A Cule's Words

 Of Course it's the match review.  Look, we played well. If that calms you down, it should not. We need to win to show for it. No matter how many chances are created, until they are put away. Real Madrid were, by far the second best side today. But, they won. Maybe that's because of the VAR decision, but we need to understand that we should have been at least 3-1 up at that point. There's no excuse for that kind of finishing, in an El Clasico, the PREMIER FOOTBALLING SHOWCASE. At least it used to be. Now, there were some things more alarming, and some good ones, but as has been the case this season, finishing remains to be sharp. So, what are the even more negative things ? 1. Busquets. Yeah. I said it before, I will say it again, De Jong and Busquets can't play together. They do not complement each other. For details, click  here  . 2. The day Koeman was appointed, I had one, singular doubt about him. his passiveness. That is what we saw today. Yes, starting Pedri a...

 Start of the Champion's league, El Clasico, Juventus game, everything's coming hard and fast for Barcelona.  This is probably the hardest week for F.C. Barcelona, even more so because both Juventus and Real Madrid are going through a tough period. Both will be eager to bounce back. While Barcelona can be complacent. This should really not happen. So, what should ? 1. Griezmann will start as a striker, or not at all.  2. Wingers should be Dembele, Fati and Trincao(any 2) 3. Messi should play as false nine (Griezmann on the bench. ) 4. Coutinho or Pedri at the attacking midfielder.  While I was reading a few reviews, many pointed out that Pjanic did not do anything wrong, but he was not remarkable. And that, folks, is the way double pivot works. We do not need the second pivot to be extraordinary.  Pjanic did a good job. The second pivot has to be running up and down the field. That is the reason Koeman wanted Wijnaldum. I guess he has a replacement. Alena or Pui...

 Lionel Messi- 7.5/10 A goal, two wins, pretty decent, not at the peak of his powers though, and that's fine. Got a yellow card and had a spat with Bolivia bench. And believe it or not, that's good from the perspective of some sections of Argentinians. I know, weird.  Martin Braithwaite- 7/10 3 starts, 3 wins. What more do you want ?  Riqui Puig- 6/10 2 starts, good games, but was substituted in both games for the Spain u21s. Miralem Pjanic- 5/10 3 starts, 2 losses, a draw. Could not have been much worse than this.  Pedri- 6/10 1 start, decent performance but deserved more minutes.  Ronald Araujo- 7/10 1 start, played well, but lost 4-2.  Coutinho- 8/10 2 starts, 1 goal, 2 wins, everything is going fairy tale-ish for Coutinho right now ! Ansu Fati- 9/10 Talking of fairy tale, here's Ansu Fati. A great addition to both the Spanish national team and F.C. Barcelona.  De Jong- 6 Not a great time for De Jong, and it was further pressed in the international ...

 Well, time never rolls back. But why this time period specifically ? Because this was the best ever time period of Football history. And I can give many reasons for it. .... And that's what we are gonna do ! 1. Messi was at his peak. 2. Ronaldo was at his peak.  3. F.C. Barcelona was at it's peak.  4. Real Madrid were in a pretty good shape, although not absolutely on the peak.  5. Man United were, well, pretty dominant side.  6. Arsenal had their best time in the premier league.  7. Chelsea were a brilliant side.  8. Man City had their best time. 9. Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets were at the peak.  10. Sir Alex Fergusson was at the Man U helm.  11. Arsene Wenger was at the Emirates.  12. The Special One was at the Stamford Bridge.  13. Pep Guardiola was at Barcelona.  14. Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti were at Real Madrid.  15. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was at his prime.  16. Sergio Aguero was at his prime.  17. Pique and R...

 Two Points dropped, concerning or not ? I don't know, but let's analyse the game.  The start was not convincing (again) but the team really reacted well and scored, kept attacking, but could not grab a goal. Well, there was a scare in sight which was thankfully avoided. This all seems to be negative, but I think that except the fifteen minutes(10 min in start and 5 in the next half) we played good, attacking football, and were in control. Which brings us to the question that why did we not score ? We again lacked the finishing touch. Not a new thing anymore. Play Braithwaite then ! Well, I guess it is as simple as swapping Messi and Griezmann's positions. But, I don't know, maybe Koeman has something in his mind. I mean, Griezmann is so invisible in the games, that there is rarely anything in his heatmap. A point or two. That's all. He needs to act a bit mature if Koeman isn't.  Neto- 7 A nice game overall, but conceded one, ruining his record. That's alrig...

 The Man City V/S Leeds United game was played at a very high level, and don't be bothered, it was much higher than you can imagine.  The match toggled a few questions in my mind and here they are-  #1- The lower leagues in the EPL are much better than in any other league.           The EPL might not be the best first division, but the second and third divisions are really nice. Very intense and hardly fought games are played between a promoted side and the two favorites of the league. That's something of an achievement. While not all teams are as good as leeds, we only need to find the dark horse in the past three seasons- Sheffield United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newcastle United. What are they? They are all promoted sides. They got into the top flight and all finished in the top half. Exxcept Wolves though, all got the second season syndrome, Sheffield do not look any good this season, and Newcastle barely stayed in the top flight. That's...

 It was an exciting couple of days to be a Barca/ Messi fan, so let's check it out.  Match Review + Player Ratings-  Barcelona was particularly strong against Celta and I finally believe that we can win anything there is if we keep improving. A strong start, and this could very well be the start to Messi's farewell season, so the players better be ready.  Player Ratings- Neto- 8 A good performance, a few great saves and good distribution throughout. A strong performance.  Sergi Roberto- 7.5 He is going to face competition from the next match but he showed just how good and versatile he is. A good performance capped by a brilliant goal. Lenglet- 4.5 No problem in the time he was on the field, but was not on the field for most of the time.  Pique- 7.5 Another solid performance, another regular match for him. A clean sheet and ready for the next match.  Jordi Alba- 6.5 Not as influential as the last match, but performed well nevertheless. Looking for some...

 The second game. It's coming and we have to be ready.  We saw how this team, with all the pace in the world, can rip a fragile team off, and Barca started the end of the hope here. It is really important to win this game to keep the morale up, and we will do it. Let's see how.  Lineup- I want it to change, but I do not think it will happen and so... yeah, let's not waste our time on it.  But, we will need some different tactics. This team is way more defensive than Villareal and we will need to take our chances efficiently. For this reason, I hope we can rely on Griezmann to improve his finishing.  We also need Araujo to play this game, because Lenglet and Pique just are not fast enough. Celta have far too much horse power to race through our defence. I want to see another change, that is, obviously, Busquets. Don't destroy Frenkie for a 33 year old ! That's it, fingers crossed, let's win it !