Amazing work by both
La Liga - 2014/15
- Thread starter jojojo
- Start date
too much for a 10 men Elche.
Messi is the best passer in the game.
And Neymar has been great of late.
And Neymar has been great of late.
The 2 of them seem to be developing a bit of a bromance
Suarez definitely looks like the odd man out these days (not talking about today).
Neymar can be a bit unintelligent and selfish on the ball but purely as an attacker he's very very good. I see a lot of similarities in him and bale in that both in the end produce the goods but perhaps have a lot of refinement required to proper greatness. Neymar the more likely I reckon.
Yeah, it's a tough one to call but Neymar's currently settled in "better" then Bale during their 2nd seasons. But Neymar probably has a higher ceiling. It's odd though. One could almost turn it into a "mini CR v Messi" debate, if you like
. Bale's game being much more about power, physique and pace.I much prefer the Barca with Pedro/Munir as a winger doing dirty work and Messi giving Neymar through balls. This set up gave Barça the 1st position, and then Luis Enrique out of the blue puts in Suarez in the Clasico and changed the whole team. Shocking decision imo.
He definitely hasn't found his place in the team yet and to be honest when I first heard of the transfer I thought it made very little sense and that he would be an ill fit for this team. I'm not 100% sure he will fail to find his place in this team but I have a feeling that he is going to be another expensive transfer mistake ala Ibrahimovic for Barca.
What a first touch, what a goal. 5-0, Messi
Just at the time the Messi v Ronaldo debate restarted, one gets red carded, the second does a stat-boosting performance. Must be difficult for Cristiano fan***s 
Messi gets the ball, never looks at the goalie or at the goal, and he puts the ball in the only spot that cant be reached
does he have a radar?
does he have a radar?
Great finish
Great work by Neymar
6-0.
I'm actually surprised Pedro didn't miss that, he is useless these days
Very unselfish play from Neymar and a perfectly measured assist for Pedro to tap it home. 6-0
Well done from him, what contrasting halves he's had. Terrible in the 1st, excellent in the 2nd.
Well done from him, what contrasting halves he's had. Terrible in the 1st, excellent in the 2nd.
Neymar and Messi are ridiculous. Great performance by both of them.
Thank you Barcelona . Way to cover betting loses from the FA cup
. Way to cover betting loses from the FA cup Terrificlay by neymar.
He and messi have masked a lot of barca problems this season.
He and messi have masked a lot of barca problems this season.
Elche would probably be in trouble in the Championship..
Moyá, Juanfran, Miranda, Giménez, Siqueira, Gabi, Mario Suárez, Tiago, Arda, Griezmann y Mandzukic.
V
Toño, Fatau, Zé Castro, Abdoulaye, Morcillo, Baena, Trashorras, Jozabed, Aquino, Kakuta y Manucho.
Just started.
V
Toño, Fatau, Zé Castro, Abdoulaye, Morcillo, Baena, Trashorras, Jozabed, Aquino, Kakuta y Manucho.
Just started.
Neymar is probably the only player (apart from Xavi/Iniesta from a few years ago) to have all, talent, confidence, hype, personality and age on his side to actually shine beside Messi in the same team. Villa didn't have the same effect, neither Ibra and Sanchez. And Suarez will fail in this regard as well.
Anyway a a huge Neymar fan, very happy to see he continues to impress and improve. Once Ronaldo/Messi decline I don't think there will be anyone who could come really close to Neymar, neither in footballing terms nor marketabity/superstar ability
Anyway a a huge Neymar fan, very happy to see he continues to impress and improve. Once Ronaldo/Messi decline I don't think there will be anyone who could come really close to Neymar, neither in footballing terms nor marketabity/superstar ability
Griezmann with his 2nd goal puts Atléti 2-0 up v Rayo. He's been continually improving this season, and meanwhile on course to break his highest goal return in a league season. That wa shis 10th league goal already, had 16 last year for La Real in his best season.
Neymar is one of the few Barca players who is confident enough to make his own thing. Too many players just give the ball to Messi and are too inhibited to take over responsibility.
What happened to the Barca meltdown? 23-1 goals in the last 2 games including 2 victories against Atletico. City will be in massive trouble. Messi and Neymar are in superb form, Suarez isn't in form but he is Suarez, Iniesta and Alves are showing signs of improvement and the general organization and pressing of the team is as good as I haven't seen since the Guardiola days.
