The Ratings: Valencia CF 2-2 FC Barcelona
It wasn’t a great performance, but FC Barcelona managed to grind out a valuable point against an excellent Valencia side at Mestalla, a ground where the blaugrana always struggle. Valencia dominated the first half but Barcelona fought back in the second half and managed to get a draw, thanks to goals from Pedro Rodriguez and Cesc Fabregas.
Here are the ratings for today’s match.
Victor Valdés – 6.5
He wasn’t at fault for either of the goals and had an overall solid performance, though with no outstanding saves.
Eric Abidal – 5
Had a very bad game today. Scored a rather silly own goal and was exposed several times on the left by Pablo Hernandez. It was really a night to forget for Abidal, after a great performance on the weekend.
Carles Puyol – 6
Was caught out of position quite a few times but also made several good tackles. He’s clearly not at his best yet and will need some matches to return to his old dominant self.
Javier Mascherano – 7
A very good performance overall, Barcelona’s best defender on the night. Made several key interceptions and always covered for his teammates’ mistakes. Valencia would have scored more if not for Mascherano. Besides, he almost scored a fantastic goal in the second half, but his shot hit the crossbar.
Sergio Busquets – 6
Had an unusual sloppy performance tonight. Gave away possession much more than usual and didn’t show the positional awareness that makes him such a great holding midfielder. He improved in the second half, but it was still a performance way below the high standards Busquets has set for himself.
Seydou Keita – 6
Also had an uninspired performance. Gave away the ball more than he should have and didn’t really do much to have a positive impact on the game. He was replaced by Adriano in the second half.
Xavi Hernandez – 7.5
Man of the Match. Xavi doesn’t know how to play bad. Even in a day where the team was far from their best, Xavi managed to hold it all together. His passing and movement were top notch as usual and he was behind everything Barcelona did going forward.
Cesc Fabregas – 6.5
It’d have been a terrible performance if not for his excellent goal. He misplaced too many passes, especially in the first half, and failed to link up with the other attacking players. But as the great player he is, he still managed to score the equalizer, after another perfect combination play with Messi.
Daniel Alves – 5.5
Played as a winger and failed to impress this time. His passing and crossing were generally poor and he failed to track back multiple times. Like many of his teammates, Alves didn’t have the best of nights.
Pedro Rodriguez – 6.5
Scored an excellent goal and seemed sharper than in recent matches, being one of Barcelona’s most dangerous players while on the pitch. Was subbed off by David Villa at the 60th minute.
Lionel Messi – 7
It was surely Messi’s worst performance in recent times; his dribbling wasn’t very sharp, he misplaced many passes and seemed slow and sloppy… but he still managed two brilliant assists (almost three, if Villa had scored in the final minute). Even on a bad day, Messi manages to have a big impact. That’s why he’s the world’s best player.
Substitutions:
David Villa – 6
Came on for Pedro with 30 minutes left to play but failed to have a great impact on the match. Missed a golden opportunity to give Barcelona the win in the dying minutes.
Adriano – 7.5
Excellent. He came on for Keita and had a tremendous impact on the match. He owned the right flank, defending and attacking at a very high level. He consistently beat his market to create chances, almost setting up Barcelona’s winning goal in the dying minutes.
Thiago Alcantara 7.5
The game changed with him and Adriano on the pitch. Just like his compatriot, Thiago was nothing short of brilliant. He showed great passing and vision, bringing some quality and organization to Barcelona’s attacking game. He set up a golden opportunity for Messi, who couldn’t convert.
Manuel Traquete is a lifelong FC Barcelona supporter and a freelance football writer who shares his thoughts @Manueltraquete
VAMOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Pep made the mistake of playing Alves upfront and starting with a 3-4-3 formation in an away game against Valencia. This was no game to experiment!!!! U could see how Mathieu was without a doubt the best man of the match in the first half, because of the lack of Dani as a left-back!!! There were 5 or 6 crosses coming from that side and both of Valencia's goals came out of it…. I think it was very very clear that cost us the win!!! In the 2nd half, Alves was back were he belongs and Mathieu didn't touch a ball!!!!
