I would give my left nut for United to sign Messi.
Imagine the shirt sales rankings after that
Imagine the shirt sales rankings after that
FC Barcelona 2016/2017
- Thread starter Adisa
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Ifs and buts.
Champions League Final in 2015 - Barcelona vs Juve
Mascherano was also injured yesterday.
Mascherano was also injured yesterday.
They basically have the same team (many preferred this team to Peps). Iniesta is 2 years older, Alvez is gone and Mascherano was out. They still for me have the best 11 in the world and I would not swap any 11 for theirsChampions League Final in 2015 - Barcelona vs Juve
Mascherano was also injured yesterday.
Lack of organization (Guardiola & Xavi) and leadership on the pitch (Puyol & Xavi).
Patterns of a robust system of play still existed for a while, but eventually faded. Suarez, with his strength, directness and determination, also gave them a significant boost. But eventually, lack of system and leadership in the team started to show.
Patterns of a robust system of play still existed for a while, but eventually faded. Suarez, with his strength, directness and determination, also gave them a significant boost. But eventually, lack of system and leadership in the team started to show.
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In fairness I haven't followed Spanish football at all this year. I know they won 6-0 at the weekend but was this smashing yesterday foreseeable? Have they been looking not at their best or was it a blip?
Its very hard to keep basically the same team for 3 seasons and stay at the same level - especially when that level is "the best".Champions League Final in 2015 - Barcelona vs Juve
Mascherano was also injured yesterday.
Other than Messi and Suarez, the form of every remaining player from that team has dropped this year, and their replacements aren't good enough.
I was expecting a PSG win, but rather 2:0 or 3:1, then a thrashing. Not a blip, they were thrashed at City as well, could well have been 4:0 there, too. Against top teams their midfield is not good enough. When MSN are on their day, they can rule (as seen for example in the first leg against City), if they are not, Barca is bang average.
They sustained a very impressive form for a while with a pretty thin squad, that couldn't last forever. Years of physical and mental fatigue adds up eventually.
They will bounce back but they need to recruit smartly.
They will bounce back but they need to recruit smartly.
What has happened to Mascherano? He is probably their most important player atm.
Warning signs were their after City beat them earlier on in the season.
How did the over hyped Busquets play last night?
How did the over hyped Busquets play last night?
Pretty horrible. Got shoved of the ball quite often, and his usual whining when he got touched in the slightest
They've had more than a few terrible games this season in the league, after all they're one point behind Real Madrid with 2 extra matches and even getting some results they haven't looked good as a team. They had some games where Messi bailed them out scoring free kicks but as a team they haven't looked solid, specially in midfield with the likes of Andre Gomes and Busquets having one of his worst seasons.
Starting to get old. He is 29 years old.
They were thoroughly outplayed for 3 halfs by atletico in the copa del rey semifinal. But they played an incredible first half at the calderon creating a 2 goals cushion, then a bit of magic by messi turned into a goal by suarez at home got them through
Nnno they weren't really. People keep ignoring the first 42 minutes at the emptyhad, where barcelona clowned city and should have been up by 2 or 3 goals...
Maybe Messi isn't that good these days, but surely he would take Lingard spot on the bench at least?
Is white text needed?
Is white text needed?
I think he'd be ok to come on as 88th minute substitute in a match we're win 4-0 but I wouldn't play him ahead of Young or Fellaini to be honest.
The next couple of years are going to be critical for Barcelona. Although on paper they still have one of the most dangerous teams in the world, one of the main reasons why Barcelona was so dominant in the past years was because they had a prime Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. Iniesta is pass his prime, Xavi is gone and Messi will be hitting 30 this year and his overall game is going to obviously decline soon.
Their core players are 30+ or hitting 30 soon and most of them are hard or impossible to replace.
Their core players are 30+ or hitting 30 soon and most of them are hard or impossible to replace.
Well, you saw a different game then me then. I saw pretty much a thrashing from start to finish, should well have ended 4 or 5 nill. Barca would probably struggle against most top teams this season, anyway, they are out now..
