PBP: J1 La Liga 12/13 | FC Barcelona v Real Sociedad | 19 August 2012 [R]

Pumped up already! Time to start getting our title back.

 

Not an easy game to start the season with, Sociedad have made it very difficult for us in our last three meetings. Our first slip up of last season came against them, hopefully that trick doesn't get repeated this time around.

Based on the pre-season, I think several players did well individually to get their shape and fitness back, but some have also still struggled with injuries like Puyol and Adriano, both of which had the same problem last season. That is a worry and we all saw how injuries affected our season last year. Luckily though, we don't have as many injuries at the seasons' start this time, and most of the players that are out on the sidelines are expected to be back in the next month like Puyol, Thiago, Cuenca, and Jonathan dos Santos.

The defense picks itself for this game. Alves and Alba bombing up and down the flanks as the fullbacks with Mascherano and Pique forming the central defensive pair up. Adriano, Montoya, Fontas, and Bartra stand by in case of injuries, and I would probably have one of the latter two come on at some point during the game to gain more experience with the first team.

The midfield is a little less easier to predict, but it should be the three that have been the cornerstone of our success in the centre; Xavi, Busquets, and Iniesta. Luckily Xavi doesn't have to go to Puerto Rico for the international friendly so he should be ready to go for this. Cesc, Jonathan, and even Sergi Roberto are the stand-bys in case we don't start with our usual three in midfield.

I would go with an Alexis-Messi-Afellay trident up front, because that's the attack that we've mainly tested and tried out during the pre-season (we started with those three against Raja and PSG, and it worked out pretty well imo) and they are the best options to start this game. Villa isn't fully match fit, Tello isn't good enough to be a starter at the moment, Cuenca is injured still, and Cesc doesn't seem mobile enough for the position. I think that's our best possible attack for this game and we should go with it.

Valdes​

Alves Mascherano Pique Alba​

Xavi Busquets Iniesta​

Alexis Messi Afellay​

​

Not the one who likes to make predictions, but would like to start the season with a healthy win and three points.​

 

^ Otherwise good, but swap Cesc in for Afellay IMO.

 

Azulgrana I think your formation is great. Afellay had a good game against Dinamo Bucuresti and deserves to play. Maybe swap him for Pedro at half time, or vice versa. Pedro has participated in preseason too...

 

afelay did pretty well in preseason, enough to justify keeping him in the squad. but cesc is still ahead of him in the pecking order, for sure. i think this is our strongest side at this point:

-------iniesta-----messi------alexis-------
----------------cesc-------xavi--------------
--alba-----------busquets-----------dani--
----------masch-----------pique------------
---------------------VV-----------------------

i prefer iniesta in midfield too, but villa isn't ready yet, pedro is still struggling for form, cuenca is out injured, and afellay still has a lot to prove. add to that the fact that iniesta just won MVP of the euros playing on the LW in a similar system. a lot of that had to do with his partnership with alba, who really does change the balance of the team and allows iniesta to drift inside and deeper into his preferred area, which also allows cesc to rush forward more freely. cesc also had a strong euro and adds a goal threat from midfield, so it's hard to imagine him not being one of the first choice XI

another option, using the same players:

---alexis----------cesc----------messi---
--------------iniesta---xavi---------------
--alba---------busquets-----------dani--
-----------masch------pique--------------
--------------------VV----------------------

 

^ Agreed. As for which of Iniesta and Cesc is put to attack and which to midfield I think it works both ways, but maybe prefer Iniesta in midfield.

 

So excited. Here's to a healthier year!

 

You make some good points about Iniesta and Alba supporting him, but we need goals. We need 3 real forwards. We CANNOT have the same problem as last season. We need our goalscorers to pick up form early in the season. I say give pedro a shot. The guy will get back to goal scoring ways...he just needs a few goals and some confidence. Cesc is a great impact sub and brings something different to our game, and that's what he should be used for.

I don't think you'll see Alba bombing up the flank too much anyway, as Masch positioning isn't always the greatest. Not bashing masch, he's been outstanding at CB most of the time...

