see what the international break has caused

Half time at Molinon: Gijon 1-0 Barca

1st, I have to say Pep and I think alike - he used my exact line-up except for Bojan (Xavi starting instead). However, it looks like we both under-estimated Gijon. They really came out flying.

I'm not surprised that we didn't start well - we always play badly after international breaks and you could see my fear in my last few posts about the use of our players in the friendly games. This is the downside of having so many internationals in your team. During the week, there were only 3 players in camp (Maxwell, Keita, Pinto - Adriano was sick) and they had to train with our Team B. That's not good preparation for the weekend.

Messi has been a shadow of himself, after giving his all for Argentina on Wed. Our guys just seem to lack ideas. Milito hasn't inspired confidence at the back (and the guy clears the ball like a non-Barca defender) and Alves is still not looking his sharpest best. Afellay is meant to be playing Pedro's role, but both he and Messi have been dropping too deep and aren't making much of impact.

I expect Pep to switch things around a bit  - Villa to the left, Messi to centre forward, Afellay told to stay forward, Iniesta told to stay in MF (and not on the left). Busquests will prob come in for Masch since we can't afford a red and he has made too many rough tackles already.

Our former la Masia boy - Botia - has been impressive in the defence. I really liked the guy before he was let go last season. I believe we have a buy-back clause on him - he's one to keep an eye on.

Mwhile, the silly commentator seems to be itching to see us lose. The guy cannot contain himself at the sight of Barca trailing in the 1st half. He was talking about us losing the match so much I had to re-check that we were ending the 1st half, not the 2nd.

I hope we can do a comeback in this one and maintain our 100% away record.

A little over 10' to go

It was a hard-fought draw. Kudos to Gijon for giving us a stern test. Pity they didn't do this to RM when they met at Molinon earlier in the season.

That was a lovely goal by Villa. We missed too many though. Xavi should have scored with that golden chance and Pedro could also have scored after we drew level. When we face these ultra-defensive sides, we really have to take all of the few chances we create. The good news is that we always create even against the most defensive teams. We should just be careful not to concede.

I liked Pep's substitutions. The introduction of Pedro gave us our usual mobility upfront, which is crucial. It is worrisome though, that the absence of just 1 of our front players could make us so indecisive as happened in the 1st half. Afellay is obviously more of an Inesta-type player than a forward like Pedro. Looks like we need to improve Nolito more as Pedro's cover.

Keita for Milito was a bit risky, but it's good to see the boss take a risk once in a while.

I'm happy we got a point (will be happier if RM lose tomorrow!) & didn't lose.

Hopefully we can beat Arsenal at Emirates on Wednesday. That's the koko!

. . .  and the interesting times begin.
The game was a cracker, even tougher than the Osasuna - Madrid encounter.

It's nice to see that Pep is taking the Gunners serious - by resting the players he took a risk, but I think it wasn't so bad in the end.
I am just relieved we didn't drop all three points. Gijon was also a tough nut at the Camp Nou in September, so I was kind of not surprised.
I'm happy that Masch got a runout. He really needs to learn to play the Barca way. He was giving away far too many balls in the middle, and kind of broke the Xavi-Iniesta chemistry. Gijon went out for blood, and got it too.
All in, for me a good nerve test for Wednesday and the passionate fans at the Emirates. Villa's goal and Messi's assist reeked of pure class. Though the Gijon goal kind of showed up the defence. No Abidal to cover, Milito just stood there and watched Pique get turned for the goal.

Our trend of starting slowly after any break of any sort comes to play yet again. We were similarly unconvincing against Levante in our first game this year.
This was always gonna come, we definitely can't win forever. This 2nd half of the season is gonna be tough.
I think Masch was poor. He really needs to leave behind those EPL style challenges and concentrate on being better on the ball.

Kudos to Gijon. They gave us a fight. Diego Castro was really massive for them.

