#footy analysis

[pessiofficial]

barca vs. real madrid match analysis (10/28/23)

i don't know what to say, overall just a really, really disappointing match especially when we deserved a lot more. all credit to real madrid (specifically jude) because they capitalized on the chances they had, something we obviously need to learn how to do.

i wanna start with the positives:

gavi. absolutely ridiculous player, had bellingham, kroos, and valverde in his pocket for the first half until romeu came in and he moved out of the pivot role. he was imo the best player on the field for both sides today, and if we can't take away the three points from today we can at least sleep a little easy knowing that the rest of the world knows how good he is now!!! i even saw utdtrey compliment him which is a win in my book. he's easily barca's best player this season and if we get a little further in the ucl i think he makes that ballon d'or shortlist easy.

okay next up are the players who i thought had good games. gundo of course with the goal, he's so clutch and was very sharp without it too. cancelo was amazing and araujo had vini (don't even get me started on vini today :/ ) in his pocket the entire time, it was amazing. rock solid defending except for those last 20 minutes, but i think there's a reason for our mistakes that i'll get into in a second. also fermin, christensen, and inigo had good games.

in terms of tactics and coaching, xavi coached a 1-0 or 2-0 win today, we just need to learn how to convert more than 1 of every 6 chances. there's no excuse. lewandowski's first touch is abysmal, i barely saw ferran, and joao felix only had that one chance. we just need more. xavi made a really good point about real madrid when he said that they knew how to convert the chances they took and he's absolutely right. we had a lot of unlucky shots but still, just expected more.

now onto the negatives. lewandowski had a stinker, but he also literally just came back so i'll take it a little easy on him. romeu is just not barcelona quality, he's been decent in the smaller games but he's so vulnerable without de jong next to him, it's almost laughable. the winning goal happened because romeu didn't mark bellingham. we need frenkie back and i'm so serious when i say we're horrible without him in that pivot. i didn't realize fully how important busquets was to this team until i saw a new pivot play.

now, the elephant in the room: ter stegen. i don't know about the second goal because it was from such close range, but that first one? any good goalie doesn't let that in, and on top of that any respectable goalie doesn't get shots like that taken against him very often. players nowadays know that if you shoot from distance against stegen it's going in. i've been a neuer truther for a long time and i've always meant it when i said that ter stegen isn't built for the biggest stage. he does this in ucl nights, he does it in clasicos. he had a good league season last year but he's just not barcelona quality in the bigger ucl/derby games. that shot from bellingham wouldn't have gone in if stegen had saved it instead of trying to parry it away. really, truly embarassing. i hope he can acknowledge and fix this.

last thoughts about the other team: i really don't think anyone from real madrid played particularly amazing except bellingham (who i actually don't think played well he just did what it took when it mattered) and modric, who really changed the tempo of the game when he came in. the refereeing was... fine. yes that was a pen for araujo but honestly we're lucky that ferran didn't get a red for that tackle, there are some refs who would've given that. vini was especially bitchy today, i don't understand why. he's genuinely so unlikeable and there was no need for any of the things he did especially when he had a stinker. this being said if he did suffer any racist abuse (as i've heard) i condemn that as well, never any room for racism.

anyway, we move!!! the season is very long and when pedri, fdj, and kounde are back we'll be better. this was a good lesson for us on finishing our goddamn chances and we'll be better. this game has proven that we can compete at a european level and we will for many years to come.

[pessiofficial]

barca vs. shakhtar donetsk match analysis (11/07/23)

wow, what can i even say. i have to start, i guess, by saying that we are in a really bad moment mentally. i think the clasico loss really took a toll on us. we haven't played as bad as we have in the last two games ever, and i've been watching barcelona since 2011. i've never seen something so anti-barca.

next i have to say i do NOT agree with sacking xavi. it's not the solution, especially not after two bad games. however i do think he is heavily to blame for what happened today. lewandowski should not be playing, period, but i understand we don't really have too many other options. but i'll get to him later, i want to go player by player and start with xavi. tactically we need a change, but the real sociedad game worried me more because we were actually playing our starters and not oriol/alonso.

