Saturday, 24 February 2018 20:45 BARCELONA CAMP NOU BARCELONA PAST MEETINGS SLL 23-09-2017 FT Girona 0 : 3 Barcelona ICF 08-08-2011 FT Barcelona 2 : 1 Girona PER MATCH STATS VISCAELBARCA
Extremely important game, we saved up a decent result from London but now we go next door to girona who are having a amazing first season in la primera. They have beaten or drawn with most of the top sides and we are going to play another game in three days, Coutinho and yerry mina must play and I believe they can do fine. Dembele also should be playing the second half. A bad result in Girona will make it four or five pipoin because Atletico is fully focused on la liga now and are just two games away from us. We have two players in Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez who never ever play, if if Valverde wants to risk less and keep playing Paulinho,it won't help. Right now Zidane is using his bench to win games in la liga. So, our players need rest and shake off the fatigue. And rest Messi and Iniesta and play Denis Paco and Suarez and semedo.
We're at home in this match. Should be able to get 3 points even with heavy rotation of players. I agree though that fatigue looks like it might be an issue the rest of this season. We play an extra game compared to Chelsea over the next 3 weeks as well. But those games are against lower-ranked teams than what Chelsea is facing, so we should take advantage of that fact and do some rotating.
It is a big game, good point about Atletico's Liga focus. However they are still trying to win Europa League too, where they are the favorite, and would play 2 more games IF they made the final (versus CL teams which make the final). We host Girona, not going next door, then we have a nice break before flying to Las Palmas to play Thursday. Las Palmas just sold their best player to a Chinese squad and are in relegation (18th place), so I'd expect more rotation there. http://www.espn.com/soccer/story/33...inger-jonathan-viera-to-beijing-guoan?src=com Then short rest before hosting Atletico next Sunday. Huge game. Then nearly a week off before visiting Malaga on Saturday. Then host Chelsea Weds, then host Bilbao - to be announced. Then time off. So the huge matches are hosting Atletico and Chelsea. And in between we do need to rotate, work in not just the players you named (Paco, Denis, Semedo, and I think you meant Gomes? you wrote Denis and also wrote Suarez) but also Coutinho, Dembele, Digne, Vermaelen, and Vidal. I think Valverde can get the balance right of some substitutions without such wholescale substitutions that we risk dropping points. I think hosting Girona that might be 3 subs, going to Las Palmas is another 3 or 4 of the grand 10+1 rested. Paulinho's grip on that 11th spot is surely slipping a bit, maybe he just needs rest himself and/or a bit of good fortune in front of the goal to return.
I just finished watching the game and I felt, Paulinho is useless to break up low blocks, against real Madrid they came up strong in the first half and we could pick the gaps and win but Chelsea is difficult. If Valverde did it to stabilize the team and get a okayish away result, which I feel is a good result. It would have been nice to beat them 1-2 but this will keep us on our toes and when Chelsea come in three weeks, we should have progressed forward.
Four bookings: Alba, Suárez Three yellows: none Upcoming Liga fixtures: J26 (A) Las Palmas J27 (H) Atlético Madrid J28 (A) Málaga
Atletico are a great team and their champions league group stage crash was a mere blip. They flopped against qarabag and it cost them. I believe Europa league won't be hard for them. I completely forgot las Palmas, yeah they should be easy. From the bench i want Coutinho, Dembele and yerry mina playing especially the last one, how many every minutes. Coutinho deserves a whole game and the others also can. I felt yerry mina played very well against Espanyol and even Valencia. He should play and let pique rest and yeah Vermaelen too. Gomes is not liked by Messi, so am not sure of him playing. Paulinho is an option largely against attacking opposition. Against Girona, I will play Mats Semedo yerry mina umtiti Digne Dembele Rakitic Busquets Coutinho Paco suarez
When I said Denis,I meant Denis and when I said Suarez, I meant Luis. Suarez is in great shape and even without Messi, he loves a shootout game and is very clinical in being the main attacking reference. So he wants to and will play.
We always struggle against teams that park the bus. Atletico, Inter and Chelsea have our number despite not being as good generally (over the past 10-12 years) as Man United, PSG and Real Madrid who Barca regularly smoke!
So if valvede went along with Paulinho, that meant he was gambling with the result and Chelsea played a good medium block but Rakitic and Paulinho failed to get past Kante and Fabregas.
