That's a very general statement. Remember he blocked a shot from Ronaldo today 1 x 1. When a player cuts away and takes a shot like that from that distance, it's not easy to block it. Pique also has long legs and can be slow to react in those situations. Always been that way.
Honestly I think no matter who Barca brings in it will look the same, it wont improve overall but that the old style of play can become better. Barca keeps wanting to play same old possession style of play and who ever comes in will have to adapt. So all in all every player loses his style of play and characteristics, fast counter attack players become ineffective since they have to wait for the entire team to arrive around the box instead of going for goal alone. Players who shoot will look to pass instead of shooting (Asensio in Barca wouldnt score that goal he did tonight). What Lucho introduced and accomplished with the treble season is gone. Barca needs better signings but they need to change style of play from time to time too. To adapt!! LPB played brilliant IMO, they absorbed the insane passing around the box and countered with Marcelo, Isco, Bale, Jainaldo and it was effective. Luck? Please be realistic!! If you're lucky for that long then the devil is in charge. I have read alot of if Barca only had put that away, or had bite or scored first that things would have looked different. Naa its more serious than that. I think EV needs to change it around a bit from time to time. You cant squeeze more from an empty tube. Regarding signings! Insigne, Sanchez, Özil are on my list atm. Dembele and Coutinho will cost so much more that 222M€ and since 40M€ was wasted on Paulinho, I doubt Barca can bring in both. Did I mention Barca needs a change in the board?
If we think Pique could have done more then MATS could have closed his post more even if that shot was crazy good. I dont think Barca can win with a goalie like that. He makes too many mistakes and often leave his/both post open.
one of the reason is fan always want the team play like Pep's era. Keeping possession. No need. More direct shots(i.e paulinho)
Show Ronaldo away from goal onto his left foot. Nothing much he can do about Asensio, the shot was perfect. Maybe he could have done more to block the shot, he just wafted a hopeful leg at it, but that's just nitpicking. The midfielders should have done something about Asensio, not Pique. Your player in the right midfield slot did not try to chase him.
El acta arbitral, sobre el empujón de Cristiano: "Dicho jugador me empujó levemente en señal de disconformidad" https://t.co/cbiwMvjb38 How many games can he get for the push?
Asensio didn't really have any pass on, Casemiro was the only supporting player I think. His options was a distance shot or a dribble against Pique.
If he was in Barca he would have waited for someone to arrive so he could pass. The killer instinct is gone in Barca passing into goal style. They are more collectively rather than individuals in their way of thinking.
Probably true ... could have pushed Ronaldo outside. Still took a perfect shot. Yep I noticed right away Asensio ran without anybody tracking him.
You gotta have something personal against MATS. None of those close were even close to being his fault.
that shot by Asencio was crazy good...Mats was fully stretched and it found the top top corner...probably killed a spider on its way in in both goals Pique was one on one with a world class attackee and acres of space..thats essentially what the problem was
Rakitic has a decent distance shot. But your team always looks for Messi in those positions. With us, when the options are limited and there is no space for the atfackers to do anything, Casemiro is usually the one who has a speculative shot. An occasional distance shot from the deepest midfielders helps open a bunker defence who otherwise won't push out.
Sad to see the state of Iniesta versus Isco. Vidal was all energy, but very poor. Deulofeu very poor. We really need Inigo as well. Benzema went past Pique as if he wasn't there...everybody went past Pique.
It was a nice step over from Benzema. He is not going to be fast in the open run, but he can still be silky smooth with those moves. Ronaldo tried something similar and Pique blocked him.
I never liked him and never will. He also started bad yesterday, remember the wrong pass in the beginning of the game? Right to a LPB player... He makes too many silly mistakes.
With Neymar there and his dribbling ability, teams could not just focus on Messi. Now they can completely focus on Messi, because Iniesta -- as much as a legend that he is --- is not the same anymore. There were 2-3 instances where Deulofeu had the open space, where Neymar would have created some danger, and Deulofeu completely let the opportunity go to waste.
Deulofeu is going to keep trying to find Messi and Suarez in the box when he gets the ball with space on the wing.