Inter Vs Barca CL Matchday 1

Mr. Presentable

Balotelli to come on?

Edit: On for Milito

Mr. Presentable

Impressive enough from Inter. the last time Barcelona played in Italy they won by a couple.

kenon

That was a dirty auld tackle from Chivu on Messi.

kenon

0-0 final score. Not the greatest match I've ever seen.

Inter's defense was excellent. Not many glorious chances for either side.

Holsten

Weird match.

dor83

nipplenuts wrote: »

Impressive enough from Inter. the last time Barcelona played in Italy they won by a couple.

I was very disappointed with the performance to be honest, we defended well but when we had the ball we were bad and the ball retention and passing were very bad tonight. If Barca had played well they would have beaten us imo, we were just lucky that their attack wasn't on form tonight.

Kev_ps3

boring match tbh

speedboatchase

2 hours of my life I would like back

Kev_ps3

Jose on RTE interviews saying it was a great match LOL

Quint

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

Jose on RTE interviews saying it was a great match LOL

Surprised he didn't tell us Eto'o was the best player in the world

Slash/ED

Can't understand how anyone could call that boring.

The whole Eto'o plus a boatload of money for Ibrahimovic deal was all some elaborate practical joke, surely? Surely!?

ScholesyIsGod

It wasn't the most entertaining game, Barca looked a class above Inter, they couldn't get a touch for most of the second half. I don't know why Iniesta was on the bench im presuming he was carrying a knock because Keita isn't a patch on him. Inter will definitely be the happier with the amount of chances Barca created but they never had anybody to stick them away, if Eto'o had still been up top for them they'd have scored one or two.

gimmick

Iniesta is only just back from injury and with a big game Vs Atletico on Saturday, i would imagine thats why he did not start. Add the fact that Keita has started the season very well.

It certainly was not the worst game ever seen. Inter were very well organised, Barca had to break them down, but just could not. There were 2 dodgy offside decision int he 2nd half which could have changed it.

I would imagine both are happy enough with the draw. Both will qualify for the latter stages and neither will have wanted to start with a defeat.

Dirk_Diggler

Found it far from boring to be honest. Saw it as an extremely interesting tactical battle between the two managers. Mourinho obviously knew that keeping a clean sheet was imperative. Once you do that, anything can happen. The problem was the midfield for Inter. They didn't do anything to help the defence out so the ball just kept coming back in again and again. Muntari was wasteful, don't know where Motta went to. Sneidjer was a bit slow with his distribution. But this can all be improved on. It's interesting to see a team like Inter play like that at home. And I think Mourinho was 100% right in his tactics.

As for those who said that if Etoo was playing for Barcelona last night they would have scored - lolz. Not a chance. So many passes around the box, very few clear-cut chances.

PaddyTheNth

Barca's passing around the midfield was very slick in the second, Inter couldn't get near them. They did a good job of shutting Barca down when they got near their box though. Messi really is ridiculously good but Inter did a good job of not letting him develop too much. Thought Ibrahimovich might as well have not been playing.

Dirk_Diggler

But anyone playing where Ibra was playing was always going to find it difficult. They couldn't even get the ball in to him at times. And that was all down to Inter's defence. It's clear as day that Ibra is a far better player than Etoo. Offers so much more when in possession. Afaik, set up Messi at the weekend too.

gimmick

Dirk_Diggler wrote: »

It's clear as day that Ibra is a far better player than Etoo. Offers so much more when in possession. Afaik, set up Messi at the weekend too.

Clear as day is a bit much. Eto'o scored bags and bags loads of goals for Barca, a deadly striker. TBH, I would prefer has Eto'o in my team than Ibra. They are different style players really.

That being said, I am not writing off Ibra, far from it. He is still finding his feet in a new style of play. And from what I have seen so far, he will take to the style like a duck to water. Let us not forget, he has scored 2 league goals in 2 games.

And he did indeed set up Messi for a goal at the weekend. He also set one up for him in the Super Cup final.

Dirk_Diggler

Yeah, that was a bit much. But I do believe he's a better all round player.

What formation did Inter start out with yesterday? Missed the first 15 mins.

eZe^

Dirk_Diggler wrote: »

Yeah, that was a bit much. But I do believe he's a better all round player.

What formation did Inter start out with yesterday? Missed the first 15 mins.

4-3-1-2


There was clear indications yesterday of what Ibrahimovic was bought for, he did a number of things that Eto'o could only dream of doing. Xavi was lobbing balls over the defence and Ibrahimovic was latching onto them beautifully, one he scuffed, and the other two were wrongfully caught offside. He was frustrating at times though, because he was playing with his back to goal, receiving a pass from Messi and just trying to thread it through the eye of a needle. The build up play was FAR too intricate on the 18 yard box, even for Barca, they were trying impossible passes.

Chivu, Lucio, and Samuel were outstanding, they swept up everything, Maicon was disappointing, his attacking link up play seems severely diminished now that Ibrahimovic is gone, and he was skinned a couple of times by a lazy Henry.

It was an ok performance, and an ok result. The first CL game is always going to be a little lethargic, especially if you are playing away at the San Siro. The performance imo perhaps warranted all 3 points, but I would have been delighted to come away from this game with a clean sheet and a draw yesterday.


Onwards and upwards.


P.S - Getting sick of Messi trying to be an attacking midfielder, his versatility is great, but he needs to play on the right a bit more, both his and Dani Alves' game is suffering because of it. When it's Alves and Messi on the right you can't mark them both out of an attack, so it draws in defenders.

Slash/ED

Dirk_Diggler wrote: »

It's clear as day that Ibra is a far better player than Etoo. Offers so much more when in possession..

It really, really, really isn't. Eto'o got very important goals, two in two champions league finals for example, Ibra seems to shrink when it really matters when I've seen him. His movement and style of play also suited Barca far more, Barcas attack looks like it doesn't quite know what to do with Ibrahimovic at the moment.

Dirk_Diggler

Wait, please don't tell me you think that if Barcelona had Etoo last night they would have had a better chance of winning?

Slash/ED

I think it's pretty easy conclusion to reach that 1/3 of a strike trio that netted over 100 goals between them would increase your chances of winning any game, and the most prolific one at that.

His movement/energy/workrate is vastly superior to Ibras, you could argue that Ibra didn't get that many chances, I'd argue that's as much his fault as a lack of good service and a very well organised defence. The chance he did get he nearly put out of the ground. But ibra does backheel the ball every now and then, that should be taken into account I guess.

Part of the reason Barca were so creative was Eto'o, his movement and energy meant he was able to get into positions to get on the end of the passes from the creative mid fielders. Put simply, if Xavi has nobody to pass too, not even Xavi can create a chance. Also on the backfoot he was constantly closing down defenders and denying them space, a big part of Barcas play.

Dirk_Diggler

But the two centre backs had Ibra in their pockets They would have done the exact same with Etoo so I'm not entirely sure where you're going with this.

Slash/ED

Because the two centre backs had one player in their pocket they'd definitely have a different player who plays an almost polar opposite style of play in their pockets? I'm not entirely convinced by that logic...

Dirk_Diggler

In fairness, Etoo would have lost significantly more ball than Ibra last night. Ibra held the ball up well, won aerial battles, kept the ball when needed etc. Something Etoo would have had seriously difficulty with last night.

eZe^

Jesus Christ, as great as Eto'o was for the club, you have to get off his d*ck. Eto'o has scored vital goals, and many many many others. He was the perfect striker for periods of last season, but there's no denying that Ibrahimovic was bought so Barca can go in another direction, a direction that Eto'o was not capable of going.

If you watch the CL final, bar Eto'os goal, he did NOTHING, likewise in the first Classico last season, nothing bar the goal. Yes, you'll say the goal is the only important thing, but Guardiola now wants a striker that can offer more, Xavi can pick Ibra out more easily than Eto'o, Ibrahimovic's involvement in build up play is better than Eto'os, his hold up play is better, his ability to create a chance out of nothing is better.

If that means that Ibrahimovic scores 10 less goals every season than Eto'o so be it, he'll offer the team something new, and at the same time it means the team wont rest on their laurels as they have to tweak their style to incorporate a 6 foot 4 monster.


People seriously need to get over Eto'o leaving, he is gone, move on. Stop writing off Ibrahimovic before he even steps out onto the park.

Slash/ED

It's not that Eto'o left (He left for non football reasons and the manager felt he had to go - Nobody here is really in a place to argue with that), more the fact he was replaced with someone who I don't think is up to it for Barca when there was far better available on the market. I agree he should and will be given time, but the bottom line is imo Barca spent money and the net result is they're a weaker team, it was an absolutely appaling deal on a pure value for money basis. But, we'll have to see if that turns out to be the case, it's impossible to say right now, but I think that will be the case.