Well, first off, what a performance that was last night from Barcelona. Right from the off they seemed to be almost psychotic in their pursuit of the goals that they needed, and were more than deserving winners on the night. However, Messi's genius is again getting them out of jail, and this is something the Barcelona fanboys are unwilling to contemplate or explain when/if he either gets injured or simply has a drop in performance. Still, whilst he's in this kind of form, he's simply unplayable and a joy to watch as a neutral.
On to the theme of the thread and again the controversial use of the term "decline", we have yet to see a strong argument from the Barcelona fans that shows their overall play isn't in decline from the dizzy heights of 2009-2011. I watch them most weeks (despite Castia's kind suggestion that I should simply watch "more football" to be able to understand this complex form of the game) and have noticed a distinct dip in their overall play since the before the Winter break. Now this could well be attributed to their manager's absence, which is both possible and understandable, but individual defensive mistakes cannot be attributed to that. There has been a litany of sloppy mistakes from the goalkeepers, centre-backs and their attacking full-backs exposing their defence to counter-attacks which we hadn't seen in previous years, and this must be a cause for concern for them.
Others have suggested that have we thought about the prospect of Barcelona improving? Well with Puyol, Xavi and Valdes either retiring soon or leaving, and with no adequate ready-made replacements, and Barcelona's suspect transfer record in recent years, I'd love to know how you can just assume that everything is going to be rosy for them. La Masia may not ever produce a crop like Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Pique, Fabregas, Valdes etc. again, and they have been the catalyst in them becoming the best club side of all time.
Posters here are confusing the use of the word "decline" with "finished". On last night's evidence, they're probably still the best side left in the competition, but they are not as fearsome as they were in Guardiola's reign, which is the point I, and others (Brwned and bosnian_red), were trying to make. Look back at the OP: where did I say they were finished? I even mentioned that it could be construed as being silly as they were run-away leaders in La Liga but there was still some evidence in recent weeks to suggest that they were somewhat brittle and was just wondering where people saw them in 2, 3 or 5 years time considering the restructuring they'll surely have to do.
That's the aspect of the forum that is slightly annoying, though; if posters put as much effort into their arguments as they do their smugness, the discussion would flow a lot better here.