El Clásico: Real Madrid v Barcelona

Great game from Benzema as well, it must be said. Great footballer that really played with guts tonight.

Jaime wrote:I don't know when Jose is going to learn that you can't go out and give the ball to Barcelona. Almost immediately after the 1-0 the players all retreated and were more than content to let Barcelona stroke the ball around. That combined with glaring misses from Ronaldo and there is no way you can beat this team.

Anti-Progress.

Exactly...I don't understand why the Madrid players stopped pressuring after the first 5-7 mins. It was odd to see them just back off and walk around, allowing our players to slowly become calm and grow into the game. What was needed was a blitz, like Mourinho's Chelsea did a few years ago at Stamford Bridge - capitalising on mistakes to go up 3-0 in 20 minutes.



But let's mention Guardiola's tactical details too - he put Iniesta up against Coentrao at RB, gave Alexis a free role, and asked Messi to drop into midfield to help break the pressure with his control and dribbling. And he changed formation to a 3-4-3 (although Busquets didn't really go to a true LCB position) very early in the game. Alves made a huge impact, with some good crosses, and of course the assist on the 3-1.

We won?

Jaime wrote:Great game from Benzema as well, it must be said. Great footballer that really played with guts tonight.

If VP leaves,I hoe Arsenal go all out for him. He is French...

Jaime wrote:Well, three points gone today, three more gone in the Camp Nou...Barcelona win la liga again.

Yeah but it's well and good raising your game for big matches, but a league is won in places like Getafe...Barça have failed that part so far. Maybe it'll improve with this confidence boost and once the injuries stop, but there's still the annual February blip to come, and hopefully the players don't get complacent after this.

Jaime wrote:I don't know when Jose is going to learn that you can't go out and give the ball to Barcelona. Almost immediately after the 1-0 the players all retreated and were more than content to let Barcelona stroke the ball around. That combined with glaring misses from Ronaldo and there is no way you can beat this team.

Anti-Progress.

The team definetly backed off after 20mins, might have been Jose's instructions or just the player themselves. Then comes Ronaldo. Fucking Hell. Missed to make it 2-0 then again for 2-2. Higuain should have come on for Ronaldo or even Callejon.

christmasborocooper wrote:So who was right about gloom, me or kas?

Clearly you get to enjoy the 'told you so' tonight, but trust me, after the defeat at Getafe there's no way you could have convinced me otherwise. I don't see how my disappointment at the time was anything but valid.

I did feel confident in the past couple of days about this game though, and thankfully things worked out.

Tonight Pep showed he's more than just his players...reacted quickly and made tactical changes that heavily influenced the match. On the other hand, the much-vaunted Mourinho couldn't (or didn't) do anything to improve his team's chances.

fcb wrote:

christmasborocooper wrote:So who was right about gloom, me or kas?

Clearly you get to enjoy the 'told you so' tonight, but trust me, after the defeat at Getafe there's no way you could have convinced me otherwise. I don't see how my disappointment at the time was anything but valid.

I did feel confident in the past couple of days about this game though, and thankfully things worked out.

It was not valid. It was an overreaction and a massive one at that.

As I said..you fuckers don't know gloom.

fcb wrote:Tonight Pep showed he's more than just his players...reacted quickly and made tactical changes that heavily influenced the match. On the other hand, the much-vaunted Mourinho couldn't (or didn't) do anything to improve his team's chances.

And Mourinho doesn't have any excuses. This is the team he wanted. He wanted Ozil and not David Silva. He has made our only midfield options Lass (who had a good first half but was lost the plot in the second half) and Khedira (what a complete and utter disgrace of a player). He does not have the guts to take off Ronaldo who once again has not done the business. He put Coentrao at right back who was playing way too deep keeping Alexis onside as he ran behind Pepe on the first goal, was constantly abused by Iniesta, and allowed Cesc to beat him to the header on the third goal.

christmasborocooper wrote:

fcb wrote:

christmasborocooper wrote:So who was right about gloom, me or kas?

Clearly you get to enjoy the 'told you so' tonight, but trust me, after the defeat at Getafe there's no way you could have convinced me otherwise. I don't see how my disappointment at the time was anything but valid.

I did feel confident in the past couple of days about this game though, and thankfully things worked out.

It was not valid. It was an overreaction and a massive one at that.

As I said..you fuckers don't know gloom.

And as I said, you can't just ignore the factor of relativity in these things.

shazlx wrote:

Jaime wrote:Great game from Benzema as well, it must be said. Great footballer that really played with guts tonight.

If VP leaves,I hoe Arsenal go all out for him. He is French...

Funny I was thinking about the same thing this afternoon.

Unfortunately I think Robin will leave

Madrid are the club to do business with, not those Barca c**ts.

A swap deal with Benzema would be a good deal IMO.

fcb wrote:Tonight Pep showed he's more than just his players...reacted quickly and made tactical changes that heavily influenced the match. On the other hand, the much-vaunted Mourinho couldn't (or didn't) do anything to improve his team's chances.

Pushing Alves forward changing the formation was definetly crucial but i still think the sudden lose of pressure from the Madrid players was more influencial than Pep's change of tactic.

