coded01:
We lost due to ill-luck after hitting the bar 4 times...


Seems Barcelona are not prepare to do without our midfield maestros Xavi-Iniesta...


Lastly, high service towards Messi three-much... --- must everyone pass to Messi instead of shooting when they have glaring chances...

ddippset:
glaring chances? are you sure of 'glaring'? passed to messi? who did that? tell me what minute and let's check it again.

ddippset:
we played madrid and psg away! they had the right to beat us! they are super star studded teams as well. we always think we can go to the homes of super star clubs and beat them at will. that is our problem.

ddippset:
lol. draw formations from now till next year. if barca dont find a solution to defensive strategies used by almost every team, your paper and marker go finish for formations.

AbuMikey:


Lets just say we are over ambitious.

What about Losing at home to Celta

Athletico
Sevilla
Villareal

Only God can help Us this season o

ddippset:
we played madrid and psg away! they had the right to beat us! they are super star studded teams as well. we always think we can go to the homes of super star clubs and beat them at will. that is our problem.

sebod:

It really seems the magic has left him. He's no longer feared by both defenders and keepers anymore, while I still believe in him as a great player, I think he can also do better by converting the few chances he has this days. I am really pissed off seeing him wasting free kicks when there are some other players who can do it better. At least Neymar and Suarez can, so why the monopoly?

ddippset:
so many disappointing comments right here. we blame, blame , blame and blame. do we really watch the games at all? no other team in the whole of europe endures what our attackers have to endure game after game, not chelsea, not man u, not real madrid, not bayern. i have watched every of barca's games and it's always the same. teams put 8 men at the back from the blast of the whistle, and play on the counter. sometime in 2012 this technique was discovered. and it has worked for them. its easy to blame messi, its easy to blame neymar, its easy to blame iniesta, xavi and co. by the end of the season we would have blamed the whole of the 23 players. who doesnt know that there are always two lines of 4 defenders each whenever messi or neymar gets the ball? what are they supposed to do? disappear through the walls? and reappear on the other side?it's also very easy to say 'messi shouldnt be missing the chances he gets' but anyone who has played the game might know that its very easy to miss a chance when you have been worn out already trying to break down an 8 man defence or when you get a one on one with the keeper and your subconscious tells you there 'hundreds' of defenders around you. all the boys are good: messi, neymar, suarez, iniesta, rakitic, etc etc. we will get back to winning ways. what needs to change is the pattern of play. something must be done about teams playing 8 men at the back from minute 1. anyone who claims this is just an excuse is insincere. what should be done to create spaces at the back? give the ball away to the opposition? play long balls promptly to the attackers? worst culprit-busquets-i have seen busquets countless times do this: he wins the ball from the back and instead of sending a long ball forward while the defence is still sparse, he opts to make a side pass to xavi, xavi back pass to pique, pique another side pass to masch, then masch to busquets again, 3 minutes are gone, 8 defenders have taken thier positions again at the other end. all of these when the ball could have gone from busquets to messi or neymar in 6 seconds! like madrid or chelsea do it. what needs to change is the pattern of play.

ELYMAXiimus:

hope you know God will not get dressed in our blue n red stripes jersey. Then put on boots to come help us score..

The problem is in the team's management....

ddippset:
NB- i am not criticising or faulting any team for parking the bus. but i have identified that as the reason for our bad performance. 100% sure. the boys are good, just for a few old legs. what we need now is a solution or antidote to bus parking.

coded01:


You self calm down!


Abi no be the same match wey Celta vigo comot play us wella u dey talk of 8 man defence!


Make we talk true jare, we hit post 4 times so it is meant to be but my thing is the "high service" to Messi is too much...


Freekick messi, to shoot na to pass to messi, Haba! Walahi, if Suarez had shoot instead of looking for Messi, we no go dey here dey talk this na...

honeric01:


When you expose your backline to counter attack all in the name of attacking bus parkers, you get stringed just like yesterday.

when Enrique was in Celta vigo/ Roma, what style did he play?

The onus lies with the coach and thr players to rise up, not the opponent.. They should be ready to learn new game styles and stop being rigid..

The formation also needs to be Changed in cases like this.. not a must we use 4:3:3.. 4:4:2 can be deployed abi dem born us born 4:3:3 irrespective of the coach and players available?

coded01:


Abeggi, Celta vigo played well!


We had our chances but we didn't take them...


