Ferran is such a dumbass. I don’t even understand how you beat your man and the dribble right back into the incorrect direction you sent him
2 off the post and then that silly bounce off a joselu disaster touch just wasnt meant to be also maybe dont try to massage a one goal lead for 45 minutes
He provides literally nothing. The lack of any kind of creativity offensively has been glaring for weeks. No one will take anyone on with a dribble, no one in the midfield can find a runner. There is a significant lack of width or threat from the flanks.
had the privilege of not being able to watch today, but let me guess... glacial pace in attack with a bunch of pointless possession with little player movement acres of space between the lines, thus making counters easy to come by and build up play exceedingly difficult seemingly no plan whatsoever in any phase of the game
For the life of me I don't remember a year that we've consistently passed back more than this. Build up is too slow, RL gets no kind of service what so ever. I was hopeful with the start to Ferran's season, but he's been shit, Felix has cooled off, I don't remember the last time Cancelo did anything of note. Balde was the only guy showing any urgency when he came on yesterday. Just seems like somewhat simple tweaks have been needed for a couple weeks and yet the performance looks the fuckin same every match.
We need Frenkie back in the worst way. The whole squad minus a few guys looks like shit. The only player I enjoy watching is Lamine
Kounde is a fucking joke. If he’s going to bitch about us playing him at RB again, then ship his ass off because he’s an absolute liability in the middle. Araujo should only be playing outside if it’s to lock up someone like Vini.
I’ve seen more of this lately, what’s the deal? Who do the fans want if they were to hypothetically move on from Xavi (which obviously isn’t happening)
its a rudderless team with no obvious identity or any cohesive plan from game to game. the only consistent thing the squad brings is refusing to play defensive possession football to close games out and instead play this scrambling defensive style where they dump long balls and invite pressure players are rarely put into positions to help them succeed - today our 16 year old winger spent the entire first half isolated by himself against two defenders, so obviously nothing to offer from an entire side of the field in attack large chunks of possession are spent with midfielders or cbs standing and knocking the ball side to side while nobody moves up front there are often gigantic spaces between the lines, so quality build up play is hard to come by (and often comes from frenkie driving the ball forward, which he excels at, but obviously is problematic if he gets injured) and they are particularly exposed to counters, meaning most teams defend them the exact same way, which leads to repeats of everything above no idea if there is any sort of popular replacement candidate, dont spend enough time in those spaces - would assume someone like garcia pimienta though. and im sure michel would obviously be a hot name at the moment
are the tactics/philosophy to be blamed more than the lineup and personal selections? I know Barca has had some injury issues and the transfer limitations are well documented but given those constraints (and the fact that he won the league last year) I cant see how people should be calling for his resignation already Plus would Arteta even be a possibility? I know he came through the youth system but he never actually made the first team did he? And spent the better part of a decade at Arsenal so seems like that might be a tough pull
the roster obviously isnt perfect and has a ceiling, but its nowhere near a level where 0.05 xg in a half (and one shot on target in 90 minutes) against shakhtar or being miraculously lucky not to be down 3-0 at the half at home against alaves should be in the realm of possibility, yet both of these events occurred within 5 days of each other (with frenkie being the only major piece still injured) and not sure where arteta is coming from - michel is the girona manager regardless, only way i see him getting canned during the season is if they flame out of the group stages again. but hell make it pretty shaky for himself next summer if they dont show a marked improvement in quality of play and end up with a 3rd/4th place finish and knockout round exit
a stoppage time penalty to save Barca from dropping points to a team from the bottom half? Liga is officially back folks