there is something seriously & grotesquely sick in the mind & heart of anyone other than lionel messi who wears a barcelona shirt with 'messi' on the back. it is this sickness you describe
― imago, Thursday, 17 April 2014 23:52 (ten years ago) link
still think tata has fucked up but trying to avoid making a decision out of which 2 to play from the iniesta/xavi/cesc trio. Trying to shoehorn iniesta in wide left and neymar wide right clearly hasn't worked yet stil he persists. Messi central, Neymar left, pedro or alexis right. busquets at the base then pick 2 of the others. Maybe barca would still have lost the last 3 games but i'm p sure they'd have played better at least.
― pandemic, Friday, 18 April 2014 09:47 (ten years ago) link
cesc has worked at times as a pseudo forward who bulks out the midfield but neymar on the right and iniesta on the left is an almost moyesian level of deliberate self-limiting
i never thought barca needed him, i said here years ago that modric would have been a better choice, and thiago is as good a like-for-like successor to xavi as one could hope for but the next manager needs to work on a post-xavi barcelona with cesc, iniesta and busquets together
that means they will have to adapt to something less than a pure retention style, and i can see why tata as such a belated essential caretaker appointee doesn't want to try to upset the ship
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:35 (ten years ago) link
yup letting tiago go thru not giving him the required number of starts last season is 1000x more damaging than anything tata has done this season.
when you add in the neymar transfer shenanigans then you have the 2 most crippling blows to Barca's season. Kinda think they'll let tata go and try to consign this season's probable failure to his door.
― pandemic, Friday, 18 April 2014 14:53 (ten years ago) link
thiago
tata is gone, rumours months ago that he didn't like the goldfish bowl lunacy of barcelona and would leave anyway
lot of shit about klopp in the barca press but i) did they read his comments the barcelona style (he would rather watch tennis) and ii) he doesn't seem any more likely to desert his self-made project than wenger was in the mid 2000s when he was linked constantly with madrid and barcelona
valverde is a possibility
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:56 (ten years ago) link
http://www.marca.com/2014/04/17/en/football/barcelona/1397732354.html
lol
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Friday, 18 April 2014 23:02 (ten years ago) link
http://www.marca.com/2014/04/24/en/football/barcelona/1398371676.html
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Friday, 25 April 2014 00:00 (ten years ago) link
so farewell tito, a lot of dignity and a good manager who may well have become a great onea lot of guts too, to manage barcelona in the midst of a hideous illness
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Saturday, 26 April 2014 00:24 (ten years ago) link
i worry for atleticoaway to valencia on sunday then chelsea three days later with the possibility of extra time
sevilla in 2006/07 were in an analogous situation where they tried for both the europa league and la liga and they couldn't manage it, they played a high intensity rapid sort of football and they didn't have great squad depth
i'd rather they won the league than the champions league but since it's chelsea, they have to at least reach the final
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Saturday, 26 April 2014 00:27 (ten years ago) link
at least valencia had a game on Thurs night and may be more concerned with their 2nd leg vs Sevilla.
Think Atleti are good for a draw on Weds, hopefully a scoring one.
― pandemic, Saturday, 26 April 2014 06:50 (ten years ago) link
superb finish for raul garcia 0-1
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 15:48 (ten years ago) link
oof costa fails to score one on one with the keeper
― mizzell, Sunday, 27 April 2014 16:07 (ten years ago) link
jesus christ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fV2K0b38Jc
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 20:56 (ten years ago) link
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l1iLrEeeTOQ/SjdYcYKe7VI/AAAAAAAABBM/EeKW37EvVYI/s400/mendieta.jpg
― r|t|c, Sunday, 27 April 2014 21:16 (ten years ago) link
"I don't know who threw the banana, but I'd want to thank him," Alves said later. "It gave me energy to give two more crosses that ended up in a goal."
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 23:58 (ten years ago) link
Aah great they've bottled it.
― tsrobodo, Sunday, 4 May 2014 16:31 (ten years ago) link
Barca have the most reason to despair from this weekend. Although it leaves things tricky for them in that they probably need to win vs Atleti to overtake them while at the same time possibly handing the league to Real.
