Barcelona Chat

Not sure if it can be called a derby by now, knowing that 12 out of our 13 latest encounters with Barca in Camp Nou were losses, and some very bad ones. However, it is definitely the match of the week for La Liga.

We will be facing a team that is arguably but very close to definitely the best team on the planet earth for the moment. They are simply unstoppable when in good form, and especially Messi is once again, unfortunately for us, in a GOD MODE.

Yes they drew with Olympiacos in CL, but I saw that match and they were not even near to giving 50%, let alone anything else. Besides, they have beaten and will most likely beat both Juve and Sporting again, so they couldn’t bother much with the Greeks.

I fear this season’s Barca because they have added another element to their game, the unpredictability. You never know what to expect from them, and a good illustration of this is that they can also score from crosses and set-pieces, belie it or not.

Anyway, we are definitely not completely ready for this one, meaning that we had only 1 training to prepare for them and they had 2, a big difference. Moreover, a lot of our players are fatigued from Leganes and Spartak matches, where some really stepped it up and gave 100%.

Will be interesting to see what Berizzo has prepared for tonight. Mercado not available, and Correa not ready I guess.

I’d go with:

Soria

Corchia - Kjaer - Lenglet - Escudero

         Pizarro - N'Zonzi

                Banega

Navas/Sarabia Mudo/Ganso

                  WBY/Muriel

Not sure if Nolito is ideal for this match, and we can make use of another midfielder to play a kind of 4-5-1 why not?
Corchia

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Very very tough game! The pressure is off here! Barca are big favourites However, that can make us dangerous as we have nothing to lose.

We have nearly a fully fit squad to choose from. We just need to go out their and play our game and believe in ourselves. We know when we apply ourselves well then we have quality to hurt any team

Morale will have picked up after 3 straight wins. The leganes and Moscow wins were impressive as both aren’t easy teams to play.

Our away form needs to improve though. As Valencia, atletico and athletic exposed us.

However, those teams are top teams at home and at least we beat the teams we should beat. The good news is we will get to play all these top teams at home in 2nd half of season. As we got Barca and Real Madrid away first too.

Vamos sevilla!

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Atletico looking very average, maybe worse, they might effectively have burned out as a team.
Valencia continue to look potential league winners.

Barcelona have looked pretty average (to me) this season, it’s just that Messi keeps digging them out of trouble.

Shame about Tucu Correa not being fit, this would be his sort of game.

We need to go 4-5-1 a la Emery, tight defensive block. The -1 has to be Muriel in this game.

This game might get distracted by the politics, an earlier basketball game was overshadowed by the malcontents’ protests.

Valencia are flying and look the best team in the league so far. They have no Europe too and they have a great chance to pull a huge suprise and win la liga

However, it’s a long season and all it takes is 1-2 injuries and also 1 bad loss to knock them off course. Plus lack of experience at top.

We just need to hang in with the top 4 and we will get our chance. Atletico and real are both not the same forces they were. Atletico won today but aren’t convincing. Barca are going great but without Messi magic they aren’t what they were.

It’s going to be tough but we can match the teams above us.

Overall we had a good start, 19 points from 30 and we are 2nd in our champions league group with 7 points. Plus well placed to advance in cup.

Vamos sevilla!

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That’s how it is, a long season and just one or two injuries (or luck) can make all the difference.

Look what’s happening in Barcelona

Muriel starts.

Referee González González is not known to favour Sevilla.

A quiet boring 0-0 will do tonight.

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Optimist :wink:

Soria
Corchia - Kjaer - Lenglet - Escudero
N’Zonzi - Pizarro
Navas - Banega - Sarabia
Muriel

We get very lucky in the first 5. Two great chances by Barca

8 minutes in and it’s clear that Sevilla are way out of their depth.

We escaped the early pressure. Now time to make them pay!

That was the chance! Damn it

I missed the goal because of shitty Bein Sports. Was it offside?

Escudero possibly Barca’s best player in the first half. One assist and almost another.

Pizarro’s tackle on Messi :fire:

Escudero needs to wake up, weak performance so far. Also that mistake was too amateurish, shouldn’t happen in this kind of match.

Can’t believe I am actually saying this, but bring on WBY!

Otherwise, Barca far superior and feels like they can score whenever they want. We were too lucky not to concede in those first 8-10 minutes, at least 3 almost 100% chances by Barca.

We are very weak up front and Muriel isn’t doing anything, so maybe WBY for Muriel and Nolito for Sarabia… not sure at this point.

Not optimistic that we can do much in this one, but hopefully we don’t concede more than 3 at least.

I am quite satisfied. We did quite well. Better than we usually do. We have hung in and defended well. Shame about escuderos mistake as other than that we been good in defence.

We have threatened a bit but Barca have been very good at hunting the ball back. Plus it’s hard to get the ball back off them

We done as well as we can. We just need to try keep it to 1-0 and they might get nervous. Who knows? I think we probs gonna lose but we have nothing to lose.

Let’s just keep going and we have options on bench to change things.

Vamos sevilla!

This is great for Sevilla, their problems exposed, can’t keep possession for 10 seconds, play needs more simple connection to impose some control and less flights of fantasy, they will/should learn from this.

Not sure who is on the bench but we need someone who can love the ball.

Oh shit Manassas got a shout out on BeinSports - that’s where I live. haha

Can’t see Banega reaching 90 minutes, either Berizzo or the second yellow will take care of it.