Strictly Barca

This sort of stuff from Pedri is genuinely one of my favorite things to watch in football. Sometimes I think I enjoy this even more than the goals! It’s stuff like this most people won’t remember and won’t ever show up on a stat sheet, but having a player capable of doing this is invaluable. This is the type of stuff that quite literally changes matches! Just look at the season opener against Elche. With Gavi & Bernal, the game felt chaotic and out of control. The second Pedri steps onto the pitch, everything settles down. Suddenly there’s control, calmness, and fluidity. For most players, receiving the ball in a situation like this ends in a turnover leading to a dangerous counterattack. With Pedri, two defenders can think they’ve finally trapped him and a second later he’s escaped both of them and we’re progressing up the pitch. It has to be demoralizing to defend against. Just when you think you’ve got him, he’s gone. Absolutely beautiful stuff. You won’t see it on the stat sheet, but your eyes don’t lie.💙❤️

You can have your opinions on Tah, whether he’s good or not, but what I take from this is that the club is actually going to try to address the need. Lots of talk and common sense would tell you we absolutely need to sign somebody in January, but you just never know what actually will be done. At least we know they are actively looking for options and ready to upgrade the backline! Promising!

Wow what a masterclass from Flick in that second half! Id been dying for us to go to a 4-3-3 and boy was it brilliant! I thought Flick’s subs were spot on. Christensen was huge, & I can’t overstate how incredible that Frenkie De Jong is! Settled us down so much at RB & then obviously was as cool as can be once we moved to 3 in the middle! That was probably the most controlled and stable we’ve looked in recent memory. Atleti couldn’t sniff the ball and when they did our defensive structure was great, they really never threatened in the second half! Just imagine what that 4-3-3 will look like with Pedri-Rodri-De Jong! Fermin is one of the players you live with & die with, and today he showed exactly why he’s so valuable! 2 huge goals at huge moments that completely shifted the momentum. Also can’t stress enough how brilliant and dominant Pedri has been! Practically went solo again in midfield again in the first half. Then in the second he had Atleti chasing ghosts. He was threatening when he had to be & composed when it was needed. I think we learned a lot as a team from that second half, it will be invaluable going forward. Truly believe we just raised our ceiling as a team going forward in that second half! I won’t harp on the negatives too much simply because of how great that second half was, but going forward Gordon & Cancelo should not be garunteed starters! HUGE 3 POINTS! VISCA BARCA💙❤️

Lamine & Fermin showing their great connection once again!

Love the Christensen sub to counter their Sorloth sub.

De Jong on…. at RB🤨🤨

Halftime Thoughts 💭 -What a huge goal to end the half! Absolutely needed it! - Pedri & Lamine have looked like the only ones up for it or posing a threat! Farinas off. Cancelo off. Gordon off. Bernal off. We have to go into these duels in the middle of the pitch with the intention to win the ball back, not just to “apply pressure”. It’s far too easy to play out of & it leaves us insanely exposed once they do! Adeyemi has to come on for Gordon, he is posing ZERO threat on the left. Lamine & Pedri need continue doing what they are doing but even take it up another level, they both look so dangerous! Frenkie needs to be brought on as well!

Gordon man…🤦‍♂️

Get Cancelo off NOW! ADYSMAL!!!!

Hansi please go with Frenkie-Rodri-Pedri in the second half!!

Not even going to give halftime thoughts. The only thing I will say is I hope Flick makes the subs immediately! Get Lamine, Raphina, Pedri, Rodri, & another out asap! No need to keep them in any longer! Give Balde, Tunkara, Gavi, & others some minutes! PLEASE!💙❤️

I’ll believe it when I see it.🤞💙❤️

Don’t worry about it @JoanLaportaFCB I’ll pick up the tab on this one!🤝😂

Congrats to Harry Kane!🏆🤝

I’ve got to say this because I’m seeing people either criticize him or they’re quiet. But against the two best teams we’ve faced all season the only player who has looked up for it has been Pedri! Both matches he’s started the first few minutes slow but then completely adapted & changed how he would approach it. Pretty sad considering both matches he was pretty much left out to dry by his partner in midfield, especially vs PSG! Against PSG he quickly found out that trying to pass out of pressure simply was not working. Bernal was practically hiding from the ball & not offering himself as an outlet, and definitely not a reliable one at that! He also was unable to play it back to Martin as he was like a deer in the headlights under pressure, Cancelo didn’t help either. So what did he do? He began to carry & drive progression with the ball at his feet to beat their press. He was quite literally going 1v3 against the best midfield itw. Then vs Madrid it was a similar start, and whereas Bernal didn’t offer himself vs PSG, now it was Rodri who wasn’t being aggressive enough in his possession. Too much side to side & backwards passes which Madrid obviously were more than comfortable with. So yet again Pedri made the adjustment and began to get a bit more forward around the box or drift to the flanks to support each wing. Now was he at his best? No! He could’ve been even more aggressive around the box in terms or shooting but still he was the primary aggressor for majority of the match! Pretty disappointing stuff from his counter-parts in both matches and that’s including Fermin. The one person who did seem to compliment him well was De Jong in the few minutes he got. If Fermin doesn’t start to pick up his performance I would love to see us go 3 in the midfield with De Jong-Pedri-Rodri based on what little I saw last night.

Fuck off😭😭

Everybody was shit, simple as that! I have a million thoughts but there’s no point! Unacceptable first half! It’s only October and we are still atop the table but if certain issues don’t get addressed we will be in trouble. The January window will be very important!! Visca Barca💙❤️

For me going forward Espart should be the starting RB. Not only is it just this match but everytime he steps on the pitch he impresses. Today he showed his 1v1 defending is better than Kounde & he offered much more going forward than Eric. To me until he shows that he’s not capable he must be the RB going forward! It’s not even like he had some low moments but the highs out-weighed them. He was legitimately great for the entire time he was on the pitch! Didn’t look out of place at all! 💙❤️🔥

Match Thoughts 💭 - Rotated an already depleted squad & had it 2-2 with all the momentum but didn’t have the poise to finish it off. - Gordon was incredibly poor, not sure why he went the full 90. - Pedri went 1v3 against PSG’s midfield and was tremendous outside of the first 5 minutes. - Espart was unreal, changed the entire match for us. He might have just claimed his spot at RB! - A LCB is absolutely necessary if we want to win the UCL. - Bernal was nonexistent, positionally he left Pedri out to dry. Unacceptable! Raphina obviously wasn’t up to speed which was to be expected. Frenkie getting back to full fitness will do wonders for this squad. At the end of the day this was a great test and we have to look at this match and adjust accordingly! I won’t put much into this outcome, PSG are still the best because their maturity & effort for 90 minutes never wavers. We will get better and with a full squad we can compete with anybody, we must get better from this! VISCA BARCA💙❤️

I remember a while back Flick said that Xavi Espart kept surprising him with his performances on the pitch. You’ve got to think he’s doing that again today! Just incredible!💙❤️

XAVI ESPART YOU ARE INCREDIBLE!! What he is doing is not normal! Just an extraordinary talent!💙❤️