La Liga 2019/20

A blatant no call when Messi got fouled leads to a penalty on the other end

At least it’s early
 
Beautiful ball from Messi and really well taken.
 
Astonishingly poor defending from Umtiti there. And more loose play from Vidal.
 
As bad as Napoli are, I'd genuinely not be surprised if they knock Barcelona out.
 
Lenglet 3-2
Messi is cursed in front of goal right now but that's 3 assists now tonight.
 
I was JUST about to come on and say finally some stuff is going Barca's way, only for Lenglet to make an utterly stupid decision. :/
 
Good performance from Barca, despite some awful reffing for both sides

Progress
 
Its amazing how many people continue to write off Barca .

Still favourites for the title for me, due the Messi factor solely, wouldn't surprise me either if they won the CL too. They're still a world class outfit despite all the whinging and moaning.
 
How do Betis get a pen for someone smashing the ball off Lenglet's arm, but Barca don't get a pen for that?

FT, a huge win in a difficult venue.
 
The wasteful finishing at the end was reminiscent of the end vs Liverpool in the first leg.
 
SharpshooterTom said:
Its amazing how many people continue to write off Barca .

Still favourites for the title for me, due the Messi factor solely, wouldn't surprise me either if they won the CL too. They're still a world class outfit despite all the whinging and moaning.
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Have you watched Barca this season? Their defense is more shambolic than normal, they drop points in pretty much every second away game, their attack is down to an out of form Messi (by his standards), a Griezmann who can't score and Ansu Fati. This is probably the worst Barcelona in years and there is absolutely no chance they win the CL and it's pretty unlikely they'll win Liga either unless they can fix their away performances.
 
Barça were terrible tonight. But the referee had a shocker of a game.

Messi wasn't his usual self and still created all three goals. Frenkie de Jong had a good game.

Lenglet though :lol:. Gets a yellow conceding a goal through penalty. Then gets the winning goal. Finally, gets himself sent off
 
Confirmation bias is a thing. You can spin this as a good-ish comeback or you can spin it as Messi individually bailing Barca out with 3 assists and major luck playing its part with Busquets and Lenglet scoring in the same game (what are the odds) and the Betis GK slipping + Betis tiring in the second half after they ran Barca over in the first.

As far as I'm concerned, Barca are already where Man United are right now if Messi wasn't there. There is ter Stegen (United have DDG), there is De Jong (United have Pogba) and then there is not much else. Barca are slightly better off with Griezmann (who doesn't fit alongside Messi but is still a world class forward in the right system). But honestly, same squad in the Premier League sans Messi and Suarez (who might be completely done at his age after knee operation) and they are finishing somewhere around 5th.
 
Cait Sith said:
Confirmation bias is a thing. You can spin this as a good-ish comeback or you can spin it as Messi individually bailing Barca out with 3 assists and major luck playing its part with Busquets and Lenglet scoring in the same game (what are the odds) and the Betis GK slipping + Betis tiring in the second half after they ran Barca over in the first.

As far as I'm concerned, Barca are already where Man United are right now if Messi wasn't there. There is ter Stegen (United have DDG), there is De Jong (United have Pogba) and then there is not much else. Barca are slightly better off with Griezmann (who doesn't fit alongside Messi but is still a world class forward in the right system). But honestly, same squad in the Premier League sans Messi and Suarez (who might be completely done at his age after knee operation) and they are finishing somewhere around 5th.
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For sure, but today Barca were actually fun to watch, played well for the most part (defense sucks still) and Sieten has this team moving in the right direction.

Bilbao was very unlucky, today we deserved the 3 points and got them.

The board is the biggest issue.
 
Second half was a terrific watch. Kondogbia was outstanding, constantly winning the ball and bundled in Valencia's second. Amazed he's never played in premier league as he'd be perfect with his qualities.

Ferran Torres played well although needs to improve his crossing. Him and Wass created some really good overloads down the Atletico left so that's something Liverpool will be studying with TAA.

Atletico looked out of gas in last half hour. Constantly second to 50/50 balls and really struggled to get any decent moves going although they didn't concede many clear chances. I still think they'll be awkward for Liverpool, past history in CL tells us that.
 
1-0 Griezmann. Messi with his 6th assist in the last 3 league matches
 
I cant see Messi declining that much over the next 5 years. I reckon he is capable of playing into almost 40 with the intelligence he has and the way he can move his body without using so much energy. He is simply extraordinary.
 
predator said:
I cant see Messi declining that much over the next 5 years. I reckon he is capable of playing into almost 40 with the intelligence he has and the way he can move his body without using so much energy. He is simply extraordinary.
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It's a testament to his ability that whilst struggling with a thigh injury since September he can still be the influential factor in every game.
 
SharpshooterTom said:
Another win then for supposedly "in crisis" Barcelona.
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Our defense is appalling but at least Setien has helped make our football much more enjoyable to watch.

Still need to clean up our content attacks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he has us moving in the right direction. I just don’t know if he can do anything about our defense.

Getafe played well.
 
Daysleeper said:
Our defense is appalling but at least Setien has helped make our football much more enjoyable to watch.

Still need to clean up our content attacks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he has us moving in the right direction. I just don’t know if he can do anything about our defense.

Getafe played well.
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Yeah, before anyone says that Ole has us pressing, everyone should watch this game as an example of what an organised and systemic press looks like. Getafe were impervious in their press organisation.
 
Hoof The Ball said:
Yeah, before anyone says that Ole has us pressing, everyone should watch this game as an example of what an organised and systemic press looks like. Getafe were impervious in their press organisation.
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Getafe are the best pressing team in the world though, probably
 
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