I think it was a great game of football. Sevilla played great even if not having many chances to score. Their passing and beating Barça's pressing was spectacular. Probably one of the best if not the best I've seen against Barça this season.

Telcontar

United Kingdom16710 Posts

February 24 2013 00:00 GMT

#5762

Were Cesc and Puyol left out because of injuries, or because they had a bad game vs Milan? When I look back, they didn't really perform worse than any of their teammates, so I don't know why they would be singled out. Perhaps Tito was resting them, but you don't usually see fit players of that caliber left out of the squad unless it's injury or performance related.

ZapRoffo

United States5544 Posts

February 24 2013 00:07 GMT

#5763

On February 24 2013 09:00 Telcontar wrote:
Were Cesc and Puyol left out because of injuries, or because they had a bad game vs Milan? When I look back, they didn't really perform worse than any of their teammates, so I don't know why they would be singled out. Perhaps Tito was resting them, but you don't usually see fit players of that caliber left out of the squad unless it's injury or performance related.

They have a rough schedule coming up, grabbing as much rest as they can I think. Copa semi against Real Madrid in 3 days, then league match vs. RM, all with the CL return leg looming. Though personally I think Tello should be a regular or almost regular in the forward left spot, the spacing is so much better than with that wing handled by the Iniesta/Cesc/Alba combo.

Twisted

Netherlands13554 Posts

February 24 2013 02:54 GMT

#5764

Yeah lots of the team was being rested. Xavi/Busquets/Puyol/Cesc/Alba non-starters and Iniesta got subbed out to rest him a little as well. Anyway, Barca was playing pretty terribly up until the 1-1 imo. After that they got a bit of confidence back.

Messi makes a big problem if he doesn't play 90 minutes every game though which is hilarious. He wants to play every goddamn game.

Ash

Malaysia1978 Posts

February 24 2013 06:54 GMT

#5765

With that Tello-Villa combo performance yesterday, Barcelona needs to finally realise that David Villa is the key to their attacks or they will pay for the price this season. Alexis should only be given more opportunities when the team is 2-3 goals up

Telcontar

United Kingdom16710 Posts

February 24 2013 07:29 GMT

#5766

I only asked because Cesc was taken off pretty early in Milan for Alexis. I know Barcelona rotate players all the time, but you rarely see them leave out their big names from the squad, unless they're injured or in the doghouse. They're almost always on the bench. Perhaps it's just that Tito has faith in other players, which makes sense given how well Thiago has performed lately. Or it could be that the guy's just not as fit as Xavi/Iniesta/Thiago and needs more rest. For some reason though, I don't think he'll start against Milan. I think Tito will probably go for Xavi and Iniesta in the middle, with Villa, Messi, and Tello up front.

WillyWanker

France1915 Posts

February 24 2013 10:41 GMT

#5767

This season they haven't made so many rotations and I think you can see most of the players are tired, that's why we had so many top players on the bench or not on the list. Cesc is in the starting 11 this year, and I think he rested him because there is a game vs Real Madrid tuesday.
The main starting 11 has been with Iniesta Pedro Messi, and Cesc, in the midfield. I doubt we're going to see Villa start against Milan. I really love this player, but I have to admit that we look better with Pedro/Iniesta or Pedro/Tello. He's not bringing as much as he did 2 years ago. He cannot play like Pedro or Alexis (defensive part) and he's not that sharp anymore to be able to eliminate defenders on the wing like Tello can with his speed.

But he has one thing that Tello and Alexis don't have, his scoring abilities. Tello takes his chances but isn't really the most surgical striker, and Alexis just doesn't try anything anymore because he's somewhere else in his head.
However I'm afraid that after that loooong injury and the Messi-centered style, Villa won't try to finish goals by himself like he used to do his first year, and what made him invaluable. His last games have proved me right, even if he managed to score quite a lot of goals.

Pandemona

Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts

February 24 2013 12:25 GMT

#5768

Man City vs Chelsea, kick off just over an hour away! Should be a good game, both teams need to avoid defeat more than win though, so might be a boring 0-0 xD
Hopefully im wrong!

