This shit was to bad for words. Deco in my opinion is killing us and we sorely miss Eto`o and Ronnie. Milito`s absence was exploited even though Thuram had an OK game. And Messi is still very rusty. If Madrid wins I think you can probably count us out. I guess Henry was just out there to fall and ask the ref for calls. Man I am so ********in pissed.
It's ABSOLUTELY the team's fault. They played like they were up by 5 in the second half until Athletic scored then they played like they were down by 5. No urgency or composure, like they had already lost!!! I am so freakin' pissed right now They really need to get their heads screwed on right.
Lets not blame this on Thuram AND he be the scape goat for this. Its completely absurd . It was a good counter attack on Bilbao in which they capitalized and has some chances in the 1st half. It all started by Sylvinho and this is how this game goes. We needed more goals which didnt happen. Everyone gets my vote , is always so easy to blame it on one guy or our defense.
Our attack is shit right now . And I dont care how much effective football is better man ******** THAT We need to go back to the attacking free flowing football because thats what has one us the league and Champions league in years past. We play so slow.
Thuram is not the only one I am blaming, but he didn't play as well as he did against Villarreal and it is understandable, he is 36 years old, he shouldn't have started in the first place in my opinion, because Milito played even better against Villarreal... I am blaming the whole team!!! They all played like shet. AND I am not only talking about the equaliser I am talking about the whole game.... I'll re-read this comment after I calm down, if I do...
C'mon Yellow subs!! It's clear that just Messi is not enough. Of the Messi - Etoo - Ronaldinho trio, just one of them playing in form seems to be not enough. We use to wipe the floor with teams like Bilbao, now we are just getting ties. A team that attacks like that will always get a goal against us, the difference is that we are not putting in 2 or 3 or even 4. The attack is toothless, maybe it's too much to ask Bojan to grow up now (it is), but this is the month that we need Henry to give his most. There's entirely too much ball watching when Messi has it.
Lest face it this team has been Messi dependent for a while now. Nothing is new with our attack line begging with the 2nd half of last season. Having E'to out has really pout a damper for this team and not to even say how Guddy costed us games in which he could not capitalize in the begging of 07. If it wasn't for Saviola , we would have conceded more games last season which put us close to the title.. Unfortunately our type of play is very predictable and we really have no other way around into changing our FR strategical plays.
The distance with Madrid makes this a lot worse. Can't blame Thuram he had a good game until the goal. Match report - http://fcbnews.com/athletic-1-barca-1/
I dont what going on with us but, it seems like Real Madird`s attack is 10 times more potent then ours. they say we are playing effective football like Real and dropping the attractive football but a team cannot go and drop their own style of play and just adopt another and expect it to work. Our players are not meant to play like this way and it is ruining are season.
A bad but probably fair result that Monty called in post #41 (damn you mutant!). Obviously, FR is giving some weight to the Copa and the match this week and about 6 of Barca's players got battered during the first leg. Without Rafa (or Yaya) the back line was going to be somewhat exposed and then it's hard for the FBs to get up & help the offense much without exposing them further. I understand why FR didn't want to start Edmilson though, he's been out for so long & isn't so great when he's on anyway. I thought Zambrotta did a decent job of covering, Sylvinho, not so much. Again, there's something off balance up front and Eto'o and Ronnie aren't there. They're missing the chispa once again -- honestly it just seems more of a mental issue. The talent is there. We discussed the need for new tactics (i.e. FR moving on or a new asst or ???) before many times. And then they'll have a great match & we forget about the discussion...
Even if Ronnie is out of form, he still adds a little special something to the team (as malicia said, it could be mental). We were sorely missing Eto'o on attack imo.
I'm really starting to come to the conclusion that we need to move to some 4-4-2 or related scheme, basically, two up front. The 4-3-3 is too thin in the midfield and too static up front which is where Athletic took advantage of us. We need to win the ball and control the match from the midfield; with two up front we still have enough speed and skill to utilize an overlapping attack on the wings while controlling the center of the pitch. I think it's wrong to look at this match and point at the back line; it was lost in the midfield. Whatever happens, I'm Barça through and through and I'm sure we will prevail
I give an olé to myself. The three upfront being swapped for two... I'm still hoping that when Eto'o go back, that's two of the three we need to be fit and in form to still make a run for La Liga. Maybe until then FR tries two up front, maybe Bojan and Henry? Doesn't Messi play AM or RMF for Argentina sometimes? I guess it would still be the midget army. We need something, that's for sure. There was a mini-surge in the middle of the second half, but that was it. Nothing threatening Bilbao's goal after that.
I'm calm down now.. to be fair, it is a good result for athletic bilboa.. They play great against us and the team let us down.. They deserved to have draw.. From the start I think bilboa is more energetic and cause us more harm than us to them.. We have some good play but it was not enough. I just hope we beat Villareal in Copa at camp nou.. it's a must win.. Everybody should calm down, I know it's 9 points gap now but there is also 17 game left (if i'm not mistaken).. I'm not positive that Real will lost 3 games but we can't give up hope.. eventhough it bloody 9 points
It'll be easier if RM loses twice and we beat them at the Bernabeu so we'd be level on points and win through a tie-break (like Real last season). You can do all the math and include RM getting draws and such but that gets more complicated. All that matters is that the league is still winnable but we have to count on other teams to help.
Can we just run out 10 players until Eto'o comes back....Henry was useless. Oleguer would've been a better Left-wing today. Xavi sucking; Henry sucking; Sylvinho played well up until the 75th minute.