PBP: La Liga Santander - Jornada 30 - FC Barcelona v. Sevilla - 5 April 2017

Back home:
Double check in north america as these have been sketchy since we changed our clocks, but this looks correct to me:

Still near the beginning of this crazy month.

Rafinha and Arda both out injured, Vidal too of course, Masip will join them out of the 18 man squad. All other first teamers should make the squad as I assume Alena is needed for a tough trip to Badalona by Barca B.

Sevilla are winless in their last five fixtures, with a 0-0 draw against Sporting Gijon enough to surrender third place in the table to Atletico Madrid. Ever since Jorge Sampaoli was linked to the Barcelona job, it's all fallen apart...

Lineup prediction:
MAtS
Roberto-Pique-Umtiti-Digne
Raki - Busi - Ini
M - S - N

Probably more rotation than I suggested above but it's what I'd like to see.
3-0 for the good guys.

Yellow card count going into this match...

4: Piqué, Rakitic, Sergi Roberto,
3: Gomes, Alba

Upcoming Liga fixtures:
J31 (A) Màlaga
J32 (H) Real Sociedad
J33 (A) Real Madrid

 

Last matchups - I got a ton of errors when I tried to upload these as part of my first post so I am deleting all but the first video link to our last 4 games against them:

We won at their place 1-2 in November:


Spanish Super Copa leg 2 at Barca 3-0 (5-0 on aggregate):

Super Copa leg 1 at Sevilla 0-2

Copa del Rey final last May at Calderon 2-0 Barca

 

Yes, that's the point of the yellow card tracker at the end of the thread starter post (or just after it, something which @unclesox invented in this barca forum at least). At the moment though one could argue that Roberto (also on 4 yellows) is even harder to replace - basically Mascherano is the only cover with Vidal out for the season, whether in a 3 man D or a 4 man D.

So then the question becomes how do you manage yellow cards. Away to Malaga is tough, then home to Sociedad, Away to Real Madrid. Do you roll the dice on no one getting their 5th before El Clasico? Do you simply hope that both Pique and Roberto don't miss the same match (as Masch cannot cover both spots, and a Masch-Umtiti-Mathieu D with or without Alba or Digne scares most Barca fans). Rakitic is a bit less worrisome as he plays less (which is actually more worrisome) and even with Arda and Rafinha hurt we still have Denis (who I trust as backup), and Gomes (who I don't trust yet but Lucho does) as cover.

Do you ever instruct a player to pick up a 5th yellow in one of the next two games so that they don't miss El Clasico and/or so that they are more fresh to play Juventus (as perhaps you plan to give them a game off anyways)?

 

Sport's lineup predictions for both sides, for Barca this predicts the 'new grand once' same as the old 'grand once' but (1) Alves left so we have only Roberto, and (2) Umtiti has rendered Masch a super sub - capable as 3rd CB in 3 man D, and first sub for Pique, Umtiti, Roberto, and even Busi.:

I also predicted a very strong side, but rested Alba for Digne. Though frankly Digne seems to have slipped a bit in Lucho's estimation, he started getting the most minutes of all the new signings not names Umtiti, but now seems behind Gomes (!).

If I had to rank the new signings I'd say (1) Umtiti - no discussion, very solid first year, good price, great adaptation, plays well with different CB partners and formations; (2) Denis - we needed help in midfield and he fit in well on both sides of attacking midfield, good price too, though we pay ManC more with accumulated matches up to a reasonable maximum payout; (3) Digne - saw him quite a bit early on and looked well adapted, but not getting many minutes now, maybe (as with Denis) that was part of the plan to give minutes early so we could play starters more late with less mileage on, good price, promising player, but not quite at Alba's level yet (which raises the big question why we signed a LB at all when we either needed an RB or needed Lucho to trust Vidal, plus of course we got little for Grimaldo who still might have more upside than Digne in the long run; (4) Jasper - I think Alves for less than half the price would've made far more sense, but in limited time Jasper seems to fit the Barca keeper mold and of course we sold Bravo for a good deal more, which helps, and the two headed keeper was getting old; (5) Paco - not enough minutes to really judge well, big fee and salary, but then we seemed to decide Munir and/or Sandro were not enough, Pedro left for more PT, many others we tried to sign went elsewhere for better PT chances, so need to give Paco respect for coming at all, being willing to fill in off the bench and in spot duty and slowly adapting and starting to even score, I think he has quality, just not sure we needed to pay so much; and (6) Gomes - playing midfield at Barca is not easy but he has often looked so so at defense and at offense too, super high salary, still lots of Lucho faith somehow, could wind up being a great signing but will depend on him making a big leap in 2nd year, which sometimes happens to non-La Masia midfield signings (there's a famous Keita quote about that out there, how it takes longest to adapt to Barca as a midfielder).

 

Match lineups out and only surprise is Mathieu out and Alena back in. I think that this suggests even more a 4-3-3, as the 3 CB 3-4-3 would have only fullbacks at subs.

Matchday squad against Sevilla: Ter Stegen, Cillessen, Piqué, Rakitic, Busquets, Denis, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Mascherano, Alcácer, Jordi Alba, Digne, Sergi Roberto, Gomes, Umtiti and Aleñá (B team)
Missing players: Aleix, Turan and Rafinha are injured, while Mathieu and Masip have been omitted out

 

Barça line-up vs Sevilla: Ter Stegen, S. Roberto, Pique, Mascherano, Umtiti, Iniesta, Busquets, Rakitic, Messi, Suarez, Neymar

So 4-3-3 on defense: Roberto-Pique-Mascherano-Umtiti
3-4-3 on offense (or maybe 3-1-2-2-2 like this?):
Mascherano-Pique-Umtiti
------------Busi
Roberto -------------Iniesta
---Rakitic -----Messi
------------Suarez----------Neymar


Either way Masch makes the 11 with Pique and Umtiti, and left out is not Roberto but both true fullbacks: Alba and Digne. Interesting times. But it also goes to show in a must win game that these players are Barca's grand once. Now would it be different or Rafinha or Arda were healthy? Hard to say, could see Rafinha get the nod over Roberto in that scenario.

 

No you take the Pichichi (and Golden Boot), no you take it, no you, I insist...

We are all witnessing this.

 

OK, great game so far. In the bag already. Who can we rest? Should anyone get a 5th YC first?

For resting I'd like to rest Ini and Raki and Busi. But certainly Suarez or Neymar would be great too. Bring on Alba or Digne, shift Masch to DM; bring on two of Denis, Alena, and Gomes; or if S or N comes off bring on Paco.

Card wise - nothing deliberate, though if Pique or Roberto (but just one of them) got one before Malaga so be it.

 

Ah, thanks, at work and did not see that. It works well as he gets a game's rest, Masch and Umtiti can hold down the middle of the D behind Busi. But now need Roberto to stay cardless.

EDIT - Marca already reporting on it:

http://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2017/04/05/58e532f3e2704e87198b458d.html

Timely suspensions are nothing new for any team but Barcelona have indulged in yet another ahead of the Clasico as Gerard Pique gets his fifth booking out the way with time to spare.

Going into Wednesday's match with Sevilla on four bookings, the centre-back wiped out Joaquin Correa after just 15 minutes to accrue a one-game ban that will occur against Malaga this weekend.

That should leave the defender free to play on April 23 when the Blaugrana travel to Real Madrid, as well as the preceding fixture versus Real Sociedad, barring any injuries or further bans.