okay, now to the players. i'll start at the back with ter stegen. despite my strong feelings about him i have to say he had a decent game and the goal wasn't his fault as much as the defense's. it could have been a lot worse without him.

next, christensen. he left the man completely unmarked but other than i didn't think he was really really bad. it was the one mistake that got us. araujo and cancelo were pretty decent and seemed like some of the only two players that were really trying to win. alonso is alonso, and balde played well when he came in.

the midfield was horrible. our build-up is nonexistent. part of this lies in the fact that xavi chose to play gavi higher up the field especially when he was doing so well in that deeper 8 role. he didn't get involved in the game. gundogan tried, to his credit. pedri did what he could when he came in and so did fermin. romeu i won't discuss, he's not my issue. there just needs to be so much more cohesion.

now for the elephant in the room. the attack. what can i say about them that isn't mean. lewandowski, ferran, and raphinha produced nothing today. 1 shot on target for an attack of this caliber is just pathetic. we need a real forward immediately, roque can't come soon enough. jesus.

anyway, overall this isn't how this team usually plays, i don't know what this was. i don't want to see us in the uel again, but if we play like this that's where we're going. all we need is one more point, and this was our best chance to do that. now we have to play porto, a much harder opponent, and i don't want to leave off qualifying until antwerp.

yeah. there are some tactical things that need to be fixed, but another issue is the lack of a good #9. lewy is just too old. also, there are basic things we can't do like heading, weighing passes, and just working together. no reason for professional footballers to do that. our players aren't given enough of the blame for what happens in games.

[pessiofficial]

barca vs. celta vigo match analysis (9/23/23)

where can we start with this game? i think the most obvious place is saying that marcos alonso has no place within the barca a, b, c or even on the youth team!!!

other than that, i feel like we definitely picked up the pace going into the second half, especially in those last 20 minutes. celta vigo is a team notorious for being our achilles' heel, so i was kind of expecting this and wasn't that surprised about the scoreline in the first half.

squad rotation was a big thing in this game so i'm not that upset -- xavi was experimenting with our defensive line, but i hope he's learned that marcos alonso is an issue. every time he plays we concede. but after araujo came in and our back line was kounde, cancelo, araujo, and balde, we looked a whole lot better.

a little worried about the frenkie injury, he's world class right now and i hope this doesn't affect his form.

i have to give some credit where credit is due to that offense in the last few minutes. gavi, the joaos, lewy, and raphinha were all amazing and they really brought the pressure which eventually paid off.

whoever said gavi wasn't a playmaker, let your apologies be as loud as your disrespect. we really found the rhythm and creativity when he came on. easily my favorite player on that pitch tonight!

the high line we were playing was very obviously not working, but i'm not too surprised, and i don't think xavi will try it again because celta kept getting around it again and again.

anyway, great performance in those last ten minutes, so glad we got the joaos and we need to sign them on a lifetime deal asap!! i will lock them in my attic and never let them go :)

finally we've unlocked the remontada trait! can't wait to see where this season takes us, and i'm not too stressed because we are trying to rotate the squad with the busy schedule coming up. excited to see how we perform against porto, which will be our first real challenge before the clasico/atleti game!

[pessiofficial]

