PBP: Champions League - Round of 16, First Leg - Paris Saint Germain v. FC Barcelona - 14 February 2017

Only Gomes,I like Denis and the rest,even paco is fine,But not Gomes.

 

And you base this on what?

Also you seem to care more about individual players than the team as a whole. You seem like you want Gomes to play and succeed just because you pity him. Its a nice quality in real life but I don't give a rats arse about a multimillionaire not fitting the team and being forced onto the team playing like crap. Don't worry Gomes will be fine, he won't cry to sleep when shipped out or not played, he's a lucky man just to be in Barca.

 

Sampaoli is a Bielsaista just like Pep who took some of bielsista's aspect too. Busquets will thrive under Sampaoli because a ball playing DM that circulate the ball and initiate attacks is a classic Bielsa that Pep borrowed.

 

This play before Cavani's goal. Meunier was running through the empty midfield unchallenged to give that pass to Cavani.

 

PSG had a Seahawks (vs Denver) moment instead.

 

Don't forget the pathetic attempts Shitmes did to block Di Maria's shot. If you look at Shitmes in the build-up of that goal you'll see he's got no clue what to do. He's dazed and confused the poor bastard, he just doesn't fit in. Maybe it's not his fault really.

 

He was getting sausages in the stands. Do you understand when the entire team is not performing that its all on the coach? Even more if he can't change things at halftime. I wonder what he said/did in halftime.

 

It was already 3-0 at that time though so Barca had to push the midfielders forward and play open. 4-1 is a better result than just keeping it 3-0.

 

Worst game by Barca I have seen since the Pep era

Bayern was a combination of bad luck bad refereeing and decimated team.

This was simply bad

Also PSG is a team Barca can score 3 against. 4 too but PSG need to miss chances in order for Barca to escape being scored against.

 

You are impossible to argue with, as stubborn as your idol Lucho. Not sure if worth my time to post all those photos and tactic analysis to convince you.

For the 3rd goal, Kurzawa makes a run down the left wing and then cuts inside in an empty midfield only chased by Gomes who was coming from the left before finding the feet of Di Maria. The second photo shows where were Busquets and Iniesta coming late to cover the area.




The third and fourth goals just show how clueless Luis Enrique is. He could minimized the damage and focus on fixing the empty holes and organize the defense, the midfield so we can have a shot in the second leg at home. 2 goals down it's quite possible to overcome at Camp Nou.

The fourth goal again for you: Meunier from his half take the ball, go past Neymar, goes through an empty midfield COMPLETELY unopposed by any Barca player, then passed it to Cavani. This midfield structure is not only for this game, the whole season actually but we have been extremely lucky in some games.

 

Yeah, Brazil was lucky to even have gone that far, they scraped through,Scolari should never have been their coach in the first place. Also they were rocked by the injury on Neymar, as Barca was due to Titos illness.

Lucho has piled up many many mediocre selections and so called tactics. If not for Messis brilliance and some last minute penalties Barca would be even further behind LPB and surely out if CDR. Lucho can't motivate the team anymore, it's a relationship that's not working anymore. It's time to shake hands, thank for the treble and double and move on.

 

Image fail? Why? because I want to show you the built up to that 3rd goal? to show you the failure in our structure? ok posting a youtube (minute 1:11) just for you to watch why no one could BLOCK Di Maria's shot. Becuase Barcelona is a defensive team now, blocking shots on goal is what we care about nowadays, allowing the opposition to freely roam in the empty midfield is not a priority.

Alba thought Di Maria who was totally unmarked in the midfield with plenty of space (like I showed in the pics that you didn't like) will dribble to the right. Knowing Di Maria was one of the best dribblers, he could easily trick players like Alba. Can post the video how Di Maria tricked and dribbled past players like Puyol and Alves. But yes, let us blame Alba!

Iniesta was coming from behind (like I showed in the pics that you didn't like) has no option but to go for Di Maria's feet and commit a foul (watch the tube). He chose not to commit the foul. Let us blame him for not pulling Ramos or Pepe.

Gomes did what anyone could do in a situation where shot already been made, a jump to block it which he was too late do. Let us blame Gomes for being too slow to react and not having spiderman fast speed jumps.

How this is on the players?! You ignored the build-up to the goal and focused on blocking by midfielders in the defense area it tells everything about the way you want Barcelona to play.
Sorry, I'm done here and not wasting my time with you. Let us agree to disagree!

 

Of course the players are also to be blamed when we loose by such huge margins. But the main problem here is not the players and it is quite evident.

I have seen hardworking players, I have even seen Messi running all the way back to our d-area to tackle this season. I have seen hardworking Neymar and Suarez. I have seen Roberto and Alba giving their all in matches. I have seen Busquets trying to cover the entire midfield while attacking and defending. I have seen Pique, and Umtiti moving beyond the halfway line to give a attacking pass being fully aware of the distance they have to cover in case of loosing the ball. I have seen these things in more than one game.

Yesterday we played one of the biggest team in the world in the best club tournament in the world. Now can you honestly convince yourself that the players did not give their all in this match when they have already done so in less important/glamorous matches?????