Sunday August 13th - Barcelona vs. Real Madrid - Spanish Super Cup

[SirBalon]

1 minute ago, El_Loco said:

Let´s see if Valverde can reverse it.

He won't reverse it, it's impossible in one season and if the season goes bad he'll be sacked because the board are under massive pressure from the socios and powerful people waiting to pounce in the background.

The main reason why it won't change is because under this board La Masia has been left to work as an almost independent body on its own without any clear direction from the club.  Infact FC Barcelona have invested more money, resources and an expensive project on the women's team than La Masia.  Spanish football works well only one way and that is through its youth setups.  Buying success may bring you glory instantly if you invest heavily, but it all ends in tears very soon and it has no future outlay apart from the fact it has no sentiments behind it.

FC Barcelona to all effects has become a brandname that believes its excrement smells of roses.

[Spike]

Holey moley, RM are reaching new heights. They'll get to levels of Pep's Barca dominance soon.

[El Profesor]

3 minutes ago, carefreeluke said:

Barca need to invest in two midfielders, I would go as far as saying Real Madrid's second string is ten times better than Barca's starting three. Rakitic has been on passenger mode for too long.

They definitely should, Rakitic´s form has really inclined after 2015, like you´ve mentioned, and Iniesta is already 33. The problem is they´re paying premium to Paulinho, which is unbelievable. Terrible. They really need more athleticism and youth in that team.

 

[Kowabunga]

8 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

 

FC Barcelona to all effects has become a brandname that believes its excrement smells of roses.

Harsh but true.

Do you think the yearly amount of games Messi takes seriously could become a problem? Shots fired!

[Cicero]

Verratti, Dybala, and Coutinho would fix this Barca side. 

[El Profesor]

3 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

He won't reverse it, it's impossible in one season and if the season goes bad he'll be sacked because the board are under massive pressure from the socios and powerful people waiting to pounce in the background.

The main reason why it won't change is because under this board La Masia has been left to work as an almost independent body on its own without any clear direction from the club.  Infact FC Barcelona have invested more money, resources and an expensive project on the women's team than La Masia.  Spanish football works well only one way and that is through its youth setups.  Buying success may bring you glory instantly if you invest heavily, but it all ends in tears very soon and it has no future outlay apart from the fact it has no sentiments behind it.

FC Barcelona to all effects has become a brandname that believes its excrement smells of roses.

One of the problems for Barcelona is that the board started to believe that Messis and Iniestas would pop out from La Masia without any effort. It´s kinda strange but football is so dynamic and today Barcelona looks like the Galácticos in their worst moments: an aging, not athletic, incohesive team, deeply dependent on individualities. 

[carefreeluke]

6 minutes ago, El_Loco said:

They definitely should, Rakitic´s form has really inclined after 2015, like you´ve mentioned, and Iniesta is already 33. The problem is they´re paying premium to Paulinho, which is unbelievable. Terrible. They really need more athleticism and youth in that team.

 

Yeah mate. It's quite odd how Real Madrid are currently loaded with the type of midfielders Barca typically like to have.

[El Profesor]

7 minutes ago, Kowabunga said:

 

True. It's also true he wouldn't have been ejected if he hadn't taken his shirt off some minutes before

 

True. But the payback to Messi was more important. 

 

 

[SirBalon]

16 minutes ago, Kowabunga said:

Do you think the yearly amount of games Messi takes seriously could become a problem? Shots fired!

It will be a massive problem because as things stand Barcelona is FC Messi!  It's impossible for him to produce everything in what usually means 65+ games a season.  He's a genius, but he's not a machine.

16 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Verratti, Dybala, and Coutinho would fix this Barca side. 

The issues are all in midfield!  All of them!

Verratti is impossible and even more so now because if the relationship was already bad between Barcelona and PSG, now it's deadly!

Verratti would've fitted like a glove but the real answer was (as I've said many times before) already at home and here I bark back to the fact this board is an absolute joke.  Apart from not knowing what they're doing, letting La Masia stay stagnant and literally being a bunch of administrators that are more reactive than proactive...  Many of them were failing members of past boards with other presidents.

The player I'm on about is Thiago Alcántara.  He was and is the answer but he won't go back because he was treated like a nobody and it serves the club right.  Actually I take that back...  The club is made up of its members (the socios, which are the paying fans) and they are the victims in all of this.  That's the real club!  It serves this board right but even if they're deposed with a new board and president, the damage is already done and it will take a number of years to fix things and start to see the fruits of labour coming in.