Hi 5 fellars(although we scored 1,Never say die pls)

I have been M.I.A as usual,so many reasoning points over the past week up till tonight.

The much-dreaded national duties have come and gone and characteristically,it always seems to be our waterloo and lull in form; but we can't complain much as the entire clubs in the footie world were affected in one way or the other.
They came back burned out and I wonder the intelligence at playing your regular squad for 90 mins, the idea of friendly is to introduce fringe players and blend them in, its not enough excuse, we just have to step up, pity our winning streak came to a break(not end) but its good at times to take some brow-beating so that legs and heads will still be on planet earth.

You guys have really hit the nail on the head; Everyone has some shortcomings to take away from this performance, starting from Peps gamble(well the 7 points cushion aided his decision anyway) to the players that failed to step up and the established ones that threw away glaring chance after chance(Pedro's and suprisingly Capitan Xavi).

Milito and Maxwell were the worst for me, maxwell in the 1st half hardly made any move,just the mikel obi-give-me-i-give-you-back-kinda- pass, I lost count of several long thrust passes that Pique floated across to him but he'l pass back to the nearest barca player and was just floating meaningless ball into the 18 yard box, Barca does not have physical presence in the air (the only airmaster we have is out with injury) I was pleasantly suprised that he lasted the entire game, altho I noticed that the attack switched to Dani's axis after his "unbarca-like passes" same goes for Milito, we can't be this sloppy against a roving Walcot, tricky Nasri and Clinical R.V Persie.

The established ones too couldn't keep their nerves down to make some clinical finishing that would have killed off the game for us, better still to happen at this stage and sacrifice 2 points, we sure need that class of final touch especially in view of the crunch league ties awaiting us. The league has never been won in feb and not on records smashing, all points must surely count and those given opportunity to don the Blaugrana shirt should not let us down.

@Stealthy, like you pointed out, in the 1st half, I nervously was looking at the time piece on my telly, wrist watch and phone to re-assure myself that the match was not almost over due to the clear bias of the cricket-sounding commentator, he gave Gijon the 3 points in the 1st half and repeatedly queried any tackle of Barca and the ref for being lenient on Barca, it was disgusting to say the least. The only way for Barca to shut such mouths is to come to any party and do the needful. Sufficient unto the day.

On Barca I stand

You're in big trouble come Wednesday at the Emirates!!

I'm not too depressed though. My Gunners friends overhere have been popping champagne that they already can call our wednesday's duel, their own for the take. I prefer to draw and/or loss now, than to do any at the emirates. They shall have recieved a wrong notion from this match. They will be in for a shocker. I know they cannot play highly defensively like these Gijon (not if we avoid conceding first) and i know they are a great team! We 'll see !

I'm not too depressed though. My Gunners friends overhere have been popping champagne that they already can call our wednesday's duel, their own for the take. I prefer to draw and/or loss now, than to do any at the emirates. They shall have recieved a wrong notion from this match. They will be in for a shocker. I know they cannot play highly defensively like these Gijon (not if we avoid conceding first) and i know they are a great team! We 'll see !

Arsene Wenger: Samir Nasri May Be Fit For Barcelona Clash

I am looking forward to the match and i am sure both teams are not happy playing each other. Arsenal will be very prepared for this encounter in other to prove a point.

Villa's goal was really sick

IMO, I have 3 points to prove why we drew last nights game.

1: The international friendlies factor, as we all know we just dont gell whenever we
go on international breaks.


2: The pitch: We also do know that our passing style of play requires a smooth and lil bit slippery pitch. The
pitch was awfully bad, passes made makes the ball bounce before it reaches its destination, that alone slowed
down our attacking fluidity.

3: The line up: I really do not see any big deal handling Arsenal as formidable as we are right now. I would have preferred pep
risking the complete squad last night with the inclusion of Abidal, Busquet and pedro. After doing 2 or more goals, then subz
can come in to rest the key players in due time. To me that would have been the best gamble.