Exactly, when we had Neymar and played Atletico, it was basically the same deal. Against a parked bus you basically need a mid range shot or rely on crosses with taller forwards/AMs.
Gamble ? Paulinho should bring good work rate going up and down the field and decent defending. What were the other options really ? Dembele would have ran straight into walls.
If Dembele wasn't so far behind on his integration and if Coutinho was a summer transfer this wouldn't have been close. Both players can pick apart a bunker. That is not something that Rakitic or Paulinho can do. It isn't in their skillset. Any offense usually comes from getting around an initial defender and causing the defense to break formation and close on the attacker. Only Messi and Iniesta could bring that to this game. Roberto can do it as well but less effectively from RB. James
I am considering Dembele as he is. Even if he was playing for 6 months and integrated per say, I doubt he'd be the solution. He'd still be green. As I stated, even Neymar, who can be pretty creative and incisive, can't magically unlock such defenses. An in prime Messi always had loads of trouble against the Chelsea bus over the years. The way they defend with a line of 5 and another one of 4 in front, if done correctly, will nullify even the best dribblers. You can't get through the middle and they also keep you from getting behind defenders on the wing. Most of the time you need them to make a mistake like yesterday.
I would go with, MATS Semedo - Yerry - Vermaelen - Alba Dembele - Rakitic - Busquets - Coutinho Messi - Suarez
I like that lineup and it rests 5 starters, half of the 10 outfield starters (Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Paulinho, and Iniesta). Of those I think that Pique and Iniesta really need rest, Pique injured, Iniesta older and does better if played less, plus we bought Coutinho who probably slots in easiest there and cannot play in our CL matches. Now some would say resting 5 at once is too many, esp. since our next game is against Las Palmas in 5 day. I'd probably agree insofar as starting Yerry next to Verm and Semedo is 3 of the 4 backline and Yerry has never played with either one (since he only joined). So I'd probably start Umtiti along with either Yerry (most likely) or Vermaelen (who is our 3rd best CB and needs to get PT now that medically cleared). The mids I like, would love to see Busi and/or Raki get some rest too, esp. if we get a lead, so sub on two of Roberto, Denis, Gomes for those two in 2nd half. Up front, bring on Paco as a sub, or start him. So for me bold is difference, and italics are who is resting vs. Chelsea starters: MATS Semedo - Yerry - Umtiti - Alba Dembele - Rakitic - Busquets - Coutinho Messi - Suarez then vs. Las Palmas maybe we start like this, but be sure to sub off Busi and Messi (if we can afford to) unless they were subbed off early in prior Girona match (only outfield ones to start both other than Semedo and Coutinho who have both been under-used and could use a couple games to get acclimated to Barca):MATS Semedo - Yerry - Verm - Digne Vidal - Roberto - Busquets - Coutinho Messi - Paco Basically the idea being that when we play Atletico we can play grand once, whether that includes a really rested Paulinho or not (maybe someone else has grabbed the opportunity to keep starting). Also super rested besides Paulinho is Iniesta and still-injured Pique, everyone else mostly had one game on the bench, or (for Messi and Busi) hopefully was subbed off early in at least one match
Agreed. I think Barca will still field a strongish side against Girona and the heavy rotation happens in Las Palmas (especially if Atleti drop points in Sevilla, as expected). One wonders if guys like Messi, Iniesta and Pique should even travel to the Canary Islands(?)
Tried to edit post above to note that Denis, Paco, Gomes, and Mina are rested / relegated to stands instead of bench, but I was timed out. But we can still rest some starters if we do something like this: MATS Semedo-Umtiti-Verm-Alba Dembele-Roberto-Busi-Coutinho Messi-Suarez That would rest Pique, Raki, Ini, and Paulinho, and let Roberto play midfield. Try to also get 2-3 other starters off if we get a lead especially, maybe Alba and Busi, perhaps Roberto or Messi too.
Back where everything started!! Tonight @FCBarcelona vs @GironaFC 🔴⚪️💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/A8jnqE8ls8— Marc Muniesa (@muniesa92) February 24, 2018
Official : ------------------MATS------ Semedo--Pique---Umtiti----Alba ----------Rakitic------Busi---------- -----Dembele---------Coutinho----- ----------Messi------Suarez------ Subs : digne,vidal,vermaelen,paulinho,roberto,iniesta,cillessen