Barcelona 0 – Slavia 0 : Rock bottom for Valverde and his players?
A rock that was rock solid and didn’t let us go through-That is what Slavia was. By Tikitakaxbarca. A dull performance at the Camp nou. The draw is explained by a few factors:
First half to forget
Firstly, the left wing has been abandoned. I expected Griezz to play ST, yet Messi plays ST, with Démbélé on the right and Griezz in the left wing. Yet, as you all know he isn’t too great there. However, Dembele has been playing well, if it wasn’t for his ball losses-Good connection with Semedo.
Frenkie has played well too-with his backheel pass, as well as he sometimes intervened in the role of CDM-He is playing well, except he needs an ‘Arthur’-That isn’t on the pitch thanks to EV. We clearly miss him, as Busi isn’t all to great. We need aleña in the midfield, Fati in the attack.
Pique has been shaky, at times very good and at times caught too slow. Got a yellow card so he’ll miss the match against Dortmund.
Messi? Not many touches as he often dropped too deep. A pass from Alba saw Messi trying a BYCICLE kick-but too high. Later, even though he could (should) have passed to Griezzi, he did his usual shot-that almost went in, in the corner on the bar, sadly.
Trying to change at half time
I was pleased to see directly a substitution after the whistle – But then, I saw Roberto came in. If alba didn’t play great, why not use Firpo? This time he was available on the bench. However, more chances would come. But none would go through.
Then, one substitution came in as a surprise : Dembele out, Fati in. I expected Fati to come, but not for Dembele. If the Frenchman played fairly okay, his first touch was poor.
Fati went on to dribble, and finally provide Messi with a big chance-And got denied by their goalkeeper. Later, Fati would provide with another chance, for Rakitić-That went too high too.
Yes, Rakitić was subbed on for Busi, who wasn’t too good today. Frenkie moved to CDM-he owned that position, while Raki? Not fan of that; Aleña would have used it better-Because Raki’s passes, as expected were too linear.
Messi wasn’t that great-which role he was exactly assigned is a question to me. He had a few occasion, yet he can do better. Griezz had a better display, yet still not enough.
But rock-solid were also Ter Stegen & Lenglet. Consistent as always, thet were determined-something we lacked-FDJ went past a few guys at the end, showing his determination. For sure,Valverde’s substitution’s, as well as his tactics, were questionable tonight.
A performance to forget the Blaugrana’s, as Slavia Praha is the only team since 2012 that managed to keep a clean sheet at the Camp Nou.
