My take is that it was a great second-half to the first-half. But. ... Sevilla should've scored when it was 0-0. And Masch almost conceded a penalty which might've been a red card (but he was so slow he didn't even foul the man). Then Barca's first goal was pretty lucky. But after that Sevilla folded completely (not hard to see how they lost to Leicester) and in the end Barca could've easily had more than 3 goals.
Camp Nou attendance 98,485 Sat 3 Dec Real Madrid 16:15 96,457 Wed 19 Oct Manchester City (UCL) 20:45 96,290 Wed 8 Mar Paris SG (UCL) 20:45 89,421 Wed 21 Sept Atlético Madrid 22:00 85.511 Wed 5 Apr Sevilla 19:30 83,884 Sat 4 Feb Athletic Bilbao 16:15 83,553 Sat 15 Oct Deportivo La Coruña 16:15 83,439 Sat 19 Nov Màlaga 16:15 82,914 Sat 29 Oct Granada 20:45 81,480 Sat 14 Jan Las Palmas 16:15 79,370 Sun 18 Dec Espanyol 20:45 78,675 Sun 19 Mar Valencia 20:45 77,117 Sat 4 Mar Celta 20:45 74,237 Sat 10 Sept Alavés 20:30 73,290 Tue 13 Sept Celtic (UCL) 20:45 72,334 Wed 10 Aug Sampdoria (Gamper) 20:30 71,803 Wed 17 Aug Sevilla (Supercopa) 23:00 71,455 Wed 11 Jan Athletic Bilbao (Copa) 21:15 67,734 Tue 7 Feb Atlético Madrid (Copa) 21:00 67,157 Tue 6 Dec Mönchengladbach (UCL) 20:45 65,731 Sat 20 Aug Betis 18:15 64,025 Wed 21 Dec Hércules (Copa) 22:00 63,378 Sun 19 Feb Leganés 20:45 58,560 Thur 26 Jan Real Sociedad (Copa) 21:15 56,605 Wed 1 Mar Sporting Gijón 19:30
Reposting the end of the thread starter to update the card count and to pat myself on the back for the 3-0 prediction. Yellow card count COMING OUT OF this match... 5. Piqué, Rakitic, 4: Sergi Roberto, 3:/8. Gomes, Alba, Busquets So no Pique or Rakitic away to Malaga, where I think Roberto might get carded before we host Sociedad, just a guess.
Has Umtiti lost a game this season? GREAT WIN...and that should put the nail in the Sampaoli to barcelona rumours
No Umtiti losses (or draws even!) in La Liga but he was right there for the CL debacle in Paris (4-0) and also the earlier debacle in Manchester (3-1): And in Copa he was also on the pitch for both battles with Atletico (win and draw) when they often looked better than us but we prevailed on 3-2 over 2 legs. And before that we lost at Athletic in Copa with him on, in first leg; and drew in Hercules in Copa with him on, in the first leg as well. So he has been part of 3 losses and 2 draws just not in Liga. After 20 Liga games we never even dropped points when he played (depicted below), since then I think he has played 8 of the last 10, we remain undefeated in Liga with him playing and we had the Granada win but also the Depor loss without him. So now with looks like 18 games, 18 wins 0 losses 0 draw, 12 goals conceded, 9 clean sheets. Without 12 games, 3 wins, 6 draws, 3 defeats, 14 conceded, 3 clean sheets.:
Sampaoli's team didn't win the last 6 games but kudos to Lucho for not being his usual self. Starting with strong "logical" team is so simple to do it, yet seems at times is difficult for Lucho and Unzue. Meaning, all he had to do is start with the strong team and not experiment by benching players like Raki, Iniesta and Umtiti. I'm glad you praised Messi although I forced you to do it. Next time, I hope we will see posts from you and Celito giving Messi his respect.
It's not so simple as just putting the 'strong logical' team out there. Look where Messi played in this match. He was firmly out on the right wing instead of in the center, which has always been a tactical mistake, IMO. Most of our best performances under Lucho have come when Messi accepts the RW role. He's just as destructive to defenses, so I don't know why he doesn't stick to it. Maybe he was fresher for this match after sitting out 2 straight.
