Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan T
I'm Arsenal, playing primarily with Giroud up front. He just never seems to bury anything much. Seems to be a much better player for them this year in Real life than he has been for my FM team
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You're better in terms of talent than my Bilbao team - at least on an individual level I wager.
My thoughts:
High pressing. Try to disrupt them before they can get the ball in the offensive third of the pitch. Preferably right around the midfield line.
I don't believe you can just sit back and play 11 behind the ball and hope to weather the storm and counter with long balls against Barca. They're too good...they'll find a way through. Hell, they even did against my Juve side in our first matchup (subsequently played them more straight-up and had better results).
I don't have a problem with a deeper, narrower defensive line against Barca, but I think you want an active midfield (ideally one that outnumbers them) that's pressing.
And even then - it's going to be a tight game (as it should be realistically).