FC Barcelona Thread

But Gerd, you're being unfair here because Barcelona had 4 injured for the whole season. Afellay would have played a lot if he hadn't broken his ACL. The proof is that Cuenca and Tello were players from the youth team and ended playing a lot. There are a lot of matches in the season and all the players get their share. I repeat that this season we have been very unfortunate with injuries. There have been a lot of them.

I start to believe Cesc brought with him the Arsenal curse! ;)

I think this summer Pep needs to add a forward (not a striker) like Neymar (who can play in the sideline, who can dribble and finish and can associate with Messi), and a CB as Thiago Silva. With those 2 signings and everybody fit we could even get rid of Tiago for some money to compensate those 2 signings. That and some youngsters from the youth team would be perfect for me.

so, we need to sign starters, not back ups!
 
It's just the way i see things Alex...obviously you follow Barcelona much closer.

Concerning Tiago D'alcantara (if that is the correct way of spelling that name): the few matches i saw him, he seemed excellent. Why would you get rid of him? Seems a player for the future.

IMO you need a back-up for both Dani Alves and Abidal, but maybe you have good young players as a back-up. I don't know those...
 
I think pepe is an OK manager. when you are blessed with the current talent offered in barca, its hard to fail IMO.

the big question is can Pepe manage an inferior team like arsenal and punch above their weight and stay in the top 4?

Can Pepe take a team like villareal and mount a title challenge? this is what will make Pepe one of the great managers in the same bracket as wenger, fergie and Morinho.
 
gerd said:
It's just the way i see things Alex...obviously you follow Barcelona much closer.

Concerning Tiago D'alcantara (if that is the correct way of spelling that name): the few matches i saw him, he seemed excellent. Why would you get rid of him? Seems a player for the future.

IMO you need a back-up for both Dani Alves and Abidal, but maybe you have good young players as a back-up. I don't know those...
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Oh, you are allowed (and encouraged) to see it differently, of course! Maybe I'm too influenced by watching all the matches and things I guess one way are seen differently from outside.

About Abidal, yes, I forgot we need a new LB, but I think Jordi Alba from Valencia is already signed, and would be a great adittion (plus, he was in the youth team years ago and knows and loves the club).

And about Tiago, I think he's such a gifted player who takes terrible decisions too often for being a playmaker. He isn't producing for the team at all and he seems unconfortable playing with Xavi and Iniesta, mainly because he looses position too often in the midfield. The second goal of Madrid begins in a play where he should have stopped Di Maria or do a tactical foul and he doesn't, and he even looses the mark and lets him go away.

To be fair Tiago would perform much better as an AMF, which is his natural position, but Messi plays there. He needs to mature a little more and forget to do backheels in the own half and things like that. In the last months he has been too flash and no substance. But maybe he just needs more playing time and less injuries. He's still too young.

The reason I said to sell him is because we have already a lot of midfield players who can play there, and selling him would hurt us less than selling other players and would give us the extra cash to afford important players we need like another CB and a winger/forward.

jonneymendoza said:
I think pepe is an OK manager. when you are blessed with the current talent offered in barca, its hard to fail IMO.

the big question is can Pepe manage an inferior team like arsenal and punch above their weight and stay in the top 4?

Can Pepe take a team like villareal and mount a title challenge? this is what will make Pepe one of the great managers in the same bracket as wenger, fergie and Morinho.
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Don't call him Pepe, please, it's Pep, in catalan! ;)

Anyway, I strongly disagree with you. I had to witness the very same players struggling for two years without a single title.

Arrigo Sacchi had success only with Milan. Won a lot less titles than Pep with Barcelona and for much less seasons. Yet, no one says Arrigo Sacchi was just an OK coach.

Let's put things in perspective. This has been our worst week in 4 years:

We lost a leg in an european semifinal match at Stamford Bridge we could have easily won 0-3, and we lost 1-2 fighting for the title in a very even match against the most expensive squad ever build and a bit of bad luck.

I guess all fans in the world would like to have bad weeks like this one. And all this with an average of 7.5 players from the youth teams and only 3 defenders.

What he has done is properly a revolution as many many coaches that know a lot more than all of us have said. They all admire Pep and are amazed of how Barcelona plays, which is something NEW.
 
