PBP: UEFA Champions League | Matchday 1 | AS Roma v FC Barcelona | 16 September 2015 [R]

Discussion in 'Barcelona' started by Viscaelbarca, Sep 14, 2015.

  1. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Yeah, but a win in MD5 is no guarantee. Plus this isn't just a 2-team group. I mean, there's no guarantee that Bayer will drop points against Roma, for instance.
     
  2. Imperador3

    Imperador3 Member

    Apr 30, 2010
    Club:
    Aris Saloniki
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    I believe we played a good game, deserved the three points. Still not a bad result though.

    Nice to see Lucho defend ter Stegen for the goal : "Roma's goal is my fault, we tell our keepers to play like that. I guess they won't score another one like this against us."

    It was a great shot with pace after all.

    Hopefully Rafinhas injury isn't as bad as it looks as we don't have many solutions to come off the bench, can't wait to see what Arda can contribute to the team, he will surely get plenty of playing time.

    I would have liked to see Lucho give Sandro or Munir some minutes in a difficult game like this, the season is long and they will be needed (if we don't sign any more attackers in January).
     
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  3. Gilmango

    Gilmango Member+

    Jul 20, 2006
    San Francisco, CA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Somewhat to very good news re Rafinha, no tear per indicated per initial tests (which have to be confirmed by MRI tomorrow) in which case likely only missing 6 weeks. From Barcastuff's twitter with citations:

    Doctors think after first tests that Rafinha has no knee ligament tear, but more tests are needed tomorrow. [tv3 via @siquerodriguez]
    Rafinha would not have a knee ligament tear. If this is confirmed tomorrow, he would be out for around 6 weeks. [cope]

    Luis Enrique: "Rafinha's injury is the worst news of the day. had infuence on the game too. Tomorrow more tests, but it doesn't look good."
    Luis Enrique: "Roma's goal is my fault, we tell our keepers to play like that. I guess they won't score another one like this against us."
    Luis Enrique: "Barcelona not getting a penalty? Don't think that's news anymore..." #
     
  4. MavadoDribblez

    MavadoDribblez Member+

    Feb 7, 2008
    Ontario
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Should have been a win, especially with the amount of chances we had. Thought Alba was going to poke that one home at the end. I don't know, I know the keepers play a certain way, but MATS has now been caught out in what two of four or five matches now (Spanish Super Copa first match). I know it was a spectacular shot, but that's twice now. Anyhow, I'm not hear to put the blame on him, but the complexion of the match changed a bit after that. That being said, he did save a goal probably in the 23 minute where Salah was going to be clean through on goal (go back, if you still have the match taped - I think the clock said 22 minutes and something seconds).

    So, whatever. For the first time in a long time, I didn't really care about the result. We were much better than them, and barring injuries, I would imagine a comfortable win against Roma at home. They didn't seem that great, they basically copied Milan's game plan many moons ago in the Champions League. Messi had probably 8 or 9 shots with no goals....when will that happen again? Roma played alright, but I wasn't too impressed by them. Pique looked a little rusty in the first half and Rakitic was quiet, but overall I thought the team played pretty well.

    I feel bad for Rafinha, that was a dangerous tackle. Hopefully he is back playing by November. Gil, are you thinking of jumping ship to another forum? It has been really quiet lately. I was surprised before the Atletico match, that no one had really said anything.
     
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  5. La Magica

    La Magica Member+

    Aug 1, 2011
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nothing wrong with the tackle, just unfortunate that his ankle got tangled up in it.
     
  6. inswinger

    inswinger Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 17, 2001
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Fixed your post.

    It was a reckless tackle from behind that didn't even touch the ball.

    Rafinha was only lucky to be able to pull his foot out of the scissor motion of the tackle to avoid a horror injury.
     
