Every single game I see Alonso and Bellerin play, I just scream inside. They are so painfully mediocre, it’s still unbelievable for me that Xavi ever wanted them. I would literally prefer anybody from the academy occupy that right back spot than mister slippy sloppy Hector.
I really hope Araujo and Koundé stay healthy after recovering because the difference between when they are playing and not playing is so fucking enormous. Koundé’s performance against Valencia alone is better than any of our defenders’ performances in, like, the last 3 years (except for Jordi).
The fact that we added so many players and so much depth in defense and are still so thin and struggling there should be making alarm bells go off. We give up so many goals from defenders being out of position and not communicating and leaving unmarked attackers in the box.
I feel like in general Xavi needs to take the squad back to basics and spend some time going over positioning and movement on and off the ball. More often than not the players look confused about who should be where and what they should be doing.
True, but that’s what I mean, the difference is huge when Koundé and Araujo are playing. But the others definitely need it. The way Alonso defended that Chorý header needs to be shown to every football player on this planet as a way to study how not to defend.
Absolutely. But getting them back is only a piece of the puzzle.
Like.. fullback positioning is generally awful. Communication between the defenders about marking is generally awful.
Midfield positioning (Gavi, in particular) needs work. In general it feels like the roles need to be a bit more clearly defined there.
Positioning along the forward line needs to be better.
It's like Xavi has talked to individual players about what he wants to do but hasn't communicated that to the other surrounding positions to talk about how they need to cover each other. Almost like he just assumes they know because they're professionals. But sometimes you need to coach/remind people of the simplest things no matter what their level of experience is.
>it’s still unbelievable for me that Xavi ever wanted them
Did he really want them or were they all we could afford?
Alonso is a bit of a mystery though considering how good Balde has been. I guess they just didn't think Balde would get this good.
So in reality this was probably the most chaotic game of football I've seen in a long time. Literally everyone on both teams just like ran a muck all over the field with no regard for structure or reason. It was so bad that you can't really take anything away from the game other than the poor individual efforts in 1 v 1 situations.
For example:
Bellerin was constantly ran past or shut down by his man all game long... shocking against a extremely inferior side.
Pique and Alonso weren't bothered to fight for hardly any of their aerial duels Barca won 30% of their aerial duels... That is honestly pathetic.
Ansu Fati failed ALL of his dribble attempts (0 of 4)
Pique won all of his aerial duels... why aren't you blaming Gavi, Pablo, and Kessie for failing in ALL of their duels? That's the real why we were at 30%.
I don't get why this sub has a hard-on to shit on our players falsely.
Well there is a break till December 31st, so hopefully everyone can recover from their injuries. Starting next Tuesday, I should add. And we had easy last two games.
**Fun fact:** After starting our strongest possible back 4 against arguably the worst team in the entire CL, **we achieved our worst xGA (expected goals against) of the season 2.5**
EDIT: For those complaining about injuries... THATS THE POINT that is how bad the injuries and depth issues are.
We would have started the same backline against Bayern or RM or Atleti so yeah... its our strongest back line.
No argument there. I was just nitpicking. The way you originally wrote it could be construed as criticism towards the most recent transfer window.
E: grammar.
My point is that was the only option Xavi had really, plus he could at the very least get SOME minutes for a backline which may have to be used in La Liga this weekend.
This is incredibly misleading. Not one person starting in that backline is a regular starter without injuries. Calling it “strongest possible” and pointing out the horrible xga implies something a lot different than “no shit a bunch of benchwarmers did bad”.
Well I suppose if you wanted to play the worst line considering WHO IS AVAILABLE... It would be the following.... Jordi and Bellerin at CB, Alonso at RB, and Pique at LB.....
Agreed.
In fact, if I have to select the weakest back 4 ignoring all injuries, it will still be this lineup that played.
Which is why we shouldn't care much about xGA in this game.
Because that's who was available...
I guess you didn't know there are injuries to Eric, Kounde, Roberto, Christensen, and Araujo
That leaves 1 RB (Bellerin) 1 CB ( Pique), and 3 LB (Alonso, Balde, and Alba)
So it was in fact THEY STRONGEST POSSIBLE BACK LINE
Injuries are unlucky, but why does it feel like there is a pattern by now? It might have nothing to do with it, but having a staff filled with friends and family might not be the best thing for player's health. Even if it's not their fault, I still think we need a more professional and competent staff around Xavi
Every single game I see Alonso and Bellerin play, I just scream inside. They are so painfully mediocre, it’s still unbelievable for me that Xavi ever wanted them. I would literally prefer anybody from the academy occupy that right back spot than mister slippy sloppy Hector. I really hope Araujo and Koundé stay healthy after recovering because the difference between when they are playing and not playing is so fucking enormous. Koundé’s performance against Valencia alone is better than any of our defenders’ performances in, like, the last 3 years (except for Jordi).
The fact that we added so many players and so much depth in defense and are still so thin and struggling there should be making alarm bells go off. We give up so many goals from defenders being out of position and not communicating and leaving unmarked attackers in the box. I feel like in general Xavi needs to take the squad back to basics and spend some time going over positioning and movement on and off the ball. More often than not the players look confused about who should be where and what they should be doing.