But I think getting a point away at Valencia isn't really that bad after all and it's what both teams deserved in this game… Valencia played a great game (especially the 1st half) and we have to congratulate them for that!!! VISCA BARCA!!!!!!!
Pep understand his fault and after substitutions the game was reversed !
anyway, as Pep said playing with 3 defender is totally risky. that line up was good against Osasona but not working against Valencia at all !
last night i wished Villa scored that goal opportunity, then we would make gap with RM =/
Agree with every single word! A got goosebumps seeing the experimental line up at first and my worst fear came through.. The experiment was a disaster!! And in such an important match.. Damn!
BUT.. it's not the end of the world.. Even Pep Guardiola is entitled to a few errors along the way.. Nobody's perfect. I believe the team will pull through. Visca El Barca!!
This game reflects the importance of Iniesta to the team.
and Pique's.
how bout alexis sanchez ? if he doesnt get injured im sure barca is in much better position now
I don't think this game reflects anything except a mistaken formation against a strong team. we've won very tough matches with players injured and we have had unimpressive matches with a great squad. the squad we had on the pitch today was more than capable of winning against anybody, but it was not a great day. i don't think we can say that if pique was on instead of puyol, or something along those lines, we would have won. we conceded two goals because we got owned on the flank in the first half because alves was playing out of position. once pep fixed that in second half, they hardly had any impact up front, and if our attackers were a little luckier, we'd have a victory on our hands.
I think the biggest mistake from Pep was to play Keita instead of Thiago. We already have a holding midfielder, Busi, and Keita is really not that good in attacking play. Also Cesc looked a bit lost. I think the team overall wasn't at its sharpest, now we just gotta make sure we fix that against Atletico. It'd be an important win, because RM seems to have a very bad moment right now, and being 4 points ahead of them would be good…
Anyways, I take a bow to Valencia, they were very good and were able to hurt our defence several times. A great match to watch.
hay boys mad-drid also get a 0-0 draw against a {week} team and barca get a draw against a big team. messi did many things tow assists but Cry7 did nothing
barca was on their level last night. how can i explain it. do i say it bad or good…………..?????????????????
we trust on allah and every thing will be ok. good work pep.
long live barca and long live pep
I hate to say this, but Guardiola also had a bad day with team tactics.
Those tactics were just the obvious answer to the glaring mistake he made when playing Alves as a winger. He should have reacted immediately after the equalizer, not lie and wait until the 50th minute. I'm sure he'll recover, but for this match, Pep deserves at most a 5 out of 10.
AAss being puyol who pushed Soldado after he intentionally handled the ball?
i can still feel Adrino's explosiveness in that match, damn hes good. hope to see more minutes from him.
Playing a 3-4-3 against Valencia who have made a name for themselves with counter-attacking wing-play and producing some world class wingers in their history was almost suicidal. We were lucky to get away with the 2-2 draw. But Guardiola will most definitely learn from this, I am happy that we have experienced these draws, it will make the young players less complacent and it's the only way the team can progress and learn. Nice to see Madrid drawing too!
very accurate ratings. Alvez did not track back at all, cesc hasnt learned 2 press and defend like a barca playa yet (but his attack is good), messi was very sloppy (1v1 with gk, took his eyes off incoming balls).
But thiago’s intro did wonders 4 tha creativity we severly lacked 1st half.
Mascherano was a beast without puyol (wonder why)
Xavi needs an iniesta, cesc or iniesta by his side so he can spend less time in our half and more terrorizing tha opponents.
I don’t mind losing/drawing 2 a team like valencia, but drawing in tha manner we did (gifting possession, low concentration etc) sucks. Its not pep’s fault. Tha whole team wasnt up 2 scratch
Bingo. Everything you said. Yup yup yup.
Yeah… I agree very much with the ratings..
And talking about XAVI!!
