Just one of those days where it wasn't meant to be. Potential pk call missed 3 woodworks and a couple sitters missed and Chelsea puts away their only chance all game. Just one of the times soccers cruelty can come out. It's an uphill battle but honestly I'm pretty confident they can turn this thing around at home. They just need to put their chances away and they'll be fine we completely dominated this game from start to finish and I see no reason why we won't do the same in the second leg. I would like to see two changes in the second leg though to bring some energy pace and willingness to take people on. I would bring on thiago and Pedro for fabregas and Xavi. Fabregas and Xavi are both brilliant players but were a bit to slow and predictable. I also would play pique over Mascherano who played well but at times had trouble with drogbas physicality plus pique brings a set piece presence and has more of a passing range to spray balls around a bit more. In the next leg I'd like to see: Valdes Alves Puyol Pique Adriano Busquets Thiago Iniesta Sanchez Messi Pedro
This! Finishing your opportunities is a part of the game. You don't get points for the "shots on target" column. And I also never felt they got into their normal game, a few of the opportunities felt more like incidents than thoroughly thought-out attacks. There were a few exceptions of course, Pedro's ball on the post being one of them, Alexis' chip on the bar another. But overall, I felt like they did not create enough with their possession, certainly not in the second half. They will need to raise their game considerably next week.
BTW, I don't want to pile onto the misery, but I have a terrible feeling the entire season will come tumbling down over the next two games...
Really no reason for y'all being this upset. The great part about a CL first leg away from home is that you get another shot. This was like those recent clasicos where we've created more chances but failed to finish worth a damn and y'all took yours, though admittedly there was no bus parking there. If anything, this will probably motivate your players extra for Saturday.
I think so about the Clasico, but not about Chelsea. You are a full on pessimist, I am just half way there.
Id feel this way if we were in a struggle with Chelsea tonight, but they weren't. They had 10000x people in the box. Hard to score. And the chance we had were plenty just need to put one of those in, but unfortunately couldn't. Just got to recharge and win at home now.
Agree with all you've said except this bit. Iniesta was just beyond Ivanovic when he was pushed, possibly from behind. But on replay I think it was just outside the box so not quite a penalty but a free kick. That wasn't not awarded.
Probably not the thread for it, but I'd be curious to know why you think this is the case. We are probably in the worst form we've been in for the past two seasons.
dude come on the thing that annoys me about ball hitting the posts is that a few inches the other way and it misses completely Barca lost away, no biggie that shit happens, we just need to win at home
Id say we get that call at home. But in england with that atmosphere the ref didnt want to be a part of that. Still think he went down easily, will have to watch again.
Same story. On closed games he's irrelevant. He's good at keeping possesion but not at breaking defenses, I think Pedro would had been a better option considering his finishing is much better. I can already picture in Camp Nou them parking the bus all over again.
the flow was certainly not there, a clear example is how pedros shot got created, usually Messi would have gotten to the backpass, but was beaten to it by the defender I never got the feeling except for maybe a bit in the first half that Barca had entered their zen like zone still most teams would take a 1-0 away defeat with the second league at home most Barca fans ten years ago would have probably taken this result as an ok result people just need to chill out, we can panic next week
The tricky aspect with this score-line is that they now have to walk the tight-rope from minute one in the next game. They need to go forward and score a goal, but they know that one Chelsea counter could potentially be fatal. They did themselves no favors by not scoring on one of those opportunities. I don't see us scoring three times on this Chelsea defense.
They will, but that cannot be an excuse. Barca will have 90 minutes to penetrate. If they fail then it's on them. Everyone says we need two to advance, which is true, but they need to get the opening goal before worrying about getting a second. So let's concentrate on making it 1-0 then go from there. If Chelsea are able to score they'll close up shop even more. Still, no excuses. Barca have the players, have the talent, have the team to get the job done. No excuses.
Hopefully Pedro starts at the Nou Camp the man seemed up for it, plus he was far more effective than Alexis and Cesc.
I will agree that if Barca get eliminated, failure to grab an away goal tonight will be the biggest reason.
I can see us scoring 3 times, because of the missed chances, the Chelsea defense was beaten (lets not overate them like the press did with milan's defenseive effort) to me they had an ok game, but to be considered a great game by a defense (like they had in 09) those chances should not have even happened to me the defense cannot have a great game and still have those types of opportunities happen
Shoulda, coulda, woulda... The point is they didn't, and it's silly to assume that after a game where they failed to score on any of their chances, they will suddenly score on all of them when they next play the same opponent. If the script is followed, Barça should get a couple of good chances next week, but whether or not Chelsea score will likely determine if it'll be enough to go through or not.
I think people overestimate the amount of real chances that were created. To me there were two 100% chances (Pedro and Alexis' chip). Most of the rest of them were just situations that occurred half by chance (like the Fabregas mishit). You cannot assume those same opportunities will arise next week.
All i know is fabregas is a magician. Completely disappears in the second half after a good first half, what is he doing? I would like to see the following in the second half: SCORE!
That was the important thing today, keeping Chelsea from scoring. That meant they would not bunker down and it would allow Barca space to play. In the first half Barca even got some long balls down. Really poor defending in the goal, both Puyol and Mascherano never looked behind them to see where Drogba was coming from. If they had turned to look they would have intercepted that ball.