- Joined
- Jun 25, 2020
- Messages
- 128
- Supports
- St Mirren
I think Barca players need to pull their finger out, stop throwing tantrums & play their best game-all of them.
Yeah, by all means keep him involved, but it's time to accept that he's at the same stage as Modric - good in small doses against tired legs, or in easy games at homeHim fielding Busquets seems like trying to gain a player for the cause, obviously if you've been watching him for the last 12 years you don't really take the reins of a team and think "I shouldn't even try to bring this guy back to form", but so far, it seems clear that Busquets doesn't have a role in this team, at least not an important one.
Defensive transition is an issue and likely will keep being so because of the personnel. Same thing that happens with us. The best thing Koeman can do for that is to play Dest on the right and bring Sergi Roberto back into midfieldWhat worries me is his total lack of faith on Firpo, Alba looks good when the team dominates but, as usual, he shows his huge flaws when our left wing is asked to defend better, he can't rely on Dest playing LB all year because that leaves Sergi Roberto as our only RB option, that's not good either.
Personally think for big games Koeman should go with De Jong in defence in a back 3, Sergi Roberto and Pjanic in midfield and Messi-Ansu Fati-Griezmann in attackAnd then there's Messi, I think we have a huge problem, 100M/year big when you look at your star player and start questioning wether he's actually improving the team or blocking it from reaching its fullest potential, which would mean Griezmann as the 9, Coutinho as the 10 and Fati, Dembele or Trincao on the wings. Since he's played every single minute so far, it doesn't seem like Koeman wants to try that team anytime soon.
Of course, I've said many times Barca were carrying too many over 30s who simply aren't that great anymore. Vidal was a relatively easy one to let go of but you had Pique pretty much saying after Bayern game he wouldn't have an issue if Barca decided he wasn't what theye needed any longer, got a new 4 year deal the other week.Regarding Suárez, sometimes an exit is not exactly motivated for a sporting reason but to change the face a bit.
Suárez and Messi evoke a lot of power in the dressing room, skipping the 8-2 consequences. The image of the veterans ignoring Setién's explanations
He was not the only culprit but he is Uruguayan, not Catalan like Alba.
Or maybe they just needed to get rid of the higher salary after Messi. Now they are negotiating a 30% pay cut
Bit of an exaggeration. xGoals were 2-1 for Barca. 1-1 until the red card in the 64th minute. And this is Alaves, a team that fought relegation last season. Going gung-ho in the final minutes against 10 men that are forced to defend does by no means mean that Barca dominated and were unlucky.
Barcelona could have scored 10 in the second half. 5 in the last 10 minutes alone
Where do you see a great team there? Fati is the only player where you could say: "That's Barca potential right there." The rest of the players are either over the hill (Messi, Pique, Busquets, Alba, Griezmann, Roberto) or you have to pray really really hard that they get a whole lot better in the future (De Jong, Démbélé) because as of now they are disappointing week in week out.It's a young and relatively new team, with little preseason, playing every 3 days
These are growing pains for them. There is a great team in there, but they need time and a bit of luck. Koeman has got the right ideas in terms of strategy and tactics, but he seems to still be figuring out the personnel(one thing that should be clear by now: Busquets *cannot* start difficult or away games. Period). His ability to make in game adjustments though looks poor
Koeman has been fine, they’re going to need some time. We’ve been quite unlucky so far but we’ll figure out.It’s a rebuilding year for BarcaSo what's going to happen now at Barca?
Is Koeman going to be sacked? What's the background in this story? It's not just the Bartomeu thing, is it?
we do have a game in hand over Madrid but I don’t think anyone was expecting us to win the league this year.they were without cover for Suarez for the last few seasons, now they're without him as well. you can't really compete without a single striker in your squad and it doesn't really have to be prime Suarez. it's a bit strange situation since I don't think Koeman is doing bad job and they don't look bad overall, yet their is position in La Liga is already bad enough given they're 8 points behind the worst Madrid side in recent years.
Saul has just got back from injury. The others are fit. Great signing yes. Bit strange they got special permission. Have no idea what made the case special but as an Atletico follower I am happy they did!!Just read in the paper today that Atletico Madrid got special permission to sign Kondogbia now than in January.
Are one of their CMs injured as they've got Saul, Koke, Lucas Torreira, Llorente and Hector Herrera as options for the two CM positions so hardly lacking.
Think Kondo is fantastic player so he'll give them that extra box to box quality they've been missing from Partey leaving.
With all the transfer rumors going on around Atleti it seemed they wanted to use Torreira to replace Herrera, who ended up staying. Kondogbia was allowed to come because of Thomas leaving to Arsenal at the last minute, out of their control (release clause activation is controlled by LaLiga, not Atleti), so that gave them the special permission to get a replacement (at 25% of the transfer income because of the COVID financial support rules - explaining the insanely low costs for Kondogbia, probably some future, easy, clauses in that deal, or a very financially desperate Valencia). Plus Llorente is more of a winger/supporting striker at Atleti, and somehow a really good one at that.Just read in the paper today that Atletico Madrid got special permission to sign Kondogbia now than in January.
Are one of their CMs injured as they've got Saul, Koke, Lucas Torreira, Llorente and Hector Herrera as options for the two CM positions so hardly lacking.
Think Kondo is fantastic player so he'll give them that extra box to box quality they've been missing from Partey leaving.
He's been playing a little more frequently recently. It's partly due to Saul, Carrasco and Vitolo injuries, though.Hoping Atletico can win the league this season. Is Lemar playing much at all?