21 Feb 2018 08:07:48
Wasn't impressed by Barca. This team isn't even close to the Barcelona of Pep. Possession football tika taka? Not joking I prefer the way we play, full on excitement. It would suit us down to the ground I think we'd of broke on them and scored 3 last night.

1.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 08:29:43
If it was us playing them last night it wouldn't of been a draw, we'd of smashed them all over the pitch quite comfortably.

2.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 08:36:04
They really have fallen haven't they. Iniesta, Messi, Rakitic and Suarez are some of their best players and they are all at the wrong end of their careers.

Pique and Busquets have a while left yet considering the way they play, Ter Stegen is okay, and Coutinho, Dembele and Sergi Roberto are obviously top players. So they still have a solid spine to be fair. I just think a lot of their players have become far too reliant on MSN in the last 3 years and now Suarez and Messi are the only two left, and not even close to the peak of their powers, the team seems to be dwindling a bit. They are very fortunate that Real Madrid are having similar problems on a bigger scale.

Spanish football is done with it's dominance, for me. They've had their decade of fun and they did make the most of it to be fair. I think English football is back though. Chelsea are the worst English side in the competition and they made the best Spanish side look insipid and average on the day, without even playing well. The likes of Real, Barca, Sevilla and Atletico will all still do very well in Europe because they're good sides, but i don't think their dominance will continue season on season, as it has done.

I can easily see 3 English sides in the semi finals this season, if the quarter final draw makes that possible.

I think Man United fans may be in for a shock tonight though. They all told us Sevilla are a bad team and we had an easy group, but that simply isn't true. On paper they aren't top opposition, but they seem to find an extra 10% in European competition. Man U should have enough to go through, but I'll be amazed if it's a stroll in the park, tonight in particular away from home!

{Ed001's Note - is Sergi Roberto a top player? He can't cross or pass, which are kind of important to being a top player imo.}

3.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 08:45:24
I think he needs to be played in the right position Ed. He's no right back in my opinion, because he can't cross and he isn't good enough defensively.

In a box to box role, i think he's a very good player though. He seems to me like a better version of James Milner. Reliable, versatile, hard working, and with solid abilities if not spectacular. Perhaps he's just a level below top class, in hindsight. Still a great player to have though.

4.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 09:16:35
Spanish football is done with their dominance? You do realise that Madrid are the current CL winners? I would hold off on your assumptions until the end of this season to see where we stand. I certainly wouldn't be writing them off. They are both in good positions to go into the quater finals. I can see one of them winning it still.

5.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 09:23:44
MK Scouser, I agree that the Spanish dominance is over but I can see PSG taking at least one CL before the next team from England do it.

6.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 09:51:02
Rover, the key term is "dominance". Spanish football teams have won 6 of the last 10 Champions Leagues, and 5 of the last 10 Europa leagues. 11/ 20 European trophies have gone to Spain.

I'm not saying they won't win any of the next 20, but i expect it'll be more like 4 or 5 out of 20, and not over 50%.

Italian teams have come back strong (Juventus, Inter, Napoli, Roma) and PSG and Monaco are now genuine super powers. Bayern have always been strong. Now we have 6 top sides in England too. I wouldn't be surprised if Arsenal won the Europa League and ne of the 5 English sides involved won the Champions League.

Spain still have 4 stand out great teams. They're just not the powerhouses' they have been for the last decade and that is largely because Messi and Ronaldo aren't scoring 60-90 goals a season anymore. They are still world class players in world Cass teams, but they're now at an age where their physical limitations have brought them down to a place much closer to everyone else's level.

Italy and England both had a decade in the European wilderness. France have not been serious threats since the great St Etienne teams, and Bayern have been struggling to cope with the decline of Robben and Ribery. There is a lot more competition now and the Spanish sides are not going to have it all their own way over the next decade, of that i am sure. The best managers in world football have all assembled in the Premier League and that is why i think English sides will have a similar amount of success that they had in the mid to late noughties. It's only really been Chelsea flying the English flag for the last 5 or 6 years and they still managed to win 2 European cups. Man U won one last year. The year before we went to a final. It's coming. I think an English team will win it this season, and I'm hoping it is us!

7.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 09:53:40
Prem teams looking strong in CL this year. Think lfc really fancy it. Would love to play Barcelona at some point with little Phil watching from the stands 😁 Can def see Utd losing tonight too 😁.

