Thursday, 1 February 2018 21:30 BARCELONA TIME CAMP NOU BARCELONA PREVIOUS MEETINGS SLL 26-11-2017 FT Valencia 1 : 1 Barcelona SLL 19-03-2017 FT Barcelona 4 : 2 Valencia SLL 22-10-2016 FT Valencia 2 : 3 Barcelona SLL 17-04-2016 FT Barcelona 1 : 2 Valencia SCdR 10-02-2016 FT Valencia 1 : 1 Barcelona SCdR 03-02-2016 FT Barcelona 7 : 0 Valencia VISCAELBARCA
Players entering with two yellow cards, would miss the second leg if booked in this first leg. FCB: Alba, Suarez VCF: Guedes, Kondogbia, Mina, Vezo
Alcaer Deserves to start both legs considering Suarez booking. I think we can allow Digne to play over Alba too
Disagree with both comments. Suarez is coming into good form and as a general rule I think you should play players that are in good form (that's also when players most want to play). If he picks-up a yellow, meh, he'll still be eligible for the final. And I'd basically give the same argument for starting Alba. That decision is even easier since Digne started the last match and kinda sucked, so its Alba's turn for sure.
Yeah, if we sit a player because he might get booked IF he gets a yellow, we are essentially penalizing that player (and usually the team too) for an infraction they have not even committed (and we are also not trusting that the player cannot play without getting another yellow). Plus then they are still on the same #, do you sit them in the 2nd leg too, lest they miss the final? We played Umtiti and Suarez in the Liga match and neither accumulated their 5th in Liga, same idea here.
Wasn't Suarez suspended from last year's final? Although I think that was for a red card in the semi second leg. Of course, to be suspended from a final you must actually GET to the final first. Suarez should play this leg.
Being rested one match won't kill them they'll still have LaLiga and UCL matches to play. Squad players need to be kept happy too!
Yes, squad players want to feel happy. But they have to perform well when given chances (like Paco), or they will run out of chances in meaningful games. With an 11 point lead over 2nd place Atletico and far more over 3rd and 4th, the squad players are going to see their chances come in Liga games. That is what we saw last night when Busquets, Roberto, and Alba were all rested, at least till we fell behind. They should all be expected to start, along with the other normal starters, and the big question is the usual one - who plays 3rd forward or 4th mid? The main possibilities are new man Coutinho, his country man Paulinho, or a 3rd forward like Paco (could also be Vidal, less likely is Deulofeu, or mids like Denis, or Gomes). A secondary question is whether any of normal starters (mainly Rakitic or Iniesta) cede their spot to Coutinho. To the second question, no, to the first question, since a clean sheet is more important at home I see a 4th mid, and think it will come down to the 2 Brazilians, and go to Paulinho. So Copa right now looks like: ---------Cillessen Roberto-Pique-Umtiti-Alba Paulinho-Raki-Busi-Iniesta -------Messi--Suarez Sub on Coutinho (if he doesn't start, Paulinho if Coutinho starts), Paco, and maybe even Mina.
Busquets may have been feeling a bit ill against Alaves. He sat out today's early training session with stomach flu.
That could happen, and is something I'd like to see on the field, but my concerns are 3-fold: (1) 4-3-3 means we drop a midfielder, likely Paulinho, who adds both offense and defensive steel and lets Raki drop back to support Busi more, and that's especially worrisome at home where a clean sheet means even more; (2) if he really plays LW like Neymar it crowds out Alba's ability on offense, or (3) if he plays more like a hybrid LW/Left Attacking mid then how do he and Iniesta share space (or is it Iniesta he replaces, an even bigger worry). So I do think we will see that tried, not sure when, but I like my prediction. I also think we could see something like this: ------Coutinho----------Suarez -------------------Messi Alba-----------Iniesta----------Roberto --------------------------Rakitic --------------------Busi ---------Umtiti------------Pique which leaves the extreme left wing for Alba (addresses worry #2), seems to give Ini and Coutinho space while both playing key roles where they can excel (addresses worry #3), but does sacrifice Lord Paulinho (worry #1). It is a good problem to have and it gets worse when Dembele is fit again. Just as Paco's return to fitness makes him an intriguing part of the rotation puzzle. Same triangle up top could also be: ---------Suarez--------Messi -----------------Coutinho which is how sky sports depicted it before the match yesterday, but not how they actually played, but then I think Coutinho is a bit closer to Iniesta (worry #3)
Well that's sad for him, and for us fans who want to see this 21 year old who already sold to PSG for 30M (from Benfica) and who now has a 40M Euro valuation from Transfermarkt. He had moments in the first Liga match. But it may help our odds of keeping a clean sheet, also makes it easier to start Roberto at RB (which was likely happening anyway), rather than his former Benfica and current Portugal NT team-mate, Semedo, who better matches his speed.