barcelona vs getafe (8/13/23) match analysis

i mostly just do this for my own records but boy is there a lot to break down

-> saying xavi should be sacked is an outrageous take. yes his formations have been horrible and he doesn't use players to their full potential but also 1) it's the first game of the season and 2) the players aren't playing to their full potential either. this was a team loss. -> that being said xavi has to take a lot of the blame too. we went into the game all over the place. pedri should not have been playing a second striker role when he's been so good in a more deep-lying position. he did go back to that in the second half a little more and he was great there. another bad tactical decision by him was putting in abde and balde at the same time. i think he'd been sent off at this point but those two were horrible next to each other. -> there's no creativity upfield. lewy is being used in a more deep lying role which is crazy, he should be a target man for crosses. he's not a creator, and doesn't fit into the system. raphinha and abde were abysmal, although raphi got the early red so we wouldn't know if he'd have been good. -> abde. what can i say about abde that will be enough? he's got potential but good god he cannot make decisions to save his life. he slows down too much in the attacking third and at those crucial moments. -> ansu and yamal weren't the right subs. yamal was good, but is too inexperienced and ansu was just... subpar. i would've rather seen ferran brought in. he could've provided something that lewy wasn't. -> defensively we were fine -- balde and kounde were good most of the game and so was araujo. the midfield was okay but it was those wingers that got us. we need a creative winger who can both create chances and score goals (preferably one whose name starts with n and ends with r with a big old jr. at the end of it.) -> now for the refereeing. poor anger management from raphinha, although i would've done the same. however it's ridiculous that damian suarez didn't get a red for doing the same shit to gundo. -> xavi needs to control his own emotions better. he was like this as a player too as far as i can remember but he doesn't have room to act like that as a coach. i think the straight red was a bit much but honestly the ref had dodgy decisions most of the time. -> i think we should've gotten the penalty at the end because gavi was 100% being held and i'm not even sure if it was a handball. it looked more like a foul to me to be honest. but even if we'd scored a penalty it doesn't erase the fact that it was an appalling showing. ->we tied the first game of last season too and ended up winning, but i would be a little worried. there's a lot of work from both the players and xavi that needs to be done.

anyway that's all i can think of. horrible game but it was entertaining

[pessiofficial]

barcelona vs osasuna (9/3/23) match analysis

well. i don't know where to start with this match. there were a lot of horrible things about it but there were also some things that were amazing about it, so i'll just go in relative order of horrible-ness

let's start with sergi roberto. i want to thank him for all he's done for barcelona but he needs to be shipped to shanghai sharks pronto, and he can take alonso with him. he should never start a game for barca again, and he should never have been the first choice for captain ahead of ter stegen.

that being said, defensively we were alright today. balde and kounde proved that they're some of the best in the business at the moment, and christensen was really solid as well. great performance from them. however we were caught standing when osasuna scored their goal, so we need to work on that.

lewandowski. i grew up watching him, idolizing him, but when i say it's time to go i mean it's time to go. he's had a rapid decline since the world cup and it's really no one's fault. he's just getting old, perfectly normal. i'd like to see him maybe make a move to some other smaller league or retire at the end of the season. even the pen isn't enough to make up for that appalling performance from him. we should've been up from the first few minutes.

just in general, capitalizing on chances. gundo also missed a pretty clear shot and we really need someone clinical up there to convert.

our wingers were kind of mid today. i just didn't see them being super explosive, and balde was doing a lot of the work up in the final third as far as i saw. raphinha didn't do much when he came in, and i didn't see too much from ferran or joao felix either. gavi was a "winger" but he was amazing today in the midfield.

lamine was pretty good, but not as good as he was against villareal. i think he's too young and doesn't have enough physicality to be playing against grown men yet. he's got the skills but he's just too young. xavi needs to bench him for a little, maybe bring him on for a few minutes every game so he doesn't burn out. but xavi said he was going to do this so hopefully it happens.

the lack of araujo and pedri is glaringly obvious in this team. the defense is struggling at times without araujo back there, and there isn't as much creativity in the midfield without pedri. we need them for the ucl, or i don't even have us securing every game in the group stage.

as for players who played really well: most of the team, to be honest, especially kounde, balde, gavi, frenkie, gundo, romeu, and cancelo. they all had a huge impact on the game and should definitely be in the starting lineup going forward. players who need to be taken out are lewy, lamine, roberto.

i also want to give kudos to cancelo, who was explosive when he did come on and a huge change of pace from roberto. i think we can expect this going forward, and he'll definitely be a starter. i watched him at bayern and he'll be a huge step up from roberto, even if he does have some attitude issues (i'm sure xavi will set him straight)

i'd probably give man of the match to gavi. he gave it his all and was decisive tonight, playing winger, midfield, defense, whatever.

tactically we can expect the game to look more like it did when cancelo came on. he'll definitely be a starter and just didn't come on because he just landed yesterday, but i'm excited to see what he and felix can do.

