La liga 2022/23

Barcelona with 10 men behind the ball, low defensive block, playing solely on the counter attack. What a time to be alive.
 
What happened to Barca? Though they would at least dominate possession against Madrid but they sit back and let them have the ball. Is it 'just' because Lewandowski, Dembele and Pedri are missing?
Well whatever it is it seems to have been working so far.
 
What happened to Barca? Though they would at least dominate possession against Madrid but they sit back and let them have the ball. Is it 'just' because Lewandowski, Dembele and Pedri are missing?

If you leave spaces to Madrid they kill you. To that you add that the team is not in a good moment the best thing is to leave the ball to them.
 
Barcelona with 10 men behind the ball, low defensive block, playing solely on the counter attack. What a time to be alive.
Why would they do anything else? It's a two legged tie and they're in the lead at the Bernabeu.
 
What happened to Barca? Though they would at least dominate possession against Madrid but they sit back and let them have the ball. Is it 'just' because Lewandowski, Dembele and Pedri are missing?

tons of injuries, losing pedri is beyond massive for Barca.
 
Well whatever it is it seems to have been working so far.

Surely a rather lucky result considering they had only one shot until Kessie's chance and their goal was scored by Militao?

If you leave spaces to Madrid they kill you. To that you add that the team is not in a good moment the best thing is to leave the ball to them.

Yeah but still seems rather atypical for Xavi to be that pragmatic?
 
Surely a rather lucky result considering they had only one shot until Kessie's chance and their goal was scored by Militao?



Yeah but still seems rather atypical for Xavi to be that pragmatic?
I'd agree but you've got to do whit what you're given and they've done so so far.

Xavi can be quite pragmatic at times I'd say.
 
Please, stop pretending like we're struggling or barcelona are even doing anything here so far. Didn't even score their goal

They could’ve scored 3. Our biggest chance was an offside goal. Poor performance from us.
 
Man, this game is boring. Do Spanish teams need English opposition to play well?
 
Mourinho would be proud of the way Barca played today haha Xavi surprised me not today but from the beginning with the way he wants his team to play. It is actually quite different from the typical Barca way. His style is far more direct and can be pragmatic like today than any Barca coach in the last decade or even more. Valverdes Barca were quite pragmatic but Xavi is even more defensive.
 
They crossed their half twice, how were they scoring 3??? :lol:

Fati deciding to help us out and the other one where Rapinha (?) made a poor cross.

Congrats to the Barca fans, executed Xavi’s plan well. Didn’t give anything away and managed to score even when missing so many key players.

Only CL left for us, hoping against hope.
 
Fati deciding to help us out and the other one where Rapinha (?) made a poor cross.

Congrats to the Barca fans, executed Xavi’s plan well. Didn’t give anything away and managed to score even when missing so many key players.

Only CL left for us, hoping against hope.
You do know there's a return leg right
 
Last time I saw Barca against an English club they weren't too hot.
But it wasn't boring. I could not keep my eyes on the TV, both teams look so slow and lack intensity
 
A very sterile dominance, with hardly any shot on goal.
Very imprecise in attack, insisting with disastrous and very obvious crosses over and over again or rondo triangulations through the middle, to see if a centre-back gets distracted.
He should have moved the Kroos-Modric a while earlier.
Tchouameni still very timid. He needs to have more presence in this kind of games if he wants to play alongside Camavinga in the future.
Ugly game from Barcelona but intelligent. Very good their defence.
I have missed a clásico with shithousery and a tense atmosphere like today's game.
 
No way Barcelona intended to be that defensive and to give away that ball that easily in the midfield. But Real Madrid was just too poor going forward. There's plenty of room for a win in the away game if they manage to just be decent.
 
Nah this Madrid side only cares about CL so will always turn up for that. As they're old now they just don't bother with league and cups as much

It's not just a recent thing. Even when they weren't "old now", they rarely were the best team domestically.

CL winners in 13/14, 15/16, 16/17, 17/8

Who won the league during those years?

13/14 - Atletico
14/15 - Barcelona
15/16 - Barcelona
16/17 - Real
17/18 - Barcelona
18/19 - Barcelona

Then more recently Real have won 2 out of last 3 league titles. So, the older Madrid core is winning more league titles than the younger 3-peat core did.
 
Poor game but Barca were playing without Dembele, Lewa and Pedri so it was always gonna be ugly. Our frontline threat is non-existent. The 3 should be back for the return leg. It's strange but always feel confident vs Madrid.

Vini jr will have to start calling Araujo daddy.
 
Vini jr will have to start calling Araujo daddy.

Vinicius should have watched tapes of Rashford, he still has a lot to learn in the way he handles opposition. Having a hard time with a defender? Well lets attack another area then, instead of stupidly pound the same brick wall.

That's one of the reason why I have a hard time seeing him as an elite player (even if objectively, he's top 5 as a left winger). When things don't go his way, he just doesn't adjust and makes the same mistake over and over again.
 
Can't believe this stat! :eek:



Imagine if Ancelotti or Modric started to spout shit about the grass or how the other team wasn't playing football and thus being the moral winners despite losing the game. :lol:

Anyway not really surprised about the loss but it still sucks as it was mainly due to our lack of creativity to attack.
 
Sevilla just have no discipline about them all season. Endless red cards and comedy defensive mishaps.

They probably thought they were safe having that run of home wins but they're only two points clear of 19th.

That would be the biggest relegation in any european league for a long time imo given we're talking about a side in last 15 years that's won plenty of european trophies and been many times in CL.
 
We got very lucky. It was a clear penalty for Valencia in my opinion and again a bad performance + Araujo red card. The team is physically in a very bad state right now and we need our key players back.
 
Only watched the first half but thought Valencia looked decent. I think they'll have enough if they can keep at it, though the relegation fight is ridiculously tough to call
 
Vini really needs to be benched and have someone talk to him. How are we allowing this to happen?
 
"Hijo de puta tú" Vinicius shouting several times at the ref.

The kid has serious issues, he REALLY needs to calm down.