I swear to God, at halftime I meant to come on here and post "This looks to me like a 2-0 win for somebody. One team gets a goal about halfway through the second half; then, they get a second goal late when the other team is chasing an equalizer. I just don't know which team it's going to be." Sucks hard that it's them.
Keep the Faith. Or you can show your true colors by being "ashamed" to call yourself a fan of this club. Your decision.
Barca went into the game with the goal of not losing, instead of going in to win it. That's a cowards approach, Setien = Valverde. Busquets by far the worst player giving away too much. FDJ should play in his place. Barça had no midfield today.
All this can be wiped away if we regroup and focus on beating Real Sociedad next weekend and an overconfident/distracted-by-City LPB slip up vs. Betis.
The 2 teams currently resemble tribute bands, a pale imitation of the real thing. Our board has to go.
I agree with Messi being mediocre. Hate me, slap me, punch me, but man...I did not see one great penetration. Same time, Griz and Arthur ugh! This is where we miss a clinical striker.
I'd go into the dresser and slap everyone arrogant prick in this team and club the way they insisted with passing around as it was Pep era, building northing from the back. Just move on you arrogant pricks. Lucky LPB are so bad they didn't capitulate all those gifts from the back line, could easily have been a manita in Pique face.
Gonna have to do it the hard way. For the rest of the season I would try to integrate Breadandwater as much as possible as Griezmann is almost worthless in any system with Messi. A game that showed both teams have lost a lot of power in the final third. Could have gone either way (or a draw) . We had some chances and couldn't put them away. The second Messi chance was specially sad as his touch was right into Marcelo's path ... very unlike him. They found a goal off a deflection and that's the difference.
To be fair Messi was pretty average but he hardly got balls in threatening positions because they ganged up on him and dared our other players to do something. He had that one breakout against Courtois that he hit straight into him and every other opportunity he had was a half chance at best and he didn't have many to begin with. Alba was good in the beginning of the game but then got totally shut down by Valverde and Carvajal and Semedo also faded away as the match went on after a very good start. For the last 30 minutes of the game, we got thoroughly outplayed.
Let's be honest ... last Clasico we weren't good. We weren't even good last season when we beat them 3 x 0. Just relying on some clutch execution and Madrid's mental weakness. It's a 1 pt. league and now they have the edge but can go either way.
I thought Busquets was the best player on the entire field. Intercepted and won a lot. FDJ didn't do much other than a one-two with Griezmann in the first half and the through ball to Messi in the second half (stopped by Marcelo).
With us totally still in CL, and they able to focus 100% on La Liga after getting molested by Pep and City the other night.
Messi is actually injured. This is him limping before the game, trying to get off the team bus. He is having to play through it because the board decided we will be fine with a 15-first team squad. https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/01/barc...imps-off-team-bus-real-madrid-clash-12330058/
To be fair they are still in the CL too. A 2-1 deficit isn't something you can't overturn although it won't be easy at the Etihad. They will definitely put a lot into that match though.
We're lacking that spark that we used to had. During 2009-2015, our team was pressing really hard ,even when not winning ,we just keep the preasure on. These past few years, there's none of that intensity. I missed players who's willing to run all day like Masche & Alves. Messi definetely not up to his previous season standard , yet still ahead of everyone on goalscoring & assist chart by some distance. Suarez has been our best striker this season by far before getting injured. Griezzman has always been more of creative forward than a finisher.
Anybody miss Suarez yet ? Funny part is that we still had the better scoring chances. Messi (twice), Griezmann, Arthur, and Barrywhite all had clear opportunities.