Football Thread No. 9

That was effin unbelievable!

On the other hand... back in school when I was a kid we used to play 5-a-side in either a futsal or handball field, and sometimes there wasn't a designated goal keeper and so we'd have a rule whereby you could only shoot inside the goal area.
In the second half Barcelona seemed to be playing under the same rule. You'd think they'd have learned a lesson from the Inter semi 2 years ago, but that was an exact repeat.

It's amazing that teams can defend so deep against Barça. Against any other decent team that would be suicide, but it actually works against the best team in the world.

That said, Chelsea was really lucky in several moments of the game. But you could almost make the case Barcelona deserve that bad luck. For heaven's sake, no one's gonna think less of you if you commit the sacrilege of shooting the damn ball at goal a few times when you keep receiving it without opposition at the edge of the penalty area time and time again!

Wow, isn't someone sore.

@BirraImperial et al: What's important is that Barcelona are tired, more than desperate. They've played three competitions a year. You can see their tiredness: all three goals in this semifinal were in added time. They just let go.

And also, their overspecialisation has crippled them. They got te corners and they must have lobbed a ball into the box only once or twice even though they had Busquets and Puyol who are both good at heading it in (anyone remember Puyol at the Bernabeu '09?). Every set ball, every throw in, it's used to restart the passing and nothing else. Sooner or later somethign had to give. They'll collect a 'miserable' second place, CL semifinal and have still to play the Copa del Rey final. Only the Old Firm would consider winning a single trophy a failed season.

I think the turning point was Messi hitting the crossbar. Barça just tried to dribble the ball into the goal with a player included instead of taking mid-distance shots which were the most dangerous actions in the second half.

As for Chelski, of coruse they rode their luck. But then, since football is a game and it's played, you just have to factor luck in. And you can get lucky. So far, half of my non-Spanish final's been achieved.

Takhisis said:

@BirraImperial et al: What's important is that Barcelona are tired, more than desperate. They've played three competitions a year.

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So have all other teams in the semifinals.

My dream of a Real-Barça CL final is ruined.

Indeedie, uppi.

Though there has been something wrong with Messi, in particular, last few games.

uppi said:

So have all other teams in the semifinals.

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Sorry, that phrase got disjointed (effin' telephoners!)
They've been playing all three competitions to the end in the past four years. They were bound to get tired sooner or later.

Pangur Bán;11448028 said:

Though there has been something wrong with Messi, in particular, last few games.

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He's simply not been as good as he's expected to be. He's just being an average player which, compared to his usual best, means a catastrophic slump, especially with the team becoming so Messi-dependent as described by MCDread above.

Takhisis said:

And also, their overspecialisation has crippled them. They got te corners and they must have lobbed a ball into the box only once or twice even though they had Busquets and Puyol who are both good at heading it in (anyone remember Puyol at the Bernabeu '09?). Every set ball, every throw in, it's used to restart the passing and nothing else. Sooner or later somethign had to give.

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I'm not sure I ever saw Busquets score a header, but Puyol is deadly in set pieces indeed. Maybe they should reconsider the decision of having, Piqué and those two apart, the shortest team ever put together since the famines and child malnutrition of 14th century.

I think the turning point was Messi hitting the crossbar. Barça just tried to dribble the ball into the goal with a player included instead of taking mid-distance shots which were the most dangerous actions in the second half.

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Messi looks over burnt. He's reached amazing heights, but it's funny how he didn't use to be the one taking all the penalties and free kicks while playing the full 90 minutes of even the most meaningless game before Cristiano Ronaldo showed up. He challenged the Madrid player for every statistic available and won that particular individual duel imo, but now reaches the decisive part of the season with half the stamina he had a few months ago. As a consequence he nows risks losing the Balon d'Or and didn't help his team.

As for Chelski, of coruse they rode their luck. But then, since football is a game and it's played, you just have to factor luck in. And you can get lucky.

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Yep, they did what they had to do. They could have had no complains if they lost, but it payed off. As Torres just said "The best team doesn't always win", and that's why we watch football.

uppi said:

So have all other teams in the semifinals.

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Well, not all teams have this incredible pressure Barça has. They are expected to win every cup, every championship, every match or else it's considered failure. A huge amount of pressure can only be sustained for a short time, I'm thinking it lasted too long. Barcelona need a new trainer, with a different philosophy, also an elite goalie, I can't believe they still have Valdes playing. The lax defense must be worked on too.

Takhisis said:

Sorry, that phrase got disjointed (effin' telephoners!)
They've been playing all three competitions to the end in the past four years. They were bound to get tired sooner or later.

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They also played the Club World Cup in Japan in mid season, where Villa broke his leg. Maybe they'd trade that cup win for a healthy Villa now (or rather yesterday and last saturday).

MCdread said:

I'm not sure I ever saw Busquets score a header, but Puyol is deadly in set pieces indeed. Maybe they should reconsider the decision of having, Piqué and those two apart, the shortest team ever put together since the famines and child malnutrition of 14th century.

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Everyone attacks or everyone defends. Just like in Torres' goal!

