btw why did Valdes leave his line so early on Ronaldo's goal ?? He should stick to his line, ronaldo was still wide.
The worst el clasico ever IMO. Even those games that finished 0-0 were more entertaining than this. Our worst game in a long long time. RM played even worse but that was also their plan, they hardly tried to create anything but got lucky and scored of our mistakes. I seriously can't understand the decision to start Tello and even more to keep on the field for so long. He didn't do anything right today. Not a single thing. Messi was completely isolated. Having only Tello up there with him didn't make it any easier. It has been looking like this for a while now, even though I think we played well against Chelsea. Messi needs more support. Pedro should have started IMO, he always performs in big games and he isn't as easy to read as Tello. Alexis was not fully fit so I understand that he didn't start. Iniesta did a horrible game too. Defensively we had big problems too even though they hardly threatened us. Valdes and Puyol messed up big time, VV did it on both goals even though I think it was mostly Puyol's fault on the first goal. Adriano didn't get any help by Tello whatsoever, that is also a reason why Pedro should have started. I start getting really annoyed that our offensive players are so far from goal lately. How are you supposed to score if no one is in the box? Alexis helps Messi to get some space with his runs, other than him no one else does that. We need a to add something to the forward positions. Neymar should come this summer IMO, no reason to wait until 2014. If we can't bring him, I think we should go for a player like Falcao that can give the defenders something to worry about and open up space for Messi. Also be able to score some easy goals that we have problems doing. That we are missing Villa gets more and more obvious. Pep should have started Piqué as well. He showed the last couple of games that he played that he is back in good form. Mascherano is a great defender but he does some small mistakes sometimes cost pretty much in the end. Sorry for a blurry post. I'm just frustrated with how team have performed lately.
Valdés screwed up big time on that goal. It was reminiscent of the CDR goal against Pinto, only this was more difficult of a finish since it was further out of goal. Some serious ??? on Valdés.
Pique has been average over the season and Masch has been better end of the day you cant win every title I wish we could but we cant RM has had an amazing league campaign so they deserve la liga title and on top of that they beat us at home focus must now shift to CL, and Barca has to get their precision back, because its that lack of precision that is killing us at both finishing and turning ball over in transition (fatal in the way we play)
Yeah he did mess that one up, Ronaldo was well wide. The only reason to come out would be to beat Ronaldo to the ball and kick it away. He wasn't anywhere near.
FWIW, my thoughts; 1) Tello was fine on the ball but otherwise scared witless at being thrown into such a big match. You could see that from the very beginning. At least he stayed out wide giving the team an option on the left wing. 2) Alves was quite poor today and part of that is the lineup with no real right wing to help out. He won't drive to the goal line and turning inside he's faced with 1 on 2 situation with limited options. Pedro came on way too late in the match to help out at all on that side. 3) Messi may finally be tiring after all the minutes he has played this season. Since a lot of the offense revolves around him, this becomes problematic. 4) Is Pique still recovering from injury? He may not be faster than Macherano but he does position himself well and provides height on set pieces at both ends of the pitch. 5) Madrid played the "Chelsea Style" much better than Chelsea did on Wednesday is Barca got very few real opportunities compared to the other day. Ozil's pass to Ronaldo on the second goal was beautiful (unfortunately) and if Mourinho would bench either Alonso or Khedira and put in another offensive midfielder he would have an even better team (but it's good that he doesn't think this way since with those two on the field, their options are limited offensively). I watched the Chelsea Arsenal match this morning and they rested a lot of players. It's going to be a tough rematch on Tuesday. Unless Guardiola can get some inspired wing play there will be the same difficulties as in the past two games in terms of scoring.
I hope Barca doesn't fall to the snowball effect. Now I understand Guardiola when he talks about the extreme stress that comes with the job.
It was a tough game but you guys did well. You had less rest than us but you still fought to the end. No fighting, no reds, no bull... just a nice civil game Respect!
He walked all game, he has never done that in a Clasico before... you can see the guy is tired. He played pretty much every single minute this season and actually has 10 more games on him that Ronaldo. Hope he pushes himself vs Chelsea, we're gonna need him.
Good post, just going to comment on the parts that are highlighted. Every manager makes mistakes and they will always standout even after their tenure is done. Tello starting was a mistake. He just was not ready for that game. That shot he send to the upper-deck was a critical miss. And maybe he is not ready just yet. Messi being isolated, I was watching the game and told myself, it seems like he is playing for the selección. Being left alone and letting defenders drop on him(I have seen this a lot). The blueprint is stop Messi, stop the team. It's the old Riquelme method, when Riquelme played bad the entire team played bad. Messi missed Villa in front of him or just a striker. Alexis' should have started or at least Pedro. Pedro has proven he could score in the games, pity he seems under appreciated when he has done a lot. Best of luck to you guys in the CdR and CL.
Respect to Barsa. You guys fought and I was biting my nails the entire game. Hope to meet you in the final for an all out clasico finale
one question I had on the first goal....Crissy and Khedira both looked offsite when Pepe headed it (off his arm)... I wonder if the AR missed that or judged that Puyol took control back of the ball?
we need to buy a proper number nine this summer. Madrid have closed the gap between us and them. They have improved a lot. I'd love LLorente or Cavani. They would offer something different and add variety to our game. Villa isn't a proper number nine to lead the line for barca imo, he's more of a second striker type player. Basically it's contain/neutralize Messi and our offense declines. They were the better team today and deserve their victory. A proper number nine and some defensive reinforcements this summer and we'll be set. No proper striker bought this summer, no la liga trophy for barca next year also and you can quote on that. Chin up lads.
This one is all on Pep. Sure, Khedira was offside and Valdes ********ed up in the Crissy goal, but overall Pep made some basic strategic mistakes. Starting Tello was the worst one of them. The other huge one was subbing Xavi out instead of Tello for Alexis. After he left we lost control of midfield and that's our strength. Yes, LPB all but secured the title. Half a billion euros later, and only after selling out their identity to a dirty, classless Mou, they finally beat us.