This man doesn't know how to make mistakes!!!!! What word do you use for him???
F*king Football god!!
That's 3 words (LMFAO reminds me of Andy Gray and Martin Tyler in the FIFA Commentary)
Haha, when he says '1 word' and then says like 5
Adri always did well against Valencia. Last season at Mestall he managed to grab an assist for Leo's goal.
Not very accurate ratings ,IMO..
this is a bad night for messi, his worst performance ever so far in this season..
he always lose the ball ,'though he made 2 assist key, but he looks so different.
sorry for him..
unfortunately, this is all about Pep.
He's so over-confidence, cz he won't buy a CB, and always made an experiment, which is bad..
Fabregas and Xavi are the best player on the pitch..
Pep outsmarted himself a bit with the initial starting lineup and first half tactics. Valencia used the same tactics as last year but Pep probably thought they wouldn't.
We're still missing the mid-field fluency in passing that exists when Iniesta is around. This weakness can be exploited by intense pressing from the opponent. especially when they also have a good mid-field.
The relatively poor matches from Messi (for Messi) and the other players can be attributed to playing too many minutes in too many matches this early in the season before their bodies are in mid-season form.
Milan, Osasuna and Valencia were played within an 8 week period. And we face Atletico Madrid and Falcao in 2 days. The 8-0 score with Osasuna took too much out of the team especially with Sanchez, Iniesta and Pique out. We s/d have played with a B team lineup versus Osasuna and still won 2-0 or 3-0.
I meant played within an 8 day period.
The name is Xavi….es el puto Millor!!!!
Xavi – brain behind barca's play
Imma ****ing pissed off with Villa! Isn't he ashamed of being out-performed by Cesc, goals wised, despite the latter being an attacking midfielder, and not a natural striker. Scoring goals look all so easy for Cesc or Messi because they just knew what to do when facing 1 on 1 with the GK. Those two are really calm and know what's the best way to beat the GK. But it's different with Villa. His game always seems rushed and naively expects every far post shot to hit the net. I mean, look at that miss, he wasn't even looking at the GK's position and just shoot it to the far post hoping it to end up the back of the net. Have some calm head FFS!!!
and for the ratings, 6.0 for Villa? I've got nothing to say but just HAHAHA………
ENOUGH WITH THIS. Cesc is being allowed to play in the center, either as the central striker or just behind. Pep has Villa hold the pitch width out from out left, and Villa is just doing his job… it is much much more difficult to score cutting in from the flank. In the middle, you have options coming at you from two sides. From the flank towards goal, there's only one way to go.
I've had enough with people criticizing Villa and comparing him to Cesc or Messi. Villa was a star central striker for years and at Barca, he has to had to change positions… but he has done it with nothing but class. The man has no ego and clearly gets along well with teammates, especially Cesc.
Stop pitting the team against one another. And I for one, am grateful that Villa is on the team. Time and time again, Pep has praised him for giving him the team depth. Villa's job in Barca is clearly not only to score goals, but to contribute to team play so Messi and Cesc and others can score too.
Btw, don't just pick at Villa for his miss. Both Messi and Cesc had clear opportunities which they fluffed too. They just had a full 90 mins to redeem themselves. VIVA VILLA! and VISCA BARCA!
most top coaches will tell you to look to shoot at the far post. and uh, Villa is spain's all time leading scorer and been in the top of the goalscoring in La Liga for the past how many years?? i don't think he needs goal scoring advice from you
I hate to say this, but I put the blame on Pep. He shouldnt try to experiment such thing against an opponent like Valencia @ Mestalla. If we had played the following players: Valdez, Puyol, Abidal, Adriano, Alvez. Midfield: Thiago, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, attack: Villa, Messi. Then bring on Pedro and Affelay in the second half we would have won the game without stress. Also did anybody noticed that Messi was looks weak and tired yesterday?
