FC Barcelona Thread

Agreed.

Best part is like I said, I don't think they ever exepected him to become THIS good.

Cesc, Pique, Messi, Iniesta and many others, big things were expected from since youth. But I doubt if his own father even knew his son would become such a star!
 
I think Drekkard might appreciate Busquet more now! :LOL:

Someone told me, the antics of barca players is more of the pressure staying on the team then conning the refs. They`re conning the manager to stay on .
 
This is the most amusing thing I've seen this week:

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has blasted City and warned them off making a move for Busquets, while he also aimed a swipe at Arsenal for their raids on the club's academy by luring away their best young players.

"Manchester City want to remove our players and want to destabilise us," said Rosell. "It also happens with Arsenal, who come knocking for youth football players and offer them a lot of money."

Barcelona president. Talking about having players de-stabilised. By Arsenal. I'm surprised he can even see through that much hypocrisy.
 
I don't see you point Beach?
Where is the hypocrisy?
I really don't see it....

First of all, never ever take statements like the one about Busquets and City serious....in his position he simply has to react one way or another. making this statement is the most harmless (and purely symbolic) way of reacting. Rossll knows damn well that if Busquets is charmed by City's intrest, he's gone.

The thing about Arsenal and the youth players is genuine and i understand him completely. Here are barcelona with that wonderfull academy where kids are nurtured from a very young age. Arsenal has it's own academy, but is not near as good as Barcelona's. Yes that academy produced Wilshere, but apart from that Wenger uses it to win money, top off-load 95% of the players to lesser clubs and winning an enormous amount of money by doing so. This isn't a cardinal sin from Arsenal's point of view, but i can see Barcelona's point that they want to avoid another Fabregas scenario.

IMO you take all this way too serious...
 
gerd said:
I don't see you point Beach?
Where is the hypocrisy?
I really don't see it....

First of all, never ever take statements like the one about Busquets and City serious....in his position he simply has to react one way or another. making this statement is the most harmless (and purely symbolic) way of reacting. Rossll knows damn well that if Busquets is charmed by City's intrest, he's gone.

The thing about Arsenal and the youth players is genuine and i understand him completely. Here are barcelona with that wonderfull academy where kids are nurtured from a very young age. Arsenal has it's own academy, but is not near as good as Barcelona's. Yes that academy produced Wilshere, but apart from that Wenger uses it to win money, top off-load 95% of the players to lesser clubs and winning an enormous amount of money by doing so. This isn't a cardinal sin from Arsenal's point of view, but i can see Barcelona's point that they want to avoid another Fabregas scenario.

IMO you take all this way too serious...
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I actually don't take it seriously at all - I think it's almost like politics tbh. It's all a farce and the way you see things is determined entirely by your prejudices coming into an argument.

But.

This is Barcelona. For about 2 years they ran an orchestrated campaign to talk about Cesc Fabregas every single time a microphone was put in front of their face. Almost every Spanish member of their first XI made statements to the press about how much happier/better/nicer things would be for Cesc in Barcelona. While he was not just an Arsenal player but the Arsenal captain.

So when their president comes out complaining about hearing things in the media about his players, I just find it funny, tis all.
 
If Arsenal would have won the EPL or the CL during that period, Cesc would have stayed.
It's the story of Adna Januzaj: 12 years old super talent, playing for FC Brussels.
Anderlecht simply took him over and 3 years later in february 2010 Anderlecht wanted to give him his first contract and started negotioating months in advance. What happened? Adnan Januzaj went to Man Utd and Anderlecht cried wolf hile they themselves had no scrupules to 'tear' away Januzaj from Brussels.

This is football, there is a pyramid. The outrage is very selective...the fact that Arsenal used Beveren (not any more now) as a feerder club is never mentioned...Arsenal and Valencia are vitims of Barcelona. I wonder how many hunderds of clubs are poached by Arsenal and Valencia...

If another club gets young players, it's poaching or stealing. If my club does it, they have a brillaint scouting system. The only way to do this more or less fair is like in the NBA, with a yearly draft...but to that effective you goota heve some sort of European super league, which could mena the end or a serious blow for grass roots football.

