There were a lot of questions raised when Hughes was present at Pamplona during last match. Everybody thought he was scouting our players, while in fact, he was there to watch Osasuna's C. Azpilicueta played. LOL. Perasan je Barca ni

If so, I think Hughes must feel good seeing Azpilicueta's performance. He had a steady game against Iniesta and Keita, except that he had absolutely no chance to do any of his trademark overlapping runs.

Next game is against Rubin Kazan away. I heard that the temperature at their stadium could plummet to below 10 degrees. So our players will face not only Rubin's players, but also their weather. Hoping that we will grab all 3 points. I've a feeling that Henry may start the game, finally

Larsson's goals for Barca:



Happy Retiring King Larsson!!

This post has been edited by matyrze: Nov 2 2009, 12:58 PM

Yeap, he was the reason why Henry had difficulties in the same fixture last season. Azpilicueta marked him out of the game. Surely he has big future. Hopefully it will be with Barca, although Barca never showed serious interest with him so far.

Yes you are right. But I am actually would like to see somebody fight for Alves' place. Alves is a consistent player, if we consider his athleticism and ability, but mentally he is not. His constant moaning and theatricals acts always harmed his concentration. I think he need a competition, to make him stay on his feet, and not going too crazy in matches. I'm sure Pep had a headache already with Alves' moods. He already miss 1 UCL Final because of his emotion.

Yeap, while Ronnie often gave ridiculously awesome assists, Larsson always managed to read his teammates' intentions. Even if he received bad crosses, he always knew how to beat defenders/GKs to the ball and scoring goals. That what made him special. He is a type of striker Barca rarely had, since the Dream Team days.

Goal.com reports that our next opponent in CDR is, errrr, ALCORCON???

I wanted to suggest some ticket 'agent' who will most probably be at the outside of the stadium on the match day. But when I remember the usual price of the ticket again, I think that is definitely not an option. Can't always guarantee its validity either.

Well, any club who is aspired to win big always has to have the willingness to spent, right? That is the rule which has been setup around the world. Its important however to be balanced while maintaining our own youth policy and shopping policy. Barca is doing OK in that aspect IMO. Although we spent big last summer, we still had 10 La Masia-grown players on the field during our last match, when we won 5-0.

You are right to be concerned about Robinho's attitude. But I think Pep doesn't think so. I think he believes that he can handle Robinho's character. The reason of buying him has already been stated in faris' post. Yes we have Assulin and Pedro. But the Robinho option is actually for the present squad, to replace the aging Henry when necessary. Assulin and Pedro are for the future.

Fabregas is a very good player. But I don't think he is the first priority right now. The reason: the price will be super expensive, and he is cup-tied for UCL. Besides, aren't we still have JDS and Thiago waiting in the wings?

Yes, I've already read Arsenal's interest in Assulin. Arsenal have been accusing us for trying to tap Cesc from them, while in fact they HAVE already tapped him from us years ago. Now they want Assulin. No chance for them to get him cheap (or for free) as he already has professional contract with Barca. Furthermore, Gai has not shown any sign of interest to move either.

Robinho is an option to give Pep more choice of tactics. Bojan and Gai will have to wait for their chances. The chances will come. Barca have so many matches ahead. But they certainly are not ready to play active role in the first team. They still have a lot to learn.

I am a fan of youth development policy. But we can't do like Arsenal is doing right now, playing youngsters in big games. Their situation and our situation are different. Arsenal have been very patient with Wenger way, although they have long trophy-drought spell currently. Barca can't tolerate such spell. I'm sure you understand that well So for Gai to have his major breakthrough into the first team, that will take time. Certainly not this season.

That is because Laporta wants to hijack Rosell's plans for next year. Don't take it as a fact. It is only my assumption

This post has been edited by matyrze: Nov 15 2009, 06:44 AM

YEAH, XAVI SHOULD WIN SOMETHING!! Pirlo didn't win anything because his prime coincides with Zidane's and Ronnie's. Xavi's competition is actually not so fiercely in comparison. Only Messi, and maybe, just maybe, Iniesta, CR, Villa or Torres.

Abidal will miss 3 weeks. Puyol complained about a knock as well, but there is nothing serious. He can play in the next game. Not sure about others.

This post has been edited by matyrze: Nov 17 2009, 11:24 PM

Ibra has been out of training, but he will be ready for the next match. His injury is not too serious iinm.

LOL, I woke up and turn on the PC, just to read that Messi joins Ibra in the 'doubtful' list for el classico. That's great. No la, don't need to go to Belgrade. We may try seeking for help from the witch doctor who cursed CR Maybe he has white magic spell as well.