  7. inswinger

    inswinger Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 17, 2001
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    @Gilmango @evil_allan @MavadoDribblez @unclesox

    You guys having a conversation within this thread about the relative quiet in the forum recently... For my own part, I've been very busy with work since the start of this season, as I think most of my fellow mods have been. So, please excuse the absence, esp. during matches.

    I, for one, do enjoy the level of conversation here and general camaraderie amongst the "ol' timers." I know a few regulars have gone missing, and that's only natural. It would be nice to attract new, knowledgeable (or at least eager to learn) culés, so if you meet any in real life or on other forums, invite them to post here. It won't take too many more regular posters for this to feel like a "full" arena of culés.

    We follow one of the biggest, and by far the best, clubs in the world, which is enjoying the best run of racking up trophies in its history. So there are definitely new fans out there, and old fans who want to share in these moments.

    Full disclosure: Of course, I'm a mod, but I don't get compensated in any way by BS to keep this forum populated with users; I just want to keep up the community here.
     
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  8. Gilmango

    Gilmango Member+

    Jul 20, 2006
    San Francisco, CA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks for another good post-match write up, I am NOT thinking of jumping ship to another forum, just was struck at the lack of posts forum wide but esp. the match thread and then checked Roma's to see 20X the activity. It made me wonder why we were less active. It is easy to say team X (ok RMadrid) has a million ignorant fanboys/girls, bandwagon fans, CR7 fans. But here we have the dominant squad of the past 1o CLs, etc. plus Messi, Neymar, Suarez, Iniesta, Pique, etc. and yet limited posts. Less posts than Real is one thing but less than Roma seemed odd. Now much of that limited posting is good. I'd prefer 10 posts of substance out of 20 to 100 posts where you are lucky to find 10 which are as thoughtful and/or where you already "know" the poster and their point of view.

    So I like Evil Allan and Unclesox's thoughts on the same topic, I will try to engage less in the whole issues of folks "hating/criticizing" a particular player, or loving one player so much that they seem to prize that player's stats over the team as a whole as those responses by me and others just fuel the monotony. While I'm all for fans of players or critiques of players I'm opposed to broken records of cheerleading and/or of criticism.

    I know I personally defend MAtS like I used to defend Pedro and defended Suarez before he hit his "stride" in terms of goal scoring (even though his signing worried me and seemed unneeded and effectively led to Alexis and Pedro leaving). I've also defended Bartra a bunch, and even used to root for Montoya and a whole bunch of players mostly from La Masia. But I don't defend them to other's detriment. When I defend MAtS part of that is he is a Barca player, part of that is he is good in many ways, BUT NONE OF THAT IS ANTI BRAVO. And I think that the ANTI player (and the redundancy) is what is making some contributors stay away. So I will try to be better and avoid these conversations. I do like this forum even if I go to other sources for Barca news as well.
     
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  9. Forzabarca

    Forzabarca Guest

    Sorry, feels like I gotta respond since I'm one of those who don't match the perfect criteria here.

    Come on guys, you can't expect a forum to be a afternoon tea hangaround with literate people and perfect English heaping praise no matter how their favourite team or players are performing. It's just silly to think you can have a all cozy time. Me and Puyol do like to be over the edge with our choice of words and attitude when unsatisfied but what makes me sad that even if we post something with substance that it goes by ignored and 5min later another more respected poster says the same thing in other wording and that's gets acknowledged in a way that it's distasteful for being a upstanding and grand forum/posters. Me for one like to hate on and heavily criticise someone but when I stand corrected I do not act like a stubborn old man but rather admit I was wrong (even if that doesn't happen to often [emoji12] ) I've done it with Lucho, Sergio Craperto, Pique and so on.. I think this forum is what it's supposed to be, all elements are there and I wouldn't want to change it. I don't come here looking for 10 posters who think exactly just like me so I can feel better about myself. We all grown ups who can use a keyboard and follow our favorite team with emotions, it's all part of it. Love, hate, happiness, anger, passion and sadness. We all do it cause we love our team and want the best so we can feel good when they win, if they don't cause we feel the coach and or any player let the team down then it's a given right to feel a certain way. We are not all Dalai Lamas!!

