The Mendy Carvajal rotations are expected. Carvajal could barely walk after Wednesday and Mendy missed practice. Those are not tactical decisions. The surprise is benching Nacho, slotting Tchouameni back in favor of Modric when we’re obligated to play Camavinga at LB. No indication that Nacho wasn’t fit
Modric and Kroos back together...I get it, Tchou, Cama, and Fede are all playing, but oh boy...we rolling back the 4-2-2-2 from December?
Yes, agreed about the fullbacks, they are needed in the CL. I think most of us just have seen this midfield combination often enough to know that it doesn't work in 2024 and certainly not against possession based teams. But it is what it is, let's stand behind the team and finish the league today! Who knows the oldies give us one final show.
I mean you're tanking on one flank already with Raphinha vs. Lucas. Could have done it the other way and played Militao or Nacho at RB if that was a concern. Or Nacho at LB and Tchouameni at center and moved Camavinga to the midfield. There are multiple alternatives before getting to two midfielders at the back.
Speaking of Fran, Camavinga played 120 minutes on Wednesday and ran over 15km, the most kilometers on the team, and Fran still can’t get a game. Should be shipped out if he can’t be relied upon even under these circumstances
I think it’s clear at this point, Carlo doesn’t trust Fran. There is a reason why he wants us to renew Mendy even with the talk of Davies coming in the summer.
Fran looks very uninspiring to me, there was so much hype around him before coming, but he’s looked very La Liga average level right from the start. His crossing game however is good tbf to him.
Sid Lowe speaking truth. Barcelona have all The pressure. We are fine with a draw. Fine with a win and even with a loss our chances in the league are good
Actually, I'm not worried about the line up anymore. It'll be fine. We will ball the fcuk out regardless.
This line up almost seems like a barca line up. Even the defenders want to play the ball with their feet. Set up wise at least, it seems the exact opposite of the counterattack line up from Wednesday. Still, I'd rather have Tchou in dmid. It would free up cama to roam a bit. With modric and kroos in front of them, they will need to be defensively disciplined.
Tbh I would have kept Jude and Jr on the bench. Fran should have played, Nacho, Ceballos ,Joselu and Brahim too.
Yeah, the writing is on the wall for Garcia, at least for as long as Carlo's the manager. There's no trust there whatsoever. He got his chance early in the season when Mendy was injured, didn't really impress much, didn't do much better in spot duty later on...I suppose you can say that Tchou fell out of favor in the 2nd half last year and got a second chance during the summer and has made the most of it, but Tchou was an €80M transfer, Fran was a fraction of that, it makes a difference. Tchou was always going to get more rope for that reason alone. It says something when I didn't really know if I expected Carlo to go this route at LB, but that I fully agree with him doing it.
Man crazy that el clásico won’t be on tv I know the nba playoffs are going on but still. Gotto watch on espn+
The producer at ESPNFC asked all five Barcelona fans in the bar to crowd Kluivert to make it look like the bar isn't full of Madridistas lol.