Is It The End For Barcelona and Tika Taka Football?
Discussion
Beaten by AC Milan in Italy, scraped through on away goals against Paris SG, thrashed by Bayern Munich...Barca no longer have that air of invincibility about them.
Like the 'Total Football' of the Dutch and Germans at the end of the 70's has Tika Taka now run its course? And what are the implications for the Spanish team in the 2014 World Cup?
Could be.
Like the 'Total Football' of the Dutch and Germans at the end of the 70's has Tika Taka now run its course? And what are the implications for the Spanish team in the 2014 World Cup?
Could be.
tamore said:
no. they do however, need some proper defenders.
I hope that other teams will realise that as good as they are, they can be beaten and challenge them.The aura that has been built has most teams already conceded defeat before the ball is kicked and just limit themselves to how many they let in.
Bayern showed what can be done to them if you attack them.
TTmonkey said:
No, but I can see a lot more pitches having three inches of standing water in mid field in the future.... that'll slow them down.
the over watering, messi being far from 100%, poor defencive unit, and what i thought was very lenient officiating in favour of bayern, all led to the final result. i think we can put it down as more of a bad patch and freak result in that, rather than a demise.Goonowski said:
Nope.
Agreed, combination of poor signing possibly over the past 2/3 years (Cesc, Song, Alexis for £100m, only one of which started last night), over reliance on one player (Messi), injuries (Puyol, Adriano, Abidal etc), top players underforming and the manager being absent because of illness has combined to a perfect storm leading to last nights result. Signs have been there, defeats to Celtic, Milan, PSG, Madrid etc have shown the issues and Madrid and Jose infighting has reduced the quality of Madrid this year, otherwise the league would have been a struggle.Key time coming up, a shrewd transfer policy is required, with new players required in a number of positions, a change of the guard will occur (Puyol and Xavi playing less and less), combined with promotion of Thiago and Cesc to key roles should lead to a return. The key ethos of Barca is still there, it just needs tweaked and refreshed, not unexpected.
Elections are due soon, wouldn't be surprised to see Laporta back as President.
There are very few teams in the World equipped to beat the current Barca line up but when they come up against a team that can and they play well, they get beaten heavily. Madrid smashed them earlier this year too.
Definitely not the end of that sort of play. What does it mean for Spanish national side? Not a lot, they'll continue with how they play and see if a national side they come up against is equipped to stop them. Maybe Germany, based on the pace and power they have in their squad with a lot of Bayern players. Brazil? Argentina? France? Portugal? England!? Italy? I don't think any of these could live with the Spaniards.
Definitely not the end of that sort of play. What does it mean for Spanish national side? Not a lot, they'll continue with how they play and see if a national side they come up against is equipped to stop them. Maybe Germany, based on the pace and power they have in their squad with a lot of Bayern players. Brazil? Argentina? France? Portugal? England!? Italy? I don't think any of these could live with the Spaniards.
Could fatigue be playing a part? The majority of these Barca players have been playing 50 odd games a season for the last 4 or 5 years. The likes of Xavi, Puyol, Villa and Alves, while they're not ancient, they are around 30/31 or so. To maintain this high tempo, constant pass and move and pressing football, must be taking a toll?
The lack of plan B, is pretty startling too. Even at 4-0, Barca still seemed to want to knock it around between the defenders.
I doubt its the end, but they could do with bringing a few more players through to give them more options. I said the same thing last season when Chelsea drew at the Nou Camp.
The lack of plan B, is pretty startling too. Even at 4-0, Barca still seemed to want to knock it around between the defenders.
I doubt its the end, but they could do with bringing a few more players through to give them more options. I said the same thing last season when Chelsea drew at the Nou Camp.
No, yeaterdays result was as much to do with Barca playing badly then it was to do with Bayern playing very well (which they did.) a half injured Messi, and Xavi and Iniesta not playing as well as they can helped matters. How many passes did they misplace yesterday? Far to many, something you hardly see when they play. I expect we will see a very different Barca in the 2nd leg.
What I found startling was what was so obviously missing from them last night.
Barca have 2 speeds with the ball, one is quick-flowing-and-purposeful and happens in the first 2/3rds of the pitch before switching up a gear to rapid-and-incisive and happens around the oppositions penalty area usually slicing them open for Messi et all to pass the ball into the net after a quick-fire exchange around the penalty area.
This was completely missing last night. Barca had over 64% of possession yet only 4 attempts on goal in 90 minutes and frankly never looked like scoring.
Barca have 2 speeds with the ball, one is quick-flowing-and-purposeful and happens in the first 2/3rds of the pitch before switching up a gear to rapid-and-incisive and happens around the oppositions penalty area usually slicing them open for Messi et all to pass the ball into the net after a quick-fire exchange around the penalty area.
This was completely missing last night. Barca had over 64% of possession yet only 4 attempts on goal in 90 minutes and frankly never looked like scoring.
AMG01 said:
Agreed, combination of poor signing possibly over the past 2/3 years (Cesc, Song, Alexis for £100m, only one of which started last night), over reliance on one player (Messi), injuries (Puyol, Adriano, Abidal etc), top players underforming and the manager being absent because of illness has combined to a perfect storm leading to last nights result. Signs have been there, defeats to Celtic, Milan, PSG, Madrid etc have shown the issues and Madrid and Jose infighting has reduced the quality of Madrid this year, otherwise the league would have been a struggle.
Key time coming up, a shrewd transfer policy is required, with new players required in a number of positions, a change of the guard will occur (Puyol and Xavi playing less and less), combined with promotion of Thiago and Cesc to key roles should lead to a return. The key ethos of Barca is still there, it just needs tweaked and refreshed, not unexpected.
Elections are due soon, wouldn't be surprised to see Laporta back as President.
Agree.Key time coming up, a shrewd transfer policy is required, with new players required in a number of positions, a change of the guard will occur (Puyol and Xavi playing less and less), combined with promotion of Thiago and Cesc to key roles should lead to a return. The key ethos of Barca is still there, it just needs tweaked and refreshed, not unexpected.
Elections are due soon, wouldn't be surprised to see Laporta back as President.
As an Arsenal fan I will no doubt be ridiculed for this but I strongly believe that Barcalona could have waited a couple of years for Cesc with a view of him replacing Iniesta or Xavi.
The transfer policy seams to have been picking up far too many similar midfield players without a focus on rebuilding a defence which hinges on a 33 year old and a 35 year old.
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