I feel for litle clubs like Crewe Alexandra, Brussels and Racing Genk (they are merely examples), but not for giants like Arsenal and Valencia (and that club is in serious debts aswell, they shouldn't be allowed to buy players...Valencia ridiculized Genk in last year's CL, but Genk is hte club with the healthy balance...that is unfair competition too).

Conclusion: i've nothing against both Valncia and Arsenal, but i don't see why they should complain. Footbal = dog eat dog.
 
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Oh undoubtedly, as you say it's dog eat dog and usually the bigger dog eats the smaller dog. It just seems strange that Barca are complaining about this, when in fact they are doing it too. Even Iniesta, one of the jewels in La Masia's crown, was poached from Albacete while playing youth football for them. It's a similar story with Thiago Alcantara, who played for Flamengo in Brazil for a a few seasons as a youth before being lured to the Nou Kamp. As you say it's the way of the world, but it's one thing if an imporvished club (such as FC Brussels, Bradford City, TSV Paehl) complain about it, but it has smacks of duplicity when a club who are themselves big proponents of such things complain about it.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
Oh undoubtedly, as you say it's dog eat dog and usually the bigger dog eats the smaller dog. It just seems strange that Barca are complaining about this, when in fact they are doing it too. Even Iniesta, one of the jewels in La Masia's crown, was poached from Albacete while playing youth football for them. It's a similar story with Thiago Alcantara, who played for Flamengo in Brazil for a a few seasons as a youth before being lured to the Nou Kamp. As you say it's the way of the world, but it's one thing if an imporvished club (such as FC Brussels, Bradford City, TSV Paehl) complain about it, but it has smacks of duplicity when a club who are themselves big proponents of such things complain about it.
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This.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
Oh undoubtedly, as you say it's dog eat dog and usually the bigger dog eats the smaller dog. It just seems strange that Barca are complaining about this, when in fact they are doing it too. Even Iniesta, one of the jewels in La Masia's crown, was poached from Albacete while playing youth football for them. It's a similar story with Thiago Alcantara, who played for Flamengo in Brazil for a a few seasons as a youth before being lured to the Nou Kamp. As you say it's the way of the world, but it's one thing if an imporvished club (such as FC Brussels, Bradford City, TSV Paehl) complain about it, but it has smacks of duplicity when a club who are themselves big proponents of such things complain about it.
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quality post.

wasnt Messi poached from Argentina also?
 
jonneymendoza said:
quality post.

wasnt Messi poached from Argentina also?
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Oh come on, jonney. Messi was poached because his parents couldn't afford the treatment to make him grow. Barcelona payed that for them. Do you really think that nowadays Messi would stay with Barcelona he felt misused. Don't you think Newell's Old Boys got better from it? What would have happened if all this didn't happen? In the best case scenario, Newells Old Boys would have won a coppa Libertadores and then Messi would have been sold to a big European club and yes, they might have had more money for him. In the worst case scenario (and not so improbable) Messi would never have made it as a top player...

If you compare what Barcelona did to what Guillou, Wenger and Arsenal did to Beveren...i would know what to choose. Newells is club that still exists and that is a big club. Beveren was destroyed after Guilloux and Wenger left. They had to make a fusion with another club and now there is a club with a similar name (Beveren Waasland) playing in the same stadium in first division but the team still exist because of the other team. It would be like Fulham rescuing Arsenal by ginving them all their money and afterwards calling the club Arsenal-Fulham...

If what Barcelona did is "poahing" what should one call what Guillou and Wenger did?
I don't condemn Guillou, Wenger and Arsenal for it (technically Arsenal had nothing to do with Beveren, it was "only" Wenger), but once again the outrage is very selective. If Arsenal would have poached Messi you would be over the moon and defend them.
 
Beach just said it was hypocritical, which it was, because Barcelona do it, Arsenal do it, all the bigger teams do. Just because Arsenal do it, it doesn't make what Rosell said not hypocritical?

I think there has been some wires crossed somewhere? because beach's original comment was to just call Rosell out as a hypocrite....which he is with that comment.
 
BobbyBox said:
Beach just said it was hypocritical, which it was, because Barcelona do it, Arsenal do it, all the bigger teams do. Just because Arsenal do it, it doesn't make what Rosell said not hypocritical?

I think there has been some wires crossed somewhere? because beach's original comment was to just call Rosell out as a hypocrite....which he is with that comment.
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Agree with that Bobby. But like i said people are very selective in their outrage...
It's always other clubs who are wrong. Things get very bad if other teams do it.
IMO no team is worse than another, not Barcelona, not Arsenal, not Valencia, not Gretna, not Differdange...
 
gerd said:
Agree with that Bobby. But like i said people are very selective in their outrage...
It's always other clubs who are wrong. Things get very bad if other teams do it.
IMO no team is worse than another, not Barcelona, not Arsenal, not Valencia, not Gretna, not Differdange...
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Differdange? is that not one of the 'houses' in Harry Potter? ;))
 
Unless I am not remembering correctly, Arsenal were going after youth players, offering them a chance to play. Not taking/inquiring about senior players. And not publicly "disrupting" the team. I can't think of another team that has gone about this the way Barcelona did, with the majority of the team making statements on the issue.
 
IMO systematicaly going after youth players is more of a nuisance than what Barcelona (and all other club do).
But don't understand me wrong: i don't think all those clubs do something wrong, because it is inherent to the system.
This discussion started when Beachryan called Barcelona's president an hypocrite. I never disagreed with him.
On the other hand: every other president or coach/manager would do exactly the same thing in similar circumstances. So the outrage is very selective and subjective.
If Ferguson would do the same (and he would), i would be among the first to point out that he is acting hypocritically and beachryan would defend him. I hope this puts this discussion a litle bit in perspective. As often i was rather vehement in my reaction, don't take it too literally.

I guess i should kind of apologize: i'm sorry...
 
Been ill for some time, now recovering...

About the hipocresy debate
Of course Rosell is an hypocrite. As most of club managers and coaches are at the end of the day, and specially among big clubs.

Barcelona behavior in the "Cesc" conflict was bad as well as has been Wenger's policy of snapping young children through legal holes with money and then moaning about other clubs who have more money than him. The world of football has too much money around and chairmen try to protect their positions in the market by the means they can. I hate it as well as you guys, but sadly that's how it is.

Now, trying to imply Rosell is particularly worse, or the "biggest hypocrite" is quite naive and in my opinion is down to the trend of some posters here who only post negative things about specific clubs.

By the way, I see no talks about the referee of the Deportivo-Barcelona this weekend. Strange, as some weeks ago it seemed Barcelona was the devil team that bought referees in the win against Sevilla. This weekend the referee did even worse against Barcelona and nearly costed us the match. But it's not that popular to talk about the referees when they act against Barcelona, isn't it?

An unexistant penalty against, the wrong sending off of Mascherano, an unexistant foul that costed us the 3rd goal... And Deportivo players diving and feigning injuries... That's the reality of ALL clubs in La Liga, like it or not. It's the antics of the whole competition, like it or not. Referees can be stupidly wrong against Barcelona, but even in that conditions, we have a living legend like Messi that brings home the three points despite the ref.

Was Barcelona benefited against Sevilla? Yes! Was Barcelona robbed at La Coruña? Absolutely. That's for the short minded around talking about referees ONLY when they benefit Barcelona.

Thanks to Messi that delivered another legendary performance. 3 goals and a post. He's getting better at shooting and free kicks and is about to break Pelé record of most goals in a natural year. Scary. He's only 25...
 
And this second post is to talk only about football, so it's more important than the previous one!

How an amazing game Deportivo-Barcelona was! 9 goals and some more chances. Barcelona was very unlucky, but it was a joy for the spectator.

A genius stroke by Falcao (again) and Atletico seem to be serious in their intentions to be title contenders. Big news for La Liga! Big effort by Simeone, the man behind it all.

And another solid victory for Malaga, that seems to be balancing very well the Champions League efforts with La Liga, something medium and small clubs struggle with when they finally access the big competitions.

Valencia, on the other side, seems very irregular this season. They will struggle to get to the Champions League if Pellegrino doesn't react. They need to accomodate 2 creative DMFs in the same team now that Banega is recovered.
 
I've just heard Sid Low about Falcao. It turns out that at the beginning of the season journalists asked him what aspect of the game needed to be better to make him an even better player. Falcao answered that the first priority would be free kicks. He said that until then he had never scored a goal from a free kick.
At the end of the game against Sociedad, with a 0-0 score Atletico Madrid get a free kick and Radamel Falcao steps forwards to take it. As Sid Lowe explains, one could think "what an arrogant little sod". But after the match Simeoni says that Falcao had started practising free kicks for hours since the beginning of the season and that against Sociedad, he felt ready for it and of course he scored. What a great player.

I know individual awards doens't make sense in a team sports like football, and i f you really want to give individual awards then only the best player should get it. That is beyond reasonable doubt Lionel Messi.

But...

I want Falcao to get the Ballon D'or. He is fantastic and he is underestimated.
 
gerd said:
I've just heard Sid Low about Falcao. It turns out that at the beginning of the season journalists asked him what aspect of the game needed to be better to make him an even better player. Falcao answered that the first priority would be free kicks. He said that until then he had never scored a goal from a free kick.
At the end of the game against Sociedad, with a 0-0 score Atletico Madrid get a free kick and Radamel Falcao steps forwards to take it. As Sid Lowe explains, one could think "what an arrogant little sod". But after the match Simeoni says that Falcao had started practising free kicks for hours since the beginning of the season and that against Sociedad, he felt ready for it and of course he scored. What a great player.

I know individual awards doens't make sense in a team sports like football, and i f you really want to give individual awards then only the best player should get it. That is beyond reasonable doubt Lionel Messi.

But...

I want Falcao to get the Ballon D'or. He is fantastic and he is underestimated.
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I f*cking love Falcao. He is an absolute joy to watch. Reminds me of an early days RVN - who was probably my favourite player at his peak.
 
Falcao is beast, I run a little statistics about our famous trio, including national team matches: Cr7,Messi,Falcao.

Cr7: didn't score for national team so he is out, now 1 game streak with goal or pass, from penalty :) ahah, as usually
Messi: had 9 game streak, but was bad against Celtic.. :( So end of streak for him.. damn!!
Falcao: 11 games streak.. jesus christ! AND STILL COUNTING!

94min to score winner against Celtic.. damn.. I have to say I prefer Pep.. but Tito is getting results, its just looks damn hard..

ps. Drekkard get well! Didnt get Classico tickets but we are going to watch Milan - Zenit :)
 
First things first: congratulations to Celtic! They did the only thing they could do, they did it brilliantly and had a bit of luck, but they also had Foster that is, with Cech, the best goalkeeper I've seen lately.

The atmosphere at the stadium was amazing and Celtic fans are the best i've ever met, such passion for the team, it was very touchy to see Stewart crying. Things like that need to be seen even if your own team looses. It was a great day for Celtic and they will remember this night.I'm glad for you guys.

Besides, unlike Chelsea last year, Celtic players were fair and didnt resort to time wasting, constant fouls and Barcelona players also played it fair.

I think Barcelona was wasteful and unlucky, and that's all. You can have a bad night now and then, they're human and can fail. But, as Tito said, at least Barcelona looses trying to Play attacking football and keeping devoted to a style. There are ways to loose, There's nothing wrong in losing like this and against a rival that put the heart in the pitch. That's why we love football after all, right. No other sport can have this unexpected outcome.

About our defense... Actually Barcelona was missing Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Adriano and Abidal.And it was the first week for Alves after a long injury. And only allowed 2 chances, but both ended in the net. So our defense is very weak only in very specific situations, and yes we may need another CB, but we've been also unlucky with injuries.

The worse match in the season and we had 20 attempts on goal. Many teams won't achieve this even on their best day!

I could put my Celtic shirt now (I bought it years ago at Scotland), but you will understand I don't do it tonight.. It doesn't fit me anymore! haha...
 
That was a very classy post Alex, and i agree with it...
This one time i wanted Celtic to win, i didn't want Barcelona to loose however...most people didn't want Celtic to win, but wanted Barcelona to loose.

To comfort you: that is a good sign. That means that your club is very, very good. But you know that.
 
For me the whole thing has been completely blown up. Barca lose a match every year to some random little team - it doesn't prevent them winning their group and who really looks back on the CL group stages and cares?
 
I can see your point.
But thousands of people in Galsgow care and Celtic cares. For them it's an important win...they are such a wonderful club.
What i don't understand is that Celtic's manager says that he will never achieve more than this, Cletic should fire him for that (in a matter of speaking).
 
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