3 - Gerard Pique

[House of Flies]

and actually, that's just bullshit anyway.

they came at us in the second half and after the changes had less able guys to cram between the ball and goal. they were drawn out of position easier as well as playing higher up the pitch in an attempt to create chances against our depleted back line.

i dont know about that meta cause they retreated back to their holes after getting the equaliser.

clemente, well known for pragmatism, is not of the same caliber as preciado when it comes to taking the game to the opposition. he was more than happy with a point and i think that his subs indicated that.

 

[Metaphysical]

i dont know about that meta cause they retreated back to their holes after getting the equaliser.

clemente, well known for pragmatism, is not of the same caliber as preciado when it comes to taking the game to the opposition. he was more than happy with a point and i think that his subs indicated that.

...

seriously?

he made two hugely attacking subs after Piqué's red and really went for it. yes they went defensive again after but they pressed higher than they ever did first-half and, crucially, even though they were back in their holes, they were more offensive players so were more easily dragged out of position. and when he did bring a defensive player on, it was Eguren, who is awful and got booked after like six seconds.

 

[House of Flies]

...

seriously?

he made two hugely attacking subs after Piqué's red and really went for it. yes they went defensive again after but they pressed higher than they ever did first-half and, crucially, even though they were back in their holes, they were more offensive players so were more easily dragged out of position. and when he did bring a defensive player on, it was Eguren, who is awful and got booked after like six seconds.

he brought speedy players on who could use their pace to find space and counter attack... which did happen after they got the equaliser.

we also started holding the ball better after cesc left despite gijon's attempts. i think what we both will agree on is that we used the space much better with cesc leaving than with cesc being on the field.

it tends to happen when player hone their talent in the EPL as they are completely unaware of the spaces and prefer to motor down their way through players

 

[gingerless]

he brought on the defensive player for that cunt who had just gotten booked for fouling if i'm not mistaken. probably told the sub to go in and foul players as much as he could before he got a yellow card. fortunately for us the ref booked him straight away

 

[La Furia]

he brought speedy players on who could use their pace to find space and counter attack... which did happen after they got the equaliser.

we also started holding the ball better after cesc left despite gijon's attempts. i think what we both will agree on is that we used the space much better with cesc leaving than with cesc being on the field.

it tends to happen when player hone their talent in the EPL as they are completely unaware of the spaces and prefer to motor down their way through players

This.

 

[House of Flies]

This.

I dont know if we can blame Cesc for this since he had to deal with a completely new team every year. You cant ever be aware of your teammates when there is a revolving door installed in the club. But then you compare him to Alexis, who was brought up in Serie A, where positioning and use of space are absolutely critical and how him being on the field increased our playing area. Alexis will be a long distance runner for us cause he learnt playing with players like Seedorf and Pirlo who are brilliant at finding and using space, whilst Cesc would wane drastically if he doesnt adapt.

Cesc only looks good on stats but he makes the team suffer as we need space to work our magic in.

 

[Metaphysical]

he brought speedy players on who could use their pace to find space and counter attack... which did happen after they got the equaliser.

he brought on attacking players (including top-scorer Barral) for defensive players and committed more men to attack.

we also started holding the ball better after cesc left despite gijon's attempts. i think what we both will agree on is that we used the space much better with cesc leaving than with cesc being on the field.

we held the ball better because there was more space and there was more space because Sporting were sending more men forward AND we were playing with more width.

it tends to happen when player hone their talent in the EPL as they are completely unaware of the spaces and prefer to motor down their way through players

this doesn't even apply to Cesc, who is a great user of space (either filling it with a run or finding it with a pass). he's no Xaviesta, or even Busquets, but he's hardly on par with your standard PL player ffs. we got better because Pep improved the width in the team, Clemente opened up his side and Iniesta went into beastmode. none of these things had a damn thing to do with Cesc being on or off the pitch.

you wanna criticise this guy, criticise him for not playing well when he was on and for missing a great chance to make it 2-0. but don't give me this faux-tactical-ZM-esque bullshit that taking Cesc off made us better because Cesc is a dumb PL player who doesn't use space. that's just nonsense and ignores the reality of what happened in the match.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

I thought he had a more rhan decent game before the red. He was docused on executing Every clearance and you could see he really was trying. That was a clear yellow not a red (harsh).

 

[evilhita666]

I agree the red was a little harsh... The Sporting player set the ref a trap and he fell for it... Other than that Piqué didn't have much work to do...

 

[mitkoa7x]

I agree the red was a little harsh... The Sporting player set the ref a trap and he fell for it... Other than that Piqué didn't have much work to do...

The ref didnt need a trap to fall into, he was itching to screw us every way he can.

 

[abual3bed1]

The ref didnt need a trap to fall into, he was itching to screw us every way he can.

true .. Carballo has been doing his best efforts to screw Barca in every way possible

 

[UberNjufer]

I agree the red was a little harsh... The Sporting player set the ref a trap and he fell for it... Other than that Piqué didn't have much work to do...

little harsh,it was barely a foul

 

[mitkoa7x]

Adriano was the last one in defence if im not mistaking.

 

[Machina]

According to Barcastuff Fan Page:
"now the spanish referees suddenly want to be "respected" and sue pique. when mourinho, casillas, ramos, etc did their thing, silence..."
"conclusion: if you want to say something about the referee, do it at the parking"
"the judge who'll sentence pique is a 85-year old ex-member of real madrid. true story. spain is different, and all that."

WTF?!?

 

[Corb]

According to Barcastuff Fan Page:
"now the spanish referees suddenly want to be "respected" and sue pique. when mourinho, casillas, ramos, etc did their thing, silence..."
"conclusion: if you want to say something about the referee, do it at the parking"
"the judge who'll sentence pique is a 85-year old ex-member of real madrid. true story. spain is different, and all that."

WTF?!?

Welcome to Spain!

Spanish Football Committee didn't expect Barça to win yesterday as we all could see. So they are now fucking us even more. Never expected nothing less.