Barcelona – Athletic Liveblog

Dani Alves. It’s hard to even know what to say sometimes. He’s an absurd footballer.

There’s no one like him in the world.

His tactical impact on matches is remarkable. Just amazing to watch.

In this match Pep pretty much tells Dani – you’re on your own out there. We need to fix the left flank.

And Alves plays sublime football.

This entire team reached deep inside to win this match after Athletic tied it up.

Villa – was very strong today again. You get the sense that he knew the team was dragging and would need to up his game.

Iniesta raised his game to a level that perhaps no other midfielder in the world can play at.

Xavi – was tremendous throughout. It was only in the second half however when the movement from the other players became dynamic enough for his passes to start producing danger.

Messi – he was electric in the second half. The runs were astounding. He knew that this was a moment in which he would have to take the responsibility to score. And he did.

Finally, Sergio Busquets. He’s become phenomenal footballer. He’s now one of the 5 best holding midfielders in the world. IMO he and Schweinsteiger are the best.

Moving Busquets back to DM reestablished the team’s capacity to build up play and shape possession.

All that said – this team is dead tired. They needed to tap into a very deep reserve of energy to pull out this match. There are only so many times a team can do that.

Puyol’s injury is a major problem right now. Moving Abidal to CB stabilizes the middle but hurts the left flank.

I liked the idea of playing Busquets and Masch. But I think Pep needs to change the alignment. They simply can’t afford to remove Busquets from DM.

It’s not even a knock on Masch – it’s what Busi brings to DM. His touch is just phenomenal – probably the best touch of any DM in the world. And his ability to play one touch football is almost unparalleled outside of Xavi and Iniesta.

Masch may have less experience at CB than Busi does. But if one of either Busi or Masch need to play CB, I would much rather experiment on Masch at CB and keep Busi at DM to move the ball quickly.

I think Masch could be an excellent CB in the Barca system. That’s the position in the Barca system where his skill set fits best in many ways. At DM Masch’s ball skills are fine for Barca but not great. At CB Masch’s skills on the ball would be a real plus. And his positional sense and pace would be real strengths as well.

I’d like to see Pep experiment with Masch at CB and Busi at DM while Puyol is out.