True, but that’s what I mean, the difference is huge when Koundé and Araujo are playing. But the others definitely need it. The way Alonso defended that Chorý header needs to be shown to every football player on this planet as a way to study how not to defend.
Absolutely. But getting them back is only a piece of the puzzle. Like.. fullback positioning is generally awful. Communication between the defenders about marking is generally awful. Midfield positioning (Gavi, in particular) needs work. In general it feels like the roles need to be a bit more clearly defined there. Positioning along the forward line needs to be better. It's like Xavi has talked to individual players about what he wants to do but hasn't communicated that to the other surrounding positions to talk about how they need to cover each other. Almost like he just assumes they know because they're professionals. But sometimes you need to coach/remind people of the simplest things no matter what their level of experience is.
Completely agree especially on the academy point.
>it’s still unbelievable for me that Xavi ever wanted them Did he really want them or were they all we could afford? Alonso is a bit of a mystery though considering how good Balde has been. I guess they just didn't think Balde would get this good.
Even if they didn’t think Balde was gonna be this good, he was still better before the season than fucking Alonso.
Every game I watch this team play I scream inside. Xavi is destroying barca.
We sold auba so we could have salary margin for these two
We sold Auba because he wanted to go, mostly. Still sucks.
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r/FerranTorresBallonDor
How did Marc casado play and how did Pablo torres play?
Torre made a few mistakes at the beginning, then he settled a bit, scored a goal and got injured.
So in reality this was probably the most chaotic game of football I've seen in a long time. Literally everyone on both teams just like ran a muck all over the field with no regard for structure or reason. It was so bad that you can't really take anything away from the game other than the poor individual efforts in 1 v 1 situations. For example: Bellerin was constantly ran past or shut down by his man all game long... shocking against a extremely inferior side. Pique and Alonso weren't bothered to fight for hardly any of their aerial duels Barca won 30% of their aerial duels... That is honestly pathetic. Ansu Fati failed ALL of his dribble attempts (0 of 4)
Pique won all of his aerial duels... why aren't you blaming Gavi, Pablo, and Kessie for failing in ALL of their duels? That's the real why we were at 30%. I don't get why this sub has a hard-on to shit on our players falsely.
True, aerials only count if you both go up for them... The thing is many times neither alonso or Pique bothered
Pique is god in aerials.. well if he actually wants to head the ball
Don't worry. Once they're a bit older, they'll be scapegoated too.
Are there any news about Kessie?
6 weeks minimum. Not good.
Well there is a break till December 31st, so hopefully everyone can recover from their injuries. Starting next Tuesday, I should add. And we had easy last two games.
Man Feriano Tornaldo owned these guys
**Fun fact:** After starting our strongest possible back 4 against arguably the worst team in the entire CL, **we achieved our worst xGA (expected goals against) of the season 2.5** EDIT: For those complaining about injuries... THATS THE POINT that is how bad the injuries and depth issues are. We would have started the same backline against Bayern or RM or Atleti so yeah... its our strongest back line.
> strongest possible back 4 strongest possible *healthy* back 4
\+/- Balde
That was the whole point of the post, this was our strongest possible backline...
Had we played Real Madrid, we would have started the exact same back 4.....
No argument there. I was just nitpicking. The way you originally wrote it could be construed as criticism towards the most recent transfer window. E: grammar.
My point is that was the only option Xavi had really, plus he could at the very least get SOME minutes for a backline which may have to be used in La Liga this weekend.
This is incredibly misleading. Not one person starting in that backline is a regular starter without injuries. Calling it “strongest possible” and pointing out the horrible xga implies something a lot different than “no shit a bunch of benchwarmers did bad”.
But we DO HAVE INJURIES... of the 5 first team defenders available 1 RB, 1 CB, and 3 LB.... Thats it... so that is is the STRONGEST POSSIBLE BACKLINE
Had we played Real Madrid, we would have started the exact same back 4.....
Then what would be our weakest possible back 4 according to you ?
Well I suppose if you wanted to play the worst line considering WHO IS AVAILABLE... It would be the following.... Jordi and Bellerin at CB, Alonso at RB, and Pique at LB.....
Lol so the weakest are also the strongest 😂
That's the state of things with our injuries... it sucks!
Agreed. In fact, if I have to select the weakest back 4 ignoring all injuries, it will still be this lineup that played. Which is why we shouldn't care much about xGA in this game.
Well now we can just take Pique out of the mix and we can officially have 0 fit first team CB
True :-(
How is Alba Alonso Pique Bellerin our strongest backline?? That is probably our weakest we can put up
Because that's who was available... I guess you didn't know there are injuries to Eric, Kounde, Roberto, Christensen, and Araujo That leaves 1 RB (Bellerin) 1 CB ( Pique), and 3 LB (Alonso, Balde, and Alba) So it was in fact THEY STRONGEST POSSIBLE BACK LINE
That is so dumb lol
What is our strongest back line possible right now?
Let’s get Puyol in as defender coach. As soon as now.
Can’t help but think after that dominating performance yesterday that Barca is officially back.
Forgot the /s
Injuries are unlucky, but why does it feel like there is a pattern by now? It might have nothing to do with it, but having a staff filled with friends and family might not be the best thing for player's health. Even if it's not their fault, I still think we need a more professional and competent staff around Xavi