5 - Pau Cubarsí

Everyone knows what to do. It's just that in big games, the pressure is off the charts. And there's no way of dealing with that pressure except going through it, and getting used to it.

Normal big sides have them on the bench at first, getting 10-15 mins here and there when the score is advantageous and the impact of potential fuck-ups is minor. We put them from the start, they fuck up, and a year's work in CL is done and dusted in 10 mins.

Oh, and Flick's style is absolutely a nightmare for unexperienced defenders. It's like an extra challenge you have to overcome, as in playing with little experience in these games vs these opponents is not hard as it is.
 
It was a costly mistake and definitely not his first but people need to calm down with the criticism on this guy

He's been massive in second half of this season and he is far and away our best CB and likely best defender overall too not counting Joan

He has gotten stronger and on the ball he is fantastic but he will need to gain more experience to deal with jerks like Simeone in these situations

Comparing him to Araujo is just blatant nonsense. For Araujo it's not just about mistakes and single moments that he gets wrong, he is a constant liability on the pitch with how bad on the ball he is and how rough his tackles can be. He is also much older and there isn't much room for improvement
 
I don't know. When I saw it on replay I wasn't really convinced. It didn't look like Cubarsi actually made a challenge but more that running closely behind Simeone caused their legs to catch.

Not sure it was intentional. Will look again.
 
ajnotkeith said:
I don't know. When I saw it on replay I wasn't really convinced. It didn't look like Cubarsi actually made a challenge but more that running closely behind Simeone caused their legs to catch.

Not sure it was intentional. Will look again.
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Definitely wasn't.
Only a red card by the letter of the law.
But he did nothing wrong really
 
jamrock said:
Definitely wasn't.
Only a red card by the letter of the law.
But he did nothing wrong really
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If Simeone's movement is what engages the contact, it may not even be a foul at all, but it certainly shouldn't be a red, there is no intention there.

I think saying he fucked up is a bit harsh, seems just a very unfortunate situation.
 
It surely was a controversial red. But such things often go out the window when you get a red in situation like that. Blame falls on you no matter how you got it.

What further adds to this argument is that ref initially gave a yellow. So he saw Cubarsi was the last man but he said Simeone doesn't even touch the ball, it can't be a red. What did he see on VAR to change his mind, I'm not sure.

It's likely just another example of refs blindly agreeing when VAR refs call them to check. A practice I hope one day is gone from football. In the current football world VAR refs literally have bigger influence than the first referee, which surely shouldn't be. Just call him to "check" the situation, and he has to change his mind.

I wish there was an interview for refs at end of games where they explain decisions to clear any doubts.
 
MonteCuler said:
It surely was a controversial red. But such things often go out the window when you get a red in situation like that. Blame falls on you no matter how you got it.

What further adds to this argument is that ref initially gave a yellow. So he saw Cubarsi was the last man but he said Simeone doesn't even touch the ball, it can't be a red. What did he see on VAR to change his mind, I'm not sure.

It's likely just another example of refs blindly agreeing when VAR refs call them to check. A practice I hope one day is gone from football. In the current football world VAR refs literally have bigger influence than the first referee, which surely shouldn't be. Just call him to "check" the situation, and he has to change his mind.

I wish there was an interview for refs at end of games where they explain decisions to clear any doubts.
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Was only controversial because ref hesitated and didn't show him the red straight away. Foul there is a red no questions asked.
 
malvolio said:
Was only controversial because ref hesitated and didn't show him the red straight away. Foul there is a red no questions asked.
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He was not going through on goal even if Cubarsi didn't trip him

Simeone saw ball won't get to him and he extended his leg to where Cubarsi will put his left leg while running. And obviously Cubarsi hit him in the process

People say this highlights Cubarsi's inexperience and it's true that he didn't pay attention to what Simeone was trying to do... but honestly even if he did, what is it he can do? He is running at a high speed his legs have to be somewhere

If this is how you can get a red it's likely other attackers will try the same thing a lot now. But I don't think other refs will be as harsh as this one was

Cubarsi by no means had the intention to do it and Simeone by no means had the intention to control the ball nor was it even possible in that situation

A yellow card would definitely suffice here. The initial decision was correct. Do you think a pro ref would give yellow for a last man tackle if he didn't see something?
 
