Agree with most of what you said but did not think Denis looked too bad. He is no Iniesta or Coutinho but I think is still a valuable squad player at Barca. Maybe I have to re-watch, but I thought he tried do good things on offense, and worked hard on defense. Sport only rated two players higher (ter Stegen and Paulinho got 8s), and 2 starters and one sub on this level: Denis Suarez 6 - Started well but faded after that, albeit showing he deserves to play more than he has done.
Yeah, I am confused by that high rating. If you look at Celta's best chances in the first-half, most came directly from turnovers of Denis, including the 1-on-1 that Gomez had (and really should've scored with). On offense, Denis played a give-and-go with Coutinho but it always looked extremely awkward (the opposite of fluid), and not because of Coutinho. Just checked whoscored.com and they rated 8 Barca starters higher than Denis (only Gomes and Vermaelen were lower).
Fair enough, I think he has been bad/unlucky in front of goal, but obviously has some skills technically and an understanding of our offense. Of course I thought Vermaelen played a decent game too, so maybe I just don't know anything (at least compared to the whoscored crew). Given that I think Iniesta is leaving, and Arthur may not arrive / be able to join till January (unless we loan out Yerry plus that man called Douglas) due to the 3 non-European passport limit in Liga, I would like to keep Denis around, as a loyal (and well paid) squad player. I do hope we sell Gomes at long last esp. if we can get 30M (fingers crossed), and I hope Inter makes the top 4 in Italy and they do have to buy Rafinha for 35M (fingers crossed again), also hope someone buys Arda so we are not just loaning him out and actually get a small fee. And while I hope we promote Alena I look at next years midfielders and see this (if Ini leaves, Rafi and Arda stay away, and Gomes sold): Busquets, Coutinho, Rakitic, Denis (if not sold), Samper (if not sold/loaned), Alena (if promoted), Arthur (once he joins), Roberto (if freed of RB duties permanently or occasionally), and whoever I am forgetting. So that leaves Busquets - auto starter at DM, backed by Samper? or Oriol Busquets (barca b)? or Raki/Roberto combo?; dual pivot assuming EV still coaching - Rakitic, backed by Paulinho? or Denis/Alena/Roberto?; left attacking mid - Coutinho, backed by Denis, Alena, Roberto; right attacking mid - Dembele, backed by Paulinho, Denis, Alena, Arthur when he joins. Point is not alot of minutes for Denis but if he is happy to stay why splash out millions on another mid who may not even adapt to Barca any better.
well we played Tuesday and only got 1 point, they play tomorrow (so they briefly have a game in hand); then on the weekend they play in Liga again, but we play Copa final (so then we have a game in hand), then the following Sunday 4/29 they play an afternoon game before our night game (so we momentarily have two games in hand). So if they get all 9 points they'd be within 3 points of us, but we'd have 2 games in hand. So unless we let it get to us psychologically it's not a big deal. By end of April 29 we'll just have a game in hand. And by May 9 we'll make up the game delayed by Copa final.
Was coming here to post about Sergi's red card. The good news is that it was nonviolent (merely cynical or tactical) so seems to only be one game suspension in Liga. So he misses Depor match and not Copa final. The more nuanced question is was it a good play? He prevented a goal scoring opportunity with a tactical foul, leaving us holding a 1-2 lead but down a man for 20 minutes. He was smart to foul outside the box and the free kick came to nothing. But if he was close enough to foul couldn't he have pressured Aspas without fouling? And shouldn't he have had some faith that ter Stegen could likely stop Aspas? So was his calculation correct? And was it all too cynical to foul there? There's a whole reddit discussion about it which brings up all kinds of prior instances (mostly non Barca related). https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/8czrw1/sergi_roberto_red_card/
I’m pretty sure Aspas would’ve scored. I guess Sergi would know best if he could’ve caught him enough to disrupt the scoring chance, but given his choice to foul I assume he didn’t feel that he could have, despite having fresher legs. I don’t think I agree with the tactic given that the “B” team was playing. B team with 10 men made the last 20 minutes extremely one-sided, especially since we had just made 2 offensive-minded substitutions. And the free-kick resulting from the foul could’ve been a goal too. But of course he didn't have much time to think.
I think protecting the lead was the better option, being man down 20 minutes in football isn't that big of a deal. And it most definitely would've been a goal.
Gomes had a very bad game, many counters came because Gomes would try and pass to dembele who waits for the pass which is not quick enough and aspas gets it and goes blitzkrieg on the counter. Either dembele reaches out in front but he had no idea when Gomes would pass and how