I'm looking forward to the match now and I hope Barca will rise to the occasion. The dust of Sevilla is wiped off and we are looking forward. Last year we were defensive and played on the counter in the first half. This time around we are more confident and have the character and class to play attractive football.Football that the cules want to see and enjoy. This fixture is always enormous pressure on the Barca players and I hope it encourage the team and not be a burden on them. R.Madrid is scoring goals now again and our defense would have to be sharp. Oleguer played bad against Betis this past week-end.He must sort himself out otherwise Marquez goes in backline. Then we would have to play Gerard DM and he is lacking minutes so far this season.So Oleguer in backline then.What do u guys think? Damia will get the nod at Right FullBack if Belletti does not recover from injury. We need from Xavi and Deco to raise their hands and be counted in centre midfield and own the midfield to deprive Madrid of the ball in the centre of the park. Giuly and Ronnie can do the job on the wings with Eto finishing the chances. Our lead is 4 pts we must make it 7 pts. Visca El Barca
Referee for the match Alberto Undiano Mallenco. He did our first game against Racing. Did not see the game I cannot comment on he's style.
I hate to say this but teams are beginning to exploit Barca for a somewhat weak defense. Every goal they have given up in the last three games has been through error: The Bilbao goal, our defender let the #10 get through(the guy with the rooster hair and who almost borke Deco's foot prior to the goal), Ac Milan’s Sheva goal was an Oleguer error, The two Betis goals last weekend were results of defensive miss-hits. I feel the team is strong in outside defense, but down the middle there appears to be some vulnerability. Oleguer is making too many mistakes and I think his play is putting more pressure to cover his ass on Puyol. What I think Frank might want to try, and this is a long shot, but put MÁRQUEZ back in the middle with Puyol, assuming Belleti is healthy, move him back to his normal position. But what the big change would be is Damia in the defensive midfield, ball winner position. It may be out of position for him, but it was also out of position for Marquez and he did a fine job. Also, i think Damia since he proved during the Bilbao match he could win the ball and play some tough defense.. Lastly, is Figo not playing this Saturday since he just received his 5th yellow card of the term?
the defense isn't exactly weak. it's just that the style of play that barca uses leaves the team vulnerable to quick couter attacks, since the team pushes forwad so much. and since our defenders are only human...yes, even puyol is only human...they can be beaten if they are in a one on one situation. that's just the risk they take to play the kind of football that we all love to watch. so if i was an opposition coach i would tell my guys that the best chance we have of scoring against barca is to hit them with quick counterattacks and try to get into one on one situations with oleguer in particular. oleguer has performed very well, but he just isn't as good as puyol, we can't blame him for being beaten by players like shevchenko and joaquin. i do think the defence is a little stronger with marquez back there, but then i also think the midfield is a little stronger when he plays there, so it's more of a decision between oleguer and gerard. if gerard is finally back to full fitness this could be his chance to finally prove that he deserves to be in this team, otherwise i think he will be first in line to leave in the summer.
I agree the style of play does make the defense more suseptable to the counter attack. (i know this is getting knit-picky), look at a majority of mistakes at the back, I just feel Olguer may not be able to handle the center of the pitch with this style. As for Marquez in defensive mdfield, my only complaint is his shot selection. When was the last time you saw him score from outside the box. Too many times in the past few games, he has teed up from 30 yards and was way off, or shot a dribbler to the keeper. He needs to look for the pass first then the shot last, he isnt doing that. I almost want to say he can be a liability 35 yards in from the opponents goal, because he is not an offensive player (with the exception of corner kicks even then he is off target). Any way, I feel his place is on the back line next to Puyol. As for Damia, if you look at his distribution during the Bilboa game is was excellent. His role in the Real match would be too mark anyway, which would probably be a simple role for him anyway. I dont think Marquez is fast enough to mark someone, same for Gerard.