Looks like Enrique's Barca is going to do what his Celta did and improve massively in the 2nd half of the season. His Celta side was 19 points (15th place in the table) + 23:31 goal difference in the first half of the season and 30 points (6th place) + 26:23 goal difference in the second half of the season.
City will be in massive trouble. Messi and Neymar are in superb form, Suarez isn't in form but he is Suarez, Iniesta and Alves are showing signs of improvement and the general organization and pressing of the team is as good as I haven't seen since the Guardiola days.Looks like Enrique's Barca is going to do what his Celta did and improve massively in the 2nd half of the season. His Celta side was 19 points (15th place in the table) + 23:31 goal difference in the first half of the season and 30 points (6th place) + 26:23 goal difference in the second half of the season.
2-0 Atleti. Griezmann twice after mistakes in the Rayo defence.
Griezmann took a while but has now well and truly settled in this team.
Griezmann took a while but has now well and truly settled in this team.
To be fair the scoreline really did flatter them. Their midfield offered nothing until they went a goal up. They're very top heavy for me.What happened to the Barca meltdown? 23-1 goals in the last 2 games including 2 victories against Atletico.
Looks like Enrique's Barca is going to do what his Celta did and improve massively in the 2nd half of the season. His Celta side was 19 points (15th place in the table) + 23:31 goal difference in the first half of the season and 30 points (6th place) + 26:23 goal difference in the second half of the season.
Wtf has the Rayo coach has on his head ?
Excellent goal from the underrated Rayo skipper, Roberto Trashorras, measured finish from 25 yards out! 2-1, Rayo back in it.
Literally anything's possible with them as well. Still remember a game from a while back when Atléti still had Falcao and were like 4-0 up at home to Rayo and they pulled 3 back in the final 10 minutes and were absolutely ripping Atléti up.
Literally anything's possible with them as well. Still remember a game from a while back when Atléti still had Falcao and were like 4-0 up at home to Rayo and they pulled 3 back in the final 10 minutes and were absolutely ripping Atléti up.
True, yet they rested half of their starting XI: Alves, Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic and Suarez. Probably underestimated Elche too after beating them 5-0 and 4-0 in the Copa del Rey and had their minds at Atletico already.
That's unfair. Villa was fantastic for them in the 10-11 season, especially considering he was played as a winger when he'd been a striker his entire career.
I want Manucho to score. I can't help it. I want to see him score that goal he never managed to score for us.
Griezmann what a player.
While I mostly agree, @Cait Sith makes a good point. Offensively they've been less impressive than in recent years (as mentioned several times before because of the shift in chance creation responsibilities from MF to FW, as you point out with the "top-heavy" comment), but Lucho's trade-off in MF organization has definitely shored them up defensively, even if they have sometimes relied on good fortune in keeping as many clean sheets as they have. That said, Bravo has been pretty much faultless and at times saved them. Piqué has been excellent in recent weeks (and in big games too) and it's probably Jordi Alba's best season in his time at Barça. Mascherano solid as usual, only really Busquets has been a weak link in a defensive sense (Mathieu had a couple of off games but otherwise not easy to judge him).
He was good, but considering he was at his prime, his incredible record with Valencia and Spain, and considering he joined them after just having win Spain the world cup, I have no doubt he would have been much better and could have had more goals if he had joined RM or even us (and he could have, all Europe wanted him).
That's a fair assessment. But I think we are slowly moving to a period where Rakitic will be the main midfield general. If Iniesta can keep himself fit and get back to his better days, we will have decent enough midfield with Busquets. The defence has been better, specially Pique. After being dropped from squad for few games, he's back to form now. Bartra has been better this season. Masche should be made the captain of the team now, he fully deserves it. Only thing lacking in Alba is his shooting boots, but none better than him racing up/down the flanks. If Suarez/Neymar can stick those chances, we should be scoring much more. Happy with the performance of both keepers. 2 top quality guys, unfair that only 1 can play.
Like I said, though, he was played as a winger. Everybody was a foil to Messi the entire time Villa was there. Messi's become much more of a creator since Neymar's arrival.
Griezmann almost gets his hat-trick with a cross that suddenly completely moved the other way in mid-air, but Toño got down to it just in time. Really good save.
10 goals in the league for Antoine Griezmann so far, can he hit 20?