Gäste Forum » 0.dddddddddddd.Simons a tough play

BARCELONA, Spain -- Pep Guardiola, the managerial mastermind who led Barcelona to 14 of 19 possible titles in four seasons, is returning to Camp Nou.This time he will be at the helm of Manchester City as he faces his boyhood club in the Champions League on Wednesday.But how does the best of the teams Guardiola coached from 2008-2012 stack up against the current Barcelona side?Here is a comparison of Barcelonas current players with those led by Guardiola in 2008-09, the team that started the clubs winning era by becoming the first Spanish club to win the Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey in the same season.Barcelona repeated that rare feat of winning the treble of titles two seasons ago under present coach Luis Enrique.---FORWARDSMessi/Etoo/Henry (2008-09) vs. Messi/Suarez/Neymar (now)A budding star at 21 years old, Lionel Messi fully blossomed under Guardiola.The Argentina star won his first of a record five Ballon dOr awards in 2009, after having scored important goals such as his double in a historic 6-2 win at Real Madrid and the second goal in a 2-0 win to beat Manchester United in the Champions League final.Guardiola got one more superb season from striker Samuel Etoo, and squeezed out some of the last vintage goals that Thierry Henry had to offer.Hard to top that, right?Just look at Messis present partners in attack.With Messi moving away from a pure scorer to becoming both scorer and playmaker, Luis Suarez and Neymar have proven to be perfect fits up front. Suarez is the voracious goal-taker that Messi needed to focus on orchestrating, while Neymars dribbling skills and speed are almost unstoppable. The trio broke scoring records in each of the last two seasons.ADVANTAGE: Luis Enriques current attack.---MIDFIELDXavi/Toure/Iniesta (2008-09) vs. Rakitic/Busquets/Iniesta (now)Both teams enjoy the devilry of Andres Iniesta, but the 2008-09 side had both Yaya Toure and an upstart Sergio Busquets sharing time in front of the defense, as opposed to the current teams reliance on Busquets as a holding midfielder.The major difference, however, is the downgrade from Xavi Hernandez to Ivan Rakitic.Rakitic is more athletic and a better tackler than Xavi, but that cannot trump Xavis vision, poise and control of the match. The World Cup winner was Guardiolas on-pitch general of a possession-based passing attack that bewildered opponents.In other words, its a no-brainer.ADVANTAGE: Guardiolas 2008-09 midfield.---DEFENSEDani Alves/Puyol/Pique/Abidal (2008-09) vs. Roberto/Pique/Mascherano/Alba (now)Always at the service of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, Barcelonas defense under Guardiola was easy to overlook.But that 2008-09 team enjoyed Dani Alves and Eric Adibal in their prime, a fully fit Carles Puyol before he was diminished by injuries, and a Gerard Pique hungry to come into his own.Pique now anchors a back line that is under transition.Jordi Alba offers blistering pace on the left flank, but its other two positions are in flux.Sergi Roberto, a converted midfielder, has impressed as Dani Alves replacement so far, while the other central defender position is in dispute between an aging Javier Mascherano and newcomer Samuel Umtiti.ADVANTAGE: Guardiolas 2008-09 defense.---GOALKEEPER: Valdes (2008-09) vs. Ter Stegen (now)Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has just inherited the full-time goalkeeping responsibilities from Claudio Bravo. Despite his passing skills and ability to make spectacular saves, the German needs to improve his decision making to reach the level of Victor Valdes from 2008-09.ADVANTAGE: Guardiolas 2008-09 goalkeeper.---CONCLUSION:Even though this Barcelona side should be favored over City, it has a way to go to equal the overall excellence of Guardiolas first Barcelona squad. Jaylon Smith Jersey .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Tony Tolbert Jersey . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. https://www.cowboysjerseysale.com/ . Argentina winger Ezequiel Lavezzi and France midfielder Blaise Matuidi scored, with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting up both despite having a poor game by his high standards. 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TOKYO -- With temperatures soaring, Nick Kyrgios made sure an injured fan at the Japan Open had plenty of water.The sixth-seeded Australian advanced to the second round by beating American qualifier Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-2, but the match was suspended for about 10 minutes in the first set after a fan fell on some steps in the stands.Kyrgios, often criticized for his volatile behavior, sent some water up to the injured spectator while temperatures rose to 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) at the start of the second set.Kyrgios will next face Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, who beat Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1.Hes a good friend of mine, we get along well. Hes going up in age but hes learning to adapt, Kyrgios said of Stepanek. His level is still high and he can still do damage, especially on a surface like this.Second-seeded Gael Monfils also advanced, defeating Japanese wild-card entry Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-1.The Frenchman had six aces, and dropped only nine points on serve. Monfils will next face Davis CCup teammate Gilles Simon, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 7-5, 4-6, 6-0.dddddddddddd.Simons a tough player for me. He asks you to have a great game plan to play against him, Monfils said. In the past Ive tried to search for a solution. Im going to have work on a game plan, and work on something different to defeat him a second time.Fifth-seeded David Goffin defeated another Japanese wildcard, Yoshihito Nishioka, and will next face Jiri Vesely. Goffin won 7-5, 6-2, while Vesely defeated Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-0, 6-4.Seventh-seeded Ivo Karlovic beat Federico Delbonis 7-6 (6), 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5).Feliciano Lopez was the only loser among the seeded players, retiring because of illness when trailing James Duckworth 4-2 in the third set. The eighth-seeded Spaniard won the first set 7-6 (5), but Duckworth took the second 7-6 (4).Duckworth will next face Juan Monaco of Argentina. ' ' '