Oops Alex, i also wanted to react at jonney's post.
I agree that some people underestimate Guardiola. People tend to think that with those players everybody can win silverware. Of course those stars are sometimes more difficult to manage than more average players (ask Mancini and AVB).

On the other hand, i would like to see coaches/managers like Guardiola but also Mourinho and Ferguson see at the helm with litle clubs who have lesser players. Mourinho did it with Porto and Ferguson with Aberdeen? Both clubs had a generation of extremely gifted players (it seems less obvious for Aberdeen, but believe me they had a very strong team at the time).

I would like to see Ferguson at Wigan and Mourinho with Gijon or Blackburn Rovers...

Maybe there are big club coaches and litle club coaches and is the impact of the better coaches in litle clubs bigger than the impact of people like Mourinho, Guardiola and Ferguson.

To be short: BIELSA !!!
 
drekkard said:
Oh, you are allowed (and encouraged) to see it differently, of course! Maybe I'm too influenced by watching all the matches and things I guess one way are seen differently from outside.

About Abidal, yes, I forgot we need a new LB, but I think Jordi Alba from Valencia is already signed, and would be a great adittion (plus, he was in the youth team years ago and knows and loves the club).

And about Tiago, I think he's such a gifted player who takes terrible decisions too often for being a playmaker. He isn't producing for the team at all and he seems unconfortable playing with Xavi and Iniesta, mainly because he looses position too often in the midfield. The second goal of Madrid begins in a play where he should have stopped Di Maria or do a tactical foul and he doesn't, and he even looses the mark and lets him go away.

To be fair Tiago would perform much better as an AMF, which is his natural position, but Messi plays there. He needs to mature a little more and forget to do backheels in the own half and things like that. In the last months he has been too flash and no substance. But maybe he just needs more playing time and less injuries. He's still too young.
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100% agree, he's almost never playing complicated passes (I mean in the way that he doesn't add anything to the team), and always seems a bit slow in his actions. He seems not 100% focused, but that might just be his special style. I would say he has to change this because otherwise he won't make it a starter for Barcelona, and other youth players might just surpass him.

I would like to know your opinion about Iniesta btw; imo he has had a terrible season and way off what he was showing the past few ones. Especially the link up with Xavi somehow gets lost in a lot matches and Iniesta seems to disappear for long periods. Losing a lot balls as well when going for desperate dribbles etc. (something you'd have never seen by him last season for example).

And something else Pep got wrong on Saturday was the defensive selection without any player who is good in aerial duels (Puyol isn't really anymore defensively imo), it was clear Madrid had a HUGE advantage in that area and he should have played Pique or Keita to avoid it. While being a bold error from Puyol, the first goal was only logical given their aerial superiority. (and they looked dangerous on their few other corner kicks even earlier, too)
 
Yes the aerial disadvantage is a HUGE deal.

Barca = Team of midgets.

Until that is fixed, they'll have a weakness that certain oppositions can capitalize on.
 
What pressure does Pep have w/ the board that he always talk about? Why is his contract yearly?

@gerd why dont you mention blapp the manager at Dortmund. I think he is brilliant and becoming a legend he too works w/ young up n coming players.


I like Pep and his character he doesnt fold under pressure in front of cameras.
 
Blapp? I think you mean Jurgen Klopp and yeah's a very bright young manager! He's revolutionizing things too.

Beboq, Pep is on a yearly contract because that's what HE wants. Barca has tried to tie him to a longer term contract but he doesn't want to commit long-term and wants to add a year every year if he feels like staying.

Pep is a great manager and often under-rated. But he did f*** this past Saturday and they lost at home to arch-rivals. They really shouldn't have. Some dubious decision making led to their downfall.

But that's okay. He's human and like anyone, he makes mistakes. If anything he doesn't make them often, that's why when he does, it's so obvious.
 
PLF said:
Blapp? I think you mean Jurgen Klopp and yeah's a very bright young manager! He's revolutionizing things too.

Beboq, Pep is on a yearly contract because that's what HE wants. Barca has tried to tie him to a longer term contract but he doesn't want to commit long-term and wants to add a year every year if he feels like staying.

