always in the referee's face as well who I thought had a decent game.
Thought the ref was excellent against an almost constant backdrop of cheating and harrassment. Got all the key decisions right, although second Sevilla red card was questionable, but game looked over by then anyway.
For all the flare and skill played by Barca it is almost ruined by the disgusting amount of play acting that goes on. The amount of times Suarez goes down screaming when he has not been touched is shameful and they know there a multitude of cameras filming every inch of the play and yet they carry on regardless.
Why wouldn't they carry on? They never get punished, neither when the referee doesn't buy it or when he does and they get an unfair advantage. FIFA has never admitted it's a problem and it's something that needs to be handled on a global scale. There's no point in stamping it out in England, only for our teams to suffer in every competition (both at club and country level) against foreign opponents.
A better final than the FA Cup & Coppa Italia, but riddled with gamesmanship, whinging, diving, play-acting & cynicism. Top level football has become an exercise in conning referees and getting opponents sent off. I hope Euro 16 is decided by football and not by referees. The Scottish cup final has been the best game of the weekend, albeit with supposedly inferior players and teams.
Me too. Cant stand the cynical way they play act, and cant stand the way they play their football - lets have a shot on goal rather than a million passes around the halfway line.
If you don't enjoy watching Iniesta, Messi, Suarez and Neymar playing football then i'd like to know who you do enjoy watching?
Me too. Cant stand the cynical way they play act, and cant stand the way they play their football - lets have a shot on goal rather than a million passes around the halfway line.
If you don't enjoy watching Iniesta, Messi, Suarez and Neymar playing football then i'd like to know who you do enjoy watching?
I think he's highlighting the shame of all the dramatic rolling about, complaining to refs and general whingeing.
I agree with that, but I did love seeing them all live.
Me too. Cant stand the cynical way they play act, and cant stand the way they play their football - lets have a shot on goal rather than a million passes around the halfway line.
If you don't enjoy watching Iniesta, Messi, Suarez and Neymar playing football then i'd like to know who you do enjoy watching?
Nuffink better than Bury v Rochdale on a cold December night, watching them clog the brown stuff out of each other with puddles making it impossible to pass on the ground - aye, that's greet !
Seriously, they are bl***dy good players that's (obviously) for sure - just cant stand watching them play with all the play-acting and also the million passes around the half-way line.
I may be biased here as I am half Catalan and follow Barca (whereas I support Charlton). I agree about the play acting but have to qualify that by saying that Barca seem to be the worst offenders simply because it is they who are in possession 70% of the time with the front three running at defenders for much of the game and expecting to be clattered. I just think they have learnt to take the hit without being badly hurt. That still doesn't excuse the rolling around and imaginary card waving, not that those activities are in any way exclusive to Barca players. Having said that, there have been half a dozen games this season where they have had lumps kicked out of them and the ref has done nothing to protect them, most notably the home game against Valencia a few weeks ago. I have to disagree about the passing for the sake of it. Under Enrique, Barca have been a lot more direct in their play with a lot of long passes that would never have been seen under Guardiola.
I certainly wouldn't claim the acting, diving and the demanding that other teams' players should be sent off is exclusive to Barça (though the idea of Luis 'bite me' Suarez doing it is beyond Irony) but it just seemed that the moment Barcelona were reduced to ten men, their main game plan was to have the same done to Sevilla, and sadly, it seemed only a matter of time before the referee gave them what they wanted. The fact is that Iniesta and Messi are a joy to watch (I suppose) especially if you support their club. Personally, I live here in Barcelona, and to say it gets tiring listening to the Catalan press praising them, and turning a blind eye to some of the other stuff the team does is tiring to say the least. I saw two cup finals on saturday, and would happily accept the Barça win after seeing Palace lose earlier, but there is a part of me that sees the Barcelona master plan as simply suffocating the opposition, and I really dont see anything attractive about that (though it's possibly more effective tan the current Charlton system of allowing the opposition to do what they like whenever they feel like it).
"Tiki-taka" has always been a negative tactic. To be fair to them, Barcelona at their high point (about 5 years ago) weren't too bad to watch. That Spanish international team that won the World Cup (four 1-0 wins in the knockout phase) and two European Championships were dire to watch at times. When they did turn it on, you could see they were better than that.
Of all the play-acters Dani Alves is the worst. I wouldn't wish injury on anyone but if I was playing against him I'd go 2 footed at about bollox height on him then say "hay algo de puta llorar por, coño"
Comments
If you don't enjoy watching Iniesta, Messi, Suarez and Neymar playing football then i'd like to know who you do enjoy watching?
I agree with that, but I did love seeing them all live.
Seriously, they are bl***dy good players that's (obviously) for sure - just cant stand watching them play with all the play-acting and also the million passes around the half-way line.
I agree about the play acting but have to qualify that by saying that Barca seem to be the worst offenders simply because it is they who are in possession 70% of the time with the front three running at defenders for much of the game and expecting to be clattered. I just think they have learnt to take the hit without being badly hurt. That still doesn't excuse the rolling around and imaginary card waving, not that those activities are in any way exclusive to Barca players. Having said that, there have been half a dozen games this season where they have had lumps kicked out of them and the ref has done nothing to protect them, most notably the home game against Valencia a few weeks ago.
I have to disagree about the passing for the sake of it. Under Enrique, Barca have been a lot more direct in their play with a lot of long passes that would never have been seen under Guardiola.
The fact is that Iniesta and Messi are a joy to watch (I suppose) especially if you support their club. Personally, I live here in Barcelona, and to say it gets tiring listening to the Catalan press praising them, and turning a blind eye to some of the other stuff the team does is tiring to say the least. I saw two cup finals on saturday, and would happily accept the Barça win after seeing Palace lose earlier, but there is a part of me that sees the Barcelona master plan as simply suffocating the opposition, and I really dont see anything attractive about that (though it's possibly more effective tan the current Charlton system of allowing the opposition to do what they like whenever they feel like it).
Of all the play-acters Dani Alves is the worst. I wouldn't wish injury on anyone but if I was playing against him I'd go 2 footed at about bollox height on him then say "hay algo de puta llorar por, coño"