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Yes, I have been following this fixture since the 90s but let's not go beyond few years because we had a different coach and different tactics then. The game you are talking about (3-1 scoreline) was the only game under Lucho that we completely dominated ATM from the beginning till the end. In that game, most credits go to Messi who gave one of his best performance ever. He was involved in everything and his display was a direct reply to rumors surfaced that he wasn't happy with Lucho and he might leave the club. What you said about this game though doesn't make any sense. We had a good control in the first half and we almost lost the game in the second half! Are these Lucho tactics you are talking about? Then yes I loled hard at your comment. If you can't see that individual brilliance that is keeping this team somehow competitive then not sure what to say. Without Iniesta and Busquets this midfield is worse than Granada's midfield.
Messi's goal and the built up into it looks very similar to his goal against Iran. Nice win regardless how we play overall. With RM crashing out already, we;re very close to win the Copa.
It is the permanent state of mind for a true soccer fan. Basically similar to why the French refer to orgasm as le petit mort. james
Yes it could've been 2-2. OTOH, it could've been 1-5. So there's that. Also you can't have it both ways. You can't say Lucho is lucky because of 2 moments of individual brilliance and then argue that Barca had numerous other chances and couldn't finish. The second part cancels out the "luck" argument of the first. Its probably best on nights like this to just give the anti-Lucho argument a rest and save it for times when you may gain some momentum. Reminds me of the stubborn "Suarez = one-trick donkey" argument from 2 years ago which was brought-up during and after every match whether Suarez played well or not.
Can I rep this more than once? I mean I am strongly on record for not wanting Gomes to start but we had a really solid result, just the last 25 minutes were stressful. I also wish Arda played, I wish Neymar or Messi or both were subbed out before their 3rd and 2nd Yellows in CdR, I wish we scored a 3rd, I wish the confident Jasper of last couple games and first half continued into 2nd half when he had two crappy passes which exposed his goal to quick counters. But I don't say Lucho is an idiot. Yes, I read the more analytic critiques and often agree. Going 442 might've helped, playing Messi wider might've helped, (elephant in room - Dani not leaving for Juve definitely would've helped), etc. But is Lucho an idiot, no he is not. Do rotations help us stay fresh so we can compete in 3 competitions while waiting/bringing back injured players - yes indeed.
You usually one of a more balanced member here in your criticism. We recently have two groups here. The pessimist who criticize Lucho and certain players (Gomes, Paco, Mats, Roberto...etc) no matter what. The other group is over optimistic, view through rose-tinted glasses who never criticize Lucho and any players, they favor results over performance which is disturbing as a Barca fan. Rotation is good but is Lucho doing it right? No, he never rotates Messi and barley do with Neymar and Suarez. Our biggest problem last season was MSN getting tired not the team. What he is doing is not solving that problem. He can't rest Messi because we will LOSE without Messi. This wasn't the case in 2014 or in 2015 but it's the case now. We can't play without Messi since Jan/Feb last year even against lower-mid table teams. The other negative point in this heavy rotational system is that this season we have 8 midfielders (Busquets, Iniesta, Raki, Gomes, Turan, Denis, Rafinha and Rob), how the players can get enough minutes to develop and have some basic chemistry with other players? If Rafinha plays once every 3-4 games, Denis play 20-30 mins every 3 games etc. Compare this midfield to Pep's 2009: (Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Yaya, Keita). Yaya and Keita being super subs and the team had chemistry, didn't drop so much quality when they played. Now if we go deeper, Keita played 2539 minutes the whole season. Compare this to Denis who played only 827 minutes in La Liga and we are two third into this season. Despite people here think Gomes playing a lot, he played fewer minutes 772. Vidal played 3 or 4 games last month but each time with a different midfielder and defender next to him. How is he suppose to jell with his teammates? This is only about Lucho's rotation policy, I don't want to talk about his tactics or man management as it will be a long essay here and so many points to criticize.
I agree, it's true, it could easily have ended up with 1-5 or so. I was just seeing it one way [emoji106] What I probably failed to explain is the inability of Lucho to do something about the last 25min when defense was falling apart with chance after chance for atm. He didn't even use third sub and hoped for a third goal to put things to bed. He's not a tactical coach, he is a one trick pony and that's worrying. He's rotating too much instead of some kind of stability, especially when players play well (Suarez, Arda and Vidal) Roberto and Gomes aren't doing great in comparison so why are they playing as much as they do? They shouldn't! Rakitic will never get back to his best by endless rotating. Also I want a fresh MSN, not midfield and defense. He's tinkering is destructive and should bring stability.
If you get a third yellow in the second-leg of the SF do you miss the final? I would assume "yes" but then again many tournaments have tweaked their card policy so that players only miss finals if they get a red in the semis. Maybe then bench Messi in the second-leg? A bit risky with no Neymar either, but he'd still be available off the bench whereas if he gets a yellow he won't be available at all in the final.
Yes, in Copa del Rey you can miss the final, no re-set on cards as they have started in CL. This headline and story confirms that: http://www.sport-english.com/en/new...-the-final-the-copa-del-rey-2016-2017-5781029 I think Messi will play (esp. with tie not decided and Neymar out) but will be mindful to try not to get the Yellow. Probably half his yellows are for dissent, time wasting, things which he can keep in check hopefully. With Neymar's absence I think that we have great cover in Arda, whom I was sad to not see play against his former team yesterday, esp. once we got up 2-0. Also Atletico will be without Gabi which is a big loss for them though I'm less sure about their depth behind him. Samuel Umtiti and Jordi Alba are also in the same situation -- all three players will have to be careful. With regard to Umtiti I think he plays for sure - Masch was great at DM so is likely played there again (although Raki had a great game at DM [the game where Busquets got injured in minute 10 or so] and hasn't played there again, so who knows what Lucho goes with). With Masch at DM, Umtiti is sure to partner with Pique. If he gets a yellow then we simply play Masch next to Pique in the Final (if we make the final) and Busquets will be back to play DM. With Alba we have Digne as decent cover either in the return leg (to save Alba) or more likely in the final (but only if Alba gets the 3rd yellow in the return leg). Finally, after the cards yesterday, 3 other Atletico players also carry 2 (just like Barca) and will have to be a bit careful if they want to play in the final: Savic, Saul, and Lucas Hernandez. So we are all even in both regards - 1 missing player, and 3 players at risk.
Hey, welcome back! Feels like you haven't been here for a while. You posted regularly before then. I agree that I'd prefer Messi on the right but as @inswinger noted Lucho - or any other coach - doesn't have the balls to tell Messi what to do. On the right or as a central attacking mid but Barca doesn't play that type of system/formation.
If we beat Atletico we will face Celta/Alves in the final,so no need to play with too much caution. But at the sametime,Barca shouldnt try and play defensively or over attacking like we did last year at the Calderon,we should just play normal.
Celta did kick our add but we played with Matthieu and amongst rotations,the cup final will be a different ball game.we will ideally play with umtiti or attempt mascherano,alaves well that win was a freak result.
We'll see about that, Lucho is predictable, means he'll rotate and play a weaker team in second leg and get booted out of CDR so there might not even be a final. I have little hope for Lucho and his coaching, he's relying on magic from MSN. If only he'd realize that you don't have to look at pricetags or names when selecting team. Any other coach would play Arda, Denis & Vidal more especially when they do great and especially score and put Gomes and Roberto on bench. Lucho fails to see that and it's frustrating.