I notice you are a die hard fan of messi like say we no bi barca fan... --- so na only mess sabi freekick now?

sebod:

Bro! Losing to Psg and Madrid is not the issue, but the way and manner at which we approached the matches is the subject of debate. From favouritism to some players, playing some out of position to using a wrong approach. We can hardly muster 2 to 3 passes these days without losing to the opponent. During Pep's era, didn't we lose games? Yes we did, but we always had good games then. If parking the bus has been the problem which has been identified a long time ago, is it not high time we found solution to it? Our game play is woeful these days even in some of the matches we won.

dmcdad:

Bros God go cool down bless you abeg. Suárez in particular on many occasions spoil that match just because him wan play to Messi. And Messi on his part, just dey blow chances away like garri

And for goodness sake, Neymar is excellent in taking freekicks (and even better than Messi) and with Suárez who is always a fine freekick taker, I wonder why it's being monopolised. If e dey left na Messi, if e dey right na Messi...

honeric01:
^^^

Bro, please all this park the bus comment is also an excuse and blame game, is parking the bus not a game style? do you know park the bus is even a tactics in fifa 15?

If your opponent park the bus, stay in your half if you have no way to break them up, just pass around in your half till 90 mins.

honeric01:
My view..

I am frustrated with our back to back losses..

dmcdad:

This park-the-bus thing has been bugging us since 2012 to say the least. What have we done to counter it? At least we are now seeing what Tata was trying to implement and change to counter such tactic, but everyone cried foul (the board, the fans, the players). And what happened when he reverted back to the norm being tiki-taka? The team's decline started.

We are becoming arrogant by the day. We know our problems, but I guess our arrogance and our obsession with tiki-taka would never make us change our style.

Against Madrid, there were many occasions we should have taken them on the break, but like someone pointed out earlier on, Busi would rather pass the ball to Xavi, who will pass back to Pique, and then to Masche, and then back to Busi again. When we could have just played a long ball to Ney or Messi to take our opponents on the break.

I said this when Tata was pressured to revert back to tiki-taka after being successful with his direct style of play. That our obsession with tiki-taka will cost us alot if we fail to address it as required. And the problem is; we will always come out to complain about how teams put 8 players at the back of the ball. Such teams would play Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern and the likes in an open game. But Barca? The reverse would be the case. Are we to complain about this tactic or to look for a solution/tactic to counter it? It's becoming laughable that after losing a match, this is the kinda excuse you get from people and sometimes the players and coach even.

It baffles me that even with the fast players we have, we still subscribe sorely on this slow build-up of play. And this is especially painful when we should take our opponents on the break.

honeric01:


Defensive solution? go back to the era of using ultra-pressing method, when we swamp on our opponents when not with the ball.. we don't do this again.

sebod:

Bro! Losing to Psg and Madrid is not the issue, but the way and manner at which we approached the matches is the subject of debate. From favouritism to some players, playing some out of position to using a wrong approach. We can hardly muster 2 to 3 passes these days without losing to the opponent. During Pep's era, didn't we lose games? Yes we did, but we always had good games then. If parking the bus has been the problem which has been identified a long time ago, is it not high time we found solution to it? Our game play is woeful these days even in some of the matches we won.

philfearon:

This one Na prep talk...
The problem is that Barca still doesn't get it...Tiki Taka is Xavi,and Xavi is faded..Why still hang on to a dead end?
The best defence against Treachery is Treachery..If they still continue to think We are in the 2009's and continue in this thread,Na their wahala.. If a team parks the bus and u decide to keep on playing the same old unyielding pattern,then you have yourself to blame..
If other teams parks the bus,what stops Barca from doing same?Truth is,Barca has chosen the part not to employ Coaches who know the game and are experienced....Martino Should never have been sacked....Barca has turned into a footballing political thuggery front,And that is where our problem lies....
Finally,is good u guys are seeing that Messi is becoming a pain in the ass...In his glorious four years Rule,I never saw him monopolise free kicks!!!

ddippset:
@bolded, not someone, i said that. the simple summary of what ive been saying all morning. we nedd to find a solution to defensive minded teams. infact not defensive minded teams but 99% of the teams we play because when offensive teams play against barca, the become defensive! but a lot of them here are all too eager to look for a scape goat.

sebod:

You got the point bro! The only time Alexis had the chance of playing free kick, he scored a brilliant one. Neymar and suarez are experts, so Messi should allow them have a fair share. Messi seems to be losing his goal scoring prowess by the day, I still try hard to forgive him for missing that seater against Madrid.

ddippset:
that's what i mean. everyone is rushing to criticise! blaming and pointing fingers when it's the system and pattern that is faulty. it's almost as if its a contest going on here to see who blames the players the most. you see players putting in work, running, making attempts, sweating and just cause results are not favourable, they point fingers all day long. direct play is the key, just like 2012 till date the pattern has not changed, we are still playing tiki taka.

dmcdad:

Tata brought we we have long sought for.. But the board, the fans and even the players were asking for his head for that. So he had to revert back to the norm and everyone knew how it ended after a blistering start to last season (first half of the season to be precise).

sebod:

Okay now.......#bringbackTata!