I am not saying Pep isnt good, but he should take less risk at times. One Love Barca
messi was really off it, he appears tired and unmotivated for this game..he neither run or force attack
i mean, certainly we didn't play well tonight. but a lot of people are talking about what barca did wrong when what i'm really impressed with was how well valencia defended against us:
if we looked sloppy today, it's at least in part because they'd obviously worked really hard in trainings on cutting off our passing lanes.
It was an exciting game to say the least but the use of a 3 formation at the back was sucidal. Pep's tactical change really put Valencia on the back foot and if not for some crazy misses (messi and villa) Barca should have won the game. But its nice to see two teams entertain and give their best to the game without descending to brawls as it typical of Madrid. Well done Barca ( but please no more 3-4-3 formation its so scary to watch).
i think worse player were Abidal and Villa !
the best one was mach !
other players were neutral and below neutral like Messi
but no criticizing, that match was definitely total match, it was worth to be awake until 3AM (match starts at 1AM our local time)
Disagree with a few ratings. Mainly Puyol and Messi.
Messi missed a chance to score, but was otherwise amazing. He was at times our only creative spark.
And, Puyol saved our asses several times. The fact that he 'looked' caught out was that Busi, Keita, Mascherano, and Abidal weren't on their game at all.
… Xavi was superb, by the way. He seemed to always have the right maneuver to get away from his marker.
I knew this would happen from the minute I saw our formation. What was pep thinking?
This is the third time this season his tactics cost us:
sociedad
milan
valencia
hes experimenting too mcuh and quite frankly it was ugly
the formation should have been:
Valdes
Alves puyol mascherano abidal
xavi busquests cesc
villa messi pedro
weve used this a lot. But now these days guardiola is too bent up on becoming some sort of revolutionary hes neglecting the basics.
despicable. I blame no one but him tonight. How can the players play with such poor tactics.
so simple line up dat won the champ league n real madrid excpt fabri which is even addition without iniesta….I only hope pep is reading d lines..im also baffled for takin off pedro while villa is facing is home crowd n frnds..look at his miss..infact a return pass back to adrian could hav bin better..Pep wak up we can miss good points when we hav great advantage to gap madrid weller!!!
anyway, i enjoyed last nigh game !
i prefer to see the team like Valencia which make a challenge for Barca and RM instead of accepting 4 or 5 goals and Laliga limited just ELclasico results.
last night match was truly good for us, it gave us many lessons and showed problem of 3-4-3 in front of speedy teams.B)
I dont know why Pep started with Keita. If he had started with Thiago from the start i think we would have another game. And what was up with out det?! Pyuol, Abidal and Mach… wtf?!
Pep is becoming like Maradona who chooses friends to play for his team instead of players with merit.
We surely need Hummels!!Why is Pep trying to get Neymar while we already have Deulofeu, Rafinha, Pedro and Sanchez while we need a defender. Fontas is never gonna make it and Puyol is aging.Maybe Sergi Gomez will be good but he's too young.We surely need Hummels.
Pep mess up last 9t..How can u change a winnin team over 9t.we al saw d 8nil demolition;mesi,vil,kieta,pyul etc had a bad day bcos ppl play out of position,just imagin as soon as thiago cam on tins change.Pep experimtin is causin us a lot n just ve to stop ..vila miss is unblvable!
Seems too know is worrying Pep diz days. He goofed wit dat tactics last night. He saw errors repetedly and couldn’t do anythn, how on earth u play Masch at ryt back while Alves isn’t injured. D ryt flank back was porous so they capitalize on it. Pep blew away anoda 2 points wit his experimantation tactics. Hope diz won’t cost us d league. A sticth in tym saves nine…to be honest Pep goofed!!!
Getting a point against a very determined Valencia side at the Mestalla is not bad at all… They were the better side in the first half..
I really noticed the true talent of the up incomer Thiago Alacantara. Almost instantaneously him and Adriano really helped Barca take over the game…
Already excited for Saturday vs Atletico Madrid!!! Vamos BARCA!!!
