by: BarcaKeithPinto: 5
OK. Couldn't do anything with the goal. Didn't have much to do.
Montoya: 3
Too raw. Petrov scored on his side. Wasn't very active in offense. Isn't ready, but he is young, and should play with the B team, he might be good for the first team in 1-2 years.
Fontas: 7
Solid display. Strong in the tackle. Good physique.
Puyol: 7
Good. Some mixups with Montoya on the goal, it is down to lack of playing time together.
Maxwell: 8
Always giving options in attack, and control in defence. He will be really good once he gels with his team mates.
Busquets: 7
Controlled the game well from the middle, with nice tackles and ball winning. Solid passing.
Gudjohnsen: 4
Didn't do much. Was static and abit slow. Should have gone on more runs inside the box to create danger.
Yaya: 9
Great. Always a danger in the offensive role. Good passing, great dribbling. He was on another level than the rest of the players in the first half.
Jeffren. 5
Fair. Tried alot, had some nice dribblings and runs, but didn't create the necessary danger.
Bojan: 5
Wanted alot, but got bullied by the strong centre halves of City. Weak.
Pedro: 6
Showed good runs and some better play than Jeffren. But in the end, there was not much end-product.
Second half:
Dani Alves: 8
Big improvement over Montoya, as would be expected of course. Constantly giving options on the right, great engine in the terrible heat (40C++).
Pique: 7
Solid passing. Didn't have anything else to do basically as the ball was on the City half all the time.
Henrique: 7
Same as Pique
Muniesa: 7
Wasn't the offensive threat as Maxwell, but did his job in an unusual position for him. Shows great promise.
Keita: 7
Showed good ballwinning in the middle, and we were not affected by Busquets being taken off.
Thiago: 8
A great performance. Creative, smart choices, good vision, great ball control. He was on another level in the midfield which totally dominated City. Do we need Cesc?
Dos Santos: 8
A strong performance. Good physique combined with very good ball control, smart passing and a dangerous shot. Unlucky to hit the crossbar from outside the area. Difficult for the City players to get a hold of him. Do we need Cesc?
Gai: 6
Showed some good runs, but was a few sizes too small on this level. He still has junior player written all over him, we will have to see in the next couple of years if he is ready to play regularly for us.
Zlatan: 7
Lacked match fitness and haven't played with the team until now. It clearly showed as his movements was sometimes off and the understanding with the team mates wasn't there yet, but the combinations with Messi shows great promise and he managed to get into several good goal scoring positions which is very positive. Didn't convert them though, which he will once he gels and gets up his match fitness.
Messi: 8
A danger from the right, the good ol' Messi, fast, dribbling, always a threat.
Dvir Said,
Zlatan not ready to the season yet..
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 04:51
barca4life Said,
I have to respectfully disagree about 2 ratings. Montoya getting a 3 and Gai getting a 6.
If you look at the highlights again Montoya isnt that high up. Puyol is more to blame for playing Petrov onside than Montoya is. Montoya is high, but if you look at the defensive line puyol is way behind everybody else so to give montoya a 3 and puyol a 7 i would have to disagree with.
Montoya isnt dani alves he is more of a defensive RB so you shouldnt expect him to get too involved in the offence. Dalmau is more offensive from the games I have seen. Montoya is more like Abidal in the sense that he doesnt seem to go forward (probably why pep played him with maxwell who was running down the left side with great regularity leaving Puyol Fontos and Montoya to cover the back)
I think montoya deserved a 5 and puyol a 6 since puyol is supposed to be organizing our defence.
Gai i think deserevd a 7. Was very lively and in his camp nou debut. Had a real great chance to equalize but just waited 1 sec too long. I disagree with the too small comment, if you can play against Man City who are a physical english team you will not have problems in la liga or against the rest of europe and I dont think Gai struggled against city. He needs to learn from messi and be a little for deadly when finishing.
Other than that, great job
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:00
sachin Said,
@barca4life
we argued so much a few days back with me wanting to promote jonathan and thiago and you wanting cesc... now tell me mate which do we really need cesc??
