Just reading some stats from opta joe on twitter (courtesy of the bbc);

  • Barça-Real FT stats – Shots 15-5, on target 6-2, Passes 684-331, Pass completion 89%-74%, Possession 67%-33%, Fouls 12-16
  • Lionel Messi managed nine successful dribbles vs Real Madrid, the most by a player in one LigaBBVA match this season.
  • Xavi completed 110 passes tonight, a LigaBBVA record for a match this season, despite being subbed off.
  • Barca's fourth goal was only their fourth shot on target against Real.

I hate both of these teams. A truly satisfactory result would've been both of them losing. Barca used to have some appeal, but I have not worn my Barca top since they started stirring shit with Fabregas. Real are unsavory in every fashion. Together, they have turned La Liga into a farce. I hope neither team is at Wembley at season's end

You had and wore a barca top; even after 2006? Oh dear.

Never got wearing another teams top, well maybe back in my school days I might have done (though I didn't), but now it just seems silly.

y va marquer wrote:

I'm not sold on the idea that Guardiola would want to leave Barca to manage us.
Is there a particular reason why people think that he would?
Isn't he another one that has Barca blood in his veins?
:\

I can't seem him at Arsenal any time soon, but his contract is out at the end of the season and it's looking likely he wont sign another one (the stress of the Barca job, problems with the new director). He'll likely be at a different club in a season or two.

Tony Montana wrote:

You had and wore a barca top; even after 2006? Oh dear.

indeed, how could you? or anyone for that matter....heresy i tells ya

Lol. I went to watch Barca once, and picked up their top at the stadium. I've had the top since. I was fine wearing it until that whole Fabregas nonsense. I don't even watch their games anymore. I'm tired of all the hype around them, but will admit that they are special (or at least they were last I watched them).

xavi completed something like 114 of 117 passes. absolutely absurd. that's what we need fabregas doing, instead of running around doing a riquelme impression.

When we've got players like Nasri and Arshavin in good (penetrative) form, I agree. They haven't always done that though which is part of the reason Cesc plays where he plays. He knows where the goal is.

totally agree with that, but as a CM, he can't just not defend. if he's going to give up his defensive duties as a CM in the pursuit of goals that aren't coming from the forward positions, then we're just plugging one hole and opening another. sometimes i feel he was a better defender when he was 19, at least he had the hunger then.

Fabregas was a good defender when he started for us. Just as Song was showing promise in this area. It's because Wenger asks them to go forward and leave defending to the defenders. We will be just fine with Song and Fabregas playing behind Nasri or van Persie if Wenger just tells them to be less adventurous and defend more.

There's no one to blame for Song's inept defending other than Song himself. If he can't cut it defensively when he's not sitting comfortably in front of the back, without really having to do much thinking or intelligent moving/pressing - then he's a poor player and not worth persisting with. He's been asked to play with a little more dynamism and energy, that's all. We're not asking him to re-invent the wheel - he simply doesn't have the game understanding to make the right decision consistently, that's where he's falling down, not because of Wenger or the fact that he's been asked to do something impossible.

I don't think Fabregas would offer any less defensively than what Song offered today.

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