Barcelona

SER19

Full Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2008
Messages
13,779
how good are they this year?

League

played 14

won 11
drew 2
lost 1

scored 44!! :eek:
conceded 9


champions league

played 5

won 4
drew 1
lost 0

scored 16
conceded 5

so in 19 games theyve scored 60 goals! and only let in 14. i dont get to watch spanish football that much so those of you who do, how impressive have they been and who in particular is doing the business?
 
Everyone is contributing well but the main actors are Messi and Eto'o. The loss of a great player like Iniesta isn't even noticed
 
kouroux said:
Everyone is contributing well but the main actors are Messi and Eto'o. The loss of a great player like Iniesta isn't even noticed
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They even scored 4 without Eto'o yesterday who's scored more goals than he's played games.
 
They have a great chance of winning it all this season.
 
so they definitely have what it takes to knock out the english teams in the cl? eto'os record is phenomenal this season
 
SER19 said:
so they definitely have what it takes to knock out the english teams in the cl? eto'os record is phenomenal this season
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If the matches were played now, they'd beat all of the 4 English clubs IMHO.
 
Sam#1 said:
If the matches were played now, they'd beat all of the 4 English clubs IMHO.
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and how is xavi doing? still as good as he was at the euros? would love united to get them in a final, things are more tactical and edgy over two legs but if either side tooka lead early in the final it would be some game.
 
Xavi's class, as always. He's just a fantastic footballer, makes the game look easy and chips in with goals as well. Possibly the best centre mid in the world atm? Thoughts? For me he's right up there
 
kouroux said:
Pool and their luck (cheating) :p ?
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im hoping that by the looks of it theyre actually making an effort for the league this year so wont do what they did in 2005, come 5th and win it. also i reckon these 3 would knock them out, luck and cheating included!
 
SER19 said:
hopefully theyll draw chelsea, hard to look beyond chelsea, united and barca for a winner
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Scolari even in his international stint has barely managed to scrap wins against a top team.

As of now the only team capable of stopping them should be Inter Milan if they draw against each other before the semis. If Barca slips out we are well in course for another CL tirumph.
 
Sam#1 said:
Xavi's class, as always. He's just a fantastic footballer, makes the game look easy and chips in with goals as well. Possibly the best centre mid in the world atm? Thoughts? For me he's right up there
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going by whenever i see him id have him top 3 anyway. closest thing to vintage scholes in terms of passing and keeping the ball. bet he'd be great at united, would never leave though. heard he's had some contract trouble?
 
SER19 said:
going by whenever i see him id have him top 3 anyway. closest thing to vintage scholes in terms of passing and keeping the ball. bet he'd be great at united, would never leave though. heard he's had some contract trouble?
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Pretty sure he's just signed a new deal. But yes I'd certainly say he's been the best central midfielder during 2008.
 
All of Barcelona's individuals are starting to perform together. This is a frightening prospect really because, on paper, they're the best attacking team on the planet. They're capable of losing a player of Iniesta's calibre without even feeling the pain; Xavi is so good that you could play him alone in midfield and have a reasonable chance of success.
 
Even though they are absolutely delightfull to watch and virtually unbeatable at the moment,the defences they come in week in and week out are nothing compared to tactical prowess of the premier league.If you watch the match against atletico madrid and valencia even though they deserved to win they were gifted golas left,right and center throughout the match.

I can only see liverpool with thier tightly organised defence and combactive midfield shutting out barcelona or maybe chelsea or us on top defensive form,otherwise it'll have to be one of those off days for them not to score.

Thier defence is a joke though,they can concede as easily as they score, you'll see occasion lowly placed teams beat them because they attack and put pressure on them,unfortuantely few teams in the cl are brave enough to take them on leaving thier midfield exposed like we did last season.
 
Speaking of which...Have United even put in a performance this season that reflects that of European Champions? I find it strange that we're favorites. We have yet to beat a quality side, I have no idea who our player of the year is so far, the only player that has improved is Evans. The rest have stood still. Cruyff said last year that this United team wasn't a great one. I really hope we prove him wrong this season.

Then again, we're unbeaten in the CL and very close to Pool and Chelski. I just want a performance please.
 
Kaka83 said:
Speaking of which...Have United even put in a performance this season that reflects that of European Champions? I find it strange that we're favorites. We have yet to beat a quality side, I have no idea who our player of the year is so far, the only player that has improved is Evans. The rest have stood still. Cruyff said last year that this United team wasn't a great one. I really hope we prove him wrong this season.

Then again, we're unbeaten in the CL and very close to Pool and Chelski. I just want a performance please.
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The fact that we're not even close to top form yet is a good thing, and we'll clearly peak later in the season which will be vital to us performing well in the Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League.

And we're definitely a great side.
 
I'm with you Brwned.

But we haven't put in a performance yet which worries me. None of the players seem up for it. We looked very one-dimensional while attacking Sunderland and nobody is scoring consistently.

We're a great team on paper, but I hate grinding out results. I'd like us to get back to ripping teams apart (a la 7-1 against our whipping boys in the CL). But in saying that, we might not have won the CL. Just miss the exciting football of 06/07.

Are Barca the only club of recent times to actually win the CL playing attacking football? If so, then I believe that's what Cruyff meant by us not being a great team.
 
Brwned said:
The fact that we're not even close to top form yet is a good thing, and we'll clearly peak later in the season which will be vital to us performing well in the Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League.

