos to do. He knew full well what he was doing, he had Salah's arm in a lock and tightly held it all the way to the floor. It was a cynical attempt to get a big advantage by crippling the opposition's best player, and it worked. It ruined Liverpool's chances, and now one of the world's best players is probably going to miss the World Cup. And Ramos gets away with it.

It was a really bad quality game anyway. Very few clear cut chances for either side, and lots of stoppages in play. Real won but they weren't that much better than Liverpool, who weren't awful (apart from Karius) but just lost their momentum after the injury. They got the job done though, and I suppose that's all that matters. You can tell Ronaldo's absolutely furious that Bale's the one who won Madrid the game!

As for Liverpool, they're a very good side with a world-class manager. At their best, they can destroy anyone. They just have a very weak squad and weaknesses in some areas, mainly the midfield and in goal. Sort those out, though, and they can go places.
 

Joan

Well-known member
Difference between Mourinho and Conte v Valverde. Mourinho even though he has regressed big time + Conte, are able to set up a team to play defensively and get something out of the game, and they have the players to play that game. That's usually their main approach too.

Valverde is inferior to both despite the great domestic double, and we don't have the personell to play that sort of game either. Valverde's conservative approach is to allow teams to press our midfield and toy with them. The post saved us against Chelsea, and we had Mr. Own Goal help out at home vs Roma, but at Stadio Olimpico we got exposed in the end for the fraud our CL campaign truly was.

For me it is simple.

If Valverde doesn't change up his approach he should be tossed out by December. Will it happen? I doubt it. I would like to be optimistic, but at the moment that would be borderline delusional.

You have a point there. Us trying to park the bus more often doesn't make us good at it.

In Rome, everything went wrong. Everything Valverde did was wrong. Blame is on the players, too.

But that doesn't mean we'd lose to Liverpool or that they are a better team. We are still, no matter many would disagree, one of the top teams and very close to the summit.

Us underachieving is in the first place due to lack of character, IMO, and midfield in the second. Few good moves in the summer might change it for us.

Because this hurts, and if RM winning it year after year doesn't motivate you enough, what does?
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
You have a point there. Us trying to park the bus more often doesn't make us good at it.

In Rome, everything went wrong. Everything Valverde did was wrong. Blame is on the players, too.

But that doesn't mean we'd lose to Liverpool or that they are a better team. We are still, no matter many would disagree, one of the top teams and very close to the summit.

Us underachieving is in the first place due to lack of character, IMO, and midfield in the second. Few good moves in the summer might change it for us.

Because this hurts, and if RM winning it year after year doesn't motivate you enough, what does?

Teams that have knocked us out in the CL: Juventus, Atletico and Roma. Heck, PSG should have knocked us out had they not been mental midgets.

We are NOT good enough. Stop lying to yourself. Barcelona is not one of the top 3 or top 5 teams in Europe anymore. A top 3 or top 5 European team would have made at least one semi-final the last three years and not gotten humiliated vs Juventus, almost humiliated vs PSG and then gotten destroyed the way we were in Roma.

There is a lot to change in the current team. We're not going to go anywhere until we fix our RB situation, until we upgrade on Rakitic and whoever is supposed to be the LCM in the midfield now. Until we realize Suarez if finished at this level, and we move on, and until we get a manager that is a winner and knows his priorities which is La Liga + CL and not La Liga + CDR.
 

XaviV

Member
Teams that have knocked us out in the CL: Juventus, Atletico and Roma. Heck, PSG should have knocked us out had they not been mental midgets.

We are NOT good enough. Stop lying to yourself. Barcelona is not one of the top 3 or top 5 teams in Europe anymore. A top 3 or top 5 European team would have made at least one semi-final the last three years and not gotten humiliated vs Juventus, almost humiliated vs PSG and then gotten destroyed the way we were in Roma.

We are and odd team. But we need a little bit better management to be on top.
 

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