    Now on to just liking a player just he's in a Barcelona shirt that's not my cup of tea. I for sure wouldn't change my mind about CR, Costa or Terry just cause they would be in Barça colours, they'd still be despicable in my eyes.

    With saying that I feel the man of the hour MATS isn't consistent like Bravo and I honestly don't understand why he's nr 1 suddenly, it's just cause he got labeled/bought with a certain tag before Bravo did. If MATS would be sold I'd say good riddance, he's not reliable 24/7. I never liked his deal, I think there are better more solid GK out there that could do a better overall job than MATS, just cause he's in Barça I don't think he should be considered and earn a def/blind man's praises. It's just something in his Auora/behavior that will make him prone to more odd decisions that can cost the team even if makes 5 crazy saves before fumbling, and I'm not just talking about last night, it was a fluke but I mean overall and I'm sure many feel the same. So please let MATS mature and let Bravo play until you feel he's not performing well, it's unfair cause he's the better GK atm.
     
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  10. MavadoDribblez

    MavadoDribblez Member+

    Feb 7, 2008
    Ontario
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I know everyone is busy, I am too, that's why I almost never watch the matches live - and I miss out on commenting with everyone else (which is the best time to get repped for saying something funny :p). I don't think I have any football watching friends, except for a Juve fan, so this is a great place to come to discuss points of views. I have become really good at dodge the scores, which, to be truthful, is a lot easier where I live, then say, somewhere in Europe. So now that we know that I have very few friends lol....

    I'm in line with the whole fact that everyone can voice their opinion, and then everyone else can decide whether to react or respond to it. I think that now, MATS should be questioned as to why he has been caught out twice in 4 or 5 games, when Valdes played the same sweeper role for years. Yes, Valdes used to make some blunders too [I think the Juninho goal from almost the corner (was it a free-kick or corner?) in a 1-1 draw against Lyon], but I don't remember him being victimized twice by "perfect" shots. Only he will know why he was where he was (perhaps he feels the need to be overly aggressive in his positioning because our central defenders are slower). Like I said, he did save a goal or at least a breakaway about 10 minutes earlier because of his positioning.

    I listen to precisely two Spanish footy podcasts, and they talk about some good points there, I could perhaps bring those issues up here....but I've found in the past if I ask multiple questions, most people don't respond, or only respond to one question. Which is not to say anything negative about the forum, I think that's the best one can expect online. I think part of the problem is that I write paragraphs of notes and possibly most people couldn't be bothered to read it, which is fair. Though I would think nowadays with people bumping into you when walking in hallways because they are looking at phones, or taking selfies (anyone have a co-worker/classmate that does that everyday?), I would think people would have time to read forums a little more. If they are passionate about something.

    I think with trolls on the forums, they come in here and babble about stuff that happened in the past, the one incident, or whatever. It's not even just them, it's the broadcasting play-by-play personnel for networks during Champions League. They will say something like "Barcelona isn't good at corners", referring to 2 years ago.

    Just a random thought here, I can't believe how much crowds dislike Neymar in Europe. I know he juggles and dribbles and does tricks sometimes, but isn't that what they pay to see? I'd rather that then look at horror tackles. Some play-by-play announcers will call Ney frail or say that he has a tendency to "go to ground". The truth is Neymar gets fouled plenty of times, and he deals with it. Sometimes I wonder if they even watch Barcelona regularly.

    That's why I like the BeIN (not a worker there, just watch the channel) commentary. Whether you like Ray Hudson and the rest of them is your choice, but at least he/they is/are knowledgeable about the team. All of them are, because they watch the team week in and week out.
     