And we're definitely a great side.
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i totally agree with this..we're ussed to being a little slow in getting form together but its gone on longer than usual this year. historically we get it going big time after christmas and when the defence has sured up which its started to do lately with 6 clean sheets in 7. a run of scrappy 1-0s is ironically a sign that we're about to get going, just wait for the attack to click. i think we could be in for a great 5 months after xmas.

also with regards to a great side a win of either the pl or cl would make us that. we would then have 4 in 3 years of the big 2 to win, and the league is rarely won 3 in a row. i reckon we can do the double
 
Kaka83 said:
I'm with you Brwned.

But we haven't put in a performance yet which worries me. None of the players seem up for it. We looked very one-dimensional while attacking Sunderland and nobody is scoring consistently.

We're a great team on paper, but I hate grinding out results. I'd like us to get back to ripping teams apart (a la 7-1 against our whipping boys in the CL). But in saying that, we might not have won the CL. Just miss the exciting football of 06/07.

Are Barca the only club of recent times to actually win the CL playing attacking football? If so, then I believe that's what Cruyff meant by us not being a great team.
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We're spreading the goals round though, just like we were in 06/07. Obviously each season's different but I've been more than happy with how we've been playing this season and expectations are far too high this season. We've already won two league titles and a Champions League, that's enough for me to be happy with what this young team has done already. That should make a bit of leeway for one, if not two, trophyless seasons and a bit of perspective.

Saying that, I do think we'll win it again and I said that at the start of the season.

Barcelona are one of the very few teams to have ever won the Champions League playing attacking football. I'd like to include us in 99' and Real Madrid in 02' as the only two others to have done that since the start of the Champions League.
 
SER19 said:
i totally agree with this..we're ussed to being a little slow in getting form together but its gone on longer than usual this year. historically we get it going big time after christmas and when the defence has sured up which its started to do lately with 6 clean sheets in 7. a run of scrappy 1-0s is ironically a sign that we're about to get going, just wait for the attack to click. i think we could be in for a great 5 months after xmas.

also with regards to a great side a win of either the pl or cl would make us that. we would then have 4 in 3 years of the big 2 to win, and the league is rarely won 3 in a row. i reckon we can do the double
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Seconded
 
Last season even though barca were inconsistant in their league - when they faced us they played as well as they could I reckon. Their passing, play was a very high standard but we were able to contain them

The english teams all have had their moments this season but I'd imagine one of our lot would be favourites

As for United, we still need a bit of tweaking here and their but first half at everton, the city game, blackburn away - thee have been games where we've looked good

Besides it's a long season and there is no certainty that they'll maintain their form throughout
 
Veron said:
Even though they are absolutely delightfull to watch and virtually unbeatable at the moment,the defences they come in week in and week out are nothing compared to tactical prowess of the premier league.If you watch the match against atletico madrid and valencia even though they deserved to win they were gifted golas left,right and center throughout the match.

I can only see liverpool with thier tightly organised defence and combactive midfield shutting out barcelona or maybe chelsea or us on top defensive form,otherwise it'll have to be one of those off days for them not to score.

Thier defence is a joke though,they can concede as easily as they score, you'll see occasion lowly placed teams beat them because they attack and put pressure on them,unfortuantely few teams in the cl are brave enough to take them on leaving thier midfield exposed like we did last season.
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Tacitical defensive prowess of the PL ? I don't think Barca would have any problems trashing some PL teams the way they've trashed spanish teams.
English clubs (apart from the big ones) aren't that good defensively tbh as a player like Torres pointed out
 
kouroux said:
Tacitical defensive prowess of the PL ? I don't think Barca would have any problems trashing some PL teams the way they've trashed spanish teams.
English clubs (apart from the big ones) aren't that good defensively tbh as a player like Torres pointed out
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I'd like to see them against teams that park the bus though.
 
I don't think clubs in Laliga go out and attack them ,they do their best defensively against such a formidable side. Teams do park the bus often against Barca but with their passing game (which is fecking way superior to the overhyped one at Arsenal) they still open up teams, their individual talents also make the difference
 
Veron said:
Even though they are absolutely delightfull to watch and virtually unbeatable at the moment,the defences they come in week in and week out are nothing compared to tactical prowess of the premier league.If you watch the match against atletico madrid and valencia even though they deserved to win they were gifted golas left,right and center throughout the match.

I can only see liverpool with thier tightly organised defence and combactive midfield shutting out barcelona or maybe chelsea or us on top defensive form,otherwise it'll have to be one of those off days for them not to score.

Thier defence is a joke though,they can concede as easily as they score, you'll see occasion lowly placed teams beat them because they attack and put pressure on them,unfortuantely few teams in the cl are brave enough to take them on leaving thier midfield exposed like we did last season.
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Currently among the premiership teams only United's defence can hold out against their attack, if we play to our potential. Last season they were in internal sqabbles and came across our well organized defence and midfield yet they stretched us to the maximum before going down. This season its probably the other way around, we are still counting our marbles and they are settled if we land against against in the second round or quarters, dont think it would be an easy ride for us.

As for defence and midfield in the La Liga they are more well organized and tactically superior than the premier league although premiership defences appear more physical. Their stumbling blocks are Puyol and espeically the clown that stands between their posts, he can single handedly ruin their entire season.
 
I have a bet on them winning the CL, but I still think we could beat them again, with more difficulties though.
 
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