Pep is a great manager and often under-rated. But he did f*** this past Saturday and they lost at home to arch-rivals. They really shouldn't have. Some dubious decision making led to their downfall.

But that's okay. He's human and like anyone, he makes mistakes. If anything he doesn't make them often, that's why when he does, it's so obvious.
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Exactly! People are overreacting imo. Pep made a mistake last saturday, ok big deal. And the titles we won? Yeah, fine. Of course he's a great manager, this is not FM guys, you don't put the players on the field and start winning out of the blue. This is all part of hard work and we gotta give credit to Pep for building a winning team.

That said, I agree with Jonney on a certain subject. Pep must take his talents to somewhere else. Then we will see if he belongs to the same tier as Mou and Fergie.


:LOL: @Blapp! What the hell were you thinking bebo quintero?
 
Klopp indeed seems a very good manager. But to be certain i would like to see him in another club, with other players.
 
Blapp cheers for correction Im on phone so whiling giving algebra lesson on permutations notation I had a brain fart. k l o p p noted!

@plf sounds arrogant to do a yearly contract by choice , if the coach wont committ how does the players feel about that. Strange relationship btw him n club.
 
Bebo, he does it in fact to put pressure on the players. He has said many times that the moment he sees his players don't want to win, he will go away. That way, the players who stay with him are utterly loyal. Guardiola is just as good as Mourinho mentalizing the players and motivating big stars. When you work year to year, all the people in the club has to put everything into it to win.

I like this kind of decisions. It shows how brave and committed to his vision he is. Besides, if he signed for 3 years and the club suddenly doesn't want him, they would have to pay a lot to him to sack him. It's irrational.

And is nice to have Klopp and Bielsa named alongside Pep. This is a generation of coaches that is doing a very needed revolution and changing a bit the "athletic" paradigm that seemed to reign in the last decade. You know, you should have powerful athletic midfielders to win. There was no other way. Favourishing a more equilibrated approach and giving again the importance to what you do with the ball and talent.

Chris00 said:
I would like to know your opinion about Iniesta btw; imo he has had a terrible season and way off what he was showing the past few ones. Especially the link up with Xavi somehow gets lost in a lot matches and Iniesta seems to disappear for long periods. Losing a lot balls as well when going for desperate dribbles etc. (something you'd have never seen by him last season for example).
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The problem with Iniesta is hard to explain... He's an incredible player that does nearly nothing productive. That's it. It may seem so blunt, but he's very slow, weak and has problems to score. Even in assisting, which should be his good point, he's always have very low numbers. But it's a player you can't just judge by the numbers.

Iniesta is an enormous player that works divinely in this system Barcelona is playing doing specifically this kind of football. He's like Xavi 20 meters deeper.

Now, this season he has been injured 3 times and he's very tired, and when Iniesta is not at 100%, then his main skills go down quickly. If at 100% he is not a scorer nor an assister, imagine what he is below that. Is one of those players that when he's great you hardly notice him in the highlights. His work is in the midfield drawing passes, moving defenders and retaining the ball in very hard situations.

Add to this that the whole team is tired and dragging a little this season, and here you are, he's been playing very poorly for weeks and the team is noticing it.

Xavi is also injured and hasn't played 2 consecutive matches in months. The whole team has been too unconsistent because when both players a re in shape, we're virtually unstoppable.

And finally that speaks a lot about Messi. In a season when the team has faced multiple injuries and large periods of bad form, he has kept the team with options in the league until saturday and we can even reach the CL final. But we all know that's only because of the drugs and the barcelona antics.
 
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Something different about saturday's match. This time there were no troubles, no allegations, no fingers put in eyes...could it be that Barcelona is the more fair team?
 
Cheers Drekkard for the explanation...


Well, Saturday`s match wasn`t a clear define sign of any problems. Let`s see how the match is played on Camp Nou tomorrow night. I expect a double portion of what Arsenal did there 11 behind the ball and I expect Drog standing/defending side by side with Terry :SMUG: Expect to be frustrated and that`s from a neutral point of view.
 
gerd said:
Something different about saturday's match. This time there were no troubles, no allegations, no fingers put in eyes...could it be that Barcelona is the more fair team?
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Yeah it felt like both teams had their minds on the CL and for the first time in a while the Classico felt like an afterthought of the big CL ties both sides are in. if both make the CL final expect it to be very hostile.
 