16 minutes ago, El_Loco said:

One of the problems for Barcelona is that the board started to believe that Messis and Iniestas would pop out from La Masia without any effort. It´s kinda strange but football is so dynamic and today Barcelona looks like the Galácticos in their worst moments: an aging, not athletic, incohesive team, deeply dependent on individualities. 

Practically what I've just said to Cicero...

It's all down to this present board.  There have been many errors, a lot of corruption (allbeit personal corruption, but that still affects the club) and stupid actions taken.  This is indeed a similar situation as Florentino's first tenure!  Infact the similarities are mind-blowing because almost the same amount of trophies have been won under it.  But there was no future in that Real Madrid project and the depression soon drew in and we had over a decade of meaningless nothingness from Real Madrid.

Like I said...  Spanish football can only work if the essence of a team is homegrown.  This isn't the Premier League!  There is no league brandname to protect here because the Spanish league is based on winning and not marketing.  That's where it's gone wrong!  Everything that surrounds all of this is where it's gone wrong.

[SirBalon]

9 minutes ago, El_Loco said:

True. But the payback to Messi was more important. 

 

 

You know what they say about soppy seconds in all walks of life.  It's always the original that's best. 

[Dickie]

Clear shift in power like you all are saying, it feels like that shift when Messi came in to Barcelona and it feels like how Pep just happened to be the right guy for the job is there it's the same way with Zidane(may go elsewhere and be completely overrated like Pep is but for now right man right place). Got some great young talent coming up that's been panning out pretty well, unlike Barcelona who look like they are struggling to find the young players with the world breaking talent to come up, the whole team just looked flat especially in attack and I'm not say that because Neymar is gone.

 

Also that ref is a fucking joke for giving Ronaldo the red and before anyone says he wouldn't have been sent off if not for the celebration, fam players do that all the time it's not just him. Not a single player the last few years i would want over him in a clutch situation. 

[Chaaay AFC]

Wow Asensio is scarily good, absolutely sensational goal.

Glad to see someone has finally unlocked Isco at Madrid, can't believe it has taken this long. He is another unworldly talent. Massive credit to Zidane for really shaping this Madrid team. 

[Spike]

15 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

You know what they say about soppy seconds in all walks of life.  It's always the original that's best. 

Unless the sloppy seconds learns a neat trick or two

[Dickie]

3 minutes ago, Chaaay AFC said:

Wow Asensio is scarily good, absolutely sensational goal.

Glad to see someone has finally unlocked Isco at Madrid, can't believe it has taken this long. He is another unworldly talent. Massive credit to Zidane for really shaping this Madrid team. 

Could have told you that years ago like most RM fans, James was just an expensive waste of space in front of him.

[SirBalon]

26 minutes ago, Spike said:

Unless the sloppy seconds learns a neat trick or two

Copying someone else isn't learning from someone else.  But I get it.

[RandoEFC+]

Just imagining the cream fest if the Messi/Ronaldo shirt pose was done in reverse order but Ronaldo will probably be a cunt for doing it according to the hive mind. 

[nfb_10]

Both teams didn't play that well, a moment of misfortune with the own goal ( and it had to be Pique of all people, that one hurt ) shifted the momentum in their favour, we lacked in the final third as far as finishing is concerned, after we got the equaliser we pushed for more goals and perhaps got too confident and Madrid picked us off on the counter, as they're so impressive at doing. Asensio's goal was pure art, it was a sensational goal. 

Pique didn't play badly, he had to cover for Aleix Vidal the entire game as the latter was constantly getting caught high up the pitch and was constantly jogging back to defense...if you realise, all three goals originated from that right flank.

Rakitic was poor and Suarez's ridiculously bad finishing was again apparent...

Cristiano's sending off was one of the dumbest I've seen...okay, you got a yellow for taking your shirt off, copying Messi's celebration and flexing your muscles, and then knowing that you're on that yellow already, you go and dive and appeal for a penalty. Then he shoves the referee as well, which I hope lands him a further ban, as you can't man handle officials like that. Absolutely petulant and moronic. 

 

[Asura]

Why was the diva sent off? That was not a dive the ref was an idiot. Looks like Barcelona's spanish dominance has finally ended. 

