although it was interesting to see the title of their OT thread: Llourinho's Scapegoats and Van Gaag's Philosophy - The Other Teams Thread
I loved it when one guy said that Mourinho makes ugly teams. Then after when talking about somethng else he mentioned how Barca was dirty during the same time
That's how I remember it too. He'd probably like to change his name to Bravo but his quota of name changes may have run out.
condolences to Leverkusen btw. they played incredibly well and deserved at least a point out of this - probably more. but Suarez came up big in the end there and Lucho's subs - Roberto, Munir, and Alba - really turned the game around for us
Perhaps. I just know that as a Cologne fan I got double my pleasure today. (Bayer 04 are fierce rivals of Koeln)
Good result, and not a horrible performance all round, although at times Leverkusen really troubled us and the win sort of flatters us a bit. Iniesta's injury
I mean wth!! 0-1 and looked like a segunda team that was all over the place then in 2 min your Hercules!! You cant write this kind of stuff, just unbelievable!!
They did play well and frankly, with Roma losing in Belarus today Bayer got all that they really needed on the day. They gained 3 points on their rival to advance. Sure they could have gotten a point or even three but we dominated shots, shots on target, chances, possession. We were not great but the English announcers I was listening to basically blamed Chicarito for not making it 0-2 when Barca had many chances to make it 1-0 or 1-1 before we finally connected.
Credit to Lucho and his subbing today? Serberto, Munir, and Alba were all critical. Not a tough choice, though. If Lucho had brought on Douglas or Gumbau the pitchforks would've been out.
That's an interesting way of looking at it. Three points dropped by Roma = Three points gained for Leverkusen. They play each other the next two matchdays. Would love to watch if Barca weren't playing simultaneously.
Im glad we got the results but lets face it, this team morale is crap and Barcelona got lucky today not to be 3-0 down. Seems all results are balancing on a edge of a knife.. if Sandro would have scored it would maybe a walk in the park.. instead Leverkusen score from a ********up in defence and then team is in pieces but luckily manage to stay in the game.. then a few things go teams way and its 2-1. Id take this type of game anytime as long as they win but they need to shape the hell up.. I know there is alot of injuries but today line-up was solid in midfield and defence but still they were acting like nervous amateurs. Hope this boosts the team.
Iniesta reportedly out for Sevilla with hammy injury. Looks like it's a midfield of Busi, Raki, and Serber.
What I love about that winner: no BS, passing the ball into the net, just a great hit by Suarez. That's why we signed him. Some clutch goals from him.
Why should we assume we're going to bag 6 points from two matches vs. BATE? Things could take another turn very easily...
was more impressed with Munir dribbling than the shot although he did very well taking that step back to prepare for it , from that range i don't think anyone would miss really but with how people here treat players well ... any save from MATS becomes an insane superman effort and any goal from a shot inside the box becomes an amazing quality strike. that being said i promised i'd lay off the criticising for 1 game for him and the others ... MATS not included though
Yeah specially with the way they attack , 4-5 players in the box and with our defense it might be a disaster
That's a bummer but if it is only Sevilla (and maybe some International duty) which he misses I will take it. Raki and Busi for sure, S'berto likely after today's super sub role, but could also see Masch move on up to DM and Busi up to AM.
Whew, what a match. Hats off to Bayer who really played some attack-minded, counter-attacking football. For the first 35 minutes I was wondering what I was watching. It didn't seem like they could keep the intensity up that high, but they were clearly better in the opening half. Defence was all over the map. Great comeback by the team. At one point in the match, the goal attempts were 9 apiece, but close to the end it was 19-9 for Barca, and I don't think that counted Munir's chance (chip?). Lucho may not have expected their game plan, but he gets a 10/10 for the subs. The most gutsy was probably putting Roberto on for Rakitic. Just because Roberto has been really good at the wingback position, but not midfield this season. He came through, wow. Don't know if any of you remember, but I said against Roma that I wasn't really into the match emotionally and the result was "meh"....but after Messi's injury and us staring down a defeat at home which would leave us with one point, I was really worried. Roberto's goal was the loudest I cheered in a while. Suarez had a brilliantly taken goal, absolutely world-class. Neymar had a so-so match, he had a few chances to score. He is necessary for the team to do well, as he takes on defenders at any time, and provides a more direct route to goal. His shot on the half-volley was where I thought it wasn't going to be our day. Munir has impressed me with his passing in the past couple matches. He got it wrong a few weeks ago when he kept shooting, but his pass to Suarez was great in terms of his decision-making. He recognized Suarez was unmarked, and rather than take a shot on goal, he laid it off. I think Sandro wasted his opportunity. He had two really glorious chances, and one good chance to score and he didn't take any of them. Enrique seems to favour Munir, and now I don't think anyone can blame him. Rakitic and Pique missed headers, Neymar had a shot hit the post, and then one of Sandro's shots was saved off the line (off the rebound). The list went on and on. Bayer obviously tired. I think their only chance in the second half was Hernandez's skied shot, which was what, five minutes in? Anyway, they had a game plan and it almost worked, but they were just trying to ride out the match. Huge three points in the group. Edit: I wrote a novel, and forgot to praise Alba, who is clearly better than all other defenders we have based on form. The outlets he creates and the pace he has, definitely gives opponents something to think about.