FC Barcelona Thread

YoungGun_UK said:
I don't think he'll leave Bebo, he's an important part of their squad IMO. He's sort of squad player now but if Messi was to get injured he'd come in and continue to score goals, I don't think theirs many others in their squad who can so he's still very important.
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Gerd said:
If he 's only a squad player, he should go to another club. As much as i love Barcelona, David Villa is one the best player's in the world and should always play.

In a way this is perhaps the ultimate tribute to Leo Messi: the players who didn't play (or had to go away) because he plays where he plays and how he plays: Eto'o, Ibrahimovic and Villa...
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man, that was an interesting topic of conversation... too bad i came too late and u already moved on...
Bebo said:
Messi should know better being short n wearing pokadoted suit (bad taste).
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are u somehow implying that wearing a polkadot suit is only bad taste if u're short? that's discriminating and uncorrect, my friend. i can assure u, u might as well be 6 ft. 4 inches... u would still look ridiculous in that suit :DD
then again, considering theese awards shows must be a borefest (i can't believe u people actually watch that shit!), i can appreciate leo's sartorial attempt to lighten up. :P
 
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Drekkard, can you explain why Victor Valdes will be leaving the club after refusing to extend his contract?

Does he want a new challenge? Did he want more money than they were willing to pay? What exactly happened?

It seems an odd decision. Usually these homegrown players stay their whole career at Barca and considering his style suits Barca and he's been #1 keeper for a long time and could have many good years ahead, it's not something I expected.

Unfortunately for him, I don't think he'll do too well at other clubs/leagues. We'll find out I guess.
 
lo zio said:
man, that was an interesting topic of conversation... too bad i came too late and u already moved on...

are u somehow implying that wearing a polkadot suit is only bad taste if u're short? that's discriminating and uncorrect, my friend. i can assure u, u might as well be 6 ft. 4 inches... u would still look ridiculous in that suit :DD
then again, considering theese awards shows must be a borefest (i can't believe u people actually watch that shit!), i can appreciate leo's sartorial attempt to lighten up. :P
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So true! It's the conservative in me :P . Messi plays outrageous and dressing outrageous fits.
 
bebo said:
So true! It's the conservative in me :P . Messi plays outrageous and dressing outrageous fits.
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:LOL:
a conservative south american... u are one of a kind bebo...... and arguably the funniest guy in this forum (along with bobby). :))
godotelli said:
He's probably bored to tears!
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:LOL: well it's not like he had much work to do in recent years :P but we can't blame barça for that.

anyway i didn't know he was leaving... that is so weird! what's behind this decision alexis?
 
Why would Valdes leave ?
Maybe i know a reason, but i can be totally wrong.
My answer is based on rumours in the Belgian press, who is become terribly chauvinistic about Belgian players (i.e. they exagerate terribly how good they are playing). In the Belgian papers there is a rumour about Barcelona being interested in Thibaut Courtois (and a discount deal for Chelsea if they buy Falcao from Atletico: Chelsea would pay less for Falcao if they give the transfer fee that Barcelona would pay for Courtois would go to Atletico).
IMO Courtois will be a much, much better GK than Valdes (maybe i'm being chauvinistic now but i have seen Courtois week in week out since he's 16 and i'm a former GK myself, i'm convinced that he will be among the very best GK's ever and a certain Michel Preudhomme has also said this, in fact every very good former Belgian GK is convinced that he is something special). It could be that Valdes knows that he will be the second best and that he leaves before he looses his first team place.

The weak point in all this: is Barcelona genuinely interested in Courtois (according to our press Real Madrid is also interested, this makes me doubt).

PS: about Thibaut Courtois, there is a new hype: just google "Thibauting"...
 
PLF said:
Drekkard, can you explain why Victor Valdes will be leaving the club after refusing to extend his contract?

Does he want a new challenge? Did he want more money than they were willing to pay? What exactly happened?

It seems an odd decision. Usually these homegrown players stay their whole career at Barca and considering his style suits Barca and he's been #1 keeper for a long time and could have many good years ahead, it's not something I expected.

Unfortunately for him, I don't think he'll do too well at other clubs/leagues. We'll find out I guess.
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Well, no one knows for sure why he took this decision, but rumours say he has a bad relationship with Zubizarreta, who is the manager. But the relationship between the club and Valdes has always been difficult. Valdes always felt he wasnt valued enough. But he's free to take another direction and experiment other cultures. Personally, I would like him to stay, he is the perfect gk for us, and the best goalkeeper in 1vs1 in Europe according to statistics. And the best passer as well, just what the team needs from him.

They say the decision is taken, but I'll wait until I see him leaving. It took everyone by surprise. Time will tell.

gerd said:
Why would Valdes leave ?
Maybe i know a reason, but i can be totally wrong.
My answer is based on rumours in the Belgian press, who is become terribly chauvinistic about Belgian players (i.e. they exagerate terribly how good they are playing). In the Belgian papers there is a rumour about Barcelona being interested in Thibaut Courtois (and a discount deal for Chelsea if they buy Falcao from Atletico: Chelsea would pay less for Falcao if they give the transfer fee that Barcelona would pay for Courtois would go to Atletico).
IMO Courtois will be a much, much better GK than Valdes (maybe i'm being chauvinistic now but i have seen Courtois week in week out since he's 16 and i'm a former GK myself, i'm convinced that he will be among the very best GK's ever and a certain Michel Preudhomme has also said this, in fact every very good former Belgian GK is convinced that he is something special). It could be that Valdes knows that he will be the second best and that he leaves before he looses his first team place.

The weak point in all this: is Barcelona genuinely interested in Courtois (according to our press Real Madrid is also interested, this makes me doubt).

PS: about Thibaut Courtois, there is a new hype: just google "Thibauting"...
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coutois is a great goalkeeper. I have little doubts he will be a world class player in the near future. But I don't know if he would fit at Barcelona. He lacks skill in passing, which is key here, and I'm still sceptical about his capacity on 1vs1. In all the classic factors of a goalkeeper he is very good, if he could improve those two, then he would be great.

There are lots of rumours here, and Coutois is in all of them. But so does Neuer and Guaita from Valencia. I like Courtois, but the perfect gk for Barcelona is Valdes, and I hope things can be amended somehow and he stays.
 
If Valdes leaves it seems a perfect fit for a Mr. De Gea to return.

One of the best keepers on Earth with his feet, superb in one on ones and wouldn't be any worse than Valdes on crosses. Plus he's Spanish and the xenophobic, 'anyone but united' English Media have made him this year's scapegoat for all bad things.
 
About De Gea: he doesn't deserve the stick he gets. IMO he si not the one to blame for Spurs equaliser. You can't argue with Fergusons track record, but he does very strange things concerning his GK's. I can remember only two really succesfull Man Utd GK's: Schmeichel (the best ever) and Van Der Sar. They had lost of good GK' who never got a fair chance and afterwards turned to be very good.
 
Thanks for the explanation Alexis. Let us know if more is 'revealed' about why he took this decision over the coming weeks/months. It definitely came as a surprise to everyone including his team-mates like Iniesta!

Yeah if Valdes leaves, I'd say De Gea is probably who Barca will go for and I think that'll be a great deal for everyone.
 
YoungGun_UK said:
except United obviously ;))
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It'll be English Press 101: Hound United player out of the team with constant, unjustified, made-up bullsh*t.

When he leaves and becomes a legend at Barcelona, claim United were stupid for selling him, and that Fergie is terrible at judging goal keepers.
 
Ferguson is terrible at judging GK's.
Anyone a litle bit sane would never have bought Fabien Barthez.
IMO the mistake he makes is comparing all these keepers with Schmeichel, but that is insane...Schmeichel is probably the best GK ever. In a generation you have very few keepers like that. You can't take that as a bench mark.
 
gerd said:
Ferguson is terrible at judging GK's.
Anyone a litle bit sane would never have bought Fabien Barthez.
IMO the mistake he makes is comparing all these keepers with Schmeichel, but that is insane...Schmeichel is probably the best GK ever. In a generation you have very few keepers like that. You can't take that as a bench mark.
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IMHO a large difference between the decent to good, and excellent goalies is the way they dominate their boxes, outside of the saves they make. When you looked at Schmeichel and Van der Sar you would often see them go to great detail in positioning the wall or yelling and sometimes berating their own team players. I agree that De Gea doesn't deserve the crap he gets. To me it appears most crucial goals Utd had against it this season were not because of him making poor saves necessarily, but rather blatant miscommunication between the defense and himself.
 
Good post dplane.
Van Der Sar and Schmeichel came from culture where English is generally well spoken, this is less obvious in Spain. I don't know anything about De Gea's English langualge skills. Maybe he speaks it perfectly...
 
gerd said:
Ferguson is terrible at judging GK's.
Anyone a litle bit sane would never have bought Fabien Barthez.
IMO the mistake he makes is comparing all these keepers with Schmeichel, but that is insane...Schmeichel is probably the best GK ever. In a generation you have very few keepers like that. You can't take that as a bench mark.
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What? Best ever is Yashin, then there is Buffon and many others, Schmeichel is great GK no doubt, but not the best EVER!
 
Enzo said:
What? Best ever is Yashin, then there is Buffon and many others, Schmeichel is great GK no doubt, but not the best EVER!
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i would say best ever in his time...doubt you saw a single match with Yashin with all respect, and back then football was different as in Buffon, Schmeichel days...don´t compare uncomparable..
 
PIPA23 said:
i would say best ever in his time...doubt you saw a single match with Yashin with all respect, and back then football was different as in Buffon, Schmeichel days...don´t compare uncomparable..
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Same could be said about Pele, Maradona, so Messi is already best in history according to your logic?

Well I'm from USSR and my grandfather played in Soviet Dinamo (not Moscow) so we are looking from a little bit different perspective, he actually saw him play live and I was feed all that from very young age. You shouldn't argue about this really, just as Russia having best ever goalkeeper in hockey too :)


About Yashin, he did get Golden Ball, he did impress everyone that saw him play, he did revolutionize the way goalkeepers play. If Schemeichel is following a pattern and "set of rules" that somebody though to him - there is nothing "LEGENDARY" about him, yes he just as Buffon are exceptional goalkeepers, but have they given something REALLY new to the game, no! They are just perfectioning something thats already been discovered and invented. In this case Yashin was first to make a breakthrough, when others are just building upon it:

1963: Ballon d'Or (the only goalkeeper to hold the award)
1988: FIFA Order of Merit
2000: FIFA World Keeper of the Century

Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper ever to win the European Footballer of the Year Award (1963). He is also believed to have stopped around 150 penalty kicks during his career, far more than any other goalkeeper in history.

Still, his reputation as a brilliant keeper, a true sportsman, and an innovator of the game lives on. Yashin would always organize the defensive game of his team, often so fiercely that even his wife accused him of yelling too much on the pitch. He rarely captained his teams, as the accepted custom of appointing a goalkeeper captain was virtually unheard-of in that era, but his leadership on the field was always evident. Yashin was one of the goalkeepers that began the practice of punching balls out in difficult situations instead of trying to catch them. Other novel practices he developed were the quick throw of the ball to begin a counterattack, coming out of the penalty area to anticipate danger, and the command and organization of the defenders—practices now quite common among goalkeepers.

In 1994, FIFA established the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup finals. FIFA polls named Yashin as the sole goalkeeper in World Team of the 20th century. World Soccer Magazine named him in their The 100 Greatest Players of the 20th century. Many commentators still consider Yashin the best keeper in the history of football, which resulted in the fact he was chosen to be the goalkeeper in most of the world-all-time teams ever written (including the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team and the FIFA Dream Team)

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO SCHMEICHEL :WORSHIP: - who is he compared to "Pele" of goalkeeping? Yashin input into goalkeeping was far more important than Schmeichel input into Manchester United titles and success (oh yes lets not forget EURO-1992)

There isnt really a many things to be proud in Russian/Soviet football, but Yashin is a holy grail of goalkeeping. Sorry if I sound like a maniac, but I just can't see anything that would make Schmeichel bigger person for football than Yashin.
 
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Enzo said:
Milan - Barcelona 2:0
Barcelona - Real 1:3

Not good at all.. we losing the grip...
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Have you seen how many shots on goal Barca have created in those games?

It was like 1 against Milan (if I remember right)and only 2 in this game.
 
niharjhatn said:
Have you seen how many shots on goal Barca have created in those games?

It was like 1 against Milan (if I remember right)and only 2 in this game.
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But hey, Ill bet their pass completion was amazing :P

I know FCB fans don't want to hear this, but purely speaking as a football fan, not a Utd fan, it is good that they're showing cracks every now and then. If you'd ask me who is going to win the CL this year I'd tell ya I have no freakin clue, and I love that.
 
dplane said:
But hey, Ill bet their pass completion was amazing :P
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Hehe... funny one. I personally like the gif of Iniesta and Messi passing, not threatened by anyone, with the caption "Barcelona's season summarized"

Actually the passing was awful, or at least the rhythm of it. That translated into (lack of) control over the midfield which coupled with our weak pressing means we looked like a mediocre team. Which we sort of were.
 
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