Cybereagles

danfo driver wrote:
Thats untrue. Messi has always been like this and some fans have complained about it since the beginning. It was also one of the reasons Pep was forced to move him to false 9.

Yes, he has always been somewhat like that but he barely tries nowadays. As someone who like players tracking back it has always amazed me that Barcelona were able to win with that kind of approach. I suppose it was easier when they actually had a squad that barely lost the ball and more speed in midfield.

The current Barcelona team can't cover for Messi's standing around. They don't keep the ball like they used to, and Busquets was never fast but he is now much slower, same goes for Pique covering for the RB. PSG has sort of figured out a way to deal with Neymar's refusal to track back by loading the midfield with hardworkers.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that those blaming Semedo need to see the task he was given. Even a player like Wan-Bissaka that is a decent defender couldn't handle ordinary Reguillon and the Ocampos, much less Davies and Perisic.

Donzman wrote:

danfo driver wrote:
Thats untrue. Messi has always been like this and some fans have complained about it since the beginning. It was also one of the reasons Pep was forced to move him to false 9.

Yes, he has always been somewhat like that but he barely tries nowadays. As someone who like players tracking back it has always amazed me that Barcelona were able to win with that kind of approach. I suppose it was easier when they actually had a squad that barely lost the ball and more speed in midfield.

Yup! And if you remember, they had Eto'o on one side and Pedro on the other.. both of whom were like energizer bunnies on steriods. Then you remember the likes of Bojan and Tello etc etc... all those guys were covering yards upon yards.

Today, they have Suarez, who is very dogged, but lacks the pace and pressing aggression of Eto'o and Pedro. Then you also have Griezmann.

The current Barcelona team can't cover for Messi's standing around. They don't keep the ball like they used to, and Busquets was never fast but he is now much slower, same goes for Pique covering for the RB. PSG has sort of figured out a way to deal with Neymar's refusal to track back by loading the midfield with hardworkers.

True

Anyway, all I'm saying is that those blaming Semedo need to see the task he was given. Even a player like Wan-Bissaka that is a decent defender couldn't handle ordinary Reguillon and the Ocampos, much less Davies and Perisic.

I dont think anyone (at least not me nor Oloye) is blaming Semedo for the structural problems. We both stated that Setien messed up pretty bad and left Semedo completely exposed. What we were saying was that Semedo legitimately gave away 5-6 goals through direct mistakes. One of the goals was so comical. Dude was "counting leg" and got dispossessed

However you cut it, Semedo is not a national team player and therefore should not even be in a top tier team like Barcelona.

Welcome to Covid-19 UEFA Challenge Cup Semi Final 2, not Champions League.

Mateu Lahos. One of the most unpredictable refs you'll ever see

To press or not to press. That is the question for Bayern

Ohhhh what a miss by Depay...

Caquaret, the new Didier Deschamps...

Bayern close!

Much respect to Lyon so far. Mucho respecto!

what a miss by Ekambi!!!

txj wrote:Much respect to Lyon so far. Mucho respecto!

Lyon should be up by 3-0 at this point ...

And that's how you finish!!!! 1-0 Bayern!

Gnabry tears the net....

what a goal!

entirely against the run of play.

that's what bayern does you!

Football is a game of chance.
You need it to win big games, no matter how talented you are.

Great goal, but Lyon have exposed Bayern multiple times. This game is not over.

I hope those ignorant English pundits can see now why Guardiola adjusted his game vs Lyon

2-0
Gnabry

Lyon screw up defensively

Irony is Lyon have had more chances than Munich

txj wrote:I hope those ignorant English pundits can see now why Guardiola adjusted his game vs Lyon

See the pot calling the kettle black.

green4life wrote:

txj wrote:I hope those ignorant English pundits can see now why Guardiola adjusted his game vs Lyon

See the pot calling the kettle black.

Bro, I still cannot figure out this ur Lampard issue.

I said I had trouble figuring out what his football is about.

I also said he would come under pressure next season given the investment.

You have not proven any of this to be incorrect...

Messi is untouchable and non-transferable. He knows it, we all know it. But there are various non-transferable players like Ter Stegen, Lenglet, Semedo, De Jong, Griezmann, Dembele... players we are counting on in the future," Josep Maria Bartomeu told Barca TV when assessing the club's future.

The president kept including more names to the list as he said on Ansu Fati: "We received offers for our players, Ansu Fati, for example. Many clubs love him, but we don't want to sell him. He knows it."

‐‐-----‐-----------
Bartomeu is indeed clueless! The only names on that list should be Messi, De Jong, Fati and maybe ter Stegen.

Griezmann doesn't fit the Barca system
Dembele is hardly ever fit. Cash out if you can
Semedo is not it
Lenglet...meh. There are 1001 defenders of his level scattered across Europe

jdizzy wrote:

Donzman wrote:Everyone is going on about Semedo, I would like to see your "replacement" left completely exposed to Davies/Perisic or Davies/Gnabry time after time. Not to mention that he was also tasked with providing width given the nonsense formation they started the game with yesterday.

Semedo is a very good RB but he was given an impossible task yesterday. Provide width on attack and cover some of the most dangerous LW play in world football, all alone, because Messi isnt' doing any defending and Sergi Roberto was kept busy tracking runs from the middle of the park. Vidal faced the same challenges when he was forced into RMF.

This is all on the coach.

Yup...I clearly remember one play where Messi took a free-kick from the right wing. Bayern won the ball at the top of the box and broke away via the right. Messi didn't bother taking 2 steps to chase back even though he was one of the deepest Barca players. How do you win a CL knockout game with that type of attitude?

danfo driver wrote: Yup! And if you remember, they had Eto'o on one side and Pedro on the other.. both of whom were like energizer bunnies on steriods. Then you remember the likes of Bojan and Tello etc etc... all those guys were covering yards upon yards.

Today, they have Suarez, who is very dogged, but lacks the pace and pressing aggression of Eto'o and Pedro. Then you also have Griezmann.

This is very correct. Barca is really a degraded squad. Big names but degraded.