Jaime wrote:

To be fair, Madrid did take it down before the game, upon request from Barcelona.

The Professor wrote:

shazlx wrote:

Jaime wrote:Great game from Benzema as well, it must be said. Great footballer that really played with guts tonight.

If VP leaves,I hoe Arsenal go all out for him. He is French...

Funny I was thinking about the same thing this afternoon.

Unfortunately I think Robin will leave

Madrid are the club to do business with, not those Barca c**ts.

A swap deal with Benzema would be a good deal IMO.

I will feel sorry for V if he has to lay with someone like CRonaldo. Then again, it would be his choice.

I want to say Barca couldn't afford the wage bill with him in it, but money is nothing to these teams.

I don't want to see ronaldo play for us in El Clasico again.

Fade out wrote:I don't want to see ronaldo play for us in El Clasico again.

I dont want see him play for us again. Period.

fcb wrote:

christmasborocooper wrote:

fcb wrote:

christmasborocooper wrote:So who was right about gloom, me or kas?

Clearly you get to enjoy the 'told you so' tonight, but trust me, after the defeat at Getafe there's no way you could have convinced me otherwise. I don't see how my disappointment at the time was anything but valid.

I did feel confident in the past couple of days about this game though, and thankfully things worked out.

It was not valid. It was an overreaction and a massive one at that.

As I said..you fuckers don't know gloom.

And as I said, you can't just ignore the factor of relativity in these things.

I dont really know what you mean by this.

The fact of the matter is, you're the best team in Europe, proven. You have the best player in the world. Proven. The best midfielders in the world with Iniesta and Xavi, widely accepted..

You lost ONE game..and you were acting like it was an actual impossibility to win the league or even beat Real Madrid, a team you beat several times last season.

My role was to tell you that you were talking bollocks..I did so and was proven to be correct.

Enjoy the win, and enjoy the fact you decided to support Barcelona..accept you do not know what "gloom" is in the world of football. Join reality

You don't understand my post yet go on to lecture me

Fade out wrote:I don't want to see ronaldo play for us in El Clasico again.

Thought Benzema was quality for Madrid,real nice link up play and a high work rate.Ronaldo was and is utter dogshite when playing against top quality opposition.How he is widely accepted as the 2nd best player in the world I will never know when the likes of Iniesta and Xavi are playing.

Iniesta MOTM pretty easily and Sanchez surprised me,looks like an improvement on the more one dimensional Pedro.

Busquets is one of the most natural footballers in the world,he just makes it look so easy.

Marca's match ratings give Cristiano a 1

http://www.marca.com/2011/12/11/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1323559725.html

So, does Pep need to prove anything else to be regarded as one of the best managers (for me he's the best manager) by the football 'experts' here at the europeanboard?

You see folks, I KNEW he was a very special manager way back, way before winning everything in his first season.

I noticed he was a genius by the expression in Hiddink's face when his Chelsea team were honored to be on the same pitch as Barcelona albeit parking the bus, all men behind the ball waiting for a Barça mistake. Typical Hiddink pussy football.

However, the Dutchie's contribution in this game was immense. His face expression and demeanor while looking at Pep Guardiola showed me that Pep was a beast. I knew right then and there that Pep was #1, and he went on to win EVERYTHING in that his first season. Pleeeeease, Chelsea did not belong on the same pitch with'em Catalans.

Pep OWNS Mourinho too. This loss shall be very traumatic for Mourinho and Real Madrid. Mourinho on his way back to the EASIER EPL so that he can win meaningful trophies like the EPL trophy ...the FA Cup

Too bad for Mourinho, because if he goes to Man Utd, I see the Sultans and Sheiks offering millions and millions to Pep to coach Citeh. Poor Mourinho then, again.

I thought the really challenge was to beat South American teams in South America. Until then, no one's good. Even Messi.

fcb wrote:Marca's match ratings give Cristiano a 1

http://www.marca.com/2011/12/11/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1323559725.html

Very generous imo.

Fade out wrote:I thought the really challenge was to beat South American teams in South America. Until then, no one's good. Even Messi.

I invite you and all the mes amis to watch Santos against Barcelona (in Japan) to decide who's the best club team on the planet. Barcelona are once again firing on all cylinders, and Santos will be all charged up as well for the colossal encounter.

Let's see how Barcelona look against proper competition.

Is there anyone that actually takes Puro seriously?

fcb wrote:Who would have thought that 1 year on from the 5-0, Benzema would turn into Madrid's best player. He's been superb tonight, our defenders haven't won a tackle against him.

Me - I always kept the faith when some people were implying Huntelaar was a better player

If he gets dashed out of Madrid because of Politics, he'd be perfect for Tottenham

so now its up to bayern to beat barca

now its obvious that madrid has not the quality to beat them

i would say the bayern style is like an more advanced arsenal style, and arsenal was the closest team to beat barca in the last years cl

also bayern got a superior midfield, schweini kroos is ahead of özil and alonso, khedira or tymo/gustl, all of them do there job

bayern has also more intelligent wingers in müller, robben and ribery, while di maria showed once again, pure work rate without brain