Out now in the quarter and in last 16 in successive seasons, i guess we have to stop calling them a top 2/3 team now...they really aren't currently. More on the same level as City, Chelsea, or us
See Pochetino avoided the question when asked about being interested in the Barca job.... Cya poch
Lol
You can also add Busquets there, who has been terrible this season when not injured.
Think Busquets and Iniesta can do a job as rotation options/squad players and I still think Messi has at least another few years in him, the PSG game aside he's been immense this season. They do need to recruit well though, they have glaring weaknesses in their squad that a team with Barca's aspirations cannot afford. They have set the standard for football dominance over the past decade or so by continuing to be dominant and competitive, which is exactly why I think they've rested on their laurels a bit.
With adequate investment in areas they need to (CB, RB, CM) if they manage to get in the right quality of players they'll be back at the top. They've been struggling this season but I wouldn't say they're quite in panic mode yet.
They need to invest in real quality, which means they have to overpay now. Something needs to be done about their front 3 because if the midfield is weak (like against PSG), they need all the help they can get from a defensive POV from the MSN and those three do not really provide that.
Every single player of PSG was working hard in terms of pressure and it was a big difference with Barca.
Don't know why you laugh, City is already more successful international then Barcelona for 2 seasons, no matter what happens against Monaco. This seems to be the yardstick for everyone in here "how did XY fare in the CL compared to YZ"
Barcelona should get Poch signed for seasons end and be done with it - easily the best manager available to them.
He's literally the best player in the world.
Alba, Mascherano (would have made a big difference today playing for either Umtiti or Busquets, by which I mean they lose 3-1 and have a real shot in the 2nd leg) and Pique are very good and I think Busquets will rebound from this slump (would love him here), but Iniesta needs to be benchable when he's not fully healthy and yeah, everyone else is just okay.
Barcelona have a big coaching issue. The main problem is Enrique and his staff. He doesn't know how to utilise the players. Busquets has been poor because of the set up and coaching of the midfield. Since Tito left, Barcelona have slowly been transitioning from the Cruijff methodology and that treble they won delayed the inevitable. The board are destroying the club. Messi shouldn't have to drop so deep if he can get the ball cleanly from midfield. The central midfielders are a width apart and Barcelonas bringing the ball from the back is embarrassing. The personnel is not the problem. Gomes is as good player and has a fantastic first touch.
The ideal replacements would be Sarri because he is the biggest Cruijff advocate that never played under him. Sampaoli is the next best option because his assistant Juan Manuel lillo is a big proponent of the positional game that won Barcelona 4 of their 5 European Cups.
Other options could be Paco Jemez or Tuchel. Knowing the clueless board, Unze will take over from Enrique.
The ideal replacements would be Sarri because he is the biggest Cruijff advocate that never played under him. Sampaoli is the next best option because his assistant Juan Manuel lillo is a big proponent of the positional game that won Barcelona 4 of their 5 European Cups.
Other options could be Paco Jemez or Tuchel. Knowing the clueless board, Unze will take over from Enrique.
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No love for Poch?
That was one of the most noticable things about Barca's bad shape to me on Tuesday. Iniesta and Messi doing so much in build up play, sometimes from areas where formerly the CBs and Busquets would have been in control of the passing game. That's a big problem, and their presence was missing further up the pitch.
Pochettino leaving Tottenham for one of Spanish football’s giants was one of our ten predictions for 2017, but the 44-year-old has ruled out joining Barcelona in the future.
Speaking to the BBC after the 2-0 FA Cup victory over Aston Villa, Pochettino was asked of the Catalan club’s reported interest in him.
He replied that he was “born with a bull in his arm” – a reference to his history with bitter rivals Espanyol, for whom he played before becoming their manager.
http://www.football365.com/news/pochettino-explains-why-hell-never-join-barcelona
@VP89 Pochettino is a good manager but I have a few problems with him. He has a very basic ball oriented pressing scheme that is easily bypassed by teams with good decent positional game. It's easy to bypass with a switch if you have the personneL so his defensive structure is subpar. I would like to see what he does with a good pivote but his usage of lines isn't the most optimal. He plays with a 2-1 midfield rather than a 1-2 in midfield which means that when they lose the ball a lot of the times you have 2 men defending rather than 3 in the defensive phase because of the numbers. Also he uses a very basic positinally game set up. I would like to see what he does with a better quality mf as Dembele and Wanyama are not very intelligent footballers perhaps. Also he will never join as he is an ex Espanol manager.
