Yeah with their second string squad. They made about 7 changes to the team. The league is won expect more points to be dropped in the coming weeks, they will save their squad for the Champions League.
The Decline of FC Barcelona?
- Thread starter Buchan
- Start date
- Status
They're missing a coach. I don't know if you remember our reaction to when Sir Alex originally said he was going to retire but it wasn't good. In fact it was diabolical.
robbing you of 2 CL titles?I fail to see how Madrid winning it will make up for Barca robbing us of 2 CL titles.
Yeah because you'd have obviously walked over Chelsea and Madrid in the finals
It all comes down to Ronaldo being denied and Messi getting the glory I'm sensing.
Who do you support Snake Plissken ?
they are not in bad shape, 2 away goals with the next game at home.
Barca aren't as bad as a lot of people suggest, but they're also not the shiny-golden-gods others make them out to be.
I'm not using the fact they didn't win tonight as a basis for saying they're not as good as they once were. I'm using the evidence in front of my eyes about their overall performance - from every player on the field - to suggest it. There has been a plethora of individual and collective mistakes that have cost Barcelona games this season, not to mention the profligacy of their attackers other than Messi.
As I said earlier, tonight's game encapsulated their season fairly accurately in my view. Still better than most teams out there, but there is a huge element of doubt in their game that wasn't there before.
Yep. This.
Well, we had the better of Chelsea in 2009, as for Madrid, it would be 50-50, so okay Barca's refs cost us 1.5 CL titlesrobbing you of 2 CL titles?
Yeah because you'd have obviously walked over Chelsea and Madrid in the finals
It all comes down to Ronaldo being denied and Messi getting the glory I'm sensing.
Its a bit more wide open this year. Then again, when they were clear cut to win it they ended up getting knocked out twice, so who knows. Bayern look a match for any of the teams left that's for sure.
I think Pique is Barcelona's biggest problem I think. He's such a pansy and is not a fighter at all.If they can get him to be even competent (which he is anything but at the moment) then they'd they'd have an even better chance.
Yeah I agree with this. Maybe they aren't at the heights of the free glowing Tiki-Taki style they were a few years ago but that doesn't equal a decline.
Do people know that a decline doesn't mean we think they're having a total meltdown? It's surely not that hard to grasp that they're not as good as 2-3 years ago. I think it's quite obvious. They are still a cut above anything else though, which just shows how far ahead they were. There's really no need to get upset about it, they're still fantastic
Next game will be really interesting. Messi rumoured to be out for 3 weeks or so which could ruin Barca's chances, because Fabregas in there instead of Messi is a bit useless. Makes it significantly easier to defend against and they lack a cutting edge. Messi getting injured could be the best thing to happen to PSG today. Gives them a real chance in the next game.
-They were destroyed by counter attacking against Inter in 09/10
-Were unbelievably toothless against Chelsea in 08/09 and needed Iniesta to bail them out in the last minute.
-They were put under immense pressure against Arsenal in 10/11 and ended up losing the game.
Again, everything you noted in your first post was also evident in their "peak" years.
I do think they have regressed in their defending without the ball though. Maybe that's the Pep influence missing. Then again, they haven't had a coach for half of the season so who knows. I just think you're a bit too hasty to say they're in decline that's all. Let's see what they have achieved at the end of the season and how they fare with their coach back.
Motherwell
PSG will miss Matuidi, their best CM this season.Verratti at the Nou Camp in such a big match, partnered with Beckham, that midfield will be destroyed by Barca
Yeah I don't think people quite know what a decline means.
You have to be severely deluded to think Barcelona are as good as they were in the past few years. They're nowhere near that level of dominance, and they've shown it plenty of times in the champions league this season. Don't think they're even that much better then everyone else though, I'd rate Bayern probably on their level going by this season, and maybe Real Madrid in the big games. Certainly if Barca draw one of those two in the next round (if they get through) it will be a 50/50 IMO.
I don't watch PSG very often at all, so I'm not sure who they have for cover in midfield. But it was clear today that Veratti should have started, but yes Matuidi will be a big miss. Who do they have who can play instead of Becks? Thought it was quite a stupid decision to start him at all today, given his lack of movement.
Chantome, Thiago Motta (injured as usual)
Still the same old, bitter cretin after so many seasons.We could meet in the group stages next year
Sorry but are you speaking for yourself or do you have some kinda tap into what other peoples definition of decline is.....or are you really Steven Seagull who's a bit of a knob
Scrub decline. Put in transition. Some weeks, we look crap too but that don't matter does it? We'll still win the league. I was under the impression the coach that took over pep, was doing well with this Barcelona team? Did we dream that?..
Did it not occur to you that maybe Barcelonas ease at winning the league, not to mention losing two coaches since last season might have a teeny effect on performance? No? Thought it'd be obvious myself
Barcelona are not in decline. Madrid are used to playing Barcelona. Obviously they've lost their coach etc and that will effect them. When Sir Alex said he would retired first time round we were shockingly bad for a large period. They're not in decline. They are still the team to beat inspite of Madrids recent form.
Spastic logic
So in other words, if you think they aren't in decline, you're saying they're as good as they were in the Pep era? Okay.
In my limited viewing of them they don't seem to be as ruthless or consistent as they were a few years ago, but that's to be expected. Doesn't mean they won't be better then ever next year.
Also, I hate them.
Also, I hate them.