Man im sick of all these people blaming pep for a draw!! the biggest problem in the game wasn't the formation or the tactics… it was the players!! they were slow, lethargic and sloppy in their play, look how many passes were misplaced… during the first half i think the possession for Barca was only 55%…. pretty low by Barca standards, and possession is the basis of all our play. Clearly the opposition was getting and keeping the ball much better than we are used to.
Blaming the tactics or formation is a cheap and weak excuse. Im sorry, but i blame the players for the sub standard play. Formation doesn't impact sharpness, and the players simply weren't sharp. If we played like we normally play, Valencia wouldn't have been able to create as many attacks as they did against us.
AND btw, anyone who thinks our 4-3-3 is amazingly different DEFENSIVELY to what we play lately is wrong. Alves is always our right sided winger, and the remaining back 3 shuffle across to cover for him anyway… so when we attack it is a 3-4-3 anyway, and we used to get caught on the break that way too. That is what we have been doing since Alves was a barca player…. only difference in this game is that his cover wasn't adequate, the tackles weren't good enough and he didn't track back at all.. retaining possession wasnt good enough to enable his play up forward a justification. Don't blame the formation, blame the execution
hnstly Pep realli fucked up wit everytin yesta9t,esp d line-up. If he thnks he has accomplishd wit gainin more trophies n is relaxin,then he shld step down. I hope all these brilliant msg,cntributions get 2 him but dnt thnk it wuld.
Xavi has always been rated high almost every match coz he holds on d ball n distribute pass but to me n sum cules who hav followd barca match dating 3-4yrs ago hav seen a lot of change. Xavi no more offer assist,sort of those overhead cut in pass ani more esp to Messi. I dnt no if He is jealous 4 messi collectin best footballer now n then. Messi luks tired of his runs coz no ball wil fly in,but nw tends to give assist 4 team-mates both in barca n argentina. Watz was his total assist last session 25 or so,n where was Xavi, how abt dis seasn, Messi has rackd up close to 7-9assist,Xavi hasnt. I thnk if tins cntinue as such, he wil leave soon to Argentina to play der.
Villa n keita r jux too unreliabe. Keita has misplaced pass dan aniplayer in barca. Hope tins change if we hav hope of gettin silverware dis seasn.
I voted Thiago for MOM as he was totaly attack minded and had great movements, passing and vision from the second he stepped on the pitch. in the 1st half we played so poor due to the wrong tactics used yesterday. it changed in second half with the substitutions and formation changes.. but still we managed a good result in a hard match! VISCA BARCA!!
the subs of pep…..wow just badd……adriano in the attack? …keita was weak ….alves wasent in his position….its could be 3 pts from real….what a shame
..I agree with the most comments, Pep experiments too much in important away games (resting 5-6 starters in sociedad, 3 defenders in valencia)..we could be 4-5 points ahead of madrid already..we have outstanding team and formation that works perfect, there is no need for any changes and experiments..I don't remember game with so much defensive problems for us like last night in first half, when alves goes back on his position everything has changed and we could win (valencia always plays great against barca on mestalla with agression on our back line)..I hope that is over with pep's rotations, maybe he is boring with lack of competition and try to complicate things for barca
Oh common abidal is definitely less than 5. I love the guy but don't let your affection towards him cloud your judgement :p he scored a silly own goal and the second goal we conceded he SHOULD have intercepted the pass. definitely a night to forget for him and most definitely less than 5.
and he did a HANDFUL ONLY of good defensive contributions
I am still thinking, where did Xavi play, and why (maybe in my own thinking) Keita played so much in the forward formations. I thought, that Keita has changed positions with Xavi…And another thing, Alves CAN'T play as a winger, he is the right back, Adriano could have better played from the beginning as a winger. And what is more, I want Alexis back, because Villa is not in his top form, Alexis brought better dribbling, also the will of "fight" and the speed, creativity.