Hart,
Zabaleta, Kolo Toure, Nastasic, Clichy,
Garcia, Milner,
Rodwell, Silva, Yaya Toure,
Aguero

Cech;
Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole,
Mikel, Lampard;
Ramires, Mata, Hazard;
Ba

Lol Kolo Toure at the back, surely Chelsea have a chance vs him? xD

Ferrose

United States11378 Posts

February 24 2013 13:17 GMT

#5769

I just hope it's as good as that City-Liverpool game a couple weeks ago.

Yessssss Gus Johnson casting the game on Fox Soccer. This is definitely gonna be an entertaining game.

Lol Aguero thought he was Torres for a minute.

Nich

397 Posts

February 24 2013 14:13 GMT

#5770

rodwell is pretty good

Ferrose

United States11378 Posts

February 24 2013 14:13 GMT

#5771

Petr Cech is pretty good too.

But Chelsea's marking is best.

Ferrose

United States11378 Posts

February 24 2013 14:40 GMT

#5772

Lawl Hart's save on the penalty. Gus Johnson's reaction even better.

Stratos_speAr

United States6959 Posts

February 24 2013 15:04 GMT

#5773

I don't see why people keep talking about putting Luiz in the midfield. He's a complete liability and absolutely untrustworthy with the ball. I'm pretty sure that he's given the ball away almost every single time he's had possession today, and it isn't just today. He does this consistently. Sure, he may be a good defender and he may be good at free kicks, but you can't trust him to handle the ball.

Ferrose

United States11378 Posts

February 24 2013 15:16 GMT

#5774

Chelsea's back four have been dreadful this game. They completely failed at marking in the first half and in the second half they aren't closing anyone down. Toure and Tevez had all day to shoot on their respective goals.

Edit: Except Gary Cahill, sorry. He's probably my MotM because he and Cech are what kept Chelsea in the game this long.

@ below: The problems with Chelsea started long before this season though, I mean they finished sixth in the Premier League last year.

Stratos_speAr

United States6959 Posts

February 24 2013 15:18 GMT

#5775

LOL Chelsea.

Good strike by Tevez. Embarrassing play by Chelsea. We wouldn't deserve to win even if we made that PK. The sorry fact is that teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Schalke (teams expected to perform better than they have) just aren't that good this year and people need to realize it. It's not "psychological", it's not all the manager's fault (although these teams have problems with both); the bottom line is that these teams just aren't top quality. They made very little gain in the talent department before the season started after losing some key talent and it's consistently showed.

Pandemona

Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts

February 24 2013 15:26 GMT

#5776

Rafa, clearly doesn't know his squad, 6months after taking over and proclaiming he was a "good manager", how can you be a good manager if you need over 6months to realize who is good in what positions. No clue, and subs where shocking. He should really think about the effort he is putting into this job, as all he is going to remembered for now is the Chelsea manager who had 7 trophies to challenge for and has won 0....

That city team were poor and were there for the taking, Chelsea couldn't even mount decent efforts due to awful touches, passes and positioning.

Stratos_speAr

United States6959 Posts

February 24 2013 16:22 GMT

#5777

I cannot believe what I just saw. Dortmund playing incredibly lazy, giving Gladbach a goal to tie it. Then in the 92nd minute Sebastian Kehl has a WIDE OPEN NET LITERALLY 5 FEET IN FRONT OF HIM and muffs the cross wide to the right. My mind is fucking blown. Please, someone else tell me that they saw that. Kehl should be fucking smacked.

Hadley88

Germany267 Posts

February 24 2013 16:24 GMT

#5778

That game was terrible. Both teams played really bad. Dortmund just doesn't care alot about the Bundesliga, since there is basically no chance to win the championship.

Stratos_speAr

United States6959 Posts

February 24 2013 16:26 GMT

#5779

On February 25 2013 01:24 Hadley88 wrote:
That game was terrible. Both teams played really bad. Dortmund just doesn't care alot about the Bundesliga, since there is basically no chance to win the championship.

To be fair, both of Dortmund's strikers were suspended for that game, so I expected the game to be a little stale. But come on, there's still a very clear fight for 2nd place (if Leverkusen win today they'll jump ahead of Dortmund) and Dortmund isn't even guaranteed to hold onto a CL qualifying place if they play like this.

5 FEET KEHL. 5 GOD DAMN FEET. JUST KICK THE BALL STRAIGHT.