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:05
barca4life Said,
I admite Sachin after seeing thiago i dont think we need cesc. He was brilliant, absolutely amazing. Ran the game like xavi. Strange thing is i had heard he didnt do so well with the spanish u-19 team. But its clear we dont need to buy back cesc now.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:18
Anonymous Said,
Gai needs to learn from Giovinco not Messi. Messi is a player you only see once every 20 years.
Giovinco's ability to stay on his feet and wrestle with defenders has improved a lot since a year ago.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:36
sachin Said,
@barca4life
maybe the spanish under-19 squad still wasn't upto thiago's standard to make those runs and recieve those passes that he makes :p
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:47
Anonymous Said,
Guys, do you really think that Thiago and Jonathan are ready for big challenges yet? How can you even compare 18 and 19 years old juniors with Cesc, who has played about 5 years on international level?
I agree that Thiago and Jonathan are extremely good, but you must admit, that today football is a physical game, and that is why there is so few good teen players in the world, who plays on decent level. Today football player must be strong and his muscles must be huge. For example look at Jeffren, he has chest like a weight lifter:) Thiago and Jonathan needs a lot of gym practise to compete on international level, so you should be happy if they take a regular part in first team in 3-4 years, not now.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:52
barca4life Said,
yeah the coaches for some of the spanish youth teams sometimes screw up the team. the u-21's with bojan looked really terrible all round not just bojan and there were some good players on that team.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:52
Anonymous Said,
Jeffren has a chest like weight lifter? Are you joking? Iniesta and Messi's muscles are huge? Come on, man. I don't think anybody says that Thiago and Dos Santos are as good as Cesc yet, but that they are good enough as backups for us so we dont need to spend on Cesc.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 05:56
BarcaWuggs Said,
Well I think the youth players did very well yesterday but I still dont get why pep need to put them in first half.
With the other in first half would never be a 0:1
But well the team did a great Game yesterday its always hard to run against a Team that is defending with so much players.
And About Cesc.....I think he would be great for the Team Thiago showed a nice performance yesterday and Dos Santos also but they need to improve what Cesc have and also Xavi the Killer instink to make a goal in the right moment and keep cool but this will come with growing in the team.
I think to substitute Xavi when need a rest or is gone Thiago is allready good enough.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:04
sachin Said,
@anony
jonathan is probably the strogest midfielder i have seen from the barca academy
jonathan strenght = xavi + cesc +iniesta+ thiago strenghted combined together hes that damn strong...
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:04
barca4life Said,
Well Man City are an physical english team, so if thiago gai and dos santos can handle the physical challenge (as they did in this game) I dont see a problem in La Liga or the Champions League
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:05
barca4life Said,
Yeah I'd have to agree dos santos looks rather solid and pretty strong.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:07
Anonymous Said,
Guys I have to admit that I am really fascinated on jonathan dos santos and thiago. if they do well they are real opportunities for being promoted next year. especially jonathan was incredible. If thats the case we wont have to buy cesc.
P.S.: The Jerseys are really cool! We should wear them regurlarly! Really patriotic with "MES" on the front!
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:07
fcbee Said,
Don't forget Dos Santos hasn't yet played for Barcelona Atlètic (like Muniesa), so he's really the big surprise of the pre-season. Fontas close second though, nobody would have predicted this two months ago.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:11
Iason Said,
I think we still need another great midfielder to replace Xavi when he is injured. Not Cesc but someone who wont be bad for the youth development. Thiago played great yesterday but what if Xavi gets injured for an important game? We cant expect Thiago to preform great against Madrid or Chelsea can we? I say, go for Pirlo 15m!
