La Liga | Round 25: Valencia C.F. - FC Barcelona 1-4

Nucky

Senior Member
1st half reminded me of glory days Barcelona we all loved, then in second half the team played solid and took those 3 points.. We are slowly improving, there is a difference between Koeman's Barca and Xavi's Barca.. First half we played better then entire Koeman era, but there is still a lot of room for progress, good to see we improved finishing wich was a problem in the past matches, today Barca scored 4 out of 6 attempts on goal.. The only problem right now is we need to start performing like in the first half entire match, there is still a lot of falls in the game, one minute we play like Barca 2011 and the next we look like some amateur team in sunday league.. And of course main problem defence.. Araujo is the only top class CB, Garcia can't be more than a back up, we need another CB that would be Araujo quality.. In the summer we would need to sign LB,at least 2 CBs and RB..
 

Iniesta Ultra

Senior Member
Great performance from just about every starter, plus Pedri obviously. Maybe only Ter Stegen again looked shaky, especially in that first half, but made up for it with some nice saves in the 2nd one, even though I thought he should've saved that Soler header, it was straight at him. Funny how he makes some great saves on tough shots, yet concedes the shots straight at him. Very impressed by Dest, maybe he can be our future RB after all, it's clear Xavi has done some quality coaching with him (well he did that for everyone, but Dest especially needed it).

The lineup against Napoli pretty much picks itself: Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Pique, Alba; De Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Adama, Aubameyang, Gavi (or maybe Dembele here, but content with him coming on as an impact sub, especially since Gavi and Pedri both simply have to play right now). Ferran needs to be benched on Thursday, I'm assuming that's why Xavi didn't take him off today and didn't give him a bit of rest, as opposed to Frenkie, Auba and Gavi.

Dembele's much better on the right. Adama shouldn't start. I agree with your other picks although I'm ambivalent on Gavi false 7 role. Actually Puig could do well there! Puig, Auba, Dembele !!

I'll be happy if Torres doesn't play at all but wouldn't be suprised if he starts.
 
Last edited:

Masetro10

Member
Dembele's much better on the right. Adama shouldn't start. I agree with your other picks although I'm ambivalent on Gavi false 7 role. Actually Puig could do well there! Puig, Auba, Dembele !!

I'll be happy if Torres doesn't play at all but wouldn't be suprised if he starts.

Stop with Puig, it's over.
 

behindbrowneyes

Well-known member
Played well in 1st half. 2nd was different, but hard to blame team for that under these circumstances (last game on Thursday and the next important one of Thursday again, comfortable lead).

Game showed how important efficiency is. Created way more against Napoli and probably even played better on Thursday, but result was way different. The way goals were scored yesterday was vintage Barcelona. Beautiful to watch and a reward both for the team and fans.
 

Home of Barca Fans

Top