A detailed, player-by-player breakdown of Barcelona's hard-fought La Liga win against Valencia.
| Claudio Bravo |
8.9 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 41
Passes: 28
Pass Accuracy: 54%
Shots Faced: 2
Saves Made: 2
Clearances: 0
Bostjan says: 9.0
Bravo was one of the stars in this game. Even though he "only" ended the game with two saves, each one of them proved to be necessary for Barcelona to secure the three points. The highlight of his performance was the save he made on Dani Parejo’s penalty attempt early in the game. Bravo also made a lovely diving save late in the game on Rodrigo Moreno, but he also had to give a friendly love tap to his right post for bailing him out in the first half. Bravo exhibited good control of the air space, collecting numerous crosses. The Chilean picked up a late yellow card for wasting time. |
|
| Dani Alves |
6.4 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 98
Passes: 70
Pass Accuracy: 84%
Key Passes: 1
Fouls Won: 0
Tackles: 10
Turnovers: 1
Clearances: 1
Fouls: 7
Interceptions: 3
Bostjan says: 6.5
Another game, another mixed showing. It’s becoming really infuriating that in the same game Alves can show glimpses of his brilliant old self and be a turnover machine. Alves, by far, led the team in tackles, he completed an astonishing ten tackles, the next closest Barcelona player had four. But while that might insinuate on a dominating defensive game by the Brazilian, it was anything but as Alves often struggled in defensive coverage. As expected, Alves didn’t struggle as much on offense where he combined with his teammates very well, though he had the second worst passing accuracy of all Barcelona players. |
|
| Gerard Pique |
6.5 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 69
Passes: 56
Pass Accuracy: 86%
Tackles: 3
Interceptions: 2
Clearances: 4
Fouls: 1
Bostjan says: 6.5
Should we be getting worried about Pique? This was his second consecutive shaky game in La Liga, though he made even more mistakes in this one than he made against Sevilla. Pique improved in the second half, in which he made a couple of good plays, but the first half was beyond poor. Not only did he carelessly gave up a penalty kick, he also made several poor choices with the ball, none worse than in the 21st minute when he bone-headedly attempted a diagonal pass only to have it intercepted, resulting in two dangerous scoring chances. |
|
| Jeremy Mathieu |
6.7 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 57
Passes: 51
Pass Accuracy: 96%
Tackles: 0
Interceptions: 1
Clearances: 1
Aerial Duels Won: 2
Fouls: 0
Bostjan says: 7.0
Like most of his teammates in the backline, Mathieu also struggled in the first half. In it we saw the return of the "panicky Mathieu" who loves to "clear" the ball to the closest opponent, a couple times gifting chances to Valencia in the first half. Mathieu cleaned up his act after the break when he moved to the left-back position, where he looked much more comfortable than he did in some game against some team playing in white. The Frenchman didn’t get forward much, but when he did he combined with his teammates solidly. |
|
| Adriano Correia |
5.1 |
|
Minutes played: 45
Touches: 18
Passes: 15
Pass Accuracy: 93%
Shots/Shots on Target: 1/0
Tackles: 0
Interceptions: 0
Clearances: 0
Key Passes: 0
Fouls: 4
Bostjan says: 5.5
To say that Adriano struggled in the 45 minute he spent on the pitch would be an understatement. He often strayed out of position, something he continuously tried to correct by fouling Valencia players, giving them numerous chances to score from set-pieces, resulting in a yellow card. Though I have to give him credit for making a crucial block on Sofiane Feghouli around the half-hour mark. Adriano also offered very little in attack. |
|
| Javier Mascherano |
7.4 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 76
Passes: 65
Pass Accuracy: 83%
Tackles: 4
Interceptions: 1
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Clearances: 2
Aerial Duels Won: 2
Turnovers: 1
Key passes: 0
Sam says: 8.0
Mascherano put in a good defensive shift, especially during the first half when Valencia were on top. He tracked runners so that there wasn’t a gaping hole in defence and he looked to stop attacks quickly by making an early challenge in midfield. His four tackles and one interception meant that Barça ended the first half with the lead which meant his contributions were crucial for the advantage. |
|
| Xavi |
6.9 |
|
Minutes played: 79
Touches: 66
Passes: 58
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Turnovers: 0
Key Passes: 3
Successful Dribbles: 0
Clearances: 2
Sam says: 7.0
With both Busquets and Mascherano playing, Xavi took the role of being the primary chance creator in midfield. When he had the ball he consistently looked for a way to bring it upfield. Whether that was a through ball, a lob or a simple pass to one of the forward three, it helped to relieve some of the pressure Barça were under. Indeed he should been credited with an assist but somehow Messi put Xavi’s flicked header wide.
