J35 Liga BBVA | FC Barcelona v Villarreal CF | 10 May 09 | Pre/During/Post Match Discussion [R]

Thanks guys, and I would rep you both but apparently I need to spread the love first.

I think a "pre-match" thread for Roma is in order, but I think that CdR final may not exceed 500 posts so one thread may well fit all.

 

Crazy isn't it? 61 games it will be at the end of May in all competitions.

That's an average of 6 games a month.

 

Which is why I think they should rest almost everybody this weekend. It's all about mission treble now, even if that means dropping a few (meaningless) points in the league.

Puyol can play because he didn't start the last 2 CL games. Sylvinho should play as it will be good practice against a strong team in preparation for the CL final. Play Alves as a winger to give someone else a shot at RB in preparation for the CL final.

 

Possible line up?


--------------Valdes----------------------


Alves-------Puyol--------Caceres-------Adibal


-----------------Busquets----------


Hleb----------Xavi------Gudjohnsen-----Bojan


--------------ETO--------------

 

This is a decent line-up, I will be happy.Let's just no throw away the league because we're resting players for the cup final or with one eye on Rome.
League still the most important title in my eyes.

 

Just a random thought (it's Friday and it is very, very quite at work ), but if Barca do go into the Villarreal game knowing a win will secure the title, do people think that Pep should start with his strongest line up? I was just wandering how Mess/Iniesta/Henry (if fit), Toure etc would feel if they did not start that match, after having contributed so much to the season, and possibly missing out on the game that actually confirms the title?

As I said, it's quite.

 

Henry is good to go now?

 

hope we rest.....but we should still have enough to win.....AND GO VALENCIA!!!! give us la liga crown this week

 

If Valencia beat RM, does that mean that Barca wins the title regardless?

 

If LPB don't win (draw or lose) and we win, we'll have the title.

 

Exactly right, we are up by 7 plus have the tie break, with 12 points in play for both us and Real, so we need any combination of them dropping or us securing just 5 of the 24 total points at stake for both squads. So, if they tie, they drop 2 and if they lose they drop 3; combined with a win by us - our gain of 3, the title would officially be ours.

But, I have said it before, La Liga is ours, there is no drama left, we WILL pick up 5 points in our remaining 4 matches even if Real manages to win out. WE ARE AVERAGING 2.5 POINTS PER GAME for Iniesta's sake over the course of a whole season, we merely need to get half of that in our remaining 4 games. So Liga is won, Piquenbaur said as much in his joyous celebrating after the 6-2 thrashing.

NOW, IF Real drops points Saturday in Valencia, THEN sure I could understand making a little push to win on Sunday AT HOME, to wrap it up officially in the clam of Nou Camp. But even in the case of Real dropping points Saturday, I am Still all for resting a couple guys (Yaya, Iniesta, Alves, Xavi, really whoever is suffering knocks we may not even know about) so they are fresh for Bilbao. And I don't think any of those rested starters will be offended if they are not on the field at home vs. Villareal, should we happen to clinch the title then, no, they know Liga is essentially won and would rather play on Wednesday for silverware #1 (or #2 if Liga is OFFICIALLY wrapped up on Sunday).

 

I'm not officially celebrating until I see our boys lifting the trophy (hopefully at Camp Nou on Sunday)

 

I think this game is pretty important. Not only do we want to clinch the title at Camp Nou, we need this win going into the CdR final. We can't afford to be out of sync against Bilbao on Wednesday. They're going to come at us hard.

 

Goal.com is essentially predicting that we're going to win the title this weekend (they predict a Madrid lose and a Barca win). Hope they're right. They sure as hell weren't right last weekend

 

The bullet is loaded and the gun is aimed...we just need to pull the trigger

 

I've probably said it too much on these various threads but tomorrow let's play all of our support/Copa guys: Sylvinho and Caceres in D; Busquets, Guddy, Keita, Bojan in front. Hopefully we clinch the title and they feel that much more a part of the whole thing. Bigger point is that Liga is ours, so much more so after Real lost today, magic # is 2 and we have 12 to win, they have 9 more to potentially lose ----- it is OVER. Clinching at home is nice, clinching before Copa would be nice too, but nicer still if we do it while resting key players.

So, here's a lineup:

VV (or Pinto for sure if Pep decides VV needs to play Weds.)
Alves, Puyol, Caceres, Sylvinho
Busquets
Keita Guddy
Hleb Etoo Bojan

Eto'o for gettin form back and pichichi, but since Villa did not score today maybe rest him too and play pedrito or ???

 

No way dude, start the big guns and then do subs, we just cannot underestimate Villareal!

 

Yep - surely we should start with the big guns, although maybe line-up the possible CL final defence-line.

And yep - Eto'o getting his scoring mode on would be nice. Could use a goal from him in Roma you know.

 

I wonder if we'll start shooting from distance more often. Iniesta has proved a couple times in recent weeks that he can. Obviously everyone remembers the one against Chelsea midweek....but do people remember his goal against Sevilla?

Anyways, I would like to see most starters outside of Messi and Xavi play, with the possibility of them coming on at the half if need be. I don't really have a reason, other than I'd just like them to be rested.

 

We don't need to rest anyone. There are only three important matches left of the season and one of them is weeks away. Winning Copa final is not up to whether we can line-up the rested and ideal XI, but whether we fight well enough.

Anyways, no matter what I think - Pep made it pretty clear on the official site that we're gonna get the title tonight so I guess it can't mean resting anyone.