If we're talking about some way off shooting, I honestly can't beleive the shots Deco has been taking these last 2 games. I can remember at least two 18-20 metre shots that have completely baffled me, as he's supposed to be a very good long range shooter. To be honest, in purely offensive terms, I've been somewhat disappointed with Deco's output. Yes, he's provided the odd assist here and there (and that wonderous goal against Celtic), but overall, he's not being anywhere near the game deciding level that is being shown by Xavi, Eto'o, Ronaldinho...Too many giveaways, forced dribbles and some illadvised passes are hurting his offensive efficiency. What do you guys think? Are you satisfied with what he's providing to the OFFENCE?
Good assesment! FR comes in here.I see I might be wrong that Xavi is the one to push more forward and Deco is sitting back to cover the spaces. Last season Deco did well in the big games for FC Porto and Portugal and I sincerely hope he step up for this BIG game.He has the class to do it. I would love him to be more offensive and create chances.
i thought that, along with dinho, deco was our most dangerous player against betis. he did in fact get the asist for their only goal after combining well with dinho. he has had a couple of miss hit shots in the past couple of games, but to be fair, the whole team could have been better with their shooting. ronaldinho's shooting has been worse than deco's actually. i'm actually really happy with deco's performances, i think he's been one of our most consistent performers, along with xavi and puyol. it's not really fair on deco to only talk about what he's done offensively, because he contributes so much more than that. his offensive contributions might be better if he did less work defensively, but we need his defensive work so...
It will be imperative to play good team defense after Real Madrid lets us go up 3-0 after 15 minutes and then starts playing real football I mean, that's the story of their season. they always seem to go down by multiple goals early and then score in bunches
I think the key individuals who can ipact the game are..... obviously 'dinho needs to step it up, Eto'o needs to be on...and Valdes cant make any excuses. But V' Bronkenhurst and Guily need to be solid....Gio usually is, but he will be essential in taking Roberto Carlos out of the game, with his runs down the line, this will force teh Brazilian to play defense for once. Guily has to force the defense to spread apart, this will create the holes dinho needs.
I'm 100% with you that he brings so much more than an offensive game, and I mentioned that specifically a while ago. However, I was talking in purely offensive terms. I hope he's freed up to more creative duties, because I don't beleive he's showing all what he's capable of in that area. That's where the Davids thingie comes in (pls pls pls)... Dinho's 1st ever Camp Nou Classico, look for him to take his game to the next level.
And the build-up continues...for those newbies to the rivalry...this is what those of us who have followed this through the years call Nostalgia... http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3168640
ouch worst attempt at spelling gio's name i have seen yet... i guess thats why he put 'gio' on the back of his shirt rather than... van bronckhorst... did you know gio is of mostly indonesian descent? i lived in jakarta for 12 years and i love gio for being mostly indo... hes the bomb...
I have a feeling he got this spelling from Winning Eleven's Japanese announcer, cuz that's exactly how the guy pronounces it...
I always love the stories Soccernet post a few days before "El Clasico" http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=316744&cc=5739
Deco speaks about "El Clasico", Figo... http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20041118/NOTICIA182619752.html
I'll go with 3-0. Real hasn't been able to buy goals this year. And Albecete's idea of defense was amatuer at best. I don't think Real's going to score. Plus, they're still juggling things around at the back. Samuel's due for a big mistake.
i hate to post where im clearly not wanted, sorry....but what is the situation with puyol is he fit for the match, he missed the game last night?
There was a release from Barca this morning, stating Puyol is fit to play saturday, although it has been confirmed Gerard will miss the contest.
does anyone know how I can get/watch the game in Texas...if its on payper view or anything of that sort?
2-1 Barca for me. Real to score first in a tense first half, then Barcelona to come firing out of the blocks in the second and shoot two quick-fire goals. Have a funny feeling that Larsson will score (is he fit for the game?) well if so, he will score. Knows what's its like to score big goals in derbies.