Big loss for them. They have just 3 points (1 win) in the last 5 league matches in which he doesn't start (since he picked up an injury in late November).
Don't know how long the others have been out but that's a bunch of good injured players: injuries to Ezequiel Garay, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Goncalo Guedes and Jeison Murillo. This is Valencia's 18-man squad list for their midweek cup match Goalkeepers: Jaume Domenech and Neto. Defenders: Martin Montoya, Nacho Vidal, Gabriel, Ruben Vezo, Antonio Lato, Jose Gaya. Midfielders: Francis Coquelin, Dani Parejo, Nemanja Maksimovic, Carlos Soler, Andreas Pereira, Ferran Torres. Forwards: Luciano Vietto, Simone Zaza, Rodrigo, Santi Mina.
Squad list for the match: Cillessen, Ter Stegen S. Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Jordi Alba, Digne, Aleix Vidal, Yerry Mina Rakitic, Sergio, A. Iniesta, Coutinho, Paulinho, Denis Suárez, Messi, Paco Alcácer
What the hell is up with Valverde and Semedo? Why sign a player just to leave him outside the squad to decrease his morale and surely value abs next year he's on his way on loan somewhere. WTF!!
Well, we are paying Benfica €100k for every match Semedo plays in. That's peanuts nowadays, but if you have no plans to start him in the tougher/more important matches, which this match is, is even that small amount worth it to bring him off the bench for 15 minutes? Or is it better save the €100k for a full 90 minutes against Espanyol on the weekend? Second option sounds better to me. But yes... bigger picture-wise, why spend €30mn plus these ridiculous add-ons for a fringe player, when there's a young, world class RB (from Barcelona no less) who could probably be pried away from Arsenal with enough effort?
That's a good lineup, basically what I predicted but Coutinho starting instead of Paulinho aka 'playing possum' - let Valencia think they have a chance, then bring on Lord P It is the lineup with the most available cracks, my honest concerns with that lineup are (1) who provides real width on the RW? with no Semedo, no Vidal, Dembele injured we either rely on Leo who likes to cut inside or play a free role in general, pull Raki out wider than he has been playing this season which hurts his ability to always off Busi an outlet (I think of it as a 1.5 pivote), or rely on Roberto entirely, who will run but is not as fast as Semedo or Alba and also likes to cut in at times on offense. (2) If Coutinho really plays as LW instead of more centrally doesn't that stifle Alba's forward runs? (3) if instead Coutinho and Messi both drift in then it gets crowded in the box. (4) abandoning the 4th mid and 1.5 pivote we are at greater risk of conceding an away goal.
Madrid FC (1905-08, yes, that's an old name of Real Madrid) and Athletic Bilbao (1930-33) have four-peated winning the Copa, need a result today and we are one step closer to joining them. No team has ever won it more than 4 times in a row. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_del_Rey Messi is the top active goal scorer in Copa, but only in 9th place all time - he has 47 goals, Telmo Zarra of Bilbao got 81. It's a rare Spanish goal scoring record which is Leo is far from achieving, though 3 more goals puts him alone in 6th place, 5 more puts him in a tie for 5th. see same citation as above.