All in all, if the worst happens 2nyt, we still have a 5 points lead, but Espanyol are also in form, not as much as they were in the
beginning of the season, but playing espanyol @ home is more like suicide, so lets hope for points dropping my madrid also.

He i.e guardiola shoulda rested the best legs in anticipation of wednesday.
even lossing the match wont make madrid catch up, it only reduces the gap. But well if that had happened na abuse everybody go abuse the lad.
right now playing the full squad and still not winning against a gijon side dont paint a too solid picture for barca.

The beginning of downfall of fc barca, history is about to repeat itself.
they call them mes que un club but the most raciest state in spain,all of you that hails fc barca should always do that in vain because they dont even aprciate it from you as long as you are not from catalunya state.
this game against sporting is just the begining of the falling of this team, the coming champions game match will futher more negative results which will creat a caos that will coste nerviousness from the tecnical team to the players and therefore more failures ahead till the end of this campagn season. jjejejejej i dey laugh

and real madrid is gonna rise mou is gonna just prove to be the world best manager .vive madrid viveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Well, I would prefer points dropping and lessons learnt for the big one come wed night.

I have had a couple of experiences on match-ups like this in the past, I remember how I was overwhelmed by the noise abt UCL Paris final against Assnal, our finals against malu utd,last seasons gooners-match up and more recently the JMouth-influenced-el classico-frenzy; we always have the last laugh. Not taking anything away from our worthy opponents,RV Persie is a striker with a physical presence that amazes me and I hope we'l be fired up as usual for the encounter, I don't expect a "packed bus affair" knowing that Assene Wengay doesn't tinker his team formation for no one although nufn is impossible.
I hope we don't conceive 1st.

We'l have the last laugh in Catalan. Guys buckle up

Meanwhile I expect Madrid to reduce the deficit when they trade tackles with our neigbhours @ Cornella although they've just lost 2 @ home this season, Madrid will make it 3rd IMO. It'l be suicidal for them not to take it all, they have the compliment of a full hungry squad now.

usbcable:

He i.e guardiola shoulda rested the best legs in anticipation of wednesday.
even lossing the match wont make madrid catch up, it only reduces the gap. But well if that had happened na abuse everybody go abuse the lad.
right now playing the full squad and still not winning against a gijon side dont paint a too solid picture for barca.

Bro we would have won.

benchwest:

The beginning of downfall of fc barca, history is about to repeat itself.
they call them mes que un club but the most raciest state in spain,all of you that hails fc barca should always do that in vain because they dont even aprciate it from you as long as you are not from catalunya state.
this game against sporting is just the begining of the falling of this team, the coming champions game match will futher more negative results which will creat a caos that will coste nerviousness from the tecnical team to the players and therefore more failures ahead till the end of this campagn season. jjejejejej i dey laugh

and real madrid is gonna rise mou is gonna just prove to be the world best manager .vive madrid viveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Who be this dead guy? Guy be dead ooo!!! Mscheww!!

benchwest:

The beginning of downfall of fc barca, history is about to repeat itself.
they call them mes que un club but the most raciest state in spain,all of you that hails fc barca should always do that in vain because they dont even aprciate it from you as long as you are not from catalunya state.
this game against sporting is just the begining of the falling of this team, the coming champions game match will futher more negative results which will creat a caos that will coste nerviousness from the tecnical team to the players and therefore more failures ahead till the end of this campagn season. jjejejejej i dey laugh

and real madrid is gonna rise mou is  gonna just prove to be the world best manager .vive madrid viveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I have only chalked up about 300 plus posts on NL against contemporaries that have thousands of posts, the reason not that I don't have 24 hours access to the internet but I rather prefer hearing out history,the good and the not-so-good; but since you are under the illusion that you have something meaningfoolish(less) to post, I just cannot place the above pointless comments. Its not mandatory to post on any thread

-A record-making and historical team draws away and its suddenly a downfall? How about our 0-2 loss to Hercules in the 1st part of the season? Please fill in the gaps too
-Where does racism come into this reasoning? Racism is everywhere even in this country you claim to originate from

All that you raised are just pity-patty and I hope nobody follows me to respond to you. I just have to stop,you must be an un-informed teeny boop!!!

