Lliga | Round 10: FC Barcelona - Real Madrid 5-1

[raskolnikov]

Me too. Crazy how often Barca has destroyed Real over the last 10 years. 5-1 ks an absolute trashing. They havent got anything similair on us since the mid 90’s.

 

[JackaL]

Anybody knows where to get highlights with Carlos Martinez commentary? The guy from canal+ / movistar?

 

[soul24rage]

[youtube]kiLI--WaChI[/youtube]

Great Analysis of yesterday's game

 

[El Trencaxarxes]

What a brilliant match, though I suspect it might have been even better for the neutrals watching.

We got off to a great start. Took control of the midfield and thus the play very quickly, with Arthur and Busquets pulling the strings centrally with Rakitic as their main support. Rafinha also dropped very deep and took positions centrally, to help ensure that we were always outnumbering Real in the middle of the park. Arthur took up much more offensive positions than we've seen him do so far, especially when Real had the possession and we were trying to pressure them. The first goal was great, really showcasing Rakitic' abilities on the ball and Alba's runs off the ball. Suárez' run inside the box created enough space for Coutinho and Rafinha to drift into and both ended up completely unmarked a handful of meters from the goal.

As the first half progressed, I feel like we surrendered more control of the game than necessary. Real saw a lot of the ball and were getting more and more into the final third of the pitch. They were also winning a lot of the loose balls as witnessed by Ramos' longshot effort a couple of minutes before the penalty. Suárez once again showed not just his instincts, but also his immense understanding of the game, as he slipped in front of Varane in the last possible second. Varane barely saw him coming and as a result was late with his challenge. Timing is everything in football, and Suárez got it down perfectly yesterday. The penalty was about a picture-perfect penalty as you'll ever see. Courtois is one of the longest goalkeepers out there, with an impressive wingspan and good reactions, and yet there was no chance for him to reach it. It was simply tucked too far wide for him to ever get there in time.

We got off to a horrible start in the second half. I don't know if we wilfully surrendered the control of the midfield, or if Madrid took it by force but nonetheless the control was gone. Madrid was easily getting themselves into the last third of the pitch - the "danger zone" if you will - and they completely dismantled us in the sequence leading up to their goal, with quick passing and great movement off the ball. This pattern continued for a good 20 minutes and it positively looked like they were going to equalize sooner rather than later. They came tantalizingly close with Modric' effort off the post.

Taking Rafinha off changed the game for the better. Rafinha had a good first half but was completely absent in the second losing the ball nearly every single time he touched it. Semedo gave us more speed and power to deal with Madrid's left flank and Roberto provided safety and comfort in midfield, as he did what Rafinha had failed to do: Retain possession. Dembélé came next and sealed the game with his route-one approach in counterattacking situations. Claiming space with the ball at his feet, he consistently forced Real's backline of Nacho, Ramos and Varane to back off and made it very easy for us, to get dangerously close to Courtois' goal.

Overall it was a great match to witness even if we had 20-25 nailbiting minutes at the start of the second half.

 

[jairzinho]

[youtube]kiLI--WaChI[/youtube]

Great Analysis of yesterday's game

My only issue with Ernie is his delay in responding to Lopetegui's switch to 3-4-3. There was a small window in the 2nd half, probably around 25 minutes where they literally had us on the ropes. The margins are so small, on another day we could be looking at a different scoreline. But when we finally responded, the game changed.

 

[cro-man]

I do not like how we defend under pressure. Most of the time there is a feeling the other team will score in an instant and sometimes they dont but not because we are defending well but because they are far from lethal enough to score. Even in this game madrid had too many clear chances to score.

We need to improve our collective defending and be more dominant. Cant remember a game where we looked defensivly brilliant and this is the key to win cl.

 

[El Trencaxarxes]

I do not like how we defend under pressure. Most of the time there is a feeling the other team will score in an instant and sometimes they dont but not because we are defending well but because they are far from lethal enough to score. Even in this game madrid had too many clear chances to score.

We need to improve our collective defending and be more dominant. Cant remember a game where we looked defensivly brilliant and this is the key to win cl.

