Originally Posted by
Carlos Tevez
Originally Posted by Rap Sizzle
As much as I love the fact that we got the win I'm unhappy with the way we played for most of the game; way too conservative. I'm not sure if it was Pep's order to avoid Real's congested midfield or if we missed Iniesta's ability to create, but the first half was a real bore. We put very little effort into pushing forward, even when Madrid was down to 10 men. I support this team all the way but there was too much overreacting on fouls. With all that said, I'll take the 2 away goals win. I just hope for a cleaner and more attractive game at Camp Nou.
Barca appeared conservative because Real packed their own side of the pitch. Real often had 2-3 guys up front and the rest were back behind the ball which gave Barca little room to operate going forward which forced them to make a million sideways/backwards passes.
Messi was also forced to drop back into a deeper role which allowed Real to close in on him and prevent him from testing Casillas.
Sure, the Pepe red card was controversial but we've seen refs award reds for similar tackles in the past. Anyways, Real were at home and they're obviously stacked full of great players yet they were very poor today, in large part due to Mourinho's ultra conservative tactics. It's hard to feel bad for Real when they made little effort to win the match at home. Mourinho even said in the post match press conference the aim was to go into the 2nd half 0-0, make a few changes and go for the win "in the 3rd phase of the match" (Mourinho's words). Basically he was content with a stalemate for the majority of the match (at home) but then his plans got messed up when Pepe was sent off.
The fact of the matter is Real have yet to figure Barca out. Not only have they been outscored and seen Barca dominate possession, but Real have totally struggled to create chances and score goals vs. Barca. In 4 matches so far, Real have only scored twice. One of the goals was a PK, the other goal was in extra time. Basically Real Madrid have not scored a goal from open play in regular time vs Barca so far this season. Maybe the ref was harsh today but Real's problems are beyond controversial refereeing decisions. I'll even go one step further and blame Mourinho's tactics for Real's struggles vs. Barca. Dating back to last season, Mourinho has met Barca 8 times, has won just 2 of those matches and has been shutout 5 times. What annoys me about Mourinho is that the guy has the likes of Benzema, Adebayor, Di Maria, Ronaldo, Kaka, Ozil, etc at his disposal yet he's content with seeing his opponents hold onto the ball for 75% of the match while his world class players are basically forced to chase shadows for 90 minutes.
The counter attacking approach employed by Mourinho has resulted in 1 goal from open play in 4 matches...try something different for god's sake.