FC Barcelona Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

gimmick · 26-02-2013 09:19PM

Good night and good luck. Utterly woeful performance.

Davaeo09 · 27-02-2013 12:09AM

gimmick wrote: »

Good night and good luck. Utterly woeful performance.

Worst in years.
13 games without a clean sheet? Puyol's looking more his age every passing week, Xavi and Messi both look tired.

Wouldn't be suprised if Saturday was even worst TBH. Our confidence will have taken a knock, there's will be boosted

Gbear · 27-02-2013 12:57AM

Has Fabregas contributed much of anything since he joined? I haven't seen him do much that any number of cheaper players could've done.

Turtwig · 27-02-2013 01:10AM

Gbear wrote: »

Has Fabregas contributed much of anything since he joined? I haven't seen him do much that any number of cheaper players could've done.

His form in the first half of the season was very impressive. His combination play with Iniesta, Alba and Messi in particular. Those guys were creating space where there should have been none!

gimmick · 27-02-2013 10:12AM

Davaeo09 wrote: »

Worst in years.
13 games without a clean sheet? Puyol's looking more his age every passing week, Xavi and Messi both look tired.

Wouldn't be suprised if Saturday was even worst TBH. Our confidence will have taken a knock, there's will be boosted

I think Real played out of their skins last night as their season hinged on it. I can honestly see them resting CR7, Alonso, Di Maria for Saturday as even if they win, they are still 13 behind and still won't win the league. It is all about Tuesday for them now. Beat Manyoo, Real will win this season CL. A cup double will be a nice fair thee well for Maureen.

barone · 27-02-2013 11:10AM

worst ive seen barca play in many years,team looks jaded,clueless at times, messi off the boil even tho he's scoring, a real shocker last night...

some come down from the heights of the first few months of the season

gimmick · 27-02-2013 11:21AM

barone wrote: »

worst ive seen barca play in many years,team looks jaded,clueless at times, messi off the boil even tho he's scoring, a real shocker last night...

some come down from the heights of the first few months of the season

It had to happen though. The all conquering swashbuckling side could not last forever. And even now, maybe we are jumping the gun somewhat. February has always been a shítty month for Barca. But Barca are still 12 points clear at the top of the table and 16 ahead of Real.

A bit of investment is needed to shake things up a bit in the summer though. Alexis needs to be moved back to Italy, and use that €15m to help fund a new CB who can slot straight into the 1st team (Hummels please) and Cavani.

The likes of Song and Thiago need to shake up their ideas as well as neither has had a great season. Thiago especially has to prove he can go to the next level and not end up another Bojan. Montoya has to put a bit of pressure to Alves as well.

I think if it were me, I would try and move on Valdes this summer as well and get some coin in for him rather than losing him on the free next year. But I have no idea who I would replace him with. Fraser Forster maybe (he is flavour of the year isn't he

)

miralize · 27-02-2013 12:19PM

gimmick wrote: »

It had to happen though. The all conquering swashbuckling side could not last forever. And even now, maybe we are jumping the gun somewhat. February has always been a shítty month for Barca. But Barca are still 12 points clear at the top of the table and 16 ahead of Real.

A bit of investment is needed to shake things up a bit in the summer though. Alexis needs to be moved back to Italy, and use that €15m to help fund a new CB who can slot straight into the 1st team (Hummels please) and Cavani.

The likes of Song and Thiago need to shake up their ideas as well as neither has had a great season. Thiago especially has to prove he can go to the next level and not end up another Bojan. Montoya has to put a bit of pressure to Alves as well.

I think if it were me, I would try and move on Valdes this summer as well and get some coin in for him rather than losing him on the free next year. But I have no idea who I would replace him with. Fraser Forster maybe (he is flavour of the year isn't he )

A few big losses have come against us but its no time for a knee jerk reaction. The core team is still brilliant. I agree with Sanchez, but Song Thiaho & Montoya's form have been far from poor. Song looked composed enough when playing in his position, Thiago and Montoya have been solid enough for their age. What we really need are the young CB's to push into the team, prove they can play for us.

Regarding keepers I'd like Ter Stegen, he has a good command of the back 4, especially at such a young age. Think of Puyol, but in goals & German. Obviously the language will be an issue but if we get Hummels :rolleyes:

dfx- · 27-02-2013 12:56PM

The first few months of the season saw their own difficulties too. Osasuna away and Sevilla away comes to mind in particular.

Could be a crucial summer for signings, but I fear Rosell being distracted and trying to get his signature signing instead...like Neymar.:(

Giruilla · 27-02-2013 01:18PM

Barcelona really look like they have run out of juice!

