Daniel1980

If you watched the game, you probably saw how heavily marked he was. Drogba doesn't run and we didn't play Andre. He had no one to pass to. We scored thanks to his corner kick. You have a selective memory. He wasn't great vs. Everton, but he assisted Costa with a through-ball. He was nothing special today, but he assisted vs. United. Against City we played too negatively, but he was good defensively and created the only moment we had besides the goal when Costa nearly scored. He assisted against Arsenal with a sublime through-ball. One sub-par game and it's suddenly a trend. This is silly.

Didn't he assist for the only goal we scored? He was heavily marked for most of the game, and we played without a traditional runner for him to pass to. What else was he supposed to do?

If we were going to play for 1-0, we should have controlled the ball deep in our half with sideway passing instead of giving it to them. Silly. But whatever. We're still unbeaten, we gained a point over City.

Willian and Hazard better make runs today.

We really need our midfielders to have a good game.

I'm kind of not surprised. I was so sure Costa would play when Jose said he wouldn't play. But when Jose said he has some chance, it made me less certain, actually. Jose's mindgames.

You don't even need to go that far back. 2012-2013 season. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/20020062

Sorry. Maybe they did get the lineup right. It seems a bit too good to be true.

^^^ It's just a prediction, probably wrong.

It only confirms that you're only as good as your last season. Di Maria was incredibly frustrating and inconsistent at Madrid until last year, far more inconsistent than Hazard.

So were Jose's words that "Costa has a chance to start" mindgames and he actually won't start? It did sound fishy when Jose admitted it.

Yeah, Busquets's decline coincided with Xavi and Iniesta's, and that's no coincidence. He seemed amazing when Xavi and Iniesta were in their prime, but he just had to clean up, intercept and read the game well. A DM doesn't have much to do when his team dominates the game. But now that Xavi and Iniesta declined, Busquets shortcomings are very evident: he's not strong and quick enough to close down spaces, he's not great in the air, and he's very lightweight for a DM. He's good in tight spaces, but he gets horribly exposed when he has to deal with space and pace.

I just want a win. I don't care who scores, I don't care who under-performs. It's a must win. If we don't win, the media will have a field day. We must win this.

Many Barca fans are demanding Busquets and Iniesta to be benched. They consider Busquets a liability and Iniesta useless. It says a lot about how much they declined if even the fans that once thought they could do no wrong are turning against them. Incredibly, Barcelona's midfield is now their weakness rather than their strength.

You said Madrid's midfielders are fantastic and superior to ours.I said it's not hard to look fantastic playing against a slow aging midfield. The fact that Barcelona had conceded 0 goals has absolutely nothing to do with the topic. That fact alone doesn't make their midfield good. What does Chelsea's conceding a few goals have to do with it? Really strange jumps in logic. It's not like Real Madrid didn't concede to anyone. They conceded more goals than us.

We didn't lose to Burney or Everton. What does it have to do with anything?

It says a lot about the quality of opposition. Barca lost even to a weakened PSG.

It's not hard to be fantastic against a slow, aging midfield where everyone is out of form.

Cesc must be glad he's not part of it. Barcelona will need to find the new scapegoat now that Cesc isn't there.

As I said before, Iniesta has been poor for over a year, with only occasional flashes of brilliance. His reputation was basically the only thing saving him.

It takes some pressure off the lads, but it's an incredible opportunity. We must win this game.

Great read, thanks! If United lose, they will be 13 points behind actually. They really need to get points in the upcoming fixtures, and it wouldn't be easy.

Seriously, his neck looks almost bigger than his head.

Maybe. Hopefully Costa plays so Jose won't be forced to use either of them as a CF.

Now that Jose said Costa has a chance of playing, I actually feel less confident that he'll play. Mindfuck.