The 2011 - 2012 Season Thread | "Return of the moc!"

From last April...






And from the Supercopa...

 

With Dani Alves suspended and Adriano now injured in practice with Brazil NT (hamstring, 7 - 10 days, likely misses Zaragoza and Milan, could be back for Getafe) the candidates to play RB against Milan:

Montoya - I'd love to see this but Pep has not yet gotten him garbage team minutes yet with the big squad. Need to see what he can do, show him there will be opportunities and then resign him.

JDS - Pep's new project seems to be making JDS into a more defensive player - perhaps realizing how crowded we are at attacking midfielder - Barca B has played him lots as a DM (with Romeu gone to Chelsea and Fontas to the big squad), and Pep has given him minutes at RB.

Maxwell - Most experienced as a defender/fullback but almost entirely as a LB. Played here last year once or twice and likened it to driving a car on the wrong side of the road. Nurillo posted video of that game and liked his performance so I'll need to look at that but I don't recall being too impressed.

Puyol - Used to play as Alves's backup, could definitely see this happening in Milan. Puyol - Pique - Masch - Abidal would be pretty formidable. But at this point in his career given age and injuries would probably be best to play him at CB exclusively. Could also play a 3 man D with 3 of the above, but against Milan and needing only a draw on the road that seems a bit risky.

Nice thing is that we have already qualified for elimination rounds but this double whammy of suspension and injury is nothing new for Pep in the CL. Will be interesting to see what he does.

 

i like the three-man defence against milan. milan does not play with a lot of width and they usually only have two forwards. TBH i'm more worried about the forward line than the defence now that adriano and alexis have new knocks from their international duties.

----villa-----cesc-----messi----
-------------iniesta-------------
------thiago------xavi-----------
-------------sergio--------------
--abidal-----masch----pique--
---------------VV----------------

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ZO9YGn3-E"]Ronaldo's reaction to Messi 2nd goal vs Real Madrid - YouTube[/ame]

 

Club World Cup 2011 (Yokohama, Japan):

December 15th (Semifinal):
F.C.Barcelona vs Esperance(TUN)/Al Sadd(QAT)

December 18th (FINAL):
F.C.Barcelona vs Santos(BRA)/Monterrey(MEX)/Auckland(NZL)/???(JPN)

 

I was reading that Guillem over at skysports was saying something along the lines that Barcelona are still trying to figure out how to use Fabregas to his maximum potential and it is hurting us a little right now. I agree that we're trying to figure out how to make him fit in with our system consistently. I don't think we're necessarily worse off for it. I know many of feel like he fits into the system quite well.

I suppose the main change from this year to last season (besides injuries) is that we play a 3-4-3 or a variant of a 3-4-3. Sometimes even for road matches. I think that tactical formation helps when we're at home, but away it leaves us too exposed especially when only one of (or neither) of Pique or Puyol is there. What do you all think? Is tinkering with our lineup to our own detrement? I see it as, it will pay off in the second half of the season. We can't let moudrid get further away though.

 

well we're still undefeated, so the tinkering must not be hurting us all that badly.

but also, don't forget that a lot of that tinkering has been forced on pep because of all the injuries this season. the first time (this season at least) that pep pulled out the 3-4-3 was against villa real because we were missing all three of dani, maxwell and adriano.

more than anything tactical, i think the lack of a good pre-season is what has hurt us more than anything this season

 

YAY, great news before Thanksgiving: Have a great one everyone!


Abidal: "Everything has been agreed upon. 2+1 years? Yes. I'm very happy, already told family and friends. The adventure at Barça continues"
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Barcastuff
Abidal: "My agent met with Barcelona today. It's now 90% sure I'll renew. Only the signature is left." [canal+ via @simobenchekroun]

 

watching Revista this week, you'd think we were in complete disarray, it's so annoying. Messi and Villa...too much favouritism to Messi...Real are looking awesome...we're not playing well...blah blah blah. I can't wait for us to win this clasico and shut everyone up.

 

When you score 200 goals before your 25th birthday you will always be favoured. I think the media is just over-hyping everything again because they want to disrupt our squad. Villa does a lot for a team off the ball, he's been trying to stretch the defense out to the lines, but I feel he's not really that effective trying to cut in 90% of the time.

 

I feel like Villa is very streaky too, he won't score for a while then he'll get a burst of goals again.

 

Said it before the season and I'll say it again: winning La Liga this year will be harder than ever. RM are hellbent on dethroning Barca

 

We need Tito and Don Andrés back asap.

Puyi to start @ Bernab.

Rest the entire A team for the CL game.

 

A security guard at my building is a Madridista and knows me as a fan of FCB. He's already trash talking like the league is wrapped up and wants to make bets for Dec 10th.

The way we're playing, I'm not sure I want to take a bet, but man they're cocky and it pisses me off...

I told him La Liga is a heavyweight title fight and we're the 3 time defending world champ..you ain't gonna knock us out in an early round like a punk

 

They should have been doing that for the first 5 CL games too. I can't help but think that the hard fought win in Milan had something to do with a flat performance in Getafe just 3 days later. And that would be the second-time this season that Barca get a poor result in the league because the team gave priority to a CL game against Milan.

I'd rather be 1 point behind Madrid and second-place in the CL group than 6 points behind Madrid.

 

I thought Pep was quoted as saying that he would be resting players ahead of the Madrid match just after the win over Milan. I didn't see the match against Getafe, but I read that the team was lacklustre, but judging from the highlights we had waaaaay more chances then they did. They must be tired from the Milan match but also traveling all around the world for internationals. Some of the players have played 55 matches plus easily each of the past three years. A small squad isn't going to be able to stay fresh forever.