Dani Alves : Right Boss

Some interesting points raised regarding Alves. I think both of you have some valid points.

Watching Barcelona last year, often when you lost the ball in the opponent's final third, the RW (supposedly Alexis) was usually found more towards the centre of the box; either because he was there to make (dummy) runs for Messi or started pressing the centre because Messi is too lazy to press his area. This would leave the whole right flank for Alves to defend which consequently resulted in the Brazilian being caught out of position many times last season.

On the other hand it is quite obvious that Alves is not the same player as before. He is slower, lazier and generally lacks the hunger of 3-4 years ago.

FFS man....showing me still images prove nothing...

Dont bother with your gifs, trust me I wont watch them.

You think what is happening here, suddenly Dani Alves lost his mind and just deceived..yeah, ill just stay up the field here?

No, obviously not. He had injuries and is past 32 so obviously isnt quite the A+ athlete of his youth, so you can look to that and say some of his recoveries are slower than previous. But your assertion is not this, your assertion is he "just declined and now goals come from his side...I will show you still images with the ball closer to goal than he is"....Good argument pal.

If there is a defender which moves faster than the ball travels, please point him out to me, he can replace Alves.

Cuadrado? What about the moments in games where we have to have a solid line? Cuadrado is going to be a regular fullback then? No. I thought not.

And 1 more thing.

You say "anyone who watches Barca says this" regarding Alves. I dont care if a million people say it, if they are wrong they are wrong.

Im not someone who is going to follow the crