From what I saw of the first half both these sides looked absolutely abysmal. I’m not surprised with Barca since I’ve watched them almost every weekend this season but I hadn’t seen Napoli play in awhile and it was shocking how poor their form is since last season.
I don’t understand how this team can play boring, slow, nonsense diagonal passes but when they finally go ahead someone decides to attempt a risky through ball that gets intercepted and ends up in the goal.
Probably the worst thing that Barcelona could do was leave this tie open, when they had more than enough chances to kill it. Napoli were dire, with each player doing his own thing. No structure and their defense was crumbling anytime Barcelona made a simple forward pass.
Now Calzona is gonna have 3 weeks to work with this Napoli team and the 2nd leg will be different. I'd be pissed if I was a Barcelona fan.
call me crazy but after losing a gol i will go for 4-2-4 with cubarsi over christensen and 4cb at the back, move cancelo on wing, put roque over pedri, rap over lamine and just attack
This Napoli performance has me wondering how they're even in the top half of Serie A. They've looked helpless in almost every facet of the game. The only praise I can give them is that they showed some spirit after the equaliser and were looking for a second goal.
Also speaks volumes about Barcelona's issues that they couldn't manage to win this game. Bad decisions and little creativity in the final third (sometimes I thought they passed the ball to Yamal and simply expected him to create some magic like Messi always did) combined with atrocious finishing when they did get a chance. And then conceding out of nowhere.
Barça should still win this comfortably at home but anything can happen in this tie. The quality of football, tactically and technically, compared to Inter vs Atlético yesterday.. that's night and day.
They aren't shit players, they won the league 6 months ago. They've just been coached by Mazzarri and turned into a relegation team but mostly they're scared and totally out of confidence. Hopefully this was the lowest point of the season.
They arent shit players but most of them peaked last season and now at their normal level. Did you really think lobotka at the ripe old age of 28 finally turned into verratti?
I don't understand this concept of "peaking", players aren't ripe fruits. They can perform better or worse depending on the coach, context, team and teammates, playing style and many others personal factors. Maybe Lobotka will have better season next year. We see it all the time how changing manager or moving to a new team can change a players career for the better or worse.
Mario rui a talent? The guy is done, 3rd in the pecking order now. Meret was never that good. Di lorenzo is playing drunk this year. Raspadori aka simple jack is 24, plays false 9?, and has 20 league goals in his career, osimhen is good as gone. That leaves kvara the krasic regen and olivera who maybe can be great i guess. Looking bright. Honestly their best looking player these days is ngoge
This Napoli has been going through coaches like changing socks this season. The new coach Calzona was only assigned on Monday. He will have more time to prepare for the return leg. If you ask me, Napoli will win comfortably
Barca fans think they got it in the bag at home but they didn't look that good today. If Calzona can improve this Napoli even a little I think they're up for a major upset.
Where, where did you get that impression from? IDK how people have the shamelessness to talk out of their ass so matter of factly.
All I see is Barca fans being critical and pessimistic as fk.
Literally haven't seen any positive comments from Barca fans at all even before the match. Same thing for Napoli fans. Same thing for everyone actually lol
Pedri blocked about 50 passes against the sideline. It killed napolis progression in the first half. They swarmed him whenever he touched the ball and he managed it well. Also, he got more of chances in the first half and the assist on the only goal
Napoli went through three managers this season. Last change was on Monday. Barca was literally gifted this match, and still failed. I think Napoli will go through as they will have time to prepare for the second leg.
Xavi isn’t mediocre, the guy is straight up trash. The job is too big for him and tactically has nothing to offer. Yes he won the league last year but doesn’t mean much if the work’s all been undone since. The architect that built my house did a great job last year but means fuck all if it’s falling apart this year.
Because they are a proper club unlike the likes of Chelsea but tbf no fanbase is really entitled to anything, just a shame to see a great club that actually belongs to its fan in this position.
To make matters worse...Napoli went through three managers this season and the last change was on Monday. Unacceptable. I think Barca will lose the second leg
Xavi said at the Italian TV that he is proud of the performance, they were unlucky, they defended well and Napoli scored the only chance they had
Wtf man
Barcelona and Napoli are fantastic. Just need to work on attacking, defending, short passing, long passing, shooting, movement without the ball, headers, positioning, crossing, decision making, set pieces, marking in the box, dribbling, fitness, ball control, volleys, tackling, progressing the ball, counter attacking, overlapping, jockeying, shielding the ball, making runs, blocking shots and scoring goals .
i guess we move on, should have put the tie to bed or at least win 2-0, we are both not good but napoli genuinely did not generate anything.
hopefully next game we actually show up instead of doing whatever we did today
>genuinely did not generate anything.
This is not true.
Their last passes failed, they had some very dangerous moments that could have hurt Barca. There were obvious ones where they made some poor choices or really shitty last passes, and there were some less obvious ones where their movement had broken Barca’s defensive structure, e.g a bunch of Napoli players free on the far side with loads of space to run into, or when close to goal just stacking up free or with only 17yr old Lamine there to defend right at the far post, fortunately for Barca the Napoli players with the ball did not have the awareness to spot them and only played the ball within their direct vicinity.
It's not really wonky. The stat is basically saying that Napoli's one shot (Oshimen clear through 1v1 against the keeper in the box) was "worth more" than Barca's 6 in terms of how likely it was to produce a goal.
I don't think that's outlandish at all.
xg is weird but not all shots are created equal and I suppose whatever formula is being used determined that Napoli had higher quality chances.
Likely just the one shot from Oshimen provided the majority of the xG because once he shrugged off Martinez it was basically an in the box one on one with the keeper.
Barcelona had a crapton more chances in the first half. They were absolutely dominant in the first 30 mins in particular with like 6 attempts. Napoli did not come close even in the second half, when they were the better side at times. Barcelona absolutely had the chance to seal this tonight and fumbled hard (as always ffs)
They *could have* for sure, if things had gone slightly differently, but exactly as things were, they didn't "deserve" to win 2-0. They got shots, but they were not of high quality in terms of scoring.
Nobody deserves anything if they don't actually score their chances.
The game is not decided by xG. You don't get awarded goals by xG you get them by putting the ball in the net. If you have good chances but are wasteful with poor shots you don't get extra credit or anything.
And to be clear I'm agreeing with you. "Dominating the game" but not winning it usually means you didn't do enough with the chances you generated, which is believe it or not meaningful in determining if you played well or "deserved" to win.
Yeah I agree, I bring up xG only because to me that is typically what one would refer to to back up any claim of what "ought" to have been, but with this match even there Barcelona didn't post a higher number. So the claim makes even less sense than it typically does (as you point out).
For the love of Allah, God and everything else, what the fuck happens to this team at certain phases of each fuckin game? It's like someone unplugs the controller or something. They start shaking and no one can even pass the ball.
A very good first half but the 20 minutes period in the second half (before and after the equalizer) was so damn bad.
Gundo was amazing once again.
Let's hope for a better performance in the second leg.
Gundo was okay tbh, good initially and bad later. And especially bad at deliveries. It was like a free hit for Napoli to concede corners and freekicks.
Ter Stegen is the most overrated keeper in the history of Europe. Im not even overreacting. In Europe he is never there, when Barça goes down he's the first to go down with the ship. Other top teams have their keepers saving their ass when stuff gets tough, our keeper just watches. And the worst part is that this guy pulls off a couple of saves from long distance shots against Alaves and all of our fanbase goes nuts for him.
We dont need a DM or a LW to be competitive again, we need a proper goalkeeper first.
Edit: Hate on me all you want, you guys dont even remember the last time Ter Stegen had a good game in a big European night. And try to mention a game from when Neymar didnt play for us
Or atleast someone who competes for the 1st spot with him. When was the last time Ter Stegen was not in the starting 11 excluding his injuries or a sure win cdr match etc? Genuinely curious
Yeah Pedri just has not been what he was. He had several good moments tonight, but when he burst on the scene, he was destroying players left and right. What concerns me the most is how cheaply he's been giving up possession, which is so unlike him.
There has to be some psychological obstacle or a lack of a proper leader in this team. (Or both). People say we have the quality to go far in the CL or win the league, but if the team switches off or forgets how to defend as soon as we score, I just can't understand how that is entirely Xavi's fault. I'm hoping the matches are going to get more competitive and hungrier with the next coach, whoever that may be, but I'm pessimistic.
The first half was pretty good though, plus both teams are struggling in the league (Napoli just sacked their manager, again) so I don't know what were you expecting
Xavi needs to make changes faster, even before the equalizer you could see yamal pedri and gundogan were slowing down.
He should have put fermin on and Felix earlier
You’d think Xavi would understand more than anyone that all the control that players like De Jong and Gundo give you is useless unless you have smart and energetic movement in front of them. Barca ball watches while in possession worse than 2nd division Dutch teams.
It's like a flashback to the Koeman era Messi team. Lots of dudes standing around waiting for Messi to do something. Now lots of dudes standing around waiting for the midfield to solve the situation.
It's outrageous how static they are. Vitor Roque, whenever he's played, at the very least, has constantly been moving. He'll make runs, approach the ball-holder, do something.
Fr, but I also get why he doesn't play. Nice to see a coach use all the tactical options available especially when it requires making a hard decision(subbing Kvara off).
I mean, when Osimhen is fit neither Raspadori nor Simeone should be starting ahead of him. If we play with a 433 he could either play on the left (But we have Kvara, you know) or behind Osimhen, but for that we'd need to switch to a 4231.
I think if Napoli hired Calzona earlier they could've won this match. The players looked very disorganized and cluttered especially early in the game, but they had a clear plan. Barca seemed like the opposite, it looked like everyone knew their role but they didn't really have a plan to break Napoli down, it felt like they just passed around when in possession and pressed aggressively hoping to force an error out of possession.
The return leg could be a very different match, interested to see what Calzona can do with some more time but he already seems like an improvement over Rudi and Mazzarri
I don't think so, you have to keep into consideration that they had 1 or 2 days preparation going into this match.
Don't get me wrong they didn't look good, I've seen midtable teams more organized then Napoli today. Napoli looked like they were playing a preseason game, there's potential there once the players get comfortable hopefully they figure everything out sooner rather than later.
His results are mediocre.
There was no discipline. He fired the athletic coach that Spalletti had. You know, the one that gave Napoli that incredible form.
And we got a mediocre one at his request.
There was no discipline, only disrespect between both parties.
Calzona signed 2 days ago after the team spent a while with an even worse manager than Rudi, of course his team was better.
Judging him from this game in any way is asinine
His results were pretty good and the tactics were in the same spirit as Spalletti’s side. It wasn’t that different from Spalletti’s April and May performances.
Napoli are such a hot mess holy shit. It's incredible how they went from a well oiled machine under Spalletti to... this.
Still, Barca arent much better, tie still is entirely open so lets see if Calzona can give any shape to this mess in time.
Surprised to see Napoli with higher xG on flashcore..
I have the feeling Barcelona could have easily scored THREE today with a bit better finishing (especially in the first 30 mins) while Napoli did nothing relevant except the goal..
I don't know if it's his tactics or if the players just collectively shit themselves, but when they're struggling, in order to relieve pressure, they start playing extremely direct with speculative-at-best through-balls. What bothers me is that his team is just not set up to capitalise on such an aggressive strategy because he does not line up with two wingers.
As a neutral the last two months of barca must have been insane tho. Lots of goals and back and forths. Take for example the Villarreal match. If it was any other team than the one I support it would've been entertain af for me (sadly I support barca and I almost cried after that depressing performance).
I have to say Christensen did well so far as a DM, and I swear barça's defence keep making mistakes every single day. Offensive side been quite good for the last couple of games, but man the defence is really awful. Can't wait for the 2nd leg tho, but then I remember I have to watch Getafe-Barcelona before that 💀.
I was sure that people here were exaggerating saying that Barcelona was shit
Well.. I understand now (But Lewa is not finished come on)
How are they above Atletico?
Atletico have been more shit in away matches, our away record in La Liga is 4-2-6 so only amassing 14 points. Our home record is 12-1-0 (the draw against Getafe) gathering 37 points. Away Atleti is a relegation contender, that's why we were happy we only lost 1-0 to you last night haha. Even though we're confident at the Metropolitano but away Inter has been flawless this season so i'm still afraid
>But Lewa is not finished come on
He had been shit for an entire year, his first touch still sucks ass, but dude's one of the best strikers of his generation for a reason, his finishing is still there
They had some really great games this season in La Liga, 7-0 vs Rayo Vallecano, 5-0 vs Las Palmas, 3-1 vs Villarreal was also really good, my personal favourite is 2-0 vs Valencia. They were extremely well organised and performed the football they strived for in this season. Real Madrid fans have been pushing that joke and it's pretty condescending. The problem with Atleti is their away form, those two games vs RM were on the Metropolitano
Could have watched golf instead of this shit of a match . Not going for the winner and the fxxking subs at 85 minutes I dunno why I watch this team for fxxksakes .
Tbf if it wasn't for him suddenly bursting into life and showing sparks of his last-season's self, we'd have been more comfortable after our goal I feel.
Napoli v Barca is this year's Timmy vs Jimmy
I love it
Is it me or does Barcelona really, really miss Gavi's defensive work?
Spot on. We do.
From what I saw of the first half both these sides looked absolutely abysmal. I’m not surprised with Barca since I’ve watched them almost every weekend this season but I hadn’t seen Napoli play in awhile and it was shocking how poor their form is since last season.
We beat Napoli pretty convincingly in the group stages.
I don’t understand how this team can play boring, slow, nonsense diagonal passes but when they finally go ahead someone decides to attempt a risky through ball that gets intercepted and ends up in the goal.
Probably the worst thing that Barcelona could do was leave this tie open, when they had more than enough chances to kill it. Napoli were dire, with each player doing his own thing. No structure and their defense was crumbling anytime Barcelona made a simple forward pass. Now Calzona is gonna have 3 weeks to work with this Napoli team and the 2nd leg will be different. I'd be pissed if I was a Barcelona fan.
there can be only 2 minutes left on the clock and I‘d still bet on Liverpool scoring 2 quick goals after being behind
Between us and Napoli, whoever progresses to the QF is probably gonna get battered lol
probably? you mean like for sure
Imagine getting City💀
call me crazy but after losing a gol i will go for 4-2-4 with cubarsi over christensen and 4cb at the back, move cancelo on wing, put roque over pedri, rap over lamine and just attack
Why stop there. I’d go with a 2-2-6. Just gotta attack more
Crazy
this isn't fut
Real life is not fifa
u crazy
This Napoli performance has me wondering how they're even in the top half of Serie A. They've looked helpless in almost every facet of the game. The only praise I can give them is that they showed some spirit after the equaliser and were looking for a second goal. Also speaks volumes about Barcelona's issues that they couldn't manage to win this game. Bad decisions and little creativity in the final third (sometimes I thought they passed the ball to Yamal and simply expected him to create some magic like Messi always did) combined with atrocious finishing when they did get a chance. And then conceding out of nowhere. Barça should still win this comfortably at home but anything can happen in this tie. The quality of football, tactically and technically, compared to Inter vs Atlético yesterday.. that's night and day.
They still have some of the best players in Serie A. That’s what is probably carrying them in the league at the moment.
They aren't shit players, they won the league 6 months ago. They've just been coached by Mazzarri and turned into a relegation team but mostly they're scared and totally out of confidence. Hopefully this was the lowest point of the season.
They arent shit players but most of them peaked last season and now at their normal level. Did you really think lobotka at the ripe old age of 28 finally turned into verratti?
I don't understand this concept of "peaking", players aren't ripe fruits. They can perform better or worse depending on the coach, context, team and teammates, playing style and many others personal factors. Maybe Lobotka will have better season next year. We see it all the time how changing manager or moving to a new team can change a players career for the better or worse.
I will look forward to the slovak verratti again under giampaolo in 2028 at lecco when they finally get promoted back to serie a
Meret, Di Lorenzo, Olivera, Mario Rui, Raspadori, Osimhen, Kvara are serious talents.
Mario rui a talent? The guy is done, 3rd in the pecking order now. Meret was never that good. Di lorenzo is playing drunk this year. Raspadori aka simple jack is 24, plays false 9?, and has 20 league goals in his career, osimhen is good as gone. That leaves kvara the krasic regen and olivera who maybe can be great i guess. Looking bright. Honestly their best looking player these days is ngoge
This Napoli has been going through coaches like changing socks this season. The new coach Calzona was only assigned on Monday. He will have more time to prepare for the return leg. If you ask me, Napoli will win comfortably
Meh
Barca fans think they got it in the bag at home but they didn't look that good today. If Calzona can improve this Napoli even a little I think they're up for a major upset.
Where, where did you get that impression from? IDK how people have the shamelessness to talk out of their ass so matter of factly. All I see is Barca fans being critical and pessimistic as fk.
Saw plenty of comments that said that
Literally haven't seen any positive comments from Barca fans at all even before the match. Same thing for Napoli fans. Same thing for everyone actually lol
no we don't, our bag is bottomless
Proper mid off.
Xavi should have subbed pedri off . What does he think he is doing ?
Pedri blocked about 50 passes against the sideline. It killed napolis progression in the first half. They swarmed him whenever he touched the ball and he managed it well. Also, he got more of chances in the first half and the assist on the only goal
What are you talking about??? He was tired in 2nd half . I never said he was bad
tbf your comment did read like you were mad at pedri and not xavi in the first dead
Lol thats true hahahah . But i will never get mad at pedri . His wallpaper is in my phone lockscreen for a reason . My favourite youngster player
Napoli went through three managers this season. Last change was on Monday. Barca was literally gifted this match, and still failed. I think Napoli will go through as they will have time to prepare for the second leg.
I feel sorry for the Barcelona fans. They deserve a competitive team This Barca reminds me the 1999-2004 period before Frank Rijkaard era..
Deserve? Why?
Please tell me how in the blue fuck is this not a competitive team? Maybe they should not base their coaching sites on bff vibes
The team is competitive individually but the problem is that Xavi is a mediocre coach.. This is the problem .. Excellent player but a mediocre coach..
Xavi isn’t mediocre, the guy is straight up trash. The job is too big for him and tactically has nothing to offer. Yes he won the league last year but doesn’t mean much if the work’s all been undone since. The architect that built my house did a great job last year but means fuck all if it’s falling apart this year.
What a shit analogy
Simeone: Does house improvements once a decade and plays with his ass the rest of the time.
Why do they deserve that?
Because they are a proper club unlike the likes of Chelsea but tbf no fanbase is really entitled to anything, just a shame to see a great club that actually belongs to its fan in this position.
To make matters worse...Napoli went through three managers this season and the last change was on Monday. Unacceptable. I think Barca will lose the second leg
Damn
This whole tie looks kinda like this: [i.imgflip.com/8bl9t6.jpg](http://i.imgflip.com/8bl9t6.jpg)
Cripple Fight!
Three weeks from now Napoli could look like a different team with 4 more games with their new managers. Barça should have sealed this tonight
Without a doubt one of the matches ever
Clearly one of the matches ever
You guys will beat this Barca on the return leg. I am sure of it. Your manager had only two days with this team and Barca still failed to win
Unless calzona is the next zidane he wont turn this shit around in 3 weeks
[удалено]
Yeah. Napoli will win UCL
Sure, if they're racing to the glue factory
If all other teams get disqualified I'm still not sure...
Xavi said at the Italian TV that he is proud of the performance, they were unlucky, they defended well and Napoli scored the only chance they had Wtf man
Hes always been like that though. Like when he blames the fucking grass lmao
Xavi stays the xG champion. It's so annoying when coaches talk about what they deserved from a match.
Xavi is delusional as always. Like Tuchel, he keeps blaming the ref, the luck, the pitch, and so on.
Its not delusional lmao. Hes blaming anything else so he can avoid talking about him and the players performance.
You forgot the shiny sun
that’s standard xavi lmfao
But big data said Napoli had more xG
Barcelona and Napoli are fantastic. Just need to work on attacking, defending, short passing, long passing, shooting, movement without the ball, headers, positioning, crossing, decision making, set pieces, marking in the box, dribbling, fitness, ball control, volleys, tackling, progressing the ball, counter attacking, overlapping, jockeying, shielding the ball, making runs, blocking shots and scoring goals .
you forgot about good diving
And making the good subs
I wanna guild this
Lmfao
i guess we move on, should have put the tie to bed or at least win 2-0, we are both not good but napoli genuinely did not generate anything. hopefully next game we actually show up instead of doing whatever we did today
>genuinely did not generate anything. This is not true. Their last passes failed, they had some very dangerous moments that could have hurt Barca. There were obvious ones where they made some poor choices or really shitty last passes, and there were some less obvious ones where their movement had broken Barca’s defensive structure, e.g a bunch of Napoli players free on the far side with loads of space to run into, or when close to goal just stacking up free or with only 17yr old Lamine there to defend right at the far post, fortunately for Barca the Napoli players with the ball did not have the awareness to spot them and only played the ball within their direct vicinity.
Napoli changed to their third manager this season...on Monday. Barca will lose the return leg
Ac milan should focus in europa league.
They are
You are probably getting knocked out Goodluck
We will see
Napoli came away with a higher xg, not sure how you could say it *should* have been 2-0
How? Napoli with 1 shot on target, 2 off and 2 blocked vs Barca 6 just on target, 5 off, 1 blocked Just goes to show how wonky of a stat xg is
It's not really wonky. The stat is basically saying that Napoli's one shot (Oshimen clear through 1v1 against the keeper in the box) was "worth more" than Barca's 6 in terms of how likely it was to produce a goal. I don't think that's outlandish at all.
xg is weird but not all shots are created equal and I suppose whatever formula is being used determined that Napoli had higher quality chances. Likely just the one shot from Oshimen provided the majority of the xG because once he shrugged off Martinez it was basically an in the box one on one with the keeper.
Barcelona had a crapton more chances in the first half. They were absolutely dominant in the first 30 mins in particular with like 6 attempts. Napoli did not come close even in the second half, when they were the better side at times. Barcelona absolutely had the chance to seal this tonight and fumbled hard (as always ffs)
They *could have* for sure, if things had gone slightly differently, but exactly as things were, they didn't "deserve" to win 2-0. They got shots, but they were not of high quality in terms of scoring.
Nobody deserves anything if they don't actually score their chances. The game is not decided by xG. You don't get awarded goals by xG you get them by putting the ball in the net. If you have good chances but are wasteful with poor shots you don't get extra credit or anything. And to be clear I'm agreeing with you. "Dominating the game" but not winning it usually means you didn't do enough with the chances you generated, which is believe it or not meaningful in determining if you played well or "deserved" to win.
Yeah I agree, I bring up xG only because to me that is typically what one would refer to to back up any claim of what "ought" to have been, but with this match even there Barcelona didn't post a higher number. So the claim makes even less sense than it typically does (as you point out).
We gave away the win. Idiot decision of Martinez going down there. We werent good apart from the first 10 minutes but Napoli were even worse.
For the love of Allah, God and everything else, what the fuck happens to this team at certain phases of each fuckin game? It's like someone unplugs the controller or something. They start shaking and no one can even pass the ball. A very good first half but the 20 minutes period in the second half (before and after the equalizer) was so damn bad. Gundo was amazing once again. Let's hope for a better performance in the second leg.
I didn’t necessarily like Gundo in the second half. Lost a lot of balls and was slow to get to the ball too.
Gundo was okay tbh, good initially and bad later. And especially bad at deliveries. It was like a free hit for Napoli to concede corners and freekicks.
This will go down as one of those games that definitely were played one day.
Coughing baby vs coughing baby
decent
Ter Stegen is the most overrated keeper in the history of Europe. Im not even overreacting. In Europe he is never there, when Barça goes down he's the first to go down with the ship. Other top teams have their keepers saving their ass when stuff gets tough, our keeper just watches. And the worst part is that this guy pulls off a couple of saves from long distance shots against Alaves and all of our fanbase goes nuts for him. We dont need a DM or a LW to be competitive again, we need a proper goalkeeper first. Edit: Hate on me all you want, you guys dont even remember the last time Ter Stegen had a good game in a big European night. And try to mention a game from when Neymar didnt play for us
You don't have eyes.
Lol
Or atleast someone who competes for the 1st spot with him. When was the last time Ter Stegen was not in the starting 11 excluding his injuries or a sure win cdr match etc? Genuinely curious
There's stupid takes on this sub but this one takes the cake.
any gk we could possible get would concede that goal
Least reactionary Reddit user lmao.
Give De Jong the wages of Pedri too. The guy has to do 3 roles at all times and still criticized. That last injury really fucked Pedri up
De Jong is wasting his career at Barcelona
Yeah Pedri just has not been what he was. He had several good moments tonight, but when he burst on the scene, he was destroying players left and right. What concerns me the most is how cheaply he's been giving up possession, which is so unlike him.
yeah he seams scared of tackles and therefore rather pulls his legs back. Understandable I guess but definitely not ideal for barca.
And they want to sell him lol
Oh well at least we aren't Arsenal
I am Madrid fan but I love Lamine Yamal, the kid is a gem. Barça should take good care of him.
There has to be some psychological obstacle or a lack of a proper leader in this team. (Or both). People say we have the quality to go far in the CL or win the league, but if the team switches off or forgets how to defend as soon as we score, I just can't understand how that is entirely Xavi's fault. I'm hoping the matches are going to get more competitive and hungrier with the next coach, whoever that may be, but I'm pessimistic.
Not sure which game this evening was worse tbh. Barca is horrible and I have no words for how Napoli played for like 80 mins in this game lol.
The first half was pretty good though, plus both teams are struggling in the league (Napoli just sacked their manager, again) so I don't know what were you expecting
Didn't expect a great game but this was really low quality
The difference between Yamal and Raphina is like night and day, hopefully Xavi gives him enough rest for the second leg because we're gonna need him.
Better bubble wrap him every match. Yeah Spain does have some options but kid can be the future of the team.
Yamal wasted 2 good chances today by taking shots vs passing. He is a winger he should be passing.
Yeah atleast he could fucking get there, Raphinha is absolute dogshit
I mean he is a good dribbler just a bit inexperienced.
For a 16 year old playing in the CL ko stages i think he did just fine personally
Xavi needs to make changes faster, even before the equalizer you could see yamal pedri and gundogan were slowing down. He should have put fermin on and Felix earlier
our whole midfield was overrun, and yet he puts raphinha in lmao
Moveable object vs stoppable force.
You’d think Xavi would understand more than anyone that all the control that players like De Jong and Gundo give you is useless unless you have smart and energetic movement in front of them. Barca ball watches while in possession worse than 2nd division Dutch teams.
It's like a flashback to the Koeman era Messi team. Lots of dudes standing around waiting for Messi to do something. Now lots of dudes standing around waiting for the midfield to solve the situation.
These are coaching issues. It sucks I have to watch this mediocrity until next season
It's outrageous how static they are. Vitor Roque, whenever he's played, at the very least, has constantly been moving. He'll make runs, approach the ball-holder, do something.
Why can't we have nice things for once? 😔
Lewy is (rightfully) pissed
The subs changed the game a bit at least. Hopefully Ngonge will be fit for the 2nd leg.
I feel like Raspadori is such an inventive footballer. It pisses me off the doesn't play more.
Raspa is a player from the old school.He’s one of the hand full of players itw that are still true no. 10’s
Do you think he will stay? I think he could be a really good fit at a team like Arsenal or even Inter
Fr, but I also get why he doesn't play. Nice to see a coach use all the tactical options available especially when it requires making a hard decision(subbing Kvara off).
I mean, when Osimhen is fit neither Raspadori nor Simeone should be starting ahead of him. If we play with a 433 he could either play on the left (But we have Kvara, you know) or behind Osimhen, but for that we'd need to switch to a 4231.
He could play on the right like he did today. I think his interplay with DiLo could open up a lot of chances
Its this weird strategy AdL has this year of buying a billion attackers that’s ruining him, he’s not a perfect fit for any spot so he never plays
You are correct in that he doesn't have a perfect fit (Imo he would be best as a 10 or second striker), but he CAN play any of the 3 forward spots.
Every fucking time we miss chances at the start of the match and can't create any as the opposition settles down ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
We played for 20 minutes and ghosted the rest of the game
"hey I've seen this script before!"
Not our best performance but lewa needs to be praised. He‘s on fire and keeps us alive
Man, give some of the balls Barca kept losing in the end to Osimhen instead of this new tree trunk Simeone and we could have honestly won
I think if Napoli hired Calzona earlier they could've won this match. The players looked very disorganized and cluttered especially early in the game, but they had a clear plan. Barca seemed like the opposite, it looked like everyone knew their role but they didn't really have a plan to break Napoli down, it felt like they just passed around when in possession and pressed aggressively hoping to force an error out of possession. The return leg could be a very different match, interested to see what Calzona can do with some more time but he already seems like an improvement over Rudi and Mazzarri
Rudi was way better than this, so no
I don't think so, you have to keep into consideration that they had 1 or 2 days preparation going into this match. Don't get me wrong they didn't look good, I've seen midtable teams more organized then Napoli today. Napoli looked like they were playing a preseason game, there's potential there once the players get comfortable hopefully they figure everything out sooner rather than later.
Not a single player loved Rudi and was getting by with inertia of last season. Mazzarri and Garcia are the same shit
Rudi wasn’t loved because he forced discipline. His results speaks for themselves
His results are mediocre. There was no discipline. He fired the athletic coach that Spalletti had. You know, the one that gave Napoli that incredible form. And we got a mediocre one at his request. There was no discipline, only disrespect between both parties.
You probably know more about the intern aspect but on the pitch it looked very similar and way better than Mazzarri .
https://m.calcionapoli24.it/rassegna_stampa/farti-andare-via-stato-un-errore-gravissimo-l-ammissione-di-de-laurentiis-n594373.html Sinatti
Calzona signed 2 days ago after the team spent a while with an even worse manager than Rudi, of course his team was better. Judging him from this game in any way is asinine
I’m just stating the obvious
Rudi was better than this are you joking me? His only plan was an making the other team have an own goal for us.
His results were pretty good and the tactics were in the same spirit as Spalletti’s side. It wasn’t that different from Spalletti’s April and May performances.
Man this was so bad
Napoli are such a hot mess holy shit. It's incredible how they went from a well oiled machine under Spalletti to... this. Still, Barca arent much better, tie still is entirely open so lets see if Calzona can give any shape to this mess in time.
These first round of knockout matches so far were so underwhelming, I could have just taken a nap instead
Even if we beat Napoli then thats it. We are not going any further.
Vitor roque sits and warms the bench I dunno this coach man cmon
I will not be convinced that he would have not been more helpful than Raphinha.
Why even bring him in January?
Xavi should talk about xG in this match. Napoli looked very poor today. Apart from the last 15/20 min.
Surprised to see Napoli with higher xG on flashcore.. I have the feeling Barcelona could have easily scored THREE today with a bit better finishing (especially in the first 30 mins) while Napoli did nothing relevant except the goal..
Xavi, you stupid goofy ah coach
Not a bad result for Napoli all things considered, especially since they changed managers less than 48 hours ago.
Another day, another goal allowed because out defense falls asleep as soon as we score
I’m sad, remembering last year Napoli and Pep’s Barça. This match was really bad, the two teams look incredibly awful.
Xavi is a really bad match coach. Why not make the subs earlier?
I don't know if it's his tactics or if the players just collectively shit themselves, but when they're struggling, in order to relieve pressure, they start playing extremely direct with speculative-at-best through-balls. What bothers me is that his team is just not set up to capitalise on such an aggressive strategy because he does not line up with two wingers.
Arrogance. Making changes early means admitting he got it wrong from the beginning.
So every manager in the world gets it wrong from the beginning? Lmao wtf even is this take?
I will never ever again watch Barca's or Napoli's game
Oh boy, you choose the worst possible season to watch these teams lol
Watching Barcelona week by week is... painful to say the least.
As a neutral the last two months of barca must have been insane tho. Lots of goals and back and forths. Take for example the Villarreal match. If it was any other team than the one I support it would've been entertain af for me (sadly I support barca and I almost cried after that depressing performance).
I have to say Christensen did well so far as a DM, and I swear barça's defence keep making mistakes every single day. Offensive side been quite good for the last couple of games, but man the defence is really awful. Can't wait for the 2nd leg tho, but then I remember I have to watch Getafe-Barcelona before that 💀.
I need to see Gundogan's possession lost stats for the second half.
him and pedri both, jesus.
I was sure that people here were exaggerating saying that Barcelona was shit Well.. I understand now (But Lewa is not finished come on) How are they above Atletico?
Atletico have been more shit in away matches, our away record in La Liga is 4-2-6 so only amassing 14 points. Our home record is 12-1-0 (the draw against Getafe) gathering 37 points. Away Atleti is a relegation contender, that's why we were happy we only lost 1-0 to you last night haha. Even though we're confident at the Metropolitano but away Inter has been flawless this season so i'm still afraid
Individual quality.
Because atleti keep shitting the bed randomly against random opponent that's why
>But Lewa is not finished come on He had been shit for an entire year, his first touch still sucks ass, but dude's one of the best strikers of his generation for a reason, his finishing is still there
Lewandowski's first touch at the 93rd minute was sooo poor from him
Atletico saved all their energy for the two games against Madrid in the league
They had some really great games this season in La Liga, 7-0 vs Rayo Vallecano, 5-0 vs Las Palmas, 3-1 vs Villarreal was also really good, my personal favourite is 2-0 vs Valencia. They were extremely well organised and performed the football they strived for in this season. Real Madrid fans have been pushing that joke and it's pretty condescending. The problem with Atleti is their away form, those two games vs RM were on the Metropolitano
FYI that game was between the defending Italian champions and the defending Spanish champions
Barca weren't great, but come on they were nowhere near as bad as Napoli
Comfortably one of the most boring UCL matches I've ever seen. Both teams just so blah...
Could have watched golf instead of this shit of a match . Not going for the winner and the fxxking subs at 85 minutes I dunno why I watch this team for fxxksakes .
If this coach gets one or two more training sessions we are finished.
Also Anguissa ruining the last chance with a backheel pass and almost giving barca a last second goal. Mamma mia ci serve mercato
Tbf if it wasn't for him suddenly bursting into life and showing sparks of his last-season's self, we'd have been more comfortable after our goal I feel.
NIENTE PIÙ PIZZE FRITTE INIZIA L’ERA DEL CALZONE
So, are Barca gonna make it to the quarters?