@Synco its embarrassing. The antithesis of positinal game and Cruijffs school. Messi must shoulder some blame as he is very lazy but the set up is subpar for him. At first I blamed him for destabilising the structure but this year has convinced me he has no choice but to drop deep and that creates too many problems in of itself.
People saying Busquets is in a slump lack basic understanding of football. If you have more space to defend and ate numerically outnumbered even Maldini would look poor. In possession he has no passing options because of how far the central midfielders play and they create no angles for pressure relief and out of possession he has too much space to defend because Barcelonas counter pressing structure is terrible. His abilities haven't changed. He was never a player that could operate over a large space like a Kante. That won't change till a new coach comes and coaches the midfield on how to stagger themselves and create passing angles like they did under Pep and Tito.
@Synco its embarrassing. The antithesis of positinal game and Cruijffs school. Messi must shoulder some blame as he is very lazy but the set up is subpar for him. At first I blamed him for destabilising the structure but this year has convinced me he has no choice but to drop deep and that creates too many problems in of itself.
People saying Busquets is in a slump lack basic understanding of football. If you have more space to defend and ate numerically outnumbered even Maldini would look poor. In possession he has no passing options because of how far the central midfielders play and they create no angles for pressure relief and out of possession he has too much space to defend because Barcelonas counter pressing structure is terrible. His abilities haven't changed. He was never a player that could operate over a large space like a Kante. That won't change till a new coach comes and coaches the midfield on how to stagger themselves and create passing angles like they did under Pep and Tito.
Iniesta and Mascherano are approaching 33, Messi, Suarez and Pique 30, Busquets 29. Maybe they have it in them another CL title but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Sarri plays fantastic one touch counterattacking football but defensively hes terrible. Juanma Lillo maybe know a thing or two about positional game but he failed everywhere as a head coach. Sampaoli and Pochettino are disciples and followers of Marcelo Bielsa and not on the Cryuff way. Koeman is more of a Dutch school of thought product.. I think (althogh may be it is too early) that Xavi Hernandez would be ideal follower of the Cryuff and Guardiola way when he becomes a coach.
Defensively they are good. He fixed Napolis defence in one season. Positinal play means they will create chances. Cruijffs teams conceded chances but created multiple. Yesterday Madrid were better and they needed a CF. Mertens was too easily overpowered. Also none of those players bar Reina and Callejon have played on that level. If he can coach Diawara, Hamsik and Zielinski to positinally themselves like that he would work wonders at Barcelona were the level is much higher.
Lillo has failed because of the personnel not his coaching. Give him better players. I mentioned Sampaoli because he will bring Lillo with him. The way Sampaoli uses midfield is more similar to Cruijffs mediocentric method because of Lillo. Watch his UdC side when he coached them. He has slowly been transitioning away from the Bielsista school. Never said Lillo should be hrad coach. He should be there to coach the team with Sampaoli. He wI'll be the assistant. He doesn't have the profile to coach the team.
You need high level players to use it at its most optimal level because it is the kit risky style available. You need talent to utilise it which Barcelona have in spades.
That is why I think Paco Jemez did a fantastic job at Rayo were they were having turnovers averaging 8 players every season.
Koeman doesn't use positinal play and I really don't rate him that highly. He is too defensive.
City haven't won shitDon't know why you laugh, City is already more successful international then Barcelona for 2 seasons, no matter what happens against Monaco. This seems to be the yardstick for everyone in here "how did XY fare in the CL compared to YZ"
Even with how poor Barca have been this season they'd still most likely demolish any team in the Premier League.Being successful entails you to actually win something. No-one cares how far you get if you don't win the tournament.
Barca need a managerial change, they should appoint klopp and while they are at it take cuntinho with too.