MCdread said:

Messi looks over burnt. He's reached amazing heights, but it's funny how he didn't use to be the one taking all the penalties and free kicks while playing the full 90 minutes of even the most meaningless game before Cristiano Ronaldo showed up. He challenged the Madrid player for every statistic available and won that particular individual duel imo, but now reaches the decisive part of the season with half the stamina he had a few months ago. As a consequence he nows risks losing the Balon d'Or and didn't help his team.

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Yes, that's another problem, Mourinho has succeded at installing a Ronaldo-Messi dichotomy while he continues to field Benzema and Higuaín as accompanying forwards.

MCdread said:

Yep, they did what they had to do. They could have had no complains if they lost, but it payed off. As Torres just said "The best team doesn't always win", and that's why we watch football.

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Just like Kilmarnoooooccckkkk!

BirraImperial said:

Well, not all teams have this incredible pressure Barça has. They are expected to win every cup, every championship, every match or else it's considered failure. A huge amount of pressure can only be sustained for a short time, I'm thinking it lasted too long. Barcelona need a new trainer, with a different philosophy, also an elite goalie, I can't believe they still have Valdes playing. The lax defense must be worked on too.

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Not necessarily a different trainer, just for Guardiola to stop overspecialising in passing and try more direct forms of play.

I won't say that Quackers is right (I'm not that desperate), but you can't just shuffle the ball around all the time.

MCdread said:

They also played the Club World Cup in Japan in mid season, where Villa broke his leg. Maybe they'd trade that cup win for a healthy Villa now (or rather yesterday and last saturday).

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As I said, lack of centre-forwards!

On another note, Toure has been cleared to play for City against United. That's a boost.

I am not sure if my brother won money on this game, since he said he put money of Chelsea to win the game, but I am not sure if it was overall or just for this single game?

In other football news, Villa have been dragged into the Relegation battle.

Agent McLeish has achieved silverware for Birminghams in spite of relegation and is now destroying the Villa-inous enemy from within. Truly a masterpiece from the Birmingham authorities.

That Barcaelona Vs Chelsea game was just incredible. I'm not a Chelsea fan, but i was supporting them as if I was (need an English team in the final)! I don't think I have felt such a range of emotions watching a Football game since the 2010 world cup final with England playing. The fury and unjustness when Terry was red carded (although at half time i changed my mind, definitely a red card), the hopelessness when Barca went 2-0 ahead and the feeling the floodgates are about to open, the absolutely astonishing finish by Ramires elated us(he has iron balls to do that in the Champions League Semi Final, in the Nou Camp and against the best team in the world), the nail biting intensity of the 2nd half as the Chelsea goal was besieged! And finally the fist pumping intensity when Torres scored.

All of this was weirdly enhanced by really shoddy camara work. When Bosinga(?) cleared the ball in the 92nd minute all I saw was a Barca player running back about to pick up the ball and hoof it back to Xavi or whatever, then suddenly I see the white t-shirt of Torres sprinting towards the goal with the ball at his feet, that was a amazing. Kudos to Torres for keeping his composure in that, he picked up the ball from behind the half way line sprinted away and managed to finish it perfectly - especially when Torres isn't scoring goals anymore That £50m was worth it just to wrap that up

Apologies for rambling on, still recovering from alcohol and the game;p

So, no comments about John Terry's incredibly stupid knee to the back of Sanchez?

To me, it seemed like that would be the turning point of the game, but after that great 2-1 goal it was almost like Barcelona was just spent....

Takhisis said:

@BirraImperial et al: What's important is that Barcelona are tired, more than desperate. They've played three competitions a year. You can see their tiredness: all three goals in this semifinal were in added time. They just let go.

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But I want them tired for Spanish King's Cup final, not now


In any case, what you are saying is fairly true. They have been proven not to be as fit as other years. They have been 3 years playing at very high level, plus Barcelona's specialist in sports medicine got retired last season, I heard they changed some food habits and training routines.
In any case I think this 3 years without showing tiredness are the key to this change of cycle in Barcelona.

Darkness said:

So, no comments about John Terry's incredibly stupid knee to the back of Sanchez?

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Indeed, while analyzing Barça's existential plight we forgot some details of the game, like John Terry*.

On the bright side for Chelsea, he won't be missing the decisive penalty in Munich.

*The best part of that was when he said to some journo at half time that he was just walking and it was Sanchez who bumped into his raised knee.

Come on Bayern, keep Real out of the final.

Well a victory for anti-football, if Chelski were a team without resources then there would be something to appreciate, but the multi-millionaires of Chelski could only win by camping 9 men within their own penalty area for the entire game.

I reckon the Chelski team collectively cost more than Barca.

At this point I will declare an interest as I want the 4th placed team in the Premier League to make next seasons Champions League.

Terry gets away with quite a lot with journalists. The guy has being doing stuff like that for a large part of his career, yet they're always finding excuses for him, whether it's screwing the partners of players he captains, causing his country to get knocked out of the world cup, or trying his best to get ruin his team's chances in a Champions League semi-final.