Good points from all you guys: Ajanlekoko, Johnpaul, medjai, eyoniggar, holydante.

Essentially, it's better to lose/draw against Gijon & win against Arsenal than vice-versa. The reason we built up a 7-point lead was to have some cushion in instances like this. If the league was closer, Pep wont have had the luxury to bench some of his starters. Look at Madrid - they have to play their 1st 11 in every match. That's not an enviable position to be in.

I hope yesterday's result gives Arsenal some illusion that we've lost form and we give them a healthy slap on Wed night.

Stealthy:

I hope yesterday's result gives Arsenal some illusion that we've lost form and we give them a healthy slap on Wed night.

Exactly my sentiments. Their self belief has been off tha roof since yesternyte. Its like a frenzy and they are all in an 0rg*****ic mood presently.

Well,it makes it more interesting for the game.

Hope the "greenzone" is safer than ever before Stealth?

@Stealthy

   I honestly do not think a team like Arsenal Fc will be thinking they have an advantage even if barcelona lost 5-0 , the Arsenal is a great team with a very experienced coaching crew. they sure knows better than that.
These are professionals and they did not start playing football yesterday. the game will go the way it will go, and i hope to God it will be a very interesting match.Barcelona has been more stable and having a better spell though in a different league, Arsenal is coming to the game as the under dog but they can not be under rated either. personally watching my two favourite teams play gives me a sudden rush of possessive pride and i am only looking forward to enjoying a nice game of football .  To all the lovers of good football. lets go there!! Enjoy!!

holydante:

Exactly my sentiments. Their self belief has been off tha roof since yesternyte. Its like a frenzy and they are all in an 0rg*****ic mood presently.

Well,it makes it more interesting for the game.

Hope the "greenzone" is safer than ever before Stealth?

Lol! I'm not actually in Baghdad - I'm in naija. And you know our country can sometimes be as bad as Baghdad,

@switch47
Fair points.

So long as Barca goes through to the quarter finals instead of Arsenal, I'm ok.

Ok man, nice to know you are tucked up real safe. Well, we believe the best for this potentially great but unfortunately stuttering country bedevilled by mediocre rulers and decision makers.

On the footie turf, it was a shocking 3 mins at El Prat, Casillas got his matching order with what seemed like a very soft foul but one can argue that since it he clipped the guy right outside the outer box then he derserves what he got (ironically coming from a ref JM claims is the best in la liga). Ronaldo's assist to Marcelo was pure class and the left back played like a possesed man yesterday (as an aside, do they still test players for susbstance abuse these days Just asking though). They did well though, big ups to them for clawing back 3 points.

CL on my mind. The english press as usual is going gaga over Jack Wilshire, the bext best thing to pop out of england to match the Spanish vision and technicality, Italian ruggedness and the Dutch youth. I believe in the boy too but they are forgetten he's just shy of 20 yrs and needs time to mature and toughen up. The teen's young shoulders may begin to feel the weight of british-hackneyed-expectation; a certain alan smith had the headlines like this on papers and the rest is history as they say.

We take it 1 game at a time as it comes.

5 points lead aint beans,we fought like a champion in the second half.Adriano should step up his game,i think he can send Maxwell packing from camp nou next season.maxwell will make life difficult for us on wednesday,imagining wallcot running at him every now and then,the guy would collapse.i will not be surprised if i see abidal-pique-biscuit-dani collabo,but then we would have short changed ourselves in the battle of the midfield.millito has his mind elsewhere hence its going to be a big risk to allow him mess the game for us for lack of concentration.Pep is the man and the bois are still motivated to win more trophies.
we will have to finish up the game in the first half by scoring them first.any news on Puyol?

