Robert Lewandowski | Barcelona

Morty_

Full Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Messages
2,946
Supports
Real Madrid
He would make us much better, still would take him at United. Would rather have Kane but Lewy is alright.
No, i don't think he would make you much better, not at this stage of his career.
 

KiD MoYeS

Good Craig got his c'nuppins
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
32,983
Location
Love is Blind
I thought he was pretty crap over the two games, but maybe our centre-backs are just that good.
 

InfiniteBoredom

Full Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2013
Messages
13,670
Location
Melbourne
Liked him before, probably still do, but stepping on Case’s ankle then faked rolling around was pathetic. Turned out playing for a bunch of cheating dirty cvnts rubs off on you.
 

AltiUn

likes playing with swords after fantasies
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
23,633
Not good enough any more. Did ok just now but didn’t see anything spectacular
For fear of having my head bitten off, I don't think he's ever been all that in big European games. Phenomenal player but a bit like Cavani and Higuaín, I don't think he was always at his best in the box office ties.
 

ti vu

Full Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Messages
12,799
Not good enough any more. Did ok just now but didn’t see anything spectacular
Strange opinion. I think he's about par of what he always is. He's not the Benzema who drift around and good at carry the ball during transition phase. He's more involved than the Haaland in link up play, but ultimately he's a CF who prefer playing closer to goal, than dropping deep. Very few players faster than Varane so he has no chance when we could push the pitch higher up the pitch.

He's still score at good rate, and in team that build around his strength he would still belong to the top tier of forward.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
I suppose he's just going to enjoy living in Barcelona and winning a few trophies here and there.
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,764
Location
india
You know, despite beaing a fitness freak, Benzema is actually older than him and still performing in big games.
Tbf Benzema is a complete footballer unlike Lewandowski who is a pure 9. I’d always take the former first
 

Oranges038

Full Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
12,224
Dominated by Martinez
Physcially outmuscled him and out thought him at every turn. He's on the way down that much is obvious but if he was given the time and space he's still capable of doing damage. He got nothing.

Lewandowski has never liked being roughed up, top eprformance from Martinez, didn't give him a sniff.
 

ti vu

Full Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Messages
12,799
Physcially outmuscled him and out thought him at every turn. He's on the way down that much is obvious but if he was given the time and space he's still capable of doing damage. He got nothing.

Lewandowski has never liked being roughed up, top eprformance from Martinez, didn't give him a sniff.
Martinez got outsmarted by that final chance tbf.

Lewandowski quickly chested the ball from FdJ to Kessie and put on the burner, instead of bringing it down before laying off. Lewandowski speed meant that Casemiro and Martinez wouldn't be able to catch him.

We're lucky to have someone like Varane who has speed to cover. If it were a slower CB partner, the move might have ended differently.

Martinez is aggressive but there was still con to his style. Last season a conceded goals against Benfica and another chance in the first leg, they exploited his aggressiveness by baiting him out too; while his teammates ain't as quick to be able to cover the vast space left behind.

It's a typical performance for a traditional no 9 like Lewandowski in a game where his team couldn't play more in the final third. By forcing Barcelona further away from goal, we reduced a lot of his effectiveness.

However, let not kid ourselves that he had no influence in the game. For Kounde's chance, he occupied both Martinez and Shaw (Shaw likely got instructed to assist Martinez to mark Lewandowski when defending potential cross). That left the space wide open for Kounde to attack. Kounde is of course favorite to beat Sancho in this kind of situation.
 

Oranges038

Full Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
12,224
Martinez got outsmarted by that final chance tbf.

Lewandowski quickly chested the ball from FdJ to Kessie and put on the burner, instead of bringing it down before laying off. Lewandowski speed meant that Casemiro and Martinez wouldn't be able to catch him.

We're lucky to have someone like Varane who has speed to cover. If it were a slower CB partner, the move might have ended differently.

Martinez is aggressive but there was still con to his style. Last season a conceded goals against Benfica and another chance in the first leg, they exploited his aggressiveness by baiting him out too; while his teammates ain't as quick to be able to cover the vast space left behind.

It's a typical performance for a traditional no 9 like Lewandowski in a game where his team couldn't play more in the final third. By forcing Barcelona further away from goal, we reduced a lot of his effectiveness.

However, let not kid ourselves that he had no influence in the game. For Kounde's chance, he occupied both Martinez and Shaw (Shaw likely got instructed to assist Martinez to mark Lewandowski when defending potential cross). That left the space wide open for Kounde to attack. Kounde is of course favorite to beat Sancho in this kind of situation.
Aye, look he had a couple of decent moments. But in reality he had no actual influence over the game, his team lost and he was a passive bystander for most of it.
 

Borys

Statistics Wizard
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
9,102
Location
Bielsko Biala, Poland
I feel for my fellow polish guy, he was bullied yesterday mainly by Martinez but others gave him a hard time as well.

That said, that second leg vs Barca will be played many times to young defenders out there as a demo how to put strikers off balance (not only physically, but also mentally) and not even receiving a yellow card.
 

Suedesi

Full Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
Messages
23,877
Location
New York City
Lucky to score a weak penalty. Did feck all else apart from almost break Casemiro’s ankle with a horrible challenge.
I couldn’t believe it in the summer Laporta pulled all those levers for him. Good player in his day, but those days are probably past him.
 

