Barca seem to be suffering trying to play a formation to accomodate Mascherano

Totally agree Uk

Mascherano's first game for Barca and they got beat by Hercules.

hes hardly played though has he? away from home in a tough game is probably why they bought him but they don't need him and Busquets for this type of game, would probably be a lot more effective with another forward in there. At the moment they have no plan B and when teams stick so many men behind the ball its very difficult to create chances playing the way Barcelona do.

To be honest im not sure why they bought him unless hes gonna play instead of Busquets which isn't looking likely at the moment.

i would maybe agree if ukmallia wasnt a ****ucker

he hasnt played because his first game was 0-2 home defeat to Hercules where he was pulled off for being poo

they have so much of the ball he's basically positioned 35 yards from their goal as opposed to so much deeper for Liverpool and it's embarassing seeing how much the play slows down whenever he gets on the ball.

Another Hleb-esque mistake methinks.

Busquets is a 100 times the player Masch is.

In this team only, may I add.

Busquets the superior player, should have bought a striker instead of back pass Mascherano

barca are ot playing a formation to suit masch. busquets has been playing that role this season.

masch should be replaced by Keita who can break from midfield

I think Masch is a good player but he suits a more defensive set up like Liverpool. Not Barca.

By playing for Barca my thinking is he is actually taking away from the teams attacking potential (Obviously) and with the attacking ability of player Barca have that is not acceptable really. Also I think due to this Barca are now under more pressure in their own half. Not so much in this game however.

Barca players arent passing to him

Must have the easiest job in football, just has to stand there and doesnt even have to run.

I think at Liverpool also it was a lot easier to just stand and not do as much without getting noticed as half the team do that anyway, we are not the pass and move team of the glory days no more and IMO the players are quite lazy, at least some of them. Barca for all their ability also have a great work ethic IMO and pass and move, the whole team joins in, even the defence. This makes Mascherano look even more like a statue doing nothing, maybe he may learn to attack at Barca, at least pass and move.

Puyol is playing the ball from deep!

Mental note if Mascherano plays Barca have 10 men