― pandemic, Monday, 5 May 2014 09:09 (ten years ago) link
Madrid minutes away from another draw.
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 20:47 (ten years ago) link
o my word, is atleti-barca now a championship playoff?
― imago, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 20:51 (ten years ago) link
also, gerrinthere you fuckboys
they were playing pulis shit for the last five minutes, long throws and lofted passes into the box
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 20:52 (ten years ago) link
if atleti and barca win their penultimate games then atleti have to draw and barcelona need to win the last game
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 20:55 (ten years ago) link
absurd that barca could still win this after fucking up so many games recently
elche and malaga, both p pissweak. but you never know eh
― imago, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 20:57 (ten years ago) link
atleti have to win won of these fucking things, no cups after this season would be so shit
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 21:11 (ten years ago) link
it's no doubt happened before but it seems weird that 90pts would be enough for Atleti to win the league but 91pts might not be. Need both Barca and Atleti to win tmrw cos I'd quite like to watch a title showdown even if the last time they played was p convincingly won by Atleti.
― pandemic, Saturday, 10 May 2014 12:15 (ten years ago) link
Reading an article about Conte and had no idea that Ancelotti has 'only' won 3 championships as a manager, one with Milan, one with Chelsea, one with PSG. Don't know why that surprised me but it did.
― pandemic, Saturday, 10 May 2014 12:29 (ten years ago) link
Real Madrid losing, Barca and Atleti both drawing matches they were 1/5 on to win with ten minutes to go.
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Sunday, 11 May 2014 18:37 (ten years ago) link
"USELESS. " --Pierre Boulez, 1952
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 11 May 2014 19:21 (ten years ago) link
barca-atleti is apparently kicking off at 5pm next saturday now, not sunday. anyone know any pubs in manchester that will be showing this and not the cup final?
― Chris, Sunday, 11 May 2014 19:33 (ten years ago) link
aaaaaahahahahaha amazing, just saw the scores
― verhzleyavbtreleambreb (imago), Sunday, 11 May 2014 23:21 (ten years ago) link
woah! bullet bitten. xavi on the bench.
Pinto Colorado22 Dani Alves21 Adriano16 Busquets03 Piqué14 Mascherano04 Fábregas08 Iniesta10 Messi09 Sánchez07 Pedro
13 Courtois 20 Juanfran 03 Filipe Luis 14 Gabi 23 Miranda 02 Godín 10 Turan 05 Tiago 19 Diego Costa 09 Villa 06 Koke
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 15:10 (ten years ago) link
well give or take some injured defenders it's the team I wanted to see Barca try in CL match-up.
Cesc, your time is now.
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 15:11 (ten years ago) link
Atleti v comfortable so far
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:13 (ten years ago) link
Costa has pulled his hamstring
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:16 (ten years ago) link
yeah, that's rough
― Number None, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:19 (ten years ago) link
Jesus, Arda Turan crocked now as well! Real must be loving this.
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:24 (ten years ago) link
simeone says arda can't speak spanish so idk what koke was bothering with there
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:26 (ten years ago) link
possibly a few word of turkish learnt in preparation for his 2023/4 valedictory season in fenerbahce
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:28 (ten years ago) link
Looks like one goal would be enough for Atleti. Barca don't look like they're capable of scoring twice tonight.
All Barca's chances in the 2nd leg in CL were headers as well iirc
Barca ragged so far
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:30 (ten years ago) link
pedro looks dangerous
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:32 (ten years ago) link
if the atleti defence has a weakness is probably the channel inside juanfran
nice to messi making inept tackles
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:33 (ten years ago) link
FUCK!!!!!!
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:35 (ten years ago) link
What a goal!!!!
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:36 (ten years ago) link
Barca's front screening of corners is abysmal
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:47 (ten years ago) link
Pinto is such trash
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 16:48 (ten years ago) link
Atleti bossing this
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 17:15 (ten years ago) link
God help me I feel like Pulis should be unleashed on this Barca team to show them how to defend set plays.
― pandemic, Saturday, 17 May 2014 17:39 (ten years ago) link