Also the replay angle they gave the ref is the one that made the situation look the worse and kept replaying it
 
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MonteCuler said:
He was not going through on goal even if Cubarsi didn't trip him

Simeone saw ball won't get to him and he extended his leg to where Cubarsi will put his left leg while running. And obviously Cubarsi hit him in the process

People say this highlights Cubarsi's inexperience and it's true that he didn't pay attention to what Simeone was trying to do... but honestly even if he did, what is it he can do? He is running at a high speed his legs have to be somewhere

If this is how you can get a red it's likely other attackers will try the same thing a lot now. But I don't think other refs will be as harsh as this one was

Cubarsi by no means had the intention to do it and Simeone by no means had the intention to control the ball nor was it even possible in that situation

A yellow card would definitely suffice here. The initial decision was correct. Do you think a pro ref would give yellow for a last man tackle if he didn't see something?
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What do you mean he was not going trough on goal? He was ahead of Cubarsi, ball was going to land in front of him. Cubarsi clipped him and that's that.
Call it bad luck, inexperience or whatever, it is a red card all day, any day.
 
It's a red in the end because nobody is near Cubarsi. Even if Giuliano doesn't control the ball instantly, he still has an advantage over Cubarsi, and there's nobody in sight who can intervene.

Textbook case of a smart attacker taking a rookie defender to school. Cubarsi runs too close to Giuliano, and that's exactly what Simeone wanted. What Cubarsi can do is make sure his running path does not interfere with Giuliano. Simple. He didn't, and he clipped Giuliano's extended leg, resulting in a clear tripping.

This is the 2nd season in a row where Cubarsi is red carded in the 1st half in a CL knockout game. He's way out of his depth.
 
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jamrock said:
Also the replay angle they have the ref is the one that made the situation look the worse and kept replaying it
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Noticed that too. It was obvious that if anything, Simeone kicked Cubarsi, who wasn't even extending his legs and the one camera angle that clearly shows that and is much closer to the situation appears only once at the Var screen, while the far above and from the side, where their legs are not even visible is repeated like 5-6 times lmao. It's obvious that the cunt sitting in the booth had an agenda here. Anyone know who it was?
 
Gnidrologist said:
Noticed that too. It was obvious that if anything, Simeone kicked Cubarsi, who wasn't even extending his legs and the one camera angle that clearly shows that and is much closer to the situation appears only once at the Var screen. It's obvious that the cunt sitting in the booth had an agenda here. Anyone know who it was?
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Fully agreed.

Christian Dingert from Germany
 
It's Cubarsi who has to avoid him. Cubarsi simply has to circle around Giuliano, but he doesn't do that because he would have lost time, he cuts too close to his legs and trips him. Stupid mistake.
 
serghei said:
It's a red in the end because nobody is near Cubarsi. Even if Giuliano doesn't control the ball instantly, he still has an advantage over Cubarsi, and there's nobody in sight who can intervene.

Textbook case of a smart attacker taking a rookie defender to school. Cubarsi runs too close to Giuliano, and that's exactly what Simeone wanted. What Cubarsi can do is make sure his running path does not interfere with Giuliano. Simple. He didn't, and he clipped Giuliano's extended leg, resulting in a clear tripping.

This is the 2nd season in a row where Cubarsi is red carded in the 1st half in a CL knockout game. He's way out of his depth.
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Asking defenders to account for attackers diving in their decisions is a bit stupid, the referees should do their job in spotting the deception of the attackers.

In this case its not even clear it is Cubarsi who 'clipped' him. It actually looks like Simeone who engages the contact by reaching backwards.
 
ajnotkeith said:
Asking defenders to account for attackers diving in their decisions is a bit stupid, the referees should do their job in spotting the deception of the attackers.

In this case its not even clear it is Cubarsi who 'clipped' him. It actually looks like Simeone who engages the contact by reaching backwards.
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I don't think there's deception here. And I don't think Simeone is reaching backwards either (major stretch to even use the word dive here), quite hard to do that in full speed when you run. He just runs for the ball without caring if Cubarsi makes contact, because he knows Cubarsi is last man and if he does get clipped, it's probably a red.

Anyway, looking at super slow motions in fast actions is pointless. Cubarsi had to be extra careful in that situation and he wasn't. Follow at normal speed, and it looks a red. The only bit of controversy is not if there was a foul or not, but if Giuliano had control of the ball to deem it as imminent goal scoring situation. He probably just did.
 
The big error of Cubarsi there was not to step up and play offside.

He was looking right along the line.

Before it even gets to defending in final line cant barely challenge for ball in way Pedri did also.

Flick would be infuriated with that.
 
That was hilarious btw, noticed this also. Spent all those matches playing offside line, only to not do it when it involves basically a simple single runner you can spot right away.
 
That's almost how we concede every goal though.

Someone fucks up the trap or an attacking run comes from deep and defeats the trap.

If we played it perfectly we would almost never concede.

Pros & cons of the system,someone makes a mistake and it's a clear 1v1 with the keeper a fair amount of times

Which is why it would be smart to adjust the line especially in bigger games,but that's a conversation for another day.
 
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