Who cares what people call it? They're not as good as they were previously, they have problems they didn't have, they no longer look impossible to beat...that's the jist of this thread. Bizarre how people are so caught up in the semantics of it all.
I like Barca unlike many on here so I don't hope they feck up just to say I told you so. It's just whenever I've seen them they've rarely hit the heights of previous seasons. Why do people take such offence to something that any Barca fan would agree with?! Everyone watches the big games so it makes sense that people will comment after them...not sure what's so strange about that. They were crap at the weekend too.Here we go again...nothing is said for weeks then suddenly a 2-2 draw away in Paris and they are fecking shit
Im sure people open this thread everytime a Barcelona game is on hoping they slip up so they can do a ''told you so'' post. Boring as feck, at least you can have something to complain about until they beat PSG 5-0 in the return leg.
That went over your head a bit didn't it?
No offence but decline isn't the same as transition. That's why it matters. Saying they're not as good as when they had a settled team and pep is like saying the most obvious thing you can think of. The fact is they've lost two coaches and they are walking their league.
Moneys given a lot of small teams confidence but in all probability tonights result won't matter as Barcelona will knock them out
The point was that if we didn't look like stringing passes together then and looking like we could properly initiate the required attacks, then it's less than likely that we could now (the result being that we'd be pinned back heavily reliant on massive performances from every single defender). I compare the teams not simply because we played that way back then, but because we would have absolutely no option but to sit back and counter now (where as back then with our superior possession football there at least seemed to be a choice). As for that 2008 team...that was the stuff of miracles in terms of our defending. Evra, Ferdinand et al put in some of the best defensive performances I think I have ever seen over those two legs to be honest and, as much as I still rate our defence, I don't think we are capable of that any more.
The 2011 team was funny in that the whole was far greater than the sum of the parts, and the class of that team really showed in the first 10 minutes or so of the final. After that period we were pinned back and completely unable to get a grip on the game via counter or possession play. Individually it may not seem like that team matched up against the likes of Van Persie, Kagawa, Welbeck, etc for possession play, counter attacking football or anything else, but we played far better, quicker and far more direct football in the second half of 2010/11 than this one has done at any point during this season.
Even as far as individuals go though, that Valencia was far, far better then than Kagawa, Welbeck or any other wing player this year. Park was putting in superior performances to Kagawa/Young and Rooney was perhaps in the best form he's ever been in. The system worked to the extent that Nani and Berbatov didn't retain their places and the team played quality football. We may not have tried to sit back and soak up pressure, but even when we were pinned back as we would be this year we had a team out there that, on form as opposed to going by the quality of the individuals, was better equipped to try and pierce through that midfield and cause the Barcelona defence problems.
I suppose this is all speculative but I maintain that I think we'd probably get shown up a bit again.
What game were you watching?
They haven't had a shot on goal until Iniesta's equalizer, which came in the 93rd minute.
Unless, of course, you think that ball possession is what football is all about.
Starting Beckham was risky by Carlo because he barely started matches before this.You don't wanna play vs Barca with so little sharpness, it's one thing to do it vs Marseille in a Cup but another vs that team.
Verratti is a great talent, a fearless player but at the Nou Camp when PSG will have to attack at first ... I don't know, there is a reasonable fear he might get sent off as he's a player with a strong character, who loves to tackle.When you also into account how Barca players amplify every contact then there is a real worry.Ideally for PSG, Thiago Motta would be fit for the return leg
So do the people that say that Barca aren't in decline, but only in transition, see them reaching they're 2008/2009 heights at the end of this transition?
Decline doesn't always have to be major. The point is that Barca are not at the heights that they were two or three years ago and IMO will never reach those heights again, even if they splash out an insane amount of money. They have some promising youth, but nothing groundbreaking IMO.
Decline doesn't always have to be major. The point is that Barca are not at the heights that they were two or three years ago and IMO will never reach those heights again, even if they splash out an insane amount of money. They have some promising youth, but nothing groundbreaking IMO.
You mean not another Messi
You're a Scot? Finally the bitterness towards Bale makes sense.
I agree that they're not as good as they were back then, but the thing is, barring a lengthy injury to Messi, I can definitely see them hitting the heights that they did back then in terms of trophies for at least another 2 seasons.
They only have one team to compete with domestically for trophies and who knows how Madrid will be like post Mourinho. With the Champions League, they'll still be in with a shout and it's not like the best team always wins as there is alot of luck involved and that works both ways as they could be the team to win it even though they aren't at their best.
The real decline will happen in a couple years because obviously Xavi is getting older and declining and they'll need to find someone to be the new Eto'o/Villa and that'll take some doing considering how a talented player like Ibrahomivic failed and how long it took Villa to adapt.
They'll just go for a player like Mata and as for strikers, someone usually emerges
No, I don't.
Messi is a once in a generation player, perhaps even longer. So no, there is no one of his ilk at La Masia but there's no one like that at any club, anywhere.
There are, however, several promising talents that fans who follow the club are very excited about which always makes the commentary that there will be a decline all the more amusing. When some of the stars like Xavi, Puyol et al retire, it will alter the complexion of the team, obviously. But they've been playing this way for decades, so their departure will do nothing to change that. That's the beauty of having a foundation based on the youth teams at the club, there are always more kids maturing in the system. Some will be stars and others will not.
Off the top of my head there are no less than a dozen kids who are players to be very excited about within 3-4 years of the first team
- Status