Barca v Ajax - Match Review

Neymar had a brilliant debut

Tactics talk

Much had been made of Gerard Pique’s controversial tiki-taka comment over the past week. However, a close look at Barca’s game today shows his logic. Martino has clearly prompted a slightly less pass-dependent style, giving it a trifle more wooden look than what Blaugranas may be used to in recent years. However, it has paid its dividends. Busquets has been given more freedom to move ahead, upfront, and the defence has, at least today, worn a comfortingly settled look. The only blips being Mascherano’s rugged tackling and an occasional slight lack of cohesion between the three forwards when one of the centre midfielders (mostly Iniesta) fails to move ahead as quickly.

Heroes and zeroes:

FC Barcelona:

Heroes

1 Lionel Messi: The Flea was at it again, with a great hat-trick, a wonderful free kick and a nice partnership with Neymar. The duo should be kept an eye on if they maintain this form together.

2 Neymar: Great CL debut. Constant force on the left flank, and can justify his talent and price with regular performances of this sort.

3. Victor Valdes: A few late saves saw him robbing Andres Iniesta of the honour. They say that well begun is half done, and Valdes will be confident after such performances for the later stages.

Zeroes 1. Alexis Sanchez: Seemed all at sea against Blind, and failed to link up with Messi and Neymar well enough. Improved somewhat after the break, but not enough.

2. Javier Mascherano: Did well to mitigate Bojan early on, but his style of doing that would have ruffled a few referees. The penalty-conceding tackle on Thulani Serero was also avoidable. Needs to tone down aggression to be of greater utility.

AFC Ajax

Heroes:

1. Daley Blind: The left-back was in complete command against Alexis Sanchez, and one of the few Ajax men to truly have a great night. Hope his form rubs on to his other teammates.

2. Christian Poulsen: Tried hard to get moves going throughout, but lacked adequate support. His shot at Victor Valdes towards the end was a true expression of his angst, and he was denied only a thoroughly deserved goal.

Zeroes:

1. Bojan: Kept making attacking runs even as he posed lesser threat to Dani and Mascherano than with his passing. Ajax could have benefited if he could have focused on playmaking post the first twenty minutes.

2. Ricardo Van Rhijn: Frequently went out of position, allowing Neymar to run riot on the left flank. Made a couple of notable forward runs, but they proved useless with his defence and midfield largely struggling.