I don't want a classico CL final...but i'm afraid it will happen...i'm not sure if i will watch the match in that case...
 
drekkard said:
Arrigo Sacchi had success only with Milan. Won a lot less titles than Pep with Barcelona and for much less seasons. Yet, no one says Arrigo Sacchi was just an OK coach.
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He did pretty well at Parma, taking them from Serie C to Serie B, and then almost Serie A in 2 seasons. When he was manager, his Italy team was within a penalty kick of Winning the 1994 World Cup.
 
I hope Barca smash the Hillsborough booing club tonight! I'm not labelling all fans the same but the ones who did boo at Wembley the other week don't deserve their team to win anything!
I hope Barca stuff them tonight and Liverpool beat them in the FA Cup Final just so those idiots get nothing!!
 
PU6HY said:
I hope Barca smash the Hillsborough booing club tonight! I'm not labelling all fans the same but the ones who did boo at Wembley the other week don't deserve their team to win anything!
I hope Barca stuff them tonight and Liverpool beat them in the FA Cup Final just so those idiots get nothing!!
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I'm not labelling all fans the same but...

Come on, as if a football club is responsible for what a couple of idiots did?
You are a Liverpool fan. In 1986 some Liverpool fans did something pretty stupid here in Brussels, if i reason like you Liverpool should never again win a match...

Of course that is bullocks.

I will watch Barcelona-Chelsea with interest and i like both clubs, i don't care who wins, as long as i see a good match.

This is a big match in our house: my 12 year old daughter is a Chelsea fan (and a very big one) and my 9 year old son is a Barcelona fan...I hope for my kids that none of both teams will get stuffed by the other.

I wonder what my 12 year old daughter would think about your post? I think she has already more sense than you in that post.
 
@ Drekkard love reading your posts and cant help but agree that Barcelonas injury and fatgiue problems are under played. The boys are exhausted and you can see it. I agree in Thiago as well he needs work as does Fabregas he lacks composure and his decision making is still a bit slow.

I don't know if Pep will sign as he maintained that he would only sign if he has the backing of the players and by that he meant on the pitch. We have been incredibly unlucky and sloppy the last few weeks. Just need to hold out a little longer.
 
Even when it's about a couple of thousand fans (which i never believe)...Chelsea just isn't responsible.
IMO his post is as hatefull as those fans' reaction.

Football is about passion, but not about hate.
 
well well well. That was what my gut feeling was saying all day long that chelsea will win. i told my chelsea mate at work that i have a feeling they will win!

On to the game. Referee got most decisons correct and was gutted to see fabregas cheat and dive. GLAD Messi missed that. they did not deserve that penalty.

Terry, what a fool,. he gets away with that crap week in week out in the league and im glad he got done for it. Just a shame Chelsea still went through so it masks his stupidness. Had Chelsea lost, the press/media/fans will all leech on that idiot.

Barcelona were crap tonight. They continued to try and pass the ball to the net with absolutely no plan B whatsoever. this is why many feel that if this barca side was playing in the Premier league, they will have a lot of similar games like this.

If you think Chelsea were defensive/physical, Stoke are far worse then that! Which leads me to another. Why hasnt messi scored past chelsea?

Can messi do his thing week in week out against a far physical/defensive english side?

And last thing, Pepe. No plan B. is he really a great manager within the same bracket has wenger and fergie who both punch above their weight in there respected clubs(united should not mount a challenge for the league with that squad and arsenal should be a mid table team with that squad.)

Is the fact that Pepe has not signed a new contract having a similar negetive impact on the players just like Spurs with Harry being prime suspect for england job?
 
i think i never saw a team who don´t even try to score from 30 meters at least...come one, why Barca always complicates it..? one Mashcherano long shoot was more dangerous than X tries of others...sometimes the easy way is better... Barca need to sort this out becouse the teams know their way already... Bad to see them not going through as they were playing most of the time on Chelsea´s half, in both matches...but that means nothing in the end..
 
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