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Elaborate what you mean by "Plan B". A Plan B for what exactly?
Plan A consists of passing, passing, and passing, onto Messi's feet. When Messi was tired and unfit that night, along with the key people in the passing game, that plan fell apart. Barca also lack a physical presence in set pieces, whilst their defence is relatively untested against heavy weights. They are also over reliant on certain players aside from Messi, when Puyol was missing, or unfit, Pique couldn't help to marshal the start of the attack from the back.
Alves and Alba are great players, but at times they can seem more like wing-backs than fullbacks, leaving them ripped apart by Bayern, who possess excellent wingers.
We can say perhaps that this was all due to injuries and such, but Barca were shown to sorely lack a Plan B when Bayern stacked the midfield, packing in players, with their forwards rushing back, and generally preventing Xavi and Iniesta from working their usual game. Javi Martinez and Schweinsteiger also disrupted the passing game those two nights by committing lots of fouls, which killed off the rhythm that makes Barca's game so deadly. And then, there was nothing on the Bench that could be a Plan B.
One thing that I appreciated late in Arsenal's season was their switch to a Plan B partially. Earlier, their plan was as usual, to play the ''beautiful game'', to score the perfect goal, ''walk the ball into the net'', and the whole host of stereotypes plastered to Arsenal. In the games after Bayern, they switched to a more defensive game plan, grinding out games by scoring early, pressing high, being aggressive and dogged in defence, with Arteta and Ramsey deployed to guard the back four, whilst the forwards (even Walcott!) tracked back sometimes to defend. Lots of 1-0 win margins, but it got the job done when Arsenal were trying to deal with their injury roster, or general ineptitude amongst players.
Thank You. And Yes, a plan B in terms of players would be helpful; however, in terms of tactic, I would have to agree with Messi, quoting with one of his later press conferences that "[Barcelona] should not change their style of play." The Europa Cup may not have gone there way, not because of failure of a back-up plan, but a lack of coordination among the team due Tito being gone for several months and the players being slightly on edge without their head manager. That along with several injuries of course.
On other terms, another reason Barcelona was so unable to defend from Bayer was the lack of means to stop the cross. All 3 of Bayer's goals in the second game were crosses. Where the young, agile Puyol was able to clear crosses with a header the current him cannot. Also Puyol is no longer as fast. Don't get me wrong he is a fantastic player just not youthful enough to take down quick players as seen when Barcelona played Madrid and Ronaldo managed some counter attack goals. And yes as seen with Bayer the usual passing swing was cut; however, with the removal of David Villa, who did not have the best of years and continuously was getting crowded unable to shoot at the edge of the goalie box, and the introduction of Neymar I believe the natural flow of things will resume.
A plan B in terms of tactic may not be the necessary solution. Barca plays a fine game and has been able to use there tactics in previous years to beat very talented teams.However, there defense is past due and clearly needs restocking. The problems with offense in my opinion has already been solved with the introduction of Neymar.
that "[Barcelona] should not change their style of play." The Europa Cup may not have gone there way, not because of failure of a back-up plan, but a lack of coordination among the team due Tito being gone for several months and the players being slightly on edge without their head manager. That along with several injuries of course.
Perhaps. But what they really need to address now is the huge shoes that the younger players are unable to fill. Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, none of the younger ones seem to be able to match them in terms of quality. Even Cesc seems out of place at times.
On other terms, another reason Barcelona was so unable to defend from Bayer was the lack of means to stop the cross. All 3 of Bayer's goals in the second game were crosses. Where the young, agile Puyol was able to clear crosses with a header the current him cannot. Also Puyol is no longer as fast. Don't get me wrong he is a fantastic player just not youthful enough to take down quick players as seen when Barcelona played Madrid and Ronaldo managed some counter attack goals.
That and the fact that most Barca players lack a physical presence in the box, most are fast and lithe, whilst none too tall.
A plan B in terms of tactic may not be the necessary solution. Barca plays a fine game and has been able to use there tactics in previous years to beat very talented teams.However, there defense is past due and clearly needs restocking. The problems with offense in my opinion has already been solved with the introduction of Neymar.
I am loath to hedge bets on whether foreign players will do well in a new league right off the bat though.
I am loath to hedge bets on whether foreign players will do well in a new league right off the bat though.
We can only hope he does well.
[quote]
nichodemus do you think wenger should go? I like him but he hasn't brought us a trophy in like 8 years.
Was that a question?
I think he should continue what he's doing. We don't know the club's actual finances, although lots of people online think they do. They range from almost paying off the stadium debt, to flush in cash, but perhaps we can say the finances are getting better with the recent shirt deals.
Wenger seems to be interested in some youngsters recently (Sanago, Ruben, Grenier, etc) for the transfer market, and I don't think that poses a problem. Multifarious reasons. He's going to be the most experienced manager in the EPL, and the main rivals would be adjusting to their clubs. He would clear some deadwood (Squid and Arshavin at the least, when their contracts run out), so adding youngsters is not a bad idea. The core of the team is there, and their attitude these months is admirable (Grinding out wins no matter what). And most of the stars that played for Arsenal under his reign have been trained from youth, whilst stars that he brought in have flopped (Arshavin, Rosicky).
So, I think we'll just have to stick to believing in him, This season is our season.
The football team that I support is Arsenal because I live pretty close to the emirates (stadium). That, and they can play some beautiful football when they get their act together.
nichodemus do you think wenger should go? I like him but he hasn't brought us a trophy in like 8 years.
What do you mean when you say us , exactly?
I don't see you on the pitch or on the bench. I don't see you coaching, training or funding the club.
What do you mean when you say us , exactly?
I don't see you on the pitch or on the bench. I don't see you coaching, training or funding the club.
Us = Gooner Family. We're not the team, but we refer to ourselves to a collective group.
That, and they can play some beautiful football when they get their act together.
Which has recently subsided....at least it gave the Spuds one up the Arse.
Us = Gooner Family. We're not the team, but we refer to ourselves to a collective group.
Dunno, kinda irks me when supporters of any team say that. And living in the UK, I hear it a lot.
Dunno, kinda irks me when supporters of any team say that. And living in the UK, I hear it a lot.
Too bad! That's football for you.
Dunno, kinda irks me when supporters of any team say that. And living in the UK, I hear it a lot.
I don't mean it to be irritating I just feel close to the Arsenal team and saying they haven't won a trophy in over 7 years just sounds cynical.
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