FC Barcelona Thread 2006/2007

Moro not starting for Valencia ... bah

Silly Quique.

Zambrotta looked good ... Vicente & Villa done him all game

La Saeta Rubia wrote:Zambrotta looked good ... Vicente & Villa done him all game

His start has been as good as Cannavaro's (despistado)

He wasn't too bad. tbh he still looks a bit overawed every time he plays, I think he's going to take at least half the season to be completely comfortable.

La Saeta Rubia wrote:Zambrotta looked good ... Vicente & Villa done him all game

all game no way in the 1th half yes, zambo has always had trouble against wingers

Messiah wrote:

La Saeta Rubia wrote:Zambrotta looked good ... Vicente & Villa done him all game

all game no way in the 1th half yes, zambo has always had trouble against wingers

Pretty poor characteristic for a fullback

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:

La Saeta Rubia wrote:Zambrotta looked good ... Vicente & Villa done him all game

His start has been as good as Cannavaro's (despistado)

El despistado`s team has 1 goal against, others have 3 or 4

Zambrotta's has 10 for, others have 6 or 7.

Others have 11 or 12 for ...

Yeah but nobody cares about those "others". You know which "others" are important

We still talking about football right ? Or you talking about " Lost " lol

Lol, definitely still football. Although I just looked at the table and it's Sevilla with the 11, so I take that back, we probably still need to worry about them.

Sevilla was unlucky today, they played with 9 men and Patetico only just beat them last min sort of thing ...

Yeah I still think they're favourites for the 4th CL spot. Hopefully this defeat doesn't cause them to collapse (well, 2 weeks from now, then they should return to top form )

lol wouldnt get my hopes up if i was you ...

Hopefully the team will, after this game, realise that we cannot expect to walk the ball into goal. The first half was littered with ineffectual one-twos and over ambitious dribbles. It is soooo frustrating to look at never ending attempts at making the perfect goal, when there are 8 Valencia players in the box. And why on earth did we spend the first 45mins trying to attack through the centre, time and time again..

Second half was much better, with some width on the pitch, direct play, and shots. Rijkaard should emphasise to the players that this is what is needed from the start and not as a reaction to being down a goal. (same thing happened against Celta)

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:Hopefully the team will, after this game, realise that we cannot expect to walk the ball into goal. The first half was littered with ineffectual one-twos and over ambitious dribbles. It is soooo frustrating to look at never ending attempts at making the perfect goal, when there are 8 Valencia players in the box. And why on earth did we spend the first 45mins trying to attack through the centre, time and time again..

Spot on. And I also support Arsenal in England and they do exactly the same. It does my head in.

Well in all fairness you didnt do alot of attacking in the first 45mins, id be happy with the draw considering.

La Saeta Rubia wrote:Well in all fairness you didnt do alot of attacking in the first 45mins, id be happy with the draw considering.

We completely dominated the second half and had many more goal scoring opportunities, so I would have prefered a win, however it is not a disaster..

(and of course YOU would be happier with the draw )

I still think the shot off the post by Villa with the 0-1 just before half time would have been crucial !

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:Second half was much better, with some width on the pitch, direct play, and shots. Rijkaard should emphasise to the players that this is what is needed from the start and not as a reaction to being down a goal. (same thing happened against Celta)

Rijkaard's half time team talk was spot on, and the magic substitution worked once again.

No disrespect to Ten Cate, but I can't help but say: "Who are ya, who are ya, who are ya"

La Saeta Rubia wrote:I still think the shot off the post by Villa with the 0-1 just before half time would have been crucial !

That would have changed the game for sure. We would have had to take many more chances in the second half..

But then again, you could also say that if we had gotten a penalty (or two)then we would have won.. it is all could have, should have etc etc..

But Valencia looks strong, and I think they are going to be even stronger once Morientes and Joaquín get some more time to adapt. It will be fun to see you guys play them

Joaquin won't change.

kasnani wrote:Joaquin won't change.

Well he can certainly play better than today.. Only Villa really stood out of the attacking Valencia players.

i thought if Ricky has taken off Messi earlier and put on Guily/Guddy/Saviola we would have nicked another goal. i just have a feeling one of them would have scrored

Messiah wrote:i thought if Ricky has taken off Messi earlier and put on Guily/Guddy/Saviola we would have nicked another goal. i just have a feeling one of them would have scrored

Yeahh... Messi was running out of steam at the end.. I think Saviola did quite well tbh, eventhough he didn't score. Maybe Gudjohnsen could have replaced either Xavi or Deco, but that would probably have been a bit suicidal.