|
|
| Sergio Busquets | 7.2 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 88
Passes: 82
Pass Accuracy: 92%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Fouls Won: 4
Turnovers: 1
Tackles: 1
Key Passes: 1
Aerial Duels Won: 3
Sam says: 7.5
In the opening stages, pushing Busquets forward into one of the central attacking midfielders looked to be a tactical masterstroke as it was him who quickly switched the ball from to defence to attack which in turn allowed Barça to get the opening goal. Then during Valencia’s spell of domination, it was Busquets, combined with Mascherano, that helped to limit Valencia and miraculously keep it a clean sheet. As per squall, Busquets was one of the best passers on the field and completed the most amount of passes on the field. |
|
| Luis Suarez |
8.2 |
|
Minutes played: 64
Touches: 29
Passes: 20
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Shots/Shots on Target: 1/1
Turnovers: 2
Successful Dribbles: 1
Key Passes: 1
Fouls Won: 1
Tackles: 2
Ahmed says: 8.5
Opened the scoring with a superb first-time shot in a well-worked goal that was scored within the first minute of the game. Some great link-up play with others. Indeed, he remained a constant threat, yet not always in the centre. Nonetheless, Suarez is consolidating his position as the best striker in world football. He was replaced by Pedro in the 65th minute and thus given a well-deserved rest with important matches to come. |
|
| Lionel Messi |
8.8 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 102
Passes: 72
Pass Accuracy: 92%
Shots/Shots on Target: 4/2
Fouls Won: 4
Successful Dribbles: 4
Key Passes: 3
Turnovers: 5
Interceptions: 1
Ahmed says: 9.0
Was outstanding throughout, causing the Valencia back four no end of problems with his on point passing, bamboozling dribbles and mesmerising ability to control the game. He was everywhere. However, he missed a sitter towards the end of the first half. Messi set up Suarez for the first goal inside the first minute, struck the crossbar with a free-kick in the second-half and scored his 400th goal for the club late on. Messi looked tired towards the end but don’t expect him to be rested any time soon. |
|
| Neymar |
7.3 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 77
Passes: 58
Pass Accuracy: 88%
Shots/Shots on Target: 2/1
Tackles: 3
Key Passes: 1
Successful Dribbles: 3
Turnovers: 6
Ahmed says: 7.5
Dangerous but struggled to make a real impact since not many opportunities went his way. Was fouled quite a lot and lost the ball a few times yet always eager to attack the Valencia back-line. Worked hard and tracked back as epitomised by his 3 tackles. It was his amazing long ball which set Messi free for Barca’s second goal. |
|
| Ivan Rakitić |
7.5 |
|
Minutes played: 45
Touches: 54
Passes: 53
Pass Accuracy: 98%
Tackles: 1
Bostjan says: 7.5
Rakitić was brought on at halftime and FC Barcelona immediately looked better on the pitch. The Croatian helped Barcelona take control of the game which resulted in a much calmer second half, something he helped achieve with an impressive 53 passes in a single half and a 98.1% accuracy. As always, Rakitić also helped out on defense, even if it meant picking up a yellow card. |
|
| Pedro | 6.1 |
|
Minutes played: 26
Touches: 24
Passes: 20
Pass Accuracy: 85%
Shots/Shots on Target: 1/1
Bostjan says: 6.5
Pedro was brought on with plenty of time left on the clock to make an impact, and while he did put in a solid effort, the end product was ultimately lacking. And that is just about how a Pedro game is always described. The Canary Islander did have a good late shot on goal, but Diego Alves made the save.
|
|
| Sergi Roberto |
6.2 |
|
Minutes played: 11
Touches: 13
Passes: 10
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Tackles: 0
Bostjan says: N/A
Roberto didn’t have enough time to make an impact, but he did bring some more calmness into the Barcelona midfield. |
|
| The Team | 7.4 |
|
Passes: 680
Pass Accuracy: 88%
Shots/Shots on Target: 11/5
Tackles: 24
Aerial Battles Won: 42%
Fouls Won/Committed: 18/18
Bostjan says: 7.5
As so/too many times this season it was a tale of two halves for Barcelona. The first was a struggle from the first minute, but somehow Barcelona managed to hang on to the lead, but after the much needed adjustment from the coach Barcelona looked like a completely different team. |
|
| Luis Enrique |
7.4 |
|
Bostjan says: 7.5
Fact is, Lucho got his starting lineup wrong. The midfield was especially suspect immediately after the lineups were announced, and in reality the starting midfield struggled mightily. He realized his mistake and brought in Rakitić at halftime, but maybe he should’ve taken a page out of Paco Jemez’s book who made two tactical subs midway through the first half some weeks ago. |
|
| MOTM - Lionel Messi |
46% |
|
Bostjan says: Messi
Messi once again oozed class in this one and the BB community rewarded him with another Man of the Match award. But this was one of the closest votes since this feature premiered, as Messi edged Bravo by only five votes. To round up the top three, picking up the "majority" of the remaining votes, was Suarez with six percent, respectively. |
|
from Barca Blaugranes - All Posts http://ift.tt/1HMPYsC
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق