TRon

Not having it. We can still put out a very good side, and we need to make our quality count in the same way Barcelona did against us.

Not much else they could say really, we had a good go, and if we'd scored early doors it might have been different. But over the 90 mins they were definitely better so not sure what else we could have done.

The truth is probably in between. All of the midfielders made mistakes, and all of them had good moments as well.

Barca are a good side like. I thought they would be a bit naive and our press would have them flustered and making more mistakes, but after the first 20 mins they dealt with it very well. Not many teams are going to keep possession as well as they did when we were getting in their faces.

Wissa's injury above all. We paid over the odds just so we'd have a proven striker this season ready to go, and he's been ruled out for 4-6weeks before even kicking a ball for us. It's a massive kick to the balls given our only other striker is a 23 year old with no experience in the Premier.

What is his best though? He's got a decent delivery when given the chance, and he can strike the ball beautifully. But a good defender can shut both of those down if he doesn't have the pace or trickery to get past them.

He wasn't actually that good yesterday, both goals were down to our mistakes as much as him. Schar might have been disoriented by the head injury so he found space for the header, and the second one Burn passed it straight to him. Fair play, it was a glorious strike though.

He did some really good work retaining the ball and moving it out of the midfield scrum in the first place. Just a shame he messed it up with the pass at the end of it.

We should be prepared for it this time and the manic press is also our strength as well. If we don't want to go toe to toe on that aspect, we can sit off and pass through them to hit them on the counter.

Gonna need more than that to convince me he was poor like. Break it down.

He was the worst IMO, Joelinton was better able to handle their quick movement. If Barca were thinking of buying him a couple of years ago and he fancied that as an eventual destination, he won't have done any favours with yesterday's performance.

He was our best midfielder IMO. Both Bruno and Tonali were off a bit, Joelinton was the one who seemed able to up his game to their level.

Feel sorry for him. Pretty sure he could have had 3-4 assists already this season, but his stats are getting mangled by our lack of a decent forward up front.

Agree. I thought he was very decent when he came on in the last PL game, and yesterday he showed some good football under pressure only to blow it with his final pass. He's shown signs of it before as well though, so he really needs to put it all together soon otherwise you have to wonder if it's just part of his make up.

I'd like to see us do to them what Barca did to us. Make the difference in quality count. They are well organised but we have more quality on the pitch, and if we set up right we should be able to pass around their press and nullify their home advantage.

Someone mentioned this feels like a rerun of the CL season from a couple of years ago when we just couldn't catch a break with injuries. First we get Isak downing tools which affected early results, then despite strengthening our squad significantly in numbers, we are getting injuries in key areas which means we are basically back to square one. Tough game, but we can put a serviceable side out. Howe just has to work out a way to get a result from 90mins of football.

I sort of disagree tbh. I felt Barca were brilliant at keeping possession despite our efforts to hustle them off the ball. The danger of going over-aggressive is that you risk bookings and sendings off, and also you get knackered earlier and then they pick you off when you are tired. We saw that even in the first half when we started to gas after the first 30 mins. I suppose not every team is Barcelona, but it does show at this level, there is a difference in technical level, and that is what premium fees and wages buys you.

I agree with you in principle, but I watched a PSG game recently and was surprised by just how much noise they make these days. It's not as organic, you are right there, but it was still better than the silence you get at a lot of grounds where the fans are so entitled they feel their club should be winning as a birthright.

He could have had two assists with a proper striker up front.

This. It's easy to say they weren't all that, but over 60% possession against us at home takes some doing. They passed the ball brilliantly through our press.

He was awful all night but he got a goal. That was a mis-hit as well tbh.

If our players ever start thinking they should be getting superclub wages, they might want to have a look at the sort of skill which commands those wages. This lad is a great example.

Schar and Burn have been brilliant in the PL, but Botman looks top class when you come up to this level.

Absolutely. On another day we get a result there, even though their football was class, their goals came from two mistakes tbh. Schar should have been off the pitch for that first one, then Burn teed up Rashford, who hit a beauty tbf.

Got a bit of a football lesson tbh. We gave it a good go, but they showed how to beat the press.