Tough game. Got lucky on some of those chances Villareal missed, though they wouldn't have had some of those chances without the bogus second yellow. Does anyone else think we were a little too aggressive with 10 men? Alves was still pushing up and leaving the back exposed, which helped create some of those late chances. Messi looked really annoyed all game. Henry is really settling into his position. Hleb needs to get more time. He combines really well with Messi and Xavi. However, he is only likely to get less time once we get Iniesta back. This team is loaded in midfield. I wish our backups in defense were as good as Keita/Hleb/Busquets.
This game is tough.. I know we gonna get equalizer when Villareal score and the backline look shaky at times.. Those one to one with Valdes give me heart race every time. Anyway, A win is a win and we play great by keep pushing fwd even with 10 men. The red card is questionable and honestly I think Villareal is a better team compare to LPB. We won beautiful against a very good team.
We went 4 for 4 against the toughest teams in La Liga. Got 12 points out of 12 points possible, and best of all, we've beaten all 4 direct rivals for the title. In this tournament where overall goal difference doesn't count, we have the edge on our nearest competition. We now have a 3 goal advantage over Sevilla, a 4 goal advantage over Valencia, a 2 goal advantage over LPB and a 1 goal advantage over Villareal.
I am loving this season! The team is breaking records offensively and defensively. Points to be taken from this match; Even when Eto'o and Messi have a bad day, we win. Toure should start every single game possible, I know that Keita got the equaliser, but he was letting Senna and the rest of their midfielders control it... Abidal is the new Valdes, He seems to have a couple of brainfarts in him per game... Henry is improving and was today's man of the match, he was our biggest offensive threat... good to see. Puyol can't simply do everything by himself, he was awesome today, but we can't expect him to be there to save our ass all the time... saying that, Pique was Oque today and the expulsion was B.S. Xavi was great as usual only if his legs were 3cms longer! That would have been a great karate kick like goal... Busquets was incredible but he needs to act less and concentrate more... Alves' corss was crazy and the way he played around with three Villarreal players was sick! I don't like the fact that both our Captains (Puyi and Xavi) got yellow cards for dissent regarding the same incident... They need to learn to control their temper as their dissent will never change any referee's mind GOAL.com got the result right this time around
I couldn't remember the last time we were a goal down in the league. The team came through and rose up in the face of adversity. I'm not too sure about some of the calls, but to be fair....in the first half it looked like we were getting away with a few fouls. Which doesn't mean that Pique should get sent off for the second yellow (which was dubious), but it wasn't like every single call was against us. However, when you add in the fact there was five minutes extra time, with us a man down? Hmmmm....that's kind of suspicious. Messi and Eto'o were very quiet. Henry was galloping on the outside again. I guess he's finally getting used to the side and players' tendencies. I've noticed the pass several weeks that Xavi has been a notch or two below his all-world beating standard from earlier in the season....but he still produces moments of game changing brilliance. Case in point the cross to Henry, I thought for sure he was going to pass it outside to Alves....but nope. Quick speed burst, cross....goal. Great work....plus, Valdes has been proving me wrong lately I must say. He forced a couple of their best chances wide, by standing tall for as long as possible.
Good game, I suppose. They gave us a real go but we still managed to pull it out of the bag. It seems Messi gave Henry his form for the last while. Can't remember him having a poor patch of form before but lets hope that Christmas cures what ails him.
Villareal definitely showed up to play but they couldn't hang when we turned up the heat on them after the 60th. Great playing today by Henry... Messi looked off, I think he should always be on the right. The rest of the team stepped up bigtime.
Kind of sad that a guy that played so many games for the NT is now stuck in pre-retirement with some shoddy second division squad.
I wish mine only did that when that happens. Unfortunately, it's racing for 90+minutes in my case, in every match. I end up exhausted, lol!!!! "On a clear day.... you can see forever..." Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
Verrrrrrrry suspicious indeed my dear Watson... Yeah, VV makes me feel so happy these days, I feel like singing.... Val-deri,Val-dera, Val-deri, Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha Val-deri,Val-dera...
Villarreal - Barcelona 1 - 2 DOWNLOAD: 1-1 Keita http://uploading.com/files/XPL231Q7/1-1 Keita.avi.html 1-2 Henry http://uploading.com/files/AJ2LZ6A8/1-2 Henry.avi.html
Couple thoughts... 1. I'm glad to see Henry doing so well. He should have had a brace. Definitely MotM 2. Also glad to see the team still win with Messi and Eto'o essentially taken out of the game. 3. I'm a fan of the FCB fans representing in the away stadium....not a fan of them chanting "madrid, cabron...salud el campeon"....we have a LOOOOONG way to go. 4. I'm still not a fan of Pique, but that red was bulllllshyte. 5. That was a great, character building, come from behind win. Better 10 up than 7 or 8.
I turn into a nervous wreck during these games. It was hard for me to watch the last 10 minutes of the game yesterday when we were down to 10 men - I kept running out of the room for a "break."
Am I the only one that is quite confident when VV faces a 1 vs 1 situation? I know usually the player comes on top but Valdes, an average keeper that he can be is very good at 1 vs 1, remember that save he did in the El Clasico off a Ruud one on one? Bloody brilliant
I had just had about enough, and when the clown added 5 gigantically agonizing effin' minutes, or hours, whichever way you want to see those clock hands, I honestly thought about turning off the tube and going out into the cold to bury myself in the snow.
good win, my only problem is the better teams we have played this month have been slipping through balls on that right side Alves frees up at times. Valdez has been faced with some one-on-ones which have been awkard to watch. We won't get away with that in Europe and Liga teams will study over Christmas and see that path to goal. pep needs to come up with a remedy for it.
It's bound to happen when Alves is upfield most of the time. That's why possession is so important in this Barca squad. Losing possession can create dangerous counter attacks through the right. It has happened a lot but the team is slowly learning how to deal with it.
Basically Alves gets forward as much as he wants and Abidal stays back, level with Puyol and Marquez/Pique. Lately Abidal hardly overlaps Henry, which weakens the effectiveness of attack on the left side, as it's usually Henry against one or two defenders on his own. So Pep is basically letting the left side attack be weakened to allowthe right side attack to be more bold, and defensively keeping Abidal at home to stifle the opponent's right side attack and force them to make moves more down their left side. Hey, it's worked so far. The trouble will come against a side with a truly fearsome left side attack, Ribery and BM come to mind. And *gulp* Benzema plays on the left for Lyon. But like DK said, keeping the ball is job 1. Can't score if you don't have the ball.
Take your pick... First, the GOOD news... After reviewing video images of the incident, the Competition Committee has rescinded the second yellow card issued to Gerard Piqué noting that he did not move his arm and cause Guille Franco to fall, which was noted by the referee in his official notes. Thus, Piqué's suspension is lifted and he's availabe to play the next match against Mallorca. Now, the BAD news... After reviewing video images of the incident, the Competition Committee has rescinded the second yellow card issued to Gerard Piqué noting that he did not move his arm and cause Guille Franco to fall, which was noted by the referee in his official notes. Thus, Piqué's suspension is lifted and he's availabe to play the next match against Mallorca. EMD link