[pessiofficial]

i'm so sick of people bringing down immigrants/players of different ethnic origins for playing for european countries instead of their ancestral homes.

obviously a lot of talents with african/asian origins could help their country of origin but saying that they should be playing for their ancestral homeland rather than the country they were raised in is an appallingly bad take. plus saying that those people aren't really from [insert european country] is just xenophobic/anti immigrant.

this was just something i've been thinking about for the past few days because there was some sort of issue surrounding the moroccan-born french women's goalie in the world cup. but also something else that comes to mind is mourinho saying that players of african origin should play for their respective countries instead of the european ones as well as all the jokes surrounding the french national team.

you can't say that immigrants should be playing for their country of origin on principle because that's just wrong. as an immigrant myself i've found that i identify more with the usa, the country i was born in, than my home country.

in the end i guess just like players choose where they want to play and who they want to represent! there is a lack of strong players in africa and asia but this isn't the solution.

[pessiofficial]

drop the list of your favorite footballers please???

hi yes absolutely thank you for asking! i've been meaning to make a list for a while!

i'll start with my favorite clubs and just keep adding in the reblogs i guess

barcelona

of course, lionel messi. my day one, the light of my life, the air i breathe. i would do anything for my glorious king. if he needed a heart transplant i'd rip mine out of my chest and give it to him. what can i say that hasn't already been said?

next, THE xavier hernandez. one of my earliest football memories was watching the 5-0 el clasico in 2010 and his goal and villa's soul patch are the two most memorable moments of that game. i don't know where i'd be if it weren't for him, but he and iniesta are the reason i have a soft spot for la roja. i will never get sick of him talking about the grass and the pitch, and in my opinion he's the greatest cm ever. i could go on and on but i feel like his partner in crime deserves some of the spotlight as well.

of course i have to talk about don andres. i didn't watch 2010's final live because i was too young, but i definitely watched a lot more of him than xavi growing up. he's just pure class and on a different level than everyone else. won everything there is to win and is such a humble guy on top of everything!!! i miss him and i wish he'd come to miami!!

despite everything that's happened -- the cheating scandals, the models, the shitty move to psg that rocked my world in 2017 -- i am always gonna have a soft spot for neymar. he's never been a psg player in my mind, he truly belongs at barca. hopefully he'll be balling in his home again soon. truly magical in the ball, the only player in my opinion that even came close to messi during his peak.

one of the most underrated players in my opinion. he was the reason i supported croatia during the 2018 world cup and i was sooo upset when they lost. he came in with big shoes to fill as xavi retired, and he definitely didn't disappoint. will always be a fave of mine. my friend and i once composed a song about him when we were younger.

dinho is one of the few players on here i didn't get to watch at all, but he was always a favorite of my dad (who is an active anti-neymar dinho propagandist) and so he was a household name growing up!

and the last old player i have to shoutout is carles puyol -- i didn't see too much of him live growing up but my dad really likes him (more than ramos but ramos is better imo). anyway best capi ever!

i've mentioned a lot of childhood favorites of mine but i have to shout out current players now! these two are the future of barcelona and i'm so excited to see what they're going to do under xavi this season. one day these two are going to be to future generations what players like iniesta and pique were to me.

there are also some honorable mentions i wanted to add but wasn't sure about -- i adored pique growing up but the last few years have made me lose a lot of respect for him. it was really upsetting to be honest and that's why he's not here. also a fav of mine is cesc fabregas but i'm keeping him with arsenal for now, same w/ henry. there are a lot more players i could've added but maybe i'll add into this later!

more parts to come for sure! maybe they won't all be as in depth as this one was.

[pessiofficial]

sweden vs japan first half takeaways

-it's about 3am where i live so i've not really been watching focusedly i've been multitasking and sleeping, but i've got a few thoughts

-wow. sweden is the #3 ranked team in the world but for a group that couldn't get in a goal against the usa they are absolutely dominating the japanese.

-i feel like this game is unexpectedly poor from the japanese who i think have been the smartest team in the tournament. they pieced apart spain so well and methodically, and i'm wondering why they just can't seem to even get a shot off. i think they haven't had any shots this half.

-i feel like there's probably a physical factor to it as well. japan is not a very physical team and they don't give a way a lot of set pieces through fouls, which is good because they're not wasting time. however, sweden has the height advantage on them and they're just pushing their way (legally) to every ball.

-if japan wants to score they're going to have to figure out a way to work around sweden's size and power.