Are you guys this scared?

^^

Both teams are not 100 percent confident how the match will go but the first goal is the key for any team. Except messi repeats his camp nou madness the last time they met then expect a tightly contested match that could go both ways. I see barca going far if they can escape arsenal and avoid teams like bayern and ac milan. I am really looking forward to that match and let the most deserving team go through to the next round.

v3:

Are you guys this scared?

nope man, not at all, preparation cannot be mistaken for fear. those that fail to plan, plan to fail too. It perfectly normal in fan circles for what is presently going on.

@Ogazi, it seems the camp is keeping mum on Capitan's recovery. I am very sure the up front remains as usual but our LB is a big issue, i totally agree with you about Adriano stepping up, Maxwell has no place in this team for now, he made Walcott a star  last year and he is yet to step up, i was squirming at his crosses and pass-ball-i give-you-back-play on sat, he is not cataluyan yet (tho pep feels differently). I think he played there then cos Abidal was injured or so and the return leg was a different kettle of fish as Abidal muscled him out.

IMO our back four should be D[b]ani/ Pique/Milito/Abidal or Adriano[/b] while Biscuit plays in between Xavi & Iniesta. with Abidal's experience, physical strength, long strides and calm collectiveness, I will prefer him more to LB than Adriano

Biscuits should play deep in between Xavi and Iniesta as a HM to offer some protection to the back 2 also, Masch may cost us suspension in his tackles, I bet you Assenhole Wengay will surely deploy 5 in the midfield.

Our MVP remains unchanged.

Anybody feeling me
l

I PRAY NASRI AND EVERY GUNNER MAKES IT 4 THIS MATCH. WE ARE FED UP WITH EXCUSES. RIGHT FROM WHEN NASRI GOT INJURED THE EXCUSES STARTED ALREADY. COMMON MAN! WHO IS ARSENAL? THIS FOOTBALL FAN RUBBISH WHICH STARTED ONLY AROUND 2003 IS KILLING FOOTBALL. FOOTBALL IS DEAD!

the only way any football team in the world can defeat barca is tru a counter or a defensive error. barca would dominate play comprehensively against any opponent in the epl, serie a, bundes liga, anywhere. i put that on my life.

We cant be scared of Arsenal.as a matter of fact, we cant be scared of bigger teams in Europe even,not when we have the three best players in the world.(Messi,Iniesta and xavi).the sound of messi alone can cause panic in Emirate,the gunners would be trying so hard to contain him while the likes of pedro and Iniesta will be doing the damage.
@holydante
I think we can take chances in our defence line up hence gunners back four are not better either.i need Biscuit in that middle,the boy offers more to the team stability than even Yaya.we are our own problem,if we keep the ball well and move it faster,we will get behind their defence.the best form of deffence is to attack attack and attack.if they play an open game with us they will lose and i am also afraid they dont have what it takes to defend with ten men like Sporting Gijon.we just need an away goal just like we have always done in our previous away game in CL,but we know how to beat them silly in Camp nou.

Walcott is going to disgrace someone on Wednesday, and Abidal might just be forced to retire early after RVP finishes with him.

Forget the 15 or 16 game hype - you're going DOWN!!

debosky:

Walcott is going to disgrace someone on Wednesday, and Abidal might just be forced to retire early after RVP finishes with him.

Forget the 15 or 16 game hype - you're going DOWN!!

nwoke m!!!! by the time walcot runs himself ragged, the chickens will come home to roost.

16 games win (H&A) on the trot is no mean feat, you can't trivialise it for all i care. Your ''unofficial crown-king of 100 meters dash'' did the same running around at the Nou and for all his troubles, had a 4-1 withe-wash for compensation.
Footie will never compete with Athletics, ask Tijani babangida
@Ogazi, we are not loosing this match as far as am concerned