i'd like to see more of bartra too, but that was a really nice tackle from mascherano there - saved a sure foal for griezman.
Sergi B. could be the real Xavi successor but will probably do it from DM just as Pep did, Cesc will actually take the spot over when Xavi retires or moves on (but do so with a different skill set, whereas Sergi B is more similar to Xavi just plays a different position). Sergi R. was lucky to replace Thiago in the depth chart and needs to work on earning that mantle. He might one day move up to where Cesc is now (3rd attacking midfielder for 2 spots) and perhaps one day replace Iniesta next to Cesc and in front of Sergi B. But there is lots of talent in La Masia (and on loan, happy bday Rafinha who is likely back next year) not to mention everyone wants to sign or link us to half of the good young creative midfielders out there.
FT: 1-1, 1-3 aggregate. Us vs LPB in the final. Barcastuff: Barcelona and Real Madrid will face each other for the 7th time in the Spanish cup final. Both won 3 of the previous finals. [via md] Barcelona will play their 4th Spanish cup final in the last 6 seasons #fcblive [via rac1]
WE'RE IN THE FINAL! Today's result: meh. It's much more important to win in this stadium in 10 days. We haven't won there in a long time. We played well against a motivated team. The team is responding well after some bad games. Looking to peak in the high-stakes games to come.
Those deep runs into the box with the pass back really need to be converted into goals. So many wasted chances.
the result was mostly pretty irrelevant, especially after the first goal. but there were a lot of interesting things about that performance. ray hudson commented that this game was like a dress rehearsal for the city match. and i think we can probably expect a very similar approach - with the focus on patiently keeping control and starving an aggressive opponent of the ball (credit to sociedad for not giving up and keeping the match interesting btw). before the match, tata said that the key would be to "have control - we cant allow the match to turn into a back and forth affair. we need to own the match, not let our rivals be protagonists" - so the starting lineup had all our best passers on the field. xavi seemed to play deeper than usual and it actually looked more like a 4-2-3-1, and we were treated to some of the best tiki-taka-mojo moves we've seen for a while. iniesta on the left isn't the best if you're going for goal, but if the priority is to keep possession then it makes a lot of sense to have him out there. neymar probably won't start next week so i think we'll probably see an almost identical lineup next week, although maybe alexis gets in ahead of pedro...oh, and valdes obv. they just need to step it up a gear against city and stay focused until the final whistle. overall, i have to say that tata deserves a lot more credit than he gets.
Everytime we're going to play RM, the game scenario can be easily predicted but against opponent we rarely play like City? Its hard to tell.
I'd agree. Besides, credit to him to even get to be in such a scoring position, even if finishing isn't his strongest side.
To add to what Evil_allan said above: Playing with a extra midfielder gives us a extra man in the midfield to cover the defensive weakness of our midfielders and at the same time while attacking it gives us a extra person in middle where it usually is a huge gap. This is usually true when Fabregas is played as that extra man because he works hard both in defence and attack. He is very good at timing his runs to the box and therefore adds an extra dimension to our attack. His runs to the box in anticipation of crosses also frees space up for Messi who likes to wait for the cut back. All in all, with the players we have today and their weaknesses and strengths, I think the formation yesterday gives us more balanced team. Remember that Iniesta was not playing on the right yesterday, he had a free role. So this formation don't limit his contribution to the team at all.