Gbear · 27-02-2013 01:25PM

Jernal wrote: »

His form in the first half of the season was very impressive. His combination play with Iniesta, Alba and Messi in particular. Those guys were creating space where there should have been none!

He clearly has ability but what does he offer the team that justifies him over, maybe a cheaper alternative, or perhaps a better CB or RB?

Barca are without a doubt at least the 2nd best team in the world on paper but I don't think they have the quality right through the team or more importantly, the squad, to be able to deal with every eventuality.

I think the system they play won them a lot but I think the rest of the football world has caught up. They still have better players than most teams and that's still usually doing the job but I think that they could've done worse than to bring in someone like Llorente - a talented footballer as well as a powerful CF.
There was a few times that players got to the dead-ball line last night and there was maybe one player in the box, and he was usually a dwarf marked by 4 defenders.

Davaeo09 · 27-02-2013 03:15PM

It's time for some of our players to shape up tbh.
The likes of Tello, Pedro, Thiago, Song, Sanchez, Pique and even Xavi have looked lazy and sluggish at times this season and have been guilty of giving the ball away to easy.

How many time's this season has Xavi missed a pass? I bet it's more than last seasons already. I am probably one of his biggest fans, he is without a doubt my favorite player bar none. Where as I do think form is temporary and class is permanent. He is looking less the driving force behind our once ever so fluid attacks.

A growing dependency on Messi has been apparent since the start of the season, games where teams got at us he was there to claw back a result. He did that ever so well. How ever, as former years have shown, February seems to be when our dip in form happens. Nothing has ever been done to address this. Sure it's nice to see the fella break records and such (or as some said, bump his stats) but surely if the team comes first it would make sense to rest him more pre February (when the champions league etc comes back).

I am under no illusions about our lack of goals, minus Messi. But with such a comfortable cushion in La Liga I don't think it was wise for him to play as often as he did.

As a team they need to look forward, improving upon our weaknesses and perfecting the strengths. We cannot out score every team, so sorting out the back line needs to be done asap. I'd like to see More Masch and Montoya in the remaining league games. Sadly though the blame doesn't merely fall on Busi,Pique and Puyol for some of the goals we've conceded. When Barca where at their peak, everyone spoke of the ferocity and hunger to hunt down the ball after it was lost. This is difficult to do against teams with the pace and quality to break (Milan, Madrid). So a solution needs to be found there.

Lastly, as an admirer of Busquets it must be noted he hasn't got the engine of lets say Alonso/Essien or Yaya. Players who can support there more diminutive team mates. This has allot to do with how weak we are at set pieces. Teams "bully" Barca far to easy this season when it comes to high balls.

Sorry for the long winded post, not been on here much this year and this stuff has been building up since around December :P

Short version
Need some physical players to sort out the dead ball, lets gift a goal sh!te that's been happening all year.
We need to stop playing into the hands of counter attacking teams. Before kick off, Barca were the team going through. To concede goals as early as they did just killed the contest.

Hopefully some thing dramatic happens before the AC Milan game. Let's keep our head's held high, this is football and once cannot simply win every thing all the time doing the same stuff. This group of players are not out for the count yet.

MaroonAndGreen · 27-02-2013 03:29PM

Its just a bad few performances, which every team is entitled too.. especially Barcelona as they have dominated so much over the last few years!

I can see them turning over AC Milan.. but im nworried that they may concede the away goal..

I think they will score though, theyl get going again dont worry guys...

Barcelona 5/1 to win the Champions League, Il have some of that

Rekop dog · 27-02-2013 03:44PM

The overreaction to these loses is incredible considering this is a team currently on track to win the title in the best league in Europe with a record number of points if they keep their current points per game ratio up for the remainder of the season. The league is first and foremost the most important trophy for any team and they're absolutely smashing it.

miralize · 27-02-2013 03:45PM

Xavi definitely slows down the play, its less that hes worse than last season (which he is by the way), but I've a feeling that Vilanova has tried to get the team to play a bit more directly and Xavi is struggling to do that. we need a CB, GK and a goalscoring Winger next season... I really hope we have money...

jimjamcos · 27-02-2013 03:55PM

Last 2 results just prove all those Guardiola doubters, who claimed anyone could have won all he did with Barca, wrong. Team's never been great defensively but always controlled possession limiting any defensive frailties. Worryingly, team looks to be lacking leadership at the moment. Messi, especially, looks out of sorts. Is he the type of player that needs a real father figure like Ronaldo did with Ferguson at United? Hopefully he's back to his brilliant best soon anyway!