 

I dunno if we need 3 real forwards (it's opinion thing anyway, not a fact). I like Pedro getting lots of time, but dunno if he should ahead of Cesc. I mean when opponent's defs have gotten tired and slower, it sure is better to bring in a fast Pedro than Cesc to run all over them. 100% disagree with the idea of "Cesc should remain a sub". Also I'd predict Alba to bomb up quite a bit, probably close to how he plays in Spain NT.

 

As a neutral, i'll say Cesc over Pedro or Affellay any day. I don't know of any player who'll like the idea of being an eternal sub

 

Yo imma let you finish your post, but Barcelona is is one of the best teams of all time, so just stop being "a neutral" and join us on our season to the Liga title.

 

rana

Since we haven't fixed our CB problems, it's imperative that we play 3 real forwards this season. Our CB problems last year wouldn't have been exposed if our forwards were not injured/on form and were scoring goals.

We aren't going to sign a CB so we will need goalscorers to compensate.

 

He's lucky he gets to start so many games with his clueless positioning in midfield.

 

Since we lack depth in CB department we need to jam three strikers into starting eleven? Makes no sense to me.

I'm not suggesting we shouldn't try to score more than we did the last season, but I don't think giving Pedro and especially Afellay minutes at the expense of Cesc is a good idea. Pedro - when in the peak form - is a lethal weapon and has all the possibilities to be a regular starter (like he used to) but I guess we can only see how everyone does - as there are enough minutes for everyone to prove themselves.

 

You know who's positioning in midfield is clueless?

 

I don't see how that's considered jamming 3 strikers into the starting 11. If you look back to 2 years ago, that was the best barca team in history. And who did we have up front? MVP. 3 strikers.

What you're suggesting is "jamming" cesc into the best midfield in history. Somehow I get the feeling you don't have a grasp on our team's weaknesses from last year...

The reason I said using 3 strikers to compensate for a lack of CB is simple, we need to score more goals (because we will concede some), and those goals need to come from someone other than Messi. We could have won a treble last year without a real CB, if someone else was banging in goals.

 

He came out himself and admitted that he was clueless in midfield and needs time to adapt, so I don't know why you're defending him.

 

Well, obv different groups of players in different shapes make different XIs. If we had MVP in mint condition today, sure, great. I don't suggest Cesc into midfield, I'm saying he should play in the attack with Messi and Alexis, with a midfield of XIB.


Last season we scored 190 goals in 64 matches. That’s 2,97 per match (which is a number that doesn't belong to a "weakness" category). I get that we didn't win Liga or CL, but I dunno how much we need overestimate our "weaknesses".

I get the logic of needing to score more if we concede more, just don't agree that benching Cesc is the way to score more.

 

No he didn't. He admitted difficulties and the challenge of adaptation, which is far enough - but to read it as "clueless", come on..

Btw, do I need to remind you he was our (joint) second best goalscorer last season in Liga+CL+CdR? Maybe.

 

Fair enough. As long as iniesta is in the midfield...I don't mind Cesc playing higher up the pitch. It's his midfield play that bothers me.

I don't think I'm overestimating it. Messi scored 50 goals last season in la liga and who was the next best contender? Sanchez with 11 LOL. That's a big weakness if you ask me. Not entirely our fault though, villa got injured and pedro lost form at the same time. But that's the weakness I'm talking about. I mean look at Madrid and compare....

 

Well, he wouldn't have been wrong if he used the word "clueless " lol

 

Real Madrid scored seven more goals than us in Liga last season. Not that huge a difference, and the goal difference is even smaller given we conceded less.

I completely agree though that it would be good if the goals weren't that heavily scored by Messi (but LPB has similar-ish "problem" with Cristiano). To injuries one can only do so much, but with Pedro's dip in form Pedro and Barca can only look into the mirror as if we don't play well, it's your own fault.

 

Believe what you want dude, I mean if you think he was that bad then there's not much I can say.

I stick with Pep (who decided time after time to field him) and stats (which show he played pret-ty well) and with the general feel of Cesc, who seemed to enjoy his initially challenging first season in Barca pretty much. You can stick with some illusion of cluelessness if you want.