8.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 11:04:30
We won’t beat this Chelsea. Chelsea were excellent yesterday. Compact and positionally disciplined. Even Fabregas was brilliant in his defensive duties.
Barca started with a diamond and that is a joke against Chelsea. Barcelona had the same issue as Liverpool. No width and trying to sneak through the middle which was very easy for Chelsea to defend!

Paulinho is truly awful no wonder he was the best player in China. Busquets was beaten all ends by Willian who had a stellar. They had tons of possession ans chelea couldn’t give a toss about it. Happily sat back and hit on the counter. I just loved the way they mocked Barcelona yesterday. You can keep the ball and I don’t care!

We should have stolen Christiansen from Chelsea. What a brilliant player. He will be ruling this league in an year or two! How much did they pay for him?

9.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 11:27:04
Watched them play last night for the first time since Valverde took over and was surprised with the slow, lethargic and unimaginative possession football. This team doesn't look close to Pep's teams or even Luis Enrique's, for that matter. Still too dependent on one magical moment from Messi or Suarez (and now more than ever, since Neymar is gone) . But they're doing well in their league, so

Sergi Roberto is just an above average utility player, as far as I can see. He does a few things above average, without really excelling in one particular area. Very much in the mold of multirole players Barcelona has had in the past like Adriano Correia and Edmilson.

10.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 12:55:44
BD, are you Harry by any chance cos you sure sound like him, lauding Chelsea for parking the bus? Chelsea was excellent at doing what, exactly? Parking the buses and hoping that one or two shots go in? Not for me. That is the poorest Barcelona team I have seen for over 15 years (I've been watching them since 1991). They were slow, lethargic, and had no zip in their passes and movement. Chelsea were lacking confidence overall right now so I don't blame them for keeping it tight BUT come on, Barcelona were poor, hands down. Had they played us at Anfield and we performed like we did vs City, we would have beaten them just like we did City. How? We would have disrupted their slow passing nonsense and with the pace we have up top, those counters would have been WAY more lethal. I would fancy our chances vs that Barcelona side any day and we would not even need to park the bus to put 3 past them, IMO.

11.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 12:59:37
That's funny Harry, cause we did already play that Chelsea team and we dominated them with them being ridiculously lucky with a fluke cross to even take a point.

12.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 14:58:53
I think Sergio Roberto has been ruined at right back. I remember a few years ago, watching him in the centre of the pitch, passing was unreal in those games, thought I was looking at the next Alonso. But him playing RB seems to have had a negative effect on that part of him game.

Barca were very poor. Chelsea should of had 3 points really. They prepared to set up and respect Barcelona having the ball, countered well. Willian on another day could of had a hatrick. Rate him so much more than Hazard.

Barca only scored from a poor defensive error from Chelsea.

Also to highlight I don't think Barcelona expected Chelsea to have so much energy. They chased that ball so much i think something like 75% possesion to Barca. Thought Barcelona looked more tired than Chelsea and they have a winter break?

Was highlighted in the Porto v Redmen game. They struggled with the pace of Liverpool's game. I know it's different as we had the ball but still thought it was a interesting point to pick up on Chelsea coping with just chasing the ball for the majority of the game. I do like Barcelona and I'm not a fan of Chelsea at all, but watching the game last night felt Chelsea were robbed a little bit.

Just shows the Phil move wasn't as well thought out. No one last night looked like they would create something. Games like that for us Phil popped up. But he can't play. Thought Demebele would have injected some pace into the game, but never game on.

13.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 15:15:35
Alistair, he's their problem now and no one really knows if he would have done any better cos he struggled vs parked buses while at LFC too.

14.) 21 Feb 2018
21 Feb 2018 15:49:46
I have no issues with the style of our play. Chelsea played like their manager wanted them to play and it is the outcome that matters. What is he point in playing expensive football and gets beaten 5-0? There is a reason Barcelona looked cluelsss and you got to give Chelsea some credit. You seems damn confident of us beating almost all teams on the planet lol! I am not that confident mate.
Chelsea just cannot match Barcelona on quality and they did the right thing to sit back and not allow them any space to run into! Suarez had the fewest touches yesatday in the whole season. There wasn’t any space given for them to do their little one two’s. Chelsea got their tactics spot on ( it doesn't matter what tactic it is )
The poorest Barcelona are running away with the league without even a fight from anywhere!
We were beaten by Sevilla not once but three times in last 2 years.