Acrobat7

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
5,298
Supports
Bayern Munich
Not sure if this is parody

To be fair that was what I thought when that chance happened. Lewandowski had a clear header if Fati would have let the cross pass.
 

Ted Lasso

Full Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2021
Messages
1,930
To be fair that was what I thought when that chance happened. Lewandowski had a clear header if Fati would have let the cross pass.
If only he has a Google Pixel 7 he could have magic erased Fati out so the ball landed on his head.

In general sounds like the perfect role model for the young forward...
 

Blackwidow

Full Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2011
Messages
7,754
Looked washed up in both ties.
He is not. This age argument ist total bullocks as actually strikers get better with age and if there is one that is fit it is him. Him being top speed was not am argument throughout his total career.

At Bayern he had a one-striker-system - but actually it partially in the matches was a two-striker-system with the two knowing where the other was nearly blindly. It is not about the assists - but about sharing the box and outwitting the defenders.

This big game thing is not really true either as you have to see how often throughout his time at Bayern we in that matches in the CL played with a real-one-striker-system. When Lewy was in absolute top form he might have scored bundles like that even against normal opponents - but against top opponents in that system he would not have scored then either.

And that is what actually happens at Barcelona. In the honeymoon phase at the beginning of the season he was absolutely in top condition - especially mentally. Right now he just is normal.
 

Robbie Boy

Full Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
28,220
Location
Dublin
He is not. This age argument ist total bullocks as actually strikers get better with age and if there is one that is fit it is him. Him being top speed was not am argument throughout his total career.

At Bayern he had a one-striker-system - but actually it partially in the matches was a two-striker-system with the two knowing where the other was nearly blindly. It is not about the assists - but about sharing the box and outwitting the defenders.

This big game thing is not really true either as you have to see how often throughout his time at Bayern we in that matches in the CL played with a real-one-striker-system. When Lewy was in absolute top form he might have scored bundles like that even against normal opponents - but against top opponents in that system he would not have scored then either.

And that is what actually happens at Barcelona. In the honeymoon phase at the beginning of the season he was absolutely in top condition - especially mentally. Right now he just is normal.
I was specifically talking about our 2 ties. I pay zero attention to him otherwise.
 

TenonTen

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jan 16, 2022
Messages
874
Supports
Neutral
He's just going through a rough patch for a month or so now. Happens to the biggest legends of the game.


Even an off form Lewandowski scored the pen, nearly converted the equiliser cleared by Varane(tbh that was a great finish placed perfectly from a tough angle under pressure; it's just Varane's brilliance that prevented it). The class is permanent. The guy has like 650 plus career goals already.


He looked a bit disinterested in the tie. But he still looks pretty fast without the ball. Think Barcelona have major tactical issues, an overhyped squad and their version of Ole at the helm.


Least of Barca's problems at the moment. Folks writing him off will eat their words in a couple of months. I remember everyone on here wrote him off in 2018 when he was linked to United. After that he dominated the sport for a long time. Just a blip.
 

Oly Francis

Full Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
3,944
Supports
PSG
He's just going through a rough patch for a month or so now. Happens to the biggest legends of the game.


Even an off form Lewandowski scored the pen, nearly converted the equiliser cleared by Varane(tbh that was a great finish placed perfectly from a tough angle under pressure; it's just Varane's brilliance that prevented it). The class is permanent. The guy has like 650 plus career goals already.


He looked a bit disinterested in the tie. But he still looks pretty fast without the ball. Think Barcelona have major tactical issues, an overhyped squad and their version of Ole at the helm.


Least of Barca's problems at the moment. Folks writing him off will eat their words in a couple of months. I remember everyone on here wrote him off in 2018 when he was linked to United. After that he dominated the sport for a long time. Just a blip.
"Even an off form Lewandowski scored the pen" :lol:

That's a fact Lewa failed to deliver in most big european games in the last decade or so, unless he has one brilliant swan song season like Benzema, nobody will "eat their words".

Also, you do realize he was 29 in 2018 right?
 

ti vu

Full Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Messages
12,799
Not sure if this is parody

Not sure if Lewandowski would get to the ball and score or not, but Fati really made a clearance header. Very strange.

Rewatch this chance, I saw Lewandowski reacted upset immediately.
 

Morty_

Full Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Messages
2,946
Supports
Real Madrid
"Even an off form Lewandowski scored the pen" :lol:

That's a fact Lewa failed to deliver in most big european games in the last decade or so, unless he has one brilliant swan song season like Benzema, nobody will "eat their words".

Also, you do realize he was 29 in 2018 right?
He also doesn't have 650 career goals, 629.
 

criticalanalysis

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
6,224
There is something dislikeable about him for some reason but the criticism he's getting here is a bit bewildering. He's not the sharpest right now but I would absolutely have him here and I don't mean that in a 'he's better than nothing' way. He did get bullied by Martinez but the way Barca played is not really conducive for any no 9 to have a big influence and even then he had some pivotal chances/moments.

He would suit perfectly for our current team. He straddles between an orthodox no 9 but with all the creative hold and link up play outside the box too. He is pretty much the archetypal type of forward we should be looking at in the summer.