You need to click the link, then press play, to see the cool 360 video of Suarez's goal but it is worth it I think: http://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/video-luis-suarezs-overhead-kick-sevilla-360-5955767
So you are saying Messi is the coach behind the seen and he is the one who chooses the tactics and position that he thinks is suitable for the team? Hmmm...
Not sure where you get that from my previous comment. In fact, I said "when Messi accepts the RW role" which implies he does get instructions from Lucho when he puts out the starting XI. However, it's been clear for years that Leo has a free role on the pitch. Lucho generally trusts that Leo has the on-field intelligence to know where he'll be most effective. He's a special player who's earned the right to play where he thinks is best. Playing RW seems like the best place for Messi, but it's probably too physically taxing for him to play for a full 90 every match. (It's no coincidence he had over a week of rest before Sevilla and was able to play out wide.) So usually he decides to drift into the center. Fine. Suárez is smart and versatile enough to adjust. But our attack on the right (Sergi Roberto + Rakitic) really suffers when Leo does that.
What do you mean? You said the word "accept". It means it's up to Messi to accept the position or not. Messi played on the RW most of the games under Rijkaard, Pep, Tito, Tata and first season with Lucho. The shift has been in the past two seasons only, so you know who to blame. Second, the departure of Alves is one of the reasons why Messi is not functioning in the middle. Alves provided cover for Messi, after all, his most prolific goalscoring when he played in the middle as false 9 under Pep, he went to score 50 goals.
Illusion -- It was only under Lucho that Messi finally went back to the RW that he first played under Rijkaard! Even then it was basically stated that he and Luis Suarez arrived at the conclusion themselves, that it was to everyone's benefit if Messi played wider (not so much that Lucho enforced it or was the tactical genius). Before that every big outside signing we had who generally played more centrally, was forced to convert to winger (Henry, Zlatan, Villa, Alexis, Neymar, Suarez at first). And this was all because of Pep realizing he could get more goals and more assists too out of Messi, his best player, by playing him as a "False 9". That was Pep's "master stroke" in Messi's evolution, and Tito and Tata and initially Lucho all saw it continue. It had Messi front and center, though often a bit less far ahead than the two other forwards (trying to find space between the lines). The other forwards would cut into the center to attack the goal, draw the defense, etc. as the fullbacks pushed up to maintain the width, and that was how and where Messi played when he broke all time goal scoring records for season after season. There are a million links about this switch, about the false 9, and about the switch back under Lucho after Suarez arrived (and his great friendship with Messi began and his suspension ended): beginning: https://genius.com/discussions/114381-Pep-guardiola-on-lionel-messis-false-9-position http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...late-night-phone-call-from-Pep-Guardiola.html evolution: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...celona-and-leo-messi-made-the-position-famous https://www.onefootball.com/magazine/false-nine-explained/ https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/rise-fall-false-nine-lionel-messi Switch with Suarez: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...d-lionel-messi-onto-barcelona-wing-to-become/
Is this reply to me or Inswinger? because I already mentioned all that you said in my post although briefly because that was the main argument. Messi switched at times between RW and middle as free-roaming role under Pep, but again under Pep he went to score a record goals (50) when he was played in the middle permanently. So being in the middle isn't that bad as some argued here but my point was when he was in the middle, he had the tactics in his favor with Alves covering the right side. Now, even if he is positioned in the RW he is forced to move to middle because he is not getting support from either (right side where Alves was, and the middlefield because of Lucho's tactics that not depended on the midfield anymore ).
Illusion - it was to you, I respect your knowledge and opinions, but your statement which made me respond was this: "Messi played on the RW most of the games under Rijkaard, Pep, Tito, Tata and first season with Lucho. The shift has been in the past two seasons only, so you know who to blame." That statement, by you, is what prompted my response - so I probably should have highlighted it when I quoted it but that was what I responded to as I just think it is wrong. I did not read back into everything you and inswinger wrote, not taking a side in that squabble. I just wanted to set the record straight: Under PEP Messi's false 9 / central role began, and it continued under Tito and Tata. only with Lucho back did Messi play RW again. That's not to say he never drifted wide right or even left, not to say he wouldn't be listed there in our 4-3-3 lineups, it is just not where he played (if you look at heat maps of player movement for instance). As far as your 2nd point in your post I quoted, about Alves's importance in allowing Messi to drift centrally, that is a great point. Our right side is way weaker without Alves.