JimmyGuitaristBest game of the season so far. Valencia started brilliantly and were by quite far the better team. I wouldn't say they dominated, but they were certainly the more comfortable team. You'd have to say Barcelona were average and the own goal made it even harder for them to get into there stride because it's difficult mentally to take control of the game when you're losing from an own goal, but they got a goal quickly after the own goal and you thought they might then take control more; but the main problem for Barca in this match was how they lined up. It was 4-3-3'ish, but Alves had obviously been told to play very, very high up the pitch and it was basically a 3-4-3. The problem with this is Valencia acknowledged how high Alves was and constantly exploited the left wing on the counter-attack; where 2 of there goals came from. Another problem with Barca in this match was they hardly ever defended from the front and, especially with a 3-4-3, it's vital.
In the second half though, with some changes made, Barcelona did eventually dominated and probably could've even won the game but 2-2 was a fair result overall.

22.09.2011