I think we will still dominate Inter and RM with those casualties. What worries me is our ability to score. Without Messi and Ibra, our attack is severely handicapped.

About the Athletic match, I think we deserve to win the match. Messi and Xavi should rue all easy chances that they missed. But credit to Athletic for putting up a good fight. And I think Chyggy did good as well. IINM, in 3 occasions did he show his passing prowess, setting up Pedro and Messi.

You have to realize that Pique is actually slow as well. It is not necessary for Barca's CB to have pace in abundance. They must know however how to defend the Barca way. When to close down, when to tackle, when to back down, when to cover for partner. They have to be really decisive and intelligent enough, because the zone that they mark is really huge. CBs of other teams on the other hand tends to defend man-to-man marking style and very rarely close down opponents (it is usually job of a DM).

IMHO, had we bought world class CB like Vidic, Terry, Lucio, or Samuel, we would still have problems. Only Nesta is good enough to fit into our team and perform straight away for us.

The bad thing is, Iniesta currently was in really really bad form on the left wing against Athletic. Pep should be concerned about that, and has to consider starting Bojan instead of playing Keita. But I believe he will still go for the line up you mentioned. He really likes Keita.

Thx. It is really a do-or-die mission for us. If we fail to win, our fate will be out of our hands. Really the worst situation to be in

Good luck for your team too.

I've already played that game. I only won 48-1. Used hand should score at least 60 la

Yea, you are right about the media, and they conveniently forget about Given's foul on Anelka which should have resulted in France's penalty. Very biased. Biasa la tu...

Thiago Motta was really out of sorts. He even got a yellow card for tackling Busquets late. Seems like he didn't know what he was supposed to do in the match.

Good to see Eto'o came back. I missed him for sure



Very good performance by Barca. Without 2 most influential forwards of the team, plus a defender who just got back after being strucked with swine flu, we surely can't expect more than this.

Iniesta is not at his best yet. But he is getting there. Hopefully he will hit his top performance this coming weekend. Can't wait for El Classico

No wonder Eto'o couldn't have any impact on the match. He was supplied with absolutely no quality ball at all. Busquets really performed well in isolating Inter's midfielders from their strikers. And Stankovic never get the chance to do anything with the ball, except his attempted long shot when Valdes was not at his goal.

With this kind of performance, it shows that Barca is not heavily relying upon Ibra and Messi. I've been reserved with my praises for Pedro, but after watching him causing all kind of headaches for the likes of Maicon, Zanetti, and Lucio, I think Henry's place in the the first team is seriously under serious threat.

This post has been edited by matyrze: Nov 25 2009, 06:07 PM

My selected pictures during our last game. Got them all in Tiki-taka forum

Agreed on Pedro. Plus some more added physical European game will help much too.

Rafa at his best always produces best range of passes from any CB Before Pique, it was Marquez who became our playmaker from the back line.

It will be on 30th November, Monday morning

Great news everybody

Screenshot from El Classico of last season.



Can we expect Ronaldo/Kaka to man mark Iniesta/Xavi this time around?

Oh I can't wait. I seriously hope that the match won't turn out like the clash at the Bernabeu. Hoping something significantly more explosive, and with supreme number of shoots Treble Champions vs World Superstars. How bigger can a match be?

Puyol was MAJESTIC! Absolutely no exaggeration here

If I remember correctly, the commentator for UCL final last season mentioned that Ronaldo has actually never scored against Spanish opposition in UCL. Wondering why people don't point out this 'flaw' in his record as a so-called best player in the world, and keep stressing about Messi's inability to score against the English teams.

But to be fair, he should have scored today. Valdes saved us, again. C'mon Valdes, del Bosque could no longer overlook you, I'm sure of that.

My wish become true. It was a very balanced game. Fair share of chances for both sides. RM played a very good game. Messi, meanwhile, missed a sitter again. That is not the first time this season People criticised Eto'o for missing sitters last season, despite scoring many goals. What about Messi then?

Aih, when I thought he is increasing his stock steadily this season, he blew it off with that howler. And he didn't get more opportunity to redeem himself too, since Adrian's goal was the only threat on our goal. Nvm, I'm still rooting him at least making the squad in the summer. Ability-wise, he deserves it.

Overall we played good. All the players are creative and decisive on the ball, hence the free flowing football they produced.

But only one question raises from the match, why no Toure? Is he ill or something? I doubt so

This post has been edited by matyrze: Dec 6 2009, 02:38 PM