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:13
Anonymous Said,
There are Iniesta too of course, Iason. I am not worried with Tiago, Dos Santos in our team, Iniesta and Yaya give us great attacking power too from the midfield. What is wrong with a Iniesta-Yaya midfield with Busquets as DM? And Dos Santos and Tiago able to cover with no problem for Iniesta or Yaya. Especially Tiago is very creative looking for the decisive pass and Dos Santos can score goals easily. There should be no problem with creativity from midfield this season. I think it is the forward line is much more important. There are problems with our backups and lack of depth up front.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:20
rory Said,
two things:
1. i'd still bring cesc in. cesc's done it at the highest level already. dos santos and thiago haven't yet. plus, xavi's getting up in age for a midfielder and iniesta's so slight that he runs a consistent injury risk. Even with cesc, i still believe we'd find space in a midfield rotation to get dos santos and thiago some playing time (and iniesta can move to LW permanently)
2. b4l, i got to study the highlight. yes, puyol is partly to blame for that goal for playing so deep. that said, montoya does not escape blame either: petrov had him beat well before the pass was made and petrov was still onside even if you took puyol out of the picture because of maxwell and fontas. plus, i'd bet this was a miscommunication about responsibilities.
I'm not doubting montoya's potential or puyol's mistake...but montoya's run back took a weird angle where he gave petrov too much space when he cut inside of petrov. hopefully he'll learn from the mistake.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:20
Anonymous Said,
Keita 7??!
That idiot caused alot of free kicks, didn't he?
Not as many as against Bilbao, but still... He's not good enough for Barca imo
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:29
barca4life Said,
Dos Santos hasnt played with Barca athletic but he has been training with the first team on occasion since last season. Pep obviously sees something in him if he took him to the first team without him having played for the B team.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:29
BarcaKeith Said,
Thanks for the comments. I respectfully disagree that Montoya deserves better. I think he was overall too poor and at a level too high for him. He was probably nervous of course, which should be respected, but he was insecure and I didn't feel comfortable with him on the right. Not showing up in attack and poor in defence, a step behind his marker several times, I think a 3 is fair.
The problem with Gai is not that he doesn't have talent of football brain, but this level is still too early for him, it clearly showed. Against bigger and faster players, he gets brushed aside and loses the ball easily. He needs to work on his balance and close ball control, like Iniesta has. Iniesta is also small but uses his body and balance to perfection so there are no problems for him. It's not just about strength, but how you use your body combined with control of the ball.
To the last anony: Keita was good I felt. He stopped potential counterattacks with professional fouls if necessary which is important. I think Keita was solid against Bilbao too. He is important for us and Pep values him too. For a reason. He gives us options in midfield with his runs, shots and heading. A solid player who is good enough to play for us and the type of player we need as squad player.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:41
Manolo Said,
Messi was pretty small when he played his first season with Barça A team and he is still. Can't see why Gai is to small.
Now it's pretty hard for Pep.
Who will be promoted?
Gai?
Thiago?
Dos Santos?
Fontas?
Muniesa?
Jeffren?
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:46
skanjos Said,
your scores are too lenient.-1 point to every player except -2 to keita,montoya 4
great match ,we lacked a bit of creativity infront that changed with thiago in,i didnt like when thiago moved to right wing and messi amc,but in the end they changed back again.thiago is awesome and now i say it too that we dont need cesc.dos santos is way too overatted here...he is a fighter and a good passer but thats it,creativity zero,that will change with the years.
but that being said i now prefer thiago and dos santos from keita/guddy .the last 2 are bad and the only thing that they offer are :keita a header every now and then,bad first touch and he is slowing us down,and guddy a great ball every now and then and he is greatly slowing us down,he keeps the ball alot.
the thing is keita is overvalued in this club ,starting alot of matches,busquets is way better and now we have 2 talented youngsters who i wouldnt mind taking exp instead of keita who brings almost nothing to our game...
in this game we were unlucky.we will keep guddy and keita thats a certain,and henrique/jeffren are to their way out. so in the end 2 players are needed one winger and one rb,we can keep jeffren and use puyol as rb and fontas/muniesa as cb,but i dont see that happening.after yesterdays game i dont think we are gonna move for a cm anymore rather than an LF/RF.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:55
Anonymous Said,
dos santos and thiago possibly, muniesa DEFINITELY should, fontas is impressive too.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 06:55
Anonymous Said,
I think Johnathan's strength and size is a Dos Santos family thing (DNA). Remember Gio was also big for his age; alot firmer than Bojan. By the way I wish Gio all the best. Both brothers are promising if not for us for Mexico.
Me gusta los ninos de Dos Santos.
Posted on 20 August 2009 at 07:38