[Philippe Coutinho]

Did Ronaldo really do the jersey celebration a la Messi at the Bernabeu?? That wasn't shown on the US telecast of the game at all on ESPN!

 

[Philippe Coutinho]

Found footage of Ronaldo copying Messi. Wonder why the match broadcast didn't show it.

 

[SirBalon]

Actually Cristiano Ronaldo could be in serious trouble because the referee has added the fact the player pushed him after being shown the second yellow for diving.  In Spain the referee's report is the most important part in any conceivable punishment.

But it shouldn't hurt Madrid too much though...  The played better without him and the same when he got sent-off.

[Pep Talk]

report says suspension of 4-12 is possible.

[Pep Talk]

2 hours ago, Savvy Xavi said:

Did Ronaldo really do the jersey celebration a la Messi at the Bernabeu?? That wasn't shown on the US telecast of the game at all on ESPN!

 

wasn't on sky sports either

[6666]

It was never a dive from Ronaldo, don't think it was enough to be a penalty either though, the referee messed up that decision. Also messed up by giving Barcelona a penalty for Suarez's dive, so glad they lost after that.

[Philippe Coutinho]

Does anyone know WHY Real Madrid wore the jerseys that they wore against Barcelona today? Haven't they ALWAYS worn their traditional white home jerseys against Barca even during previous Super Cups (the official start of the football season)?

Was it done to fnck with Barca? with the board (whom everyone knows is a joke)? or was it possibly to promote their third jersey on sale at Real Madrid stores? I happen to follow Spanish Super Cups and traditional home jerseys are ALWAYS worn by either side when playing against each other,  regardless of venue.

This Real Madrid is truly formidable. SirBalon is right: they probably won't even miss Ronaldo all that much: have more than enough firepower (though Bale does need to regain his form. He hasn't been playing well lately after his injury).

Look, we all have our personal biases: I reckon there's a significant number of us who hate Neymar with a passion cos of how he conducted himself and engineered the move to PSG but the fact of the matter remains that he DID bring a lot to the table for Barca, even though he misplaced a lot of passes. We won't be able to find a DIRECT replacement for him and his creativity and skills, but we just might be able to find another way to play without him. Let's face it, we've been quite "Neymar-dependent" these past couple to three years, always funneling/channeling attacks through his side of the pitch. A certain period of time of adjusting to his absence is to be expected and taken into consideration.

No, I am not bemoaning the "demise of FC Barcelona", far from it. Maybe the tiki-taka Guardiola era football is what I'm waxing lyrical, poetic and nostalgic about. Think about it: Messi, Pique, Iniesta and Busquets are the only remnants of that greatest football ever played period and most of this quartet is aging fast and that style of football has had to evolve with the times. Teams have learned how to adapt to play against Barca. I don't play football games on consoles etc. but an intriguing matchup would involve this current Zidane's Real Madrid team vs Guardiola Era Barca. 

If you'd say that Guardiola Era Barca would win, without a shadow of a doubt, then I'd urge you to think about it carefully. I say this as a lifelong FC Barcelona fan/supporter. This iteration of the Real Madrid team is one of the best club teams I've ever seen. The only other team that can rival this Zidane team and Guardiola Era Barca is Heynckes' Treble Winning Bayern of 2013. That was a scary team indeed, their nonsensical "goals" vs Barca in the Champions League Semis that season notwithstanding.

Just as other teams have learned to play against tiki-taka Barca, other teams will learn how to play against this version of Real Madrid. Football is a cycle: Madrid are on the ascendancy. But teams will figure them out/their players (like their new # 10 Modric etc.) will get old etc.

Football tacticians out there, how would YOU play against this current Real Madrid team to limit their chances and beat them? How do you stop them from "always getting it done"? Is it luck? Their champions/championship mentality? (once you win and have had a sustained period of success, it becomes HARD to stop winning). Minimize their spaces, their channels obviously, but they are SO GOOD at that revolving midfield passing and movement that they do. Modric, Carvajal and Marcelo are simply SENSATIONAL players with amazing football minds.

Not sure if Valverde's the man for the task, mind. He's just so.........meek and mild. No real passion, character or charisma. And the worst thing about it is the board is just like him.

Guardiola was like Laporta, passionate and charismatic. Fire breathing Catalans.