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...
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.
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.
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.
@Blapp! What the hell were you thinking bebo quintero?
Expect to be frustrated and that`s from a neutral point of view.
