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[Zin]

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From Risto - REAL MADRID

How's it going boys? It's time for the Clásico!

With around 24 hours left before the game, one name is on Real Madrid's fans' lips: Lassana Diarra. Wait! What?! Lassana Diarra? Lassana 'Lass' Diarra? The oh-so-useless body that Mou never used last season is now guaranteed a place in the team. And not only that, but his role is going to decide a lot about how the game will go. Wow. That's a huge role for someone who's considered a left-over in Mourinho's franchise.

Okay, maybe I am overreacting here, but Lass is going to be huge in this game. If Arbeloa is unable to play as the right back, Lass will play there, leaving a gap to the midfield in Mourinho's big-game-four-three-three. He essentially has only Coentrão to fill that gap on the midfield (who, frankly, could play as the right back, which would be, however, risky).

The boys at zonalmarking made an interesting point about the game: for years it hasn't been this difficult to predict the line-ups. Barcelona have several options, and so does Mourinho. The most important thing about this game is the fact that Real Madrid do not have to win this game, while it's essential for Barcelona to do so. Mourinho will definitely settle for a draw, but the Madridistas will also. With the league divided so greatly to the two Clásicos, six points after the first one is a nasty lead.

Barcelona have proven under Guardiola to be the best with their backs against the wall, but now they face a completely different kind of challenge: a very confident and well-playing Madrid side that doesn't have to be afraid of losing because they will still remain the leaders... and also a furious crowd. I honest to god can't remember the last time Madrid went to a home Clásico with a point-advantage, let alone six. That's a huge factor.

Mourinho has seemed to learn from his mistakes and has been very quiet about all this, making sure not to make it too easy to get motivated for the Barcelona squad. The players have learned their lesson from last season's first Clásico, and the practice matches from this year. They know how, at least in theory, to win this game. They can play a more relaxed game of football with hopefully huge support from the home crowd.

Bullet points about the game:

• What will Messi do, and what will Mourinho do to stop him? With Fàbregas and Alexis, they have more firepower, which might actually work well for Real. Now they have to defend a team, not one man, so stuff like the Villa-Albiol penalty accident will not happen.
  
• How long can Madrid press? It's obvious they'll come out like street dogs, run the hearts out of their chests, but they have to cool down and wrap it up. Some Spanish experts say they'll press hard for the first 30 minutes, and then shut the blocks.
  
• The first goal. Gosh, first goal, it's such a cliché. But still. Madrid can't allow Barcelona to score the first one which they definitely want early on. Madrid need to be cool in front of the net, because both teams will get great chances to score (I think the level of finishing will ultimately decide this game).
  
• Midfield. Khedira needs to shut down Xavi like he has shown he can, and Lass needs to deal with Iniesta. They need to make room for Alonso to protect the defence and launch the counter-attacks.

CASILLAS

ARBELOA - PEPE - RAMOS - MARCELO

ALONSO

LASSANA - SAMI KHEDIRA

DI MARÍA - BENZEMA - RONALDO

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From Cam - FC BARCELONA

Saturday we  play a retarded repulsive reeking redeemed Real Madrid.  Those Madridistas are first place in the league with a six point lead over FC Barcelona.  Their forwards are in superb form.  Their midfield is disjointed yet effective.  The back line is solid.  How are we to go about this?

Barcelona looks more vulnerable than ever on the road this season.  The team has suffered three 2-2 away draws to Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad.  All the goals Barcelona have conceded this year have been away from Camp Nou.

Fortunately, everyone except Ibrahim Afellay are available for selection.  This is the opportunity Josep must take.  If Barcelona prevails, the deficit is cut to three points and the campaign is right back on track.  A draw sees the status quo prevail, and would surely be a moral victory for Madrid.  Defeat sees those wretched wasteful Whites taking a nine point lead.  Nine points would look like an insurmountable total to eclipse.

How to go about dismantling miserable mad mortifying Mourinho and his rag tag bunch of hooligans?