Has anyone noticed that Adriano plays better as a winger in the team? He perhaps is the best crosser of the ball from the flanks and he is way way better than Dani Alves crossing the ball for his teammates to score
Pep obviously wants to keep making Barca better. But in my opinion, the best line up now when Iniesta is injured, is:
Alves-Puyol-Masche-Abi/Adriano
Xavi-Busi-Cesc
Thiago-Messi-Villa/Pedro.
Why fix something that isn't broken? 4-3-3 made us the best, with these players we can remain the best even without changing the formation. I think Thiago should be a regular starter for when Iniesta can't play, and though I put him in the wing he'd propably be in the middle. I don't know if it's just me, but somehow Cesc seems much better with Thiago on the pitch. Thiago still loses some balls and stuff like that, but he brings in so much creativity, he's also a constant threat due to his dribbling skills and great vision.
Fabregas could he ever take over from xavi i have my doubts he is more and more looking like an attacking mid than a midfielder,he is so set on scoring goals now days that he doesn’t seem to be able to dictate a game,i really think iniesta or thiago alcantera will be xavi successor as they are not so goal orientated players.
Great game and if it wasn’t for that madrid reject valencia would have been out of tough in the second half,yes they did fell off a bit after the high pressure they put on you but your formation helped them a lot earlier but i can’t seem them causing madrid problems with that high back line as the likes of di maria and c.ronaldo would just be too quick for them.
One word messi genius so much better than cristiano,the guy sees things so quickly it is a delight to watch even though i support madrid,i think if he was to join madrid they would then be the ones winning everything as he is a team player whereas cristiano would score more goals but the quality of your play would diminish big time.
Don’t play that formation against the likes of man utd,man city as their quick players would just be too quick for your back four.
very true,he has had the chance to coach a superb team and having a genius in that team so why try and play the great tactician.
sorry but F#CK U VILLA, i mean 40 M man…
relax guys..
cant you see after succeed bring Cesc back home, Pep really wants to take Barca to higher level so badly. A level where no team in the world even try to think about it. A team composed by 10 outfield players, who has versatility, defender, midfielder and attacker. They can reshuffle into every position. It's a nightmare for enemies to deal with. This team will be a perfect unity in tactical and technical flows with almost no weakness. But once again, it needs time and trials. Pep thought, we have to take risk by making experiments especially in a real battle, like last night. Just believe in Pep! We'll be LEGENDARY!!!
I agree. I have nothing against Keita, but in the three matches Pep played Keita as central mid, we keep having the same results–draws (and that goes to show how great our team really is). A good offense is a good defense and to have a good offense, you need good ball distribution– something Keita failed to do or failed to inspire. Keita seems to me is at his best when he comes in for substitution, so I hope Pep takes of this.
Barca 4ckd up.valencia were d beta side in d 1st half.soldado did well to defend a goal he should have score.if any one knows pep,tell him to stop usin dat stupid formation.fabregas is too goal minded.he needs to be more creative to make goals.nevertheless we tank God 4 his equalisin gol to get a point instead of notin.mesi to slugish wit his driblings.bt did wel to set up pedro,fabregas and villa who screwed up dat golden opportunity.bt dat was stil beta dan torres miss agains man u.VIVA BARCA
Mesi pls go and meet sanchez to teach u some dribblin skills.and sanchez plz go and meet messi to teach u how to hold d ball closely and tight to your feet on high speed and stil beat players
although this experiment might have gone wrong, i think it was a great idea to do it. we needed to see how this formation would do against some of the best teams in the world. it didn't work this time but weaknesses were exposed and the team can work on them. using the 3-4-3 against Osasuna was a good warm up, but it proved nothing.
BUT credit valencia, they played a great game. they pressed high up the pitch and looked for the win, Unai created a good game plan and attacked our weaknesses. its fortunate that we only conceded 2!!
Barca will learn from this and get even better.
VISCA BARCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Xavi man of the match??? Are you joking. The key men were Cesc and Messi… without them Barcelona would have lost. Two assists, nearly three and two penalty decisions denied. Even when he is having a bad day, he's still better than the rest.