Corcaigh Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I watched this game in the company of a Glaswegian who got rather emotional as the game went on, culminating in me getting a bearhug when Watt scored their second. Of course I was cursing my luck at the end having put money on a 2-2 result. Still though, fairplay Celtic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted November 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 8, 2012 I think it was simply an error. They happen from time to time, even to the very best players. I dont accept the "Barcelona defence is appalling" argument either. It always comes out when they lose, and they have had their first choice central defenders (Puyol & Pique) missing with injury of late but the simple fact is they concede very few goals, far fewer than most of the other similarly sized clubs. Yes, they defend as a team and the midfield keeping possession has as much to do with their goals against column being very meagre, but they can keep possession so easily because they have footballers at the back and not ogres like Collins and Dunne. yep, it's because they defend in an unconventional way. i.e. they defend by cutting any attack off at the root. They keep the ball so well that the other team can't even form an attack, rather than what is conventionally seen as defending which is stopping an attack once it's formed. Obviously you have to do that too, but for Barca it's less important. So for that reason, when they do cock it up at the back it gets highlighted because maybe people aren't used to see them doing "conventional" defending too often. It's kind of like the "zonal marking doesn't work" train of thought. Any time it goes wrong, every Tom Dick and Harry shouts "omgz, zonal marking is shit, it didn't work there". No-one highlights the hundreds of times it actually does work. (and on that note, no-one highlights the, probably much more frequent, occurences when traditional man to man marking fails) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I think that it also might be down to their defence being the weakest link, meaning not weak but not as good as thier attack. Kind of world class medium, sts. And as no one wants a team to be perfect they like to point out that "weakness" every time they concede. Kind of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Their defence is weak. Puyol and Pique are injury prone, and Macherano gets caught out too often. Bartra looks shocking, but he's just a kid. Why they didn't go for Thiago Silva or Javi Martinez I don't know, maybe they should just stump up for a Kompany or the like, they badly need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Agreed, Thiago Silva would have been a great buy for them.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted November 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 8, 2012 Well they had the best defence in La Liga last season (by some distance IIRC), and I would guess they'd have the same again this season. Again, just because they don't have reat CBs when Puyol and Pique are out, doesn't mean their defence is weak, because they don't need great CBs for their defence to work. Having good CBs makes them even better, obviously, but they're still strong without them. That being said, I agree about Thiago Silva. He'd be a great buy for anyone, being the best CB in the world and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 agree about SIlva but had a debate last night. Is their any other world class defenders. Vidic is injury prone, Kompany looks awful this season and Pepe and Ramos are walking red cards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 agree about SIlva but had a debate last night. Is their any other world class defenders. Vidic is injury prone, Kompany looks awful this season and Pepe and Ramos are walking red cards Hummels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted November 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 8, 2012 Surely there's always world class defenders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 but look at defenders now compared to say 10 years ago when Cannavaro, Thuram, Nesta, Maldini, Stam, Desailly, Lizarazu etc were around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troglodyte Posted November 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 8, 2012 Rev said what I was going to about Barça's defence being "appalling". They were missing their three defensive players yesterday, until Piqué came on and had to spend most of the match up the other end of the pitch. Sergio Busquets is a sublime player and also offers a lot of protection to the guys at the back. His height is extremely valuable, too. And of course, Puyol is a warrior and Barça lack that aggression at the back without him. On top of all of this, their whole team operates fluidly (and essentially without full-backs). The likes of Collins and Dunne may improve their defence when it comes to set pieces, but would be an absolute disaster in every other aspect. Thiago Silva would have been a good signing and they were interested, but it seems they weren't prepared to compete with PSG, which is understandable. Their finances are improving but Barcelona still have a lot of debt, so I think it made sense not to spunk a ridiculous amount of money on him, as good as he is. They will have to bring in a new centre-back at some point, though, as we all know Puyol is getting on and suffers with injuries. Hummels would probably be a good shout, and he's said recently that he'd consider leaving but only to four or five clubs across Europe. Barça would obviously be one of them. He's a huge player for Dortmund but I don't think they'd turn down an exorbitant offer; I just think we might see a situation like we did with Thiago Silva where someone like Man City or PSG again comes in at some point in the not-too-distant future. I disagree that there are a lack of 'world class' defenders, and I think the art of defending is evolving along with the rest of the game, but it isn't analysed as much. Xavi did make an error, too, which was very uncharacteristic. He was never, ever, ever going to just 'put his head on it'; his ball control is out of this world 99.9% of the time. He brought down a ball earlier in the game that was dropping quickly out of the air, and promptly turned on a sixpence and created a chance. He's a genius, but made a mistake. Great point from Stevo about zonal marking, too. I've been saying similar for ages. Pisses me off when crappy pundits tear apart 'continental' zonal marking, as if 'good ol' fashioned English' man-marking should really be the only option. After everything though, what a night for Celtic, and well done to them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Is the camera always that low at WHL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumerican Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Is the camera always that low at WHL? I am not sure but do you remember the camera angle at Highbury ? It was almost pitch level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Yeah, I was thinking about that too. It might be me, but I thought WL had a higher camera. Edit - I'm sure I recall VP having a low camera pre Doug Ellis Stand days come to think of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Great touch to beat the defender, nice finish too. Should the keeper have been that far off his line though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Good goal, but overall thought he was poor tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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