I think Eto'o played well in the first half, considering he had limited service from the midfield. Theres rumours that Edmilson played but its unconfirmed as of yet.. But honestl...he just wasnt his usual self. Rijkaard saw this and replaced him with the attacking style Iniesta provides. In the first half Deco and Xavi were losing the ball waaay too easy. They both got hassled off the ball without any sort of struggle. And their passes werent accurate like they usually are. However Deco took 5 or 6 shots from outside the box in the first half. All of which were off target, and not neccessarily the best option he had when he received the ball.

But after the half time, Deco seemed a completely differen player and seemed as if he wanted to make up. He was at the centre of lots of attacks, and the midfield of Deco, Xavi and Iniesta linked up well. I thought with that midfield Iniesta would play the Guardiola role, but Xavi did that instead. Well..the 3 of them rotated really. Iniesta is better than Fabregas!! And Xavi is not the pre-injury Xavi. Its not like his unfit, he just doesnt seem to have the awareness he did. But he had the long injury then the summer off. So I'll give him benefit of the doubt/

The 2nd half was very entertaining, and in fact I jumped out of my seat when the ref blew for half time cause I thought he blew for a penalty. Im glad no one saw me. But I did think Etoo's appeal for the foul against Miguel was worth a shout..I mean the defender didnt get the ball I dont think..just the strikers ankle.

Dinho looked alot better when he started to drop back in midfield and looking for the ball

And Villa's goal...grr what was Gio doing. He got drawn into the middle so easily its untrue. He should have known Miguel, of all people, would be bombing down that left side. Zambrotta was in his own world too and by the time he realised what was happening he couldnt catch Villa. But it was a great ppiece of play, pinpoint cross and nice finish (although Valdes could have done a bit better with his legs).

One more thing is Marquez needs to stop too many long balls. He is so sloppy in his distribution. True the goal came from one of his passes to Ronaldinho, but thats cause he misplaced so many before it was inevitable he would get one right. The amount of times I have seen a Marquez pass to Ronaldinho go out of play or EASILY intercepted by the right back I have lost count. It frustrates me. That's what Deco's there for..to bring the ball into attack

i also think if thuram was their we would not have consided.


(then again it was all my fault i promised myself i wouldn't watch this game has i haven't watch any game since the season has started and we have won them all, so i guess us I so sorry i will be disconnecting my statille and my internet connect when barca are playing games from now on)

@Jaime/madrid residents

Was the Cibeles ful today, Barça drew so it was a reason to celebrate!!

The first half we played crap (better than Capello's Madrid at their finiest) but when Iniesta came in we started to play some proper football. Messi was active but pretty much useless, Ronnie was invisible and Deco had an off day. The combination was lethal for us.

It was VERY disappinting but we'll have to live with it, hopefully we'll get a good result in Bremen to make this week acceptable.

VISCA EL BARÇA!!

I remember talking to friend about Iniesta. That was like after the Udinese game where Iniesta scored his first CL goal. I remember we were discussing the difference between Xavi and Iniesta, mainly about goal scoring. Not to rub it in Rohan's face, god forbid, but he mentioned the lack of Ineista's goal scoring. It seems to me Iniesta is growing up damn too quick for his age. What a terrific player and always impresses me. First, we said he couldn't defend, proves us all wrong. I still don't believe he can play as a DM but still holds his ground. Then we questioned his ability to fully take Xavi's resonsibility, again, we found out that he can do it equally as good if not better. Now, he is scoring goals for Barca..WTF??? Its like I want to say "slow down bitch" but I respect him a lot.

Now, Messi gets loads of praise and all, but Iniesta is the better team player (note: not the better footballer). I know age is on Iniesta's side but Iniesta simplifies the game easily (usually a hard thing to do, ask C.Ronaldo) especially for younger players. Messi lets his emotions run him as well as his Competitiveness (which is a great thing for a player in is position) but Iniesta comes from training onto the field with all his homework done and passes tests after tests with an A.