Comments on: CL Preview: Sporting CP – Barça; Wednesday 2:45pmEST, ESPN Deportes

By: JC

JC — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:28:11 +0000

n if you go to see Karma hit us fast.we get a free kick due to an obvious hand ball, we take it quickly and score. some newspapers calling it controversial.
then a few minutes later, they get a free kick, which was a wrong call, they take the free kick the old fashioned way and score

By: JC

JC — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:40:15 +0000

damn!! i missed the 2nd half. what i liked about henry’s performance was that he came back to help defence on a few occasions
N Caceres plays at left back for Uruguay, so it’s not an unfamiliar position. He’s the fastest of all our defenders, he needs more playing time to boost his confidence..

why is it that some ref’s let players take the quick free kick and some don’t? I felt that the ref should have blown the whistle when Dani made that quick pass to messi…not that i did not enjoy watching him score, i just believe in Karma

By: Colin

Colin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:34:55 +0000

It seems to me that Barca have conceded several goals on weak clearances this season, something to work on.

Barca were brilliant the opening 25, total dominance.

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:18:28 +0000

ballbeav… I tend to rate players on how they perform their job on the pitch and their overall contribution to the team. His job was to link play and as 1 of three forwards get on the scoresheet. He and Messi played very well together, much better than either with Hleb. Also, Henry tends to make everyone play better. He draws defenders over to his side of the pitch, opening up play for others. Hleb was left with acres of space on the right for the entire first half but did very little with it. The only danger that came down that side was either from Dani bombing forward or when Messi or Henry ventured over there.
Bottom line was that he was dangerous for the first half and created a goal. We must remember that today our passing percentage was only something like 72%, so everyone gave the ball away.
On my ratings for Marquez and Pique… Marquez gave the ball away a couple of times but made up for it with a few nice long balls. He dropped the ball on the ‘missed?’ header. If it was Pique, the ball was won and would’ve gone 20yards forward. Caceres even thought it was going forward.
On VV’s 6… if he didn’t take the step to his left and got beaten by power I would have just congratulated Miguel Veloso, who is one of my favourite players, for a great strike. If a keeper doesn’t trust his wall or thinks that it isn’t positioned correctly then it might as well not have been there. Remember Casillas’ wall a few matches ago.

Lastly, I have to admit that the 6 for Hleb was generous, but regardless of the fact that he did nothing with the ball – it usually found it’s way to another Barca player.

By: ballbeav

ballbeav — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:58:12 +0000

are you kidding ciaran? usually everything you say is spot on. henry doesnt deserve an 8. sure he scored the goal, but he turn over the ball a ton and didnt beat his marker on the dribble ONCE. his goal was all due to messi, and even his run to score the goal was lazy. im gonna post again soon about how henry makes me sigh.

sigh…

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:28:31 +0000

for anyone else who is collecting evidence that Goal.com writers dont actually watch the games before rating the players, check this excerpt from this game’s ratings;

“Tiago 5 – The stand-in keeper’s first duty was to pick the ball out of his net afte a penalty and then he saw Caneira knock the ball over him.”

a typo, then a false fact. what game did this person see?

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:19:38 +0000

hm… Ciaran, cant argue Marquez’s and Caceres’s ratings, i think they both were 8 out of 10 performances if we ignore the one play, but thats what comes with the territory of playing defense. And i think it was unfortunate that they had the smallest lapse of concentration coincide, cuz it really could have been prevented if EITHER of them got that one right. And outside of that, i think we played a great match. The 1st goal was no one’s fault, not marquez, cuz it wasnt a hand ball, and i dont think valdez gets that if he was standing correctly, it was a wonderful strike.

Call me a cynic, but i dont think pique deserves the 7. He didnt commit any errors, but there were times he could have played it just a bit safer. He had an average game, some people might consider this good, since he’s ussually below average.

I also didnt much like Hleb’s play. He’s redundant. Any time theres a choice between Pedro and Hleb, let pedro play. One might say pedro didnt impress today, but when he entered the pitch it was without messi and henry on it, so the front line was very disorganized.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:04:55 +0000

wow… whata match… i need kevin’s post-game-post, so that all of my disorganized thoughts about this game may be put in perspective, in a more organized narrative! plus i need some player ratings to criticize…

Hleb was better than last game… i’d give him a 2!

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:01:11 +0000

A good match for us. Valdes won’t be happy conceding two goals. The wall was positioned to cover his left side but he still took a step to his left and was beaten on his side.
We controlled for very long periods throughout the match with just a worrying couple of mins in the second half.
Great to see Bojan getting his goal. He was busy up front but with Messi and Henry off the pitch he didn’t have a great amount of chances.

Here’s my take on things…

Valdes – 6 – the first goal was on him, but he made a world class save from Derlei
Alves – 8 – constantly a threat down the right and his quick thinking setup Messi’s goal
Pique – 7 – no mistakes from the big man and forced a goal at the other end
Marquez – 6 – mistake for the second goal but can’t take blame for the freekick
Caceres – 7 – only one superman tackle on 27mins but was solid in an unnatural position for him
Busquets – 8 – dominated midfield and made the right pass again and again
Xavi – 7 – very neat performance from our captain. Unlucky not to score a great freekick
Gudjohnsen – 6 – ran around but never played the ball quickly enough
Hleb – 6 – his linkup play was good but is far too indirect. What’s the word?… Shoot
Henry – 8 – very good first half from the frenchman. Good goal and played well with Messi
Mess – 9 – Another vintage performance from the little man. Created 1, scored 1 and won the freekick that Xavi nearly scored from

Bojan – 7 – didn’t do a lot but worked hard and took the penalty well. I love this kid’s heart
Pedro – 6 – plenty of effort but his control was all over the place
Keita – n/a – not too sure if he even touched the ball

I can’t say that I like Hleb as a starter yet. He isn’t the type of player that I like at all. He does a job but is not an exciting and never gets the blood racing. I would have taken Arshavin over him, or Palacio for that matter.
By the by, I sold him for 12million after one season of him rotting on my bench in FM09

By: Barca4life

Barca4life — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:38:45 +0000

hmm, chelsea are likely to finish second.