MaroonAndGreen · 27-02-2013 06:09PM

jimjamcos wrote: »

Last 2 results just prove all those Guardiola doubters, who claimed anyone could have won all he did with Barca, wrong. Team's never been great defensively but always controlled possession limiting any defensive frailties. Worryingly, team looks to be lacking leadership at the moment. Messi, especially, looks out of sorts. Is he the type of player that needs a real father figure like Ronaldo did with Ferguson at United? Hopefully he's back to his brilliant best soon anyway!

Doubting Messi is crazy.. does he need a father figure? No!!

Hes got about 40 goals this season already jeez

jimjamcos · 27-02-2013 07:24PM

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Doubting Messi is crazy.. does he need a father figure? No!!

Hes got about 40 goals this season already jeez

How am I doubting him!? He's the greatest player that's ever played the game yet in the last 2 matches he's been a shadow of his usual self. That's a fact. There has to be a reason for this IMO as it's the first time in YEARS he's shown even the slightest dip in form. Obviously the likelihood is that he will return to his best in next game but my point is that even the best players in the world need their manager, maybe not a father figure per se but a leader outside the team. Barcelona do not have this at present with Vilanova sick and it has shown both in Messi's and the teams performance.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1545394-barcelona-big-game-form-shows-they-are-missing-tito-vilanova-above-all-else

miralize · 27-02-2013 07:38PM

jimjamcos wrote: »

How am I doubting him!? He's the greatest player that's ever played the game yet in the last 2 matches he's been a shadow of his usual self. That's a fact. There has to be a reason for this IMO as it's the first time in YEARS he's shown even the slightest dip in form. Obviously the likelihood is that he will return to his best in next game but my point is that even the best players in the world need their manager, maybe not a father figure per se but a leader outside the team. Barcelona do not have this at present with Vilanova sick and it has shown both in Messi's and the teams performance.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1545394-barcelona-big-game-form-shows-they-are-missing-tito-vilanova-above-all-else

2 matches, dip in form... hes still human. He still scored in the last league match too..

jimjamcos · 27-02-2013 08:08PM

miralize wrote: »

2 matches, dip in form... hes still human. He still scored in the last league match too..

Glad you agree!

miralize · 27-02-2013 08:14PM

jimjamcos wrote: »

Glad you agree!

If thats what you took from my post....

jimjamcos · 27-02-2013 08:19PM

miralize wrote: »

If thats what you took from my post....

So you wouldn't consider 2 games a dip? A mini-dip maybe? :P

miralize · 27-02-2013 08:23PM

jimjamcos wrote: »

So you wouldn't consider 2 games a dip? A mini-dip maybe? :P

But he scored in one of the two?

Gbear · 27-02-2013 08:25PM

It's not really about recent form but about Barca generally struggling against teams that defend well and counter attack well.

Against most teams they either steamroll them or if they do concede they have the quality to get the win.
Against teams that defend well they can be stopped from scoring to a degree but more importantly, allowing for how little possession they allow other teams to have, Barca are **** defensively.

I think I saw some statistic recently showing about how efficient teams are at defending - how many chances they give away in total and how many goals they concede per chance.
While Barca don't concede a huge number of chances generally they have one of the worst chances/goals conceded ratios around.

They might be better off going for a bit more solidity at the back when it's time to replace Alves.

jimjamcos · 27-02-2013 08:31PM

miralize wrote: »

But he scored in one of the two?

Yes I know that but I'm judging his last few performances in general. Anyway this is a moot discussion because he'll be back in form quicker than I can say Freddy Adu!!

MD1990 · 27-02-2013 08:35PM

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Doubting Messi is crazy.. does he need a father figure? No!!

Hes got about 40 goals this season already jeez

yes but he isnt scoring in the big games
0 goals vs Real Madrid twice & AC Milan

SeantheMan · 27-02-2013 11:45PM

We need a manager . Sooner Tito comes back the better.
Last season Roura was doing scouting on opposition teams, he was/is not prepared or qualified to take the Barca first team, he is doing his best though, so I can't fault him for trying.

Davaeo09 · 27-02-2013 11:47PM

MD1990 wrote: »

yes but he isnt scoring in the big games
0 goals vs Real Madrid twice & AC Milan

Which is unusual for his standards.

I don't think anyone is over reacting tbh, most of us still have faith in this team. What most of us are pointing out, and are frustrated at is the lack of urgency to address reoccurring problems, which ultimately has lead to 2 of our worst results domestically and in Europe in the last 2-3 years...

gimmick · 01-03-2013 12:26PM

Xavi is defo not playing in the clasico tmr. He has a thigh strain so will be rested until the more important game with Milan.

Davaeo09 · 01-03-2013 07:07PM

Hoping Thiago get's a chance really. We need some one a bit more direct and unpredictable.
Actually he's not half bad in the air either.

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