Dr_Pangloss Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 GET IN JUVE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 If only Juventus had a player like Paul Pogba in their team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Judging from that photo it looks like the hotel Dortmund stayed in was well out of town so you wonder who could've got down there to plant the devices and what the security was like. Very sad though and if this was terrorism related it could've easily been a lot worse than what has turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Much less one-sided than the PSG first leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Looks like they will have to pull off another 'miracle' and hope they get another extremely corrupt ref at the Camp Nou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 unless they get a late goal which would change the complexion of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 after people calling out Ozil for going missing I think its fair to say Messi performance was disgraceful. He didnt one track back and only looked interested when the ball was near him. was same in Paris and another me me me performance 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Neymar was worse for me. Left his full back hilariously exposed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Would be awesome if Buffon finally won the CL. I don't particularly like Juve (too many arseholes like Bonucci, Chiellini, Khedira etc) but they're well drilled as you like. Barca aren't turning over this deficit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 26 minutes ago, kurtsimonw said: Neymar was worse for me. Left his full back hilariously exposed Its not what they are about though is it. The failing in Barcelona is not down to front 3, its down to 5 or 6 players behind them. I thought Messi played well tonight. The pass to Iniesta was fantastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 36 minutes ago, PaulC said: Its not what they are about though is it. The failing in Barcelona is not down to front 3, its down to 5 or 6 players behind them. I thought Messi played well tonight. The pass to Iniesta was fantastic. Sounds just like Barry Bannan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Kendrick's Dentist Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 1 hour ago, PaulC said: Its not what they are about though is it. The failing in Barcelona is not down to front 3, its down to 5 or 6 players behind them. I thought Messi played well tonight. The pass to Iniesta was fantastic. All of this is true. Luis Enrique seems to be putting the 6-1 down to his bizarre 343. It wasn't. They are massively exposed every time they lose the ball, and did Juve's job by bottling up the middle of the park on Messi. They also really struggled to build the play without Busquets as Mascherano couldn't dictate. The less said about Andre Gomes/Mathieu the better. Iniesta and Rakitic also had very poor games. Credit to Juve who are a ferocious side, especially at the J Stadium. Alex Sandro, Dani Alves and Dybala were terrific again tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 12 hours ago, PaulC said: Its not what they are about though is it. The failing in Barcelona is not down to front 3, its down to 5 or 6 players behind them. I thought Messi played well tonight. The pass to Iniesta was fantastic. I was talking about last night. It's fine against the 15 or so teams in La Liga that play with 10 men in their own box to do no tracking, you aren't going to be needed to track. But you can't leave your full back/wing back exposed like that in a CL quarter final against a player with that kind of pace. As for that's "not what they are about", it's not like Neymar exactly did his job at the other end. Busquets was definitely a big miss though. Higuain was receiving the ball and turning far too easily. Mascharano is nowhere near good enough for this level IMO, gets by being surrounded by very good players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 (edited) Barca have just lost that desire imo. You get that eventually after years of domination. It reminds me of them just before Guardiola took over in 2008 when they had Rjikaard as manager and Deco, Henry, Eto'o and Ronaldinho start but they won nothing. Sometimes a teams cycle just ends. They still have the front trio but they can't be scoring from the halfway line if the rest of the team massively declines. Barca have some right mug players starting for them. Kurt going on about Mascherano who has been a very good DM but is just getting old now (33 in June) but what of Mathieu who somehow started last night and Andre Gomes as first sub yet again. These are midtable, 10th/11th type players which is where they were playing for Valencia. That's actually a bit of a problem, Barca seem to have a weird fascination with signing mediocre Valencia talents when Valencia are barely making top half. Paco Alcacer is another who's made little impact, they'll probably bid for Mustafi aswell. Ter Stegan lets in too many saveable goals aswell, who was the last WC keeper Barca had out of interest? Edited April 12, 2017 by VillaChris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Some of Barca's issues are down to having a poor coach. Takes 2 left backs in the 18 and puts a fairly slow centre back at left wing back, then takes him off for a midfielder and puts another centre back at left back. If they weren't fully fit, then it's even worse management wasting two spots on the bench. They need to go out and get a proper coach, they've not had one since Pep and have since just relied on individuals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 The team are just in decline. No-one was complaining about poor coaching when they were winning the treble a couple of years back. Mascherano has been a top player for them but he's had injuries and getting no younger. they haven't replaced Alves. Busquets played in Paris but he was crap there. iniesta loses the ball more often than he used to. Having said this they could scored a couple of goals last night and should have had a pen, but thats swings and roundabouts. I dont think the tie is over. Barcelona created a lot of chances last night. An early goal at the Nou Camp and they could turn it around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 they have no youth coming through and seem to have taken some massive missteps in their transfer policy, both in terms of purchases and letting the likes of thiago go, the likes of vidal, turan, cillessen arent anywhere near good enough either in the last round of internationals barca had 2 players in the spanish U21s/U19 squads, if you look at who they have out on loan you'd guess maybe samper and munir could return as squad players they have a 22 man squad, 3 of them keepers, vidal out for the season, playing say 50 games a season... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted April 12, 2017 Moderator Share Posted April 12, 2017 Barça's problem is Juve are not French, so they're not going to roll over and surrender. The aura is gone. Malaga did it. Paris nearly did it. Juve will do it. And there's little if anything in the world of football that makes me smile as much as Luis Suarez walking around with a face like a smacked arse. word removed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Barcelona are in serious decline, great to see. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 4 hours ago, BOF said: Barça's problem is Juve are not French, so they're not going to roll over and surrender. The aura is gone. Malaga did it. Paris nearly did it. Juve will do it. And there's little if anything in the world of football that makes me smile as much as Luis Suarez walking around with a face like a smacked arse. word removed. Yes away from home maybe the aura has gone but at home they are still formidable. I expect Juve to come through but wouldn't write Barcelona off yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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