Fabregas looks somewhere close to his best from the little I've seen of him recently. True?
UCL Round of 16 - First Legs - Feb 18 - 26
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Fabregas looks somewhere close to his best from the little I've seen of him recently. True?
That article is hilarious. I was pretty confident for the match tomorrow, after all, we have won all of our last 6 away matches in the CL. Has any team ever done that before? Barca at their peak never destroyed top teams in away games like we did in 2013. Maybe I should start worrying now, because Robben isn't Messi?
We rarely had to play with full intensity for 90 minutes though, the last second win in Stuttgart is the only exception in 2014 so far. Difficult to say, what happens if we score early in the game. The home loss against City should be a warning, we again made them look like schoolboys in the first 15minutes and were quickly 2:0 up and then everyone stopped running and became lazy as feck and they couldn't turn it around again in the end. That really shouldn't happen again in a knockout tie, it could cost us big time.
I expect a similar performance like the team showed in the away game against City. Our away form is exceptional and I'm more worried about the return leg in case we win tomorrow. That's where I could see complacency becoming a problem again.
We rarely had to play with full intensity for 90 minutes though, the last second win in Stuttgart is the only exception in 2014 so far. Difficult to say, what happens if we score early in the game. The home loss against City should be a warning, we again made them look like schoolboys in the first 15minutes and were quickly 2:0 up and then everyone stopped running and became lazy as feck and they couldn't turn it around again in the end. That really shouldn't happen again in a knockout tie, it could cost us big time.
I fancy City to beat Barca, if they actually go after them.
Ha! That says it all.
So they can tell their kids they were there the last time Utd won the league.
Seriously though, looking forward to watching Bayern tomorrow. Did anyone catch the Sky show with Henk Ten Cate, going through Bayern's setup and Pep's influence? The way they were building up Pep's influence had me sh*tting my pants and I'm not an Arsenal fan. There were hints whether the likes of Sweinsteiger will get his place back (from Thiago) in midfield as Pep fancies possession rather than aggression.
Crazy talk, but shows how Pep can make a world class team even better! Not too fussed with City / Barca tonight. Yawn.
True, IMO. It was interesting the way Tata played him against Rayo, albeit a more open opponent - picking up the ball from deeper positions when Barcelona were in possession but playing higher up the pitch when defending.
Similar to how Wenger used him in the latter seasons IMO, and his best position. He's going to be a readymade Xavi replacement, and I'll wager he'll be even better in a couple of years.
Can't wait, please don't be a damp squib.
Cannot wait.
I want and hope Barca annihilate them.
Barca at their peak regularly struggled in away games against the better teams, somehow I can't see them being all of a sudden dominant away to an English team. Still believe they will go through, but I don't expect fireworks today.
I think it'll be a fascinating tie between City/Barca. On one hand, I can see City going at them and banging a few goals in, but on the other hand, I don't think City have come up against this kind of machine before. I know they've been both outclassed and managed to beat Bayern, but this is completely different. They could very well get passed to death and picked off if Barca weather any storm that comes along. If City had Aguero I'd probably fancy them to edge this match by one goal, but I'd still reckon Barca go through the tie on away goals or better. I'm gonna say draw here and Barca win in Spain.
Yeah, it was the probably the 2nd time where I saw him employed in a manner that could work well, ultimately, here. The first time was Pep's attempt to use him in the 3-4-3 and then the Rayo match.
One of Talksport's Spanish correspondents was on a little while ago and he was saying that there is some concern about the referee amongst Barca fans, that because he's from northern Europe he'll be too accepting of City's physicality.
If memory serves me right, Barcelona does very well with referees from northern Europe.
is it true that Dani Alves just said he didn't realize until about 5 years ago that Manchester had two teams? 
You fool!!...Clearly it's a cover story so no one will be around the ground while we show Cesc around and sign him to a pre contract
Barca are going to get their usual beating over on these shores. Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Arsenal all beat them recently and that was when they were the best team in the world, I expect City to at least get a draw but probably a win.
They weren't the best team in the world when ourselves and Chelsea beat them....We had that honour
They weren't the best team in the world when ourselves and Chelsea beat them....We had that honour
We've beaten them too many times to remember, in fact when we draw Barca I laugh, they hate playing us.
Tell us again how that semi in '09 went down...
That is comfortably by far the worse refereeing performance I've ever seen. Ovrebo sends chills down my spine.
It ended in a draw, so technically, they didn't beat us.
Demichelis v Messi
I know, i'm pulling yer legs.
I know
I watch the highlights of that match every now and then. The worst decision was the pen we should have gotten after Iniesta scored. Wouldn't mind seeing a similar ref performance tonight. City may be too smug to bear if they win.Jesus, you're a Chelsea fan? Always thought you were Liverpool for some reason. Have you recently changed your location?
City; Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany (c), Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Toure, Fernandinho, Kolarov, Silva, Negredo
Looks like a decent lineup, he's avoided going with Dzeko.
Barca; Valdes, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Fabregas, Sanchez, Messi, Iniesta.
Looks like a decent lineup, he's avoided going with Dzeko.
Barca; Valdes, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Fabregas, Sanchez, Messi, Iniesta.
4-5-1 from City? I just do not rate Kolarov defensively at all. I'm not sure he's any better than Milner is as a defensive winger.
Milner should be playing instead of him. He can tuck in the middle if needed as well.
Milner is suspended.
So Pelligrini is going with all the Spanish players he got, smart, I think
Poor lineup from City, Kolarov isn't good enough as a fullback, let alone as winger.
Demichelis or Lescott, what would you do?
Kolarov has been good this season.
Presume that's Silva behind Negredo then. Not sure why he's not on the left instead of Kolarov with Dzeko up top though.
I think Kolarov is a good choice actually, he whips in a mean ball and Barca aren't really the best at defending.