  11. La Magica

    La Magica Member+

    Aug 1, 2011
    Club:
    AS Roma
    He tried to slide from the side and wrap his leg around. Nianggolan has a low centre and has the mobility to do that type of tackle. As I said, he had zero intention to hurt the guy, it was just really unlucky to get his ankle trapped.
     
  12. barcaq8

    barcaq8 Member

    Jul 14, 2014
    Camp Nou, Barcelona
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Barcelona were unlucky, created numerous chanches. I wonder how they would deal with the injury of Rafinha since his season is clearly over. visca il barca
     
  13. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I think you're half right, half wrong.

    Right, in that he probably had no intention to hurt Rafinha. Wrong, in that he didn't have the mobility to do that sort of tackle (at least in that instance, which is what matters here). I mean the fact that he tried and failed pretty much proves that. He had mobility to try it, not mobility to successfully execute it.

    It's a matter of milliseconds, you either make a heroic tackle or you make a violent tackle, but tacklers should be smart enough to know that tackles gone wrong can cause serious injuries. That doesn't mean they can only try tackles they know will be successful, but it means that, despite everything, they have to be more careful than that. Maybe there was some bad luck - but it's not like it is luck that defines how you tackle - but more, there was recklessness from the tackler's part. :thumbsdown:
     
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  14. La Magica

    La Magica Member+

    Aug 1, 2011
    Club:
    AS Roma

    Fair enough point. The reason I said he has the mobility to do that is because he has done this type of tackle many times successfully in the past.
    I just read reports his knee may be the injury. Sorry to read this.
     
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  15. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I too think Bravo is the better goalie, and wouldn't mind him playing both Liga and CL. Not that I'm 100% against this rotation policy. We have tried it one season, and it worked perfectly, so while one season is only os big a sample size, it does tell something. Ter Stegen is obviously a solid goalkeeper, going through a bit of a rough phase.

    What I would additionally say is that Ter Stegen sweats, fights, and tries his hardest, all for the best of Barca. He might be limited in his abilities, but it's not his fault Barca bosses wanted to sign him. The aura/behavior thing is tricky, as different people see him differently. To me, he seems like a neutral-behaving young, ambitious footballer facing a task that ranges from very difficult to impossible: goalkeeping for Barca is tough job. Just a short while ago, Valdes had years after years stats and performances that equalled Casillas, yet so many people just blasted him. Sometimes, to me, it seems like goalkeeping for Barca is just like that cliche of goalkeeping: you only get noticed when you makes mistakes.

    I don't think we shouldn't criticize our own, but I'd say that if one criticizes a player in a discussion forum, not being bling to the positives sides of the player makes the criticism heard better. It's the same with fanboyism: some people go on and on about how player X is great but never criticize him - would be taken more seriously if the analysis wasn't so unbalanced.

    Either way, I hope you keep writing about Barca what you feel like writing. Cheers.
     
  16. Gilmango

    Gilmango Member+

    Jul 20, 2006
    San Francisco, CA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Crap, Rafinha did suffer a tear, torn ACL means out till March if not the entire year, both Alcantara brothers have now been unlucky with injuries. Worse possible time too given no Arda and Aleix and possibly others till January. Get well soon Rafinha.

    Re the forum all are welcome to post, I'm just going to try to avoid having the same conversations (Pro and Con) with the same posters again and again in thread after thread.
     
  17. unclesox

    unclesox BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 8, 2003
    209, California
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    In general, I support any/every player who plays for the club. In (fairly) recent times two players I disliked were Edgar Davids and Deco but as soon as they wore the Blaugrana I loved them.
    C.Ronaldo and John Terry are two I probably wouldn't care for no matter.
    When Rijkaard was sacked I very much was in favor of Mourinho taking over. But since the Inter Milan semifinal second leg and, especially, the eye gouging of Tito, Jose can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned. He's nearly on par with Figo as far as my hatred goes. (I know 'hatred' is a fairly strong word for some but I can't help myself. When I see Figo's face on tv I want to kick the tv in. Mou hasn't quite reached that point... yet.)

