Saturday, 13 April 2019 16:15 BARCELONA TIME Estadio El Alcoraz H U E S C A PREVIOUS MEETINGS SLL 02-09-2018 FT Barcelona 8 : 2 SD Huesca SCdR 16-12-2014 FT Barcelona 8 : 1 SD Huesca SCdR 03-12-2014 FT SD Huesca 0 : 4 Barcelona VISCAELBARCA
Quite the rotation! I would have Coutinho instead of Dembele though. If he wasn’t ready to play even one minute on Wednesday, doubt Dembélé is 100% 3 days later.
Suspended: Piqué, Suarez 1 booking away from suspension: Busquets, Rakitic 2 bookings away from suspension: Lenglet, Sergi Roberto, Umtiti Upcoming Liga fixtures: J33 (H) Real Sociedad J34 (A) Alavés J35 (H) Levante
Man, looking at the scorelines from past meetings (20 goals in last 3 games!?!?!), Suarez and especially Messi might be bummed to miss this one. If Messi was more CR7ish he'd probably insist on playing (to better protect his Golden Shoe, the Pichichi is completely locked up already). I do think we see major rotation but I also think that we want the 3 points, so rotation may be a bit strategic. Hopefully it involves using first 2 subs as early as 45-60 minutes. SUSPENDED: Pique, Suarez MUST REST (first names that come to mind): Messi (after biggie Smalling knock), Busquets (after looking bad much of the match), Rakitic (looked good but he's top 5 in minutes and especially mileage this season), Alba (see Rakitic), Lenglet (see Rakitic), Arthur (even though he rarely finishes all 90 minutes he does better when fresh). COULD REST: MAtS (I would NOT rest him unless he has a knock, Cillessen can have a few Liga games as CdR final warm up after we clinch or nearly clinch, unless we think Jasper is more on the fence about staying or going, and we are not financially set on selling him, if the latter then start Jasper); Whichever RB we are not planning to start vs. ManU so, for me, rest Semedo (while it tips EV's hand in terms of lineup, I prefer Semedo start again vs. ManU so happy to see Roberto start); Coutinho (I prefer we start him vs. Huesca and have him on bench vs. ManU, but that we get him off after 45-60 minutes. Kinda love to see him flanked by Dembele and Malcom and see all 3 score). Dembele - well he needs gametime to get his game wind back, might as well start, but come off after 45 and be under "instructions" to not kill himself doing some ridiculous move. So if we rested all 8 of those Suspended/Must Rest Grand Once cats, how can we best win the first half and rest 2 more guys? I'll wait till the lineup is out before predicting but what's been posted already looks good, I'd just love to see Alba or Arthur also join the rested Grand Once, which probably means getting Miranda and either Oriol Busquets and/or Riqui Puig in the squad.
that formation is fine. we need to test if dembele is healthy or not. Huesca is not really tough so i think we can win
To be fair, current Ronaldo would rest to be fresh for the CL and honestly Messi should start thinking this way as well. Especially, when we already have this big lead in the league.
Yeah, I agree. Some managers like to wait until the team has mathematically clinched the title before doing heavy rotation. I think that is just dumb. I mean, Lille is mathematically alive in Ligue 1. But we all know who will ultimately win. And problem with waiting until you clinch mathematically is, in practice, that usually comes too late in terms of your players possibly benefiting from some rest. For e.g. even with a big lead now, in all likelihood Barca still will not have mathematically clinched when they play Levante 3 days before the CL semifinal start. EV seems to follow this "wait until its mathematically certain" principle, unfortunately. Fielded a very strong team against Leganes last season between the two legs against Roma. Messi got a hat-trick which helped him win the European Golden shoe that nobody cares about, including Messi probably.
here's Sport's prediction: ------Coutinho----Boateng-----Malcom------- ----------------Vidal---------Aleñá----------------- Alba-----------------Todibo--------------Roberto --------------Umtiti------------Murillo-------------- ---------------------TerStegen----------------------
That's pretty solid, I guess bring Dembele on as a sub to get some PT (take off Coutinho). Would love to get some rest for Alba though, so maybe at least have Miranda on the bench. But no Miranda, no Roberto either so Wague likely to start at RB [LATEST NEWS] I. Rakitic, with a fever, and S. Roberto, with a muscle overload on his left leg, will not play on Saturday
Nice to see Valverde resting all the main guys. Honestly even if we lose tomorrow we will still be overwhelming favorites to see out the league. It is absolutely the right move.
This image from Sport speaks of 9 "Finals" to get the Triplete, by naming the next 4 Liga matches as finals (as we need 10 points to mathematically seal the title, assuming no Atleti slip ups). I agree that is completely the wrong approach to take. Fortunately, the lineup shows that we are not treating away to Huesca as a final. Yes, it'll be great if we can get 3 points there but it is not necessary. Valverde has shown with his 18 man lineup that he gets that, which is great to see. Lineup prediction time, MAtS Wague-Murillo-Umtiti-Alba Alena-Todibo-Vidal Dembele-Coutinho-Malcom Sub off Dembele (bring on Abel Ruiz), Coutinho (bring on Prince), and Vidal (bring on Puig). Of the starters only MAtS, Alba, and Dembele or Coutinho is likely to start vs. ManU, with Vidal and the non-starter of Dembele or Coutinho possibly on as a sub. Fully rested are the suspended Suarez and Pique, plus not in squad Messi, Rakitic, Roberto, and Busquets. And if my lineup was right also rested would be Semedo, Lenglet, and Arthur (though those last 3 are available). Gotta say I do wish Miranda at least made the squad but maybe he is in EV's doghouse for bad games or practices with the first team, fortunately Alba seems like an energizer bunny.
Riqui Puig, alone on the pitch in Huesca. He's in the starting lineup in his first ever Liga appearance. Wague, Murillo and Prince also in the starting XI. LA FOTO. Riqui Puig, sol a la gespa de l’Alcoraz. Avui debuta a la Lliga com a jugador del Barça. pic.twitter.com/nsHEjUhk1X— LaTdT (@LaTdT) April 13, 2019
Official: not sure who plays left back but the back 4 names are correct MArS Todibo Murillo Umtiti Wague Alena Vidal Puig Dembele Prince Malcom Leftback could also be Umtiti or Todibo, or even a 3 CB back line of Todibo-Murillo-Umtiti with Wague playing up more when we are not pressed back on D. Or 3 man back line w Todibo in front as DM so 3-1-3-3. Could be a disaster but nearly everyone playing ManU is rested (& this time it's ManU with a tough league match before we meet up). And if we lose that's ok the 10 points will come the Liga is won.
Aspiazu, assistant coach, explains in Bein Sports that they will play with three centers (Murillo, Todibo and Umtiti) and that Wague and Malcom will play lanes.— Barça Insider (@theBarcaInsider) April 13, 2019
Jon Aspizau (Valverde's assistant) has confirmed on Bein Sports that they'll play with 3 CBs with Malcom on LWB and Wague as RWB... So it looks like; MATS Murillio - Todibo - Umtiti Wague - Puig - Vidal - Aleñá - Malcom Dembele - KDB
So nice to field an experimental lineup with a few youths thrown in because you want to rest key players for an upcoming Champions League tie and not because your seeing out the rest of the season with nothing to play for. Just sayin'.