Maybe we didn't look outright brilliant, but we looked pretty sound defensively against Inter. At the end of the day, Real still is a team packed with class players - especially offensively - so the fact that we struggled with shutting them completely down, isn't something that will keep me awake at night. Modric, Kroos and Casemiro are one hell of a dynamic midfield, that will overrun a lot of opposing midfields with their collective pressure, sheer physical strength - bear in mind that neither Modric or Kroos are weak in this regard - and technical abilities. I would not expect us to keep a clean sheet every game, and even if we have been looking a little shaky, I think it is absolutely acceptable to only allow five goals in four games against Tottenham, Sevilla, Inter and Real Madrid.

There's no doubt that we still have space for a lot of improvement defensively, but I'm impressed with how we've handled this last stretch of incredibly difficult games. I would not have expected us to win all of the abovementioned four matches. We're definitely doing better at the moment than I would have predicted. In my book, it is mainly down to the fantastically solid performances of Lenglet and the addition of Arthur in midfield that has given us a much-needed boost.

 

[Joan]

Maybe we didn't look outright brilliant, but we looked pretty sound defensively against Inter. At the end of the day, Real still is a team packed with class players - especially offensively - so the fact that we struggled with shutting them completely down, isn't something that will keep me awake at night. Modric, Kroos and Casemiro are one hell of a dynamic midfield, that will overrun a lot of opposing midfields with their collective pressure, sheer physical strength - bear in mind that neither Modric or Kroos are weak in this regard - and technical abilities. I would not expect us to keep a clean sheet every game, and even if we have been looking a little shaky, I think it is absolutely acceptable to only allow five goals in four games against Tottenham, Sevilla, Inter and Real Madrid.

There's no doubt that we still have space for a lot of improvement defensively, but I'm impressed with how we've handled this last stretch of incredibly difficult games. I would not have expected us to win all of the abovementioned four matches. We're definitely doing better at the moment than I would have predicted. In my book, it is mainly down to the fantastically solid performances of Lenglet and the addition of Arthur in midfield that has given us a much-needed boost.

Yes. This team is not meant to defend deep. With Messi back, that's not the best strategy. But this season we seem better at approaching those kinds of situations, being pinned back. Dembele, Vidal, possibly Malcom, due to the narrow frontline pacy fullbacks - options on the bench which offer a different approach. Barca's current midfield, Arthur, Busquets and Rakitic, are well capable of playing both styles. Be it countering or possession based football. And recently, we've had successes using different schemes. If one didn't work, the other would. I doubt we'd beat Madrid 5-1 hadn't they decided to bring the game to us. At the same time, Roma had more luck. That could've helped us last season. Anyways, I'm somewhat optimistic at this point. Just need to react quicker. Both the team and the coach.

 

[Centauri B]

Expected goals:

Barcelona 3.15 - Real Madrid 2.15

The scoreline flattered us.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Haven't had a chance to jump in til now but wanted to congratulate all of us Cules in here. Enjoy it guys and gals!!!

Let's lift some more trophies!!

 

[BarcaOG]

its really something how often we have mauled them in the last decade (by a margin of 3>)

 

[Devils]

We were absolutely brilliant for 70 minutes of the match.

The remaining 20 minutes were more so due to the credit of Real Madrid than our faults. They completely changed their system at halftime and it worked for them until we made our subs.

I can't understand how people are saying it wasn't that great of a match, maybe if your measuring relative to 5-0 in 2011, but this was the next best thing.

 

[serghei]

Always real ending up on the receiving end of a trashing in the clasico which has happened alot in the last decade. They either don't play for the manager or they just completely lose the plot

We've had multiple dream teams since the mid 00's. Team of Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o. Team of Henry, Eto'o, Messi and Xavi Iniesta in 09, the 2011 best ever team, the MSN dream team in 2015. All those teams were offensive machines.

 

[eaman]

We've had multiple dream teams since the mid 00's. Team of Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o. Team of Henry, Eto'o, Messi and Xavi Iniesta in 09, the 2011 best ever team, the MSN dream team in 2015. All those teams were offensive machines.

I agree we've had amazing teams but a team like real should not be losing so many clasicos by such large margins. They don't lose like that to all the other top teams they play. They just seem to lose their heads when they go behind in clasicos.

 

[Messigician]

Too early to read some of the nonsense here Seems I'm just ahout the only one up.

Kind folks on here should celebrate the clasico win a bit more before initiating the moaning will do em some good