    With ter Stegen, Bravo is now injured so he becomes #1 by default. Bravo will no doubt take over the Liga position once he's good to go.
    But I felt ter Stegen was a bit unlucky from the start. He was targeted and signed in January 2014 when it appeared that Valdes would not re-sign. Then seemingly out of no where, Bravo was signed to replace Pinto. A great signing, no doubt. But it left ter Stegen, who had reason to believe he was brought in to be the #1, in a state of flux. He then got injured during pre-season and Bravo did well enough to hold the job for La Liga when he performed great.
    But I'd argue that ter Stegen has faced stronger competition: PSG x4 total, 2x each against Man City and Bayern, then the one-off against Juve.
    If we're going to nitpick performances, how about the four goals conceded to LPB in Bravo's two biggest Liga matches? Or allowing Villarreal to take a 2-1 lead only to be "saved" by Rafinha and Messi?
    Bravo's huge penalty save against Valencia certainly boosted his status, but despite Bayern scoring three goals in the second leg I felt ter Stegen made two key saves that allowed Barca to keep command of the aggregate score.
    For me, both have come up trumps when required.
    This is a reason why this season I said I preferred ter Stegen to play in Liga and have Bravo play the Copa/UCL. Switch up the quality of opposition and let's see how they perform. Maybe then we can come to a more definitive conclusion on both.
     
  18. Forzabarca

    Forzabarca Guest

    Makes the sale of Pedro look even more stupid now and those 30m€ maybe won't be worth anything in Jan if Barça fall too far behind. Very unfortunate and sad for Rafinha, just called to national team and then this nightmare.
     
  19. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Four goals against LPB really isn't that much considering Barca didn't play great in either match. 3 if you exclude the mandatory Penaldo. Did well to only allow 1 in the first-half of the match at the Nou Camp. That was one of the key moments of the league season because if Barca is losing at halftime, which they easily could have been since I don't even think they managed 50% possession at home in that half, the title race could have ended very differently.
     
  20. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    It's not like we made the active decision to sell Pedro, more like there was only so much we could do if Pedro wanted significant playing time and his buy-out clause wasn't sky high.
     
  21. Forzabarca

    Forzabarca Guest

    You can always "force" a player to stay... Look at ManU and De Gea [emoji23] [emoji23]

    Money shouldn't matter at some point but I think it was a gamble and sadly it starts too look like a bad one with all the injuries. There is for example no way imo that he would have been sold if ban was until summer.
     
  22. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    If there is a buy-out clause, you can't force.

    I think Lucho needs to take his trust in Sandro/Munir a step further right about now. Rafinha is solid, but it's not like he was a world-beater, nor even at his best in attack - and in midfield we still have fit Iniesta, Rakitic, Busq, newly confident S. Roberto who maybe won't play as much RB now that Alves is nearing recovery.

    But of course, we are until January way too thin in both attack and midfield, and should bring in an attacker in addition to Vidal and Turan, imo.
     
  23. evil_allan

    evil_allan Member+

    May 3, 2004
    Turtle Island
    true. but didn't the club lower his buyout clause from €150m to €30m back in June?
    that was a strange decision.
     
  24. Rana catesbeiana

    Mar 11, 2008
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I don't know if it was ever convingly publicly announced what was the change (if there was such) in the buy-out clause, but one would imagine that if indeed there was a radical lowering, it could have been something Pedro insisted on, as surely when he extended his contract, the possibility of leaving soon-ish was already real, and by extending with a low buy-out clause, he secured his future in Barca, but made it possible to leave as well. Dunno if this is the case, though.
     
  25. minuscapita

    minuscapita Member

    May 10, 2002
    Fremont, ca
    Club:
    Atletico Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    30m for Pedro is stupid cheap, he is worth at least 70m.
    Well, it's his fault for not having -inho at the end of his name.
     

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