Josep will surely want to stick to the traditional 4-3-3 or a 4-1-2-1-2.  A three man back would open up the field for Madrid endlessly every time they retrieve possession.  Their defensive line will be a high one.  This year they look impressive with the space they close down.  An Abidal, Pique and Puyol combination would simply not be enough against the pace of Ronaldo, Benzema and Di Maria.

In midfield, it looks increasingly likely that Mourinho will play detrimental Diarra, astute Alonso (respect) and klusterfuck Khedira.  This would surely be to stifle Barcelona's midfield creativity.  Lass especially has endless energy and is a dogged pursuer of the ball.  Ramos and Pepe have plenty of pace and crazy at the back to hamper the slashing runs into the box.  Marcelo will team up with Ronaldo to make bombing runs down the left hand side in an attempt to overwhelm Alves and pen Alexis deep in our own half.

We'll use standard tactics to combat this, and rely on the collective understanding and brilliance of the team to unlock this badly built breaking Bernabeu fortress.

Abidal - Pique - Puyol - Alves at the back.  Alves dominated Ronaldo in the Spanish Super Cup, and if Madrid get behind, look for Ronaldo to attempt his hero tactics once again.  Plays right into our hands.  Pique - Puyol are solid at the back, with the aging Tarzan still an ever present and calming force in the side.  Piquenbauer to initiate attacks from the back, hopefully bringing pressure to the Madrid midfield and pulling them out of position.  Abidal has dat pace for Di Maria, albeit he has looked a bit out of form as of late.

Busquets - Iniesta - Xavi are the standard three for this side.  Busquets with the incredible vision and reading of the game to protect the back before they realize it.  Xaviesta.  That's all I need to say there.

Villa - Messi - Alexis.  Villa is a force to be reckoned with in big games.  His dipping pile driver in August was astonishing.  He is a man for the big moments, and will work nail and tooth to help the side.  Messi needs to be more active in this game.  What I mean by more active is moving into space to receive the ball, not standing still and expecting it as he usually does.  Alexis has a great work ethic and he was good in his debut against the side.  Perhaps he will switch wings with Villa, as he looks amazing on the left.

The lulz were had

We're left with the strongest formation we can conceive:

Valdes

Alves - Puyol - Pique - Abidal

Busquets

Xavi - Iniesta

Messi

Alexis ----------------Villa

Subs:  Pinto, Cesc, Pedro, Keita, Mascherano, Adriano, Thiago.

Visca el Barça!

Fuck you Real Madrid.  I hope we embarrass yall like 6-2 and manita.  Though I am not expecting it.

This post has been promoted to an article

[Slow Show]

in for the shit storm that is a shared thread, spot for sale.

I expect we'll take the Mourinho approach to the game and set out with a defensive 4-3-3 with:

Arbeloa/Coentrao - Ramos - Pepe - Marcelo

Sami - Xabi - Lass

Di Maria - Benzema - Ronaldo

But I look forward to violating you at the weekend all the same, Cules.

Edited by Slow Show, 08 December 2011 - 04:17 PM.

[.Mario.]

Lionel Andres Messi, on 08 December 2011 - 03:56 PM, said:

Fuck you Real Madrid.  I hope we embarrass yall like 6-2 and manita.  Though I am not expecting it.

Way to go, Cam. Way to go.

[GamingX]

I can pretty much see the lineup that Slow Show has put up this weekend. I'm quietly confident that we can get a result out of this game. I wouldn't want our players going gung-ho out there and would rather see a cautious and confident display from the team rather than an arrogant one. I'd like to see Mourinho bring on Ozil and Sahin or Kaka in the second half

[K SSJ 4]

Barcelona are going to be overpowered; just a hunch. I am feeling very confident. The players from defense to midfield to attack have a much better understanding with each other. The Bernabeu crowd is going to be behind us and the players are going to pull it out.

The reign is over.

[Linus]

Decent match i guess, nothing more with that...

Edited by Linus, 08 December 2011 - 04:30 PM.

[Tomchin]

Which formation would you Madridistas prefer that Barca start with: the classical 4-3-3, or the 3-4-3:

Villa - Messi - Alexis

Cesc

Iniesta - Xavi

Busquets

Abidal - Pique - Alves

Valdes

Most of Cules prefer the 4-3-3, but I wouldn't be surprised if Pep will go for the 3-4-3 anyway.  Seems suicide to field only 3 defenders against Ronaldo - Higuain/Benzema - Di Maria, but with Pep you never know.

Edited by Tomchin, 08 December 2011 - 04:33 PM.

[ivan1real]

That looks like a suicide to me.

[Geoff Peterson]

People use the Valencia game as some sort of marker that we should not use 3-4-3 in this type of match, but we actually did very well in that match for the most part.  It was very early in the season, and our defense was in poor form and fitness. Abidal was far from his best, and we were missing Pique.  Puyol was playing injured, Kieta was in midfield.  Their goals came off of Abidal mistakes when he was clearly off form, including his own goal to start Valencia off.  We, on the other hand, had many great chances, including the 2 goals, but also a crossbar hit, 2 great saves to deny 1 vs 1 Villa and Messi chances.  Also, our starting 11 was actually very defensive despite the formation.  I'm not even convinced that it was a true 3-4-3 the way Pep has developed it as the season progressed. Remember our starting XI that day:

Valdes
Alves
Abidal
Puyol
Mascherano
Busquets
Kieta
Xavi
Cesc
Pedro
Messi

Their goals came very early, when our formation was disjointed and confused IMHO.  Our defensive players were not clear on where to be and what to cover, leaving Abidal in bad situations for the early goals.  In the second half, some adjustments were made, and we took clear control of the match.  Those changes included bringing on Adriano for Keita and Villa for Pedro (who scored in the first half), then 3 mins later Thiago for Puyol.   Those changes made our shape more similar to what we've seen in the true 3-4-3 formation:

......Villa.......................Messi......................Adriano.....
.............................Cesc...............................................
....................Thiago....................Xavi..........................
................................Busquets....................................
....Abidal................Mascherano...............Alves........
......................................VV............................................

This allowed us to dominate the midfield again and we really did have the game in our hands. We just couldn't get that final goal to pull it out.

If you take into account that now we have players at the back in better form and fitness (Pique, Puyol and Abidal), and that we have Alexis and Iniesta available at the other end of the pitch, and that we have better options off the bench with Cuenca, Pedro and Thiago all in good form, I see no reason why we can't go in with the 3-4-3 to play Real Madrid.  In fact, I think this was the plan of Pep all along to fine tune the formation and the options early in the season so that during the peak of the first half of the season (Real Madrid and Cup competition in Japan) he would finally be able to roll it out with a fully fit and in form squad.  He had his tune up for this last weekend, and it looked great against Levante. That was the first time we tried it with what was essentially a fully fit "best 11" even though "best 11" is really any 11 players out of about 13 players on our club.... someone has to sit, like Puyol, Alves or Pique at the back, and at the front, someone like Villa, Pedro or Alexis has to sit.  That's just the way it is. Just like in Real Madrid's team, someone has to sit out of Higuain and Benz at the front, and someone has to sit out between Kaka, Ozil and Sahin.  When you have loaded top talent like we do and they do, you can't always pick a best XI.

So, to sum up:  Play the 3-4-3 Pep.  In my view, it should look like this though:


........Alexis................................................Messi.................................Pedro*   (*Cuenca also OK)
..............................................Cesc..................................................................
........................Iniesta.......................................Xavi.......................................
................................................Busquets.........................................................
................Abidal.................................Pique.......................Mascherano......
.........................................................VV..............................................................

My reasons:  

1. We use Alexis and Pedro to force them to bring back players to defend wide.  We know from experience that keeping them dropped back covering our wide players helps cut out their counters before they start. Marcelo and Di Maria both end up having to play so far back in their end of the pitch, they have far fewer chances to cause damage.  It also opens up the middle of the pitch by spreading out their back line.  Messi, Cesc, Inista and Xavi will have more room to work if Alexis and Pedro are keeping their other players honest defending the wide areas.  If they drift in, Alexis and Pedro both have the speed and ability to make them pay for that mistake.

2. At the back, Busquets, Pique, Abidal and Maschearno have amazing defensive range, and all are great with the ball at their feet and passing out of the back as well.  With speedy hard working wingers helping them cover the flanks, they should be able to control the game at the back with plenty of options passing forward in Iniesta, Cesc, Xavi and Messi rotating back to link the front and back lines.

3. I pick Pedro over Cuenca so taht on our right flank, we have Pedro and Mascherano covering defensively, but Xavi, Busquets and Pique all have great defensive range as well to help out.  Pedro and Mascherano have top class speed and defensive work rates, so it's the best option.  Playing Alves up front in place of Pedro is a more defensive option we can go with.  Bringing in Cuenca to skin Marcelo again and again as a sub once Marcelo has lost some of his legs will be fun to see as well. Hope that happens.

4. This starting XI brings in our top goal scorers:  Messi and Cesc.  Cesc has as many goals as Benz in league play this season, and most have come from this formation.  He's the best midfield goal scorer we have, and we should have him on the pitch.  I'm not sure it will happen, but that's what I would do.

I'd love to put this in the match thread..... but.....

[Slow Show]

Tomchin, on 08 December 2011 - 04:32 PM, said:

Which formation would you Madridistas prefer that Barca start with: the classical 4-3-3, or the 3-4-3:

Villa - Messi - Alexis

Cesc

Iniesta - Xavi

Busquets

Abidal - Pique - Alves

Valdes

Most of Cules prefer the 4-3-3, but I wouldn't be surprised if Pep will go for the 3-4-3 anyway.  Seems suicide to field only 3 defenders against Ronaldo - Higuain/Benzema - Di Maria, but with Pep you never know.

I'd love for Barca to play 3-4-3, I'm confident enough in our ability to break up and disrupt your attack's enough to be able to launch some counter's of our own, and if there's one thing I'm confident in, it's our ability on the counter.

[Resurrección]

That is a brilliant picture of Messi

I think Real are favorites for this match. Hopefully Mourinho sees this the same way, would be great if Real play to get a win instead of focusing on shutting out Barça.

[Bill Nicholson]

Expecting another 2-2. I just can't see this Real Madrid side losing any time soon. Hopefully this Barcelona team can pull yet another stunning performance out of the bag and win this game, but I can't see it happening.

I just hope that this game is played fairly, for once. I'm tired of watching five minutes of football, followed by five minutes of brawling. Rinse and repeat for the entire match. I won't be holding my breath, however.

[Capita]

Geoff Peterson, on 08 December 2011 - 04:36 PM, said:

I'd love to put this in the match thread..... but.....

You make a great case for the 3-4-3 but if we think of the context of the match, is it worth the bravery in attempting to pull it off vs. potentially seeing ourselves 9 points down in December?

Perhaps this would be better left for the return leg in need of a win to close the gap/overtake them?

So many of your points are true but even then, a lot needs to fall in our favor not to get burned. It requires 100% concentration against a team like Madrid who are strong enough in their front 3 to punish any little mistake in the backline. It seems like too dicey a gamble. Winning with a 4-3-3 would cause an equal momentum shift for us.

[Tomchin]

Geoff Peterson, on 08 December 2011 - 04:36 PM, said:

People use the Valencia game as some sort of marker that we should not use 3-4-3 in this type of match, but we actually did very well in that match for the most part.

Really?  I remember that Alves was countlessly exposed on his right-wing, it was usually him against 2 Valencia-players (Mathieu and Valencia's LB (Alba?)), simply because of the 3-4-3 formation.  If I remember correctly most of their chances were created through Alves' side.

[Bill Nicholson]

In my opinion, the 3-4-3 was the only reason Barcelona didn't win that game.