Semi-Neutral
Sir Alupp Heynrguson
Didn't someone (Khaled maybe) post a stat about how we scored more goals from counters (maybe league only) than any other team this season?
Barca draws Man City
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Yup, its why I find it so funny, there is so much sheep out there, they hear some cliche'd comment from some clueless pundits that do fuck all research, soundbites that have been spouted over and over again for 4 years about Barca and they still cling on to it, not knowing Tata is (quietly) building a different animal with this team.
That Transition guy that was posting here earlier (and plenty others, including our own damn fans
) go on about City being great on the counter, what they fail to realise is Tata's Barca is much better than them at countering opposition and scoring from it. This season, in just 17 games we have scored 7 goals from counter attack in the league and more than any other team in Europe despite having 67%(!) possession. City has scored just 1 counter attack goal all season, they have about 56% possession on average, yet we keep hearing about their "deadly counter".
One would expect the team that surrenders more possession to do the counter attacking ,but Tata is finding a way to mix high possession and counter attacking, something I suspected he'll try to do at the start of the season but wasn't sure he could pull off considering how obsessed we were with slow patient build up, amazingly he has changed it.
Over the past four seasons its been like this:
09/10: 6 goals from counter all season
10/11: 8 goals from counter all season
11/12: 6 goals from counter all season
Last season: 4 goals from counter all season
This season: 7 goals from counter in less than half a season
So in just 17 games we've scored as many goals as we've done in any full season over the past 5 years save for the 10/11 season, I would bet we'll score up to 15 this season.
I said it before the season started, if we could mix counter attacking with our style, there is no team that can compete with us in attack, nobody.
Again, I just hope they keep having all these misconceptions about Barca, they won't know what hit them.
I'm quietly confident and don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think Tata is building something special with this team, it will start to unfold when we play City IMO.
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Pellegrini would not play with 2 strikers. He´s going to reinforce the midfield. You will see. And Milner will play instead of Nasri.
Gohan
Super Saiyan
I didn't know you were Pellegrini's assistent.
Ghosting
New member
Well I think people, I know I am, are basing it on the fact they played two up front against Bayern and got dominated in the midfield, then when they played Chelsea and Liverpool who both play 4-3-3, they changed to only 1 up front. Although I suppose you could say Aguero was injured for the liverpool game and maybe they would have played 2 up front. Although even with 3 midfielders Liverpool seemed to be getting a lot of space in the middle.
I also agree with Milner instead of Nasri, maybe Pellegrini won't do it, but it would make sense considering Nasri rarely tracks back and he also drifts in leaving lots of space for the right back.
dakeb_MCFC
New member
I'm not going to say City will defeat Barcelona. We have not yet developed the blind arrogance of fans of Manchester United. I will say we are going to have a lot of fun in this tie, watching the most exciting players in the world from both sides playing incredible football.
I think both teams will score goals. This tie will not come down to which team defends better, neither are exceptional defensively, and will concede. It will come down to which team creates more and takes the most chances.
I'm not a big fan of tiki-taka football, city tried it under Mancini and would string together forty passes before losing possession with a final pass that had a 10% chance of coming off. Barcelona does it better than anyone but it gets hypnotically boring to watch and wastes so much time. I think Pellegrini will be able to teach his players how to frustrate that system, then counter attack with pace. Not so much running with the ball but passing pace and fast running off the ball. Barcelona will need to play with much more urgency, more like Bayern.
I don't think City will start as 4-4-2, it will be more like 4-2-3-1. City don't need two strikers to score lots of goals, the whole team gets forward and scores goals.
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I think both teams will score goals. This tie will not come down to which team defends better, neither are exceptional defensively, and will concede. It will come down to which team creates more and takes the most chances.
I'm not a big fan of tiki-taka football, city tried it under Mancini and would string together forty passes before losing possession with a final pass that had a 10% chance of coming off. Barcelona does it better than anyone but it gets hypnotically boring to watch and wastes so much time. I think Pellegrini will be able to teach his players how to frustrate that system, then counter attack with pace. Not so much running with the ball but passing pace and fast running off the ball. Barcelona will need to play with much more urgency, more like Bayern.
I don't think City will start as 4-4-2, it will be more like 4-2-3-1. City don't need two strikers to score lots of goals, the whole team gets forward and scores goals.
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Gohan
Super Saiyan
We will just have to wait and see.
Trickykid
Active member
Apparently you haven't seen the delusional posts of transistion in this thread then.
serghei
Senior Member
The Manchester City tie is Tata Martino's moment to prove he's one of the better coaches in Europe. There's not a doubt in my mind that we have the better team, but it's all about delivering the goods in the matchday to be honest. The manager's job is to make his players play like we all know they can.
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Alik
Moderator
They are now in the the place of honour that is the Troll quarantine thread.Apparently you haven't seen the delusional posts of transistion in this thread then.
Ghosting
New member
I'd wondered where they had gone. I went for some pizza and expected to come back to more delightfully insightful comments by transition, only for half the thread to have disappeared.
Trickykid
Active member
Ah, well that explains it! Thanks.
Cule4life
The Culest
Legend has it that you can still hear the echo of troll rants there sometimes
jairzinho
Senior Member
Messi_Goal
New member
Any chance the Rayo Vallecano game gets played on Saturday 15th
FC Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano
League - Round 24 Sun 02/16/2014 Match day and kick-off time to be confirmed Start purchasing match FC Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano
Manchester City - FC Barcelona
Champions League - 1/8 1st leg Tue 02/18/2014 20:45
FC Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano
League - Round 24 Sun 02/16/2014 Match day and kick-off time to be confirmed Start purchasing match FC Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano
Manchester City - FC Barcelona
Champions League - 1/8 1st leg Tue 02/18/2014 20:45
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