About the worst half of football I've seen (in La Liga). 3 shots total from both teams (2 from Barca) and none on target.
I was concerned that theyd be flat after the CDR effort. I just hope they haven't left it too late to rescue this.
An important result. Too close for comfort, for my liking. Gotta get Ferran some confidence, and then find a solution for the #9 this summer.
Bilbao was f**** pathetic for what they did to the pitch And it bit them in the a*** as the defender slipped in front of Yamal
Not the prettiest win, but a very important one between two tough matches. I learned during this match that the xG stat is pretty useless. Barca had 0.05 xG in the first half. Yeah, wasn't a good half offensively but that chance for Ferran was easily 10-20% scoring chance on its own.
Maybe because he sent that "shot" so wide that it went away from the end line, like a cutback pass. So the system didn't even register it as a chance.
So, if a team has a 2-on-GKer breakaway and they mess it up before getting a shot off, it counts as 0.0 xG? I thought the xG stat was more "intelligent" than that.
We thought Ferran was more intelligent than that, but here we are... If the stat gurus start inferring what should have been a shot vs. a pass, it opens it up to too much interpretation. A ball not even heading toward the end line shouldn't count as a shot no matter how obvious it was that he was trying to shoot.
Its not about deciding whether its a shot or not. Its about assessing how good the scoring chance is on a scale of 0 to 1. Anyway, I don't want to drag this discussion out. Just surprised the xG statistic didn't incorporate something that doesn't seem so difficult to do
Last match at Sevilla, Araujo gave up a 1st minute PK. Sevilla man-marked Pedri out of the game, and lazy Olmo did not come short to alleviate the press. Or perhaps, Flick failed to adjust to Sevillas approach. Here's hoping better outcomes are afoot today. Olmo, move your fvkcing feet. And defense, do not do stupid sh!t today.
Watch Sevillas #18. If he follows Pedri all across the pitch, it suggests that they have the same game plan. Also, their early press to challenge Espart and Maldini is meant to force an early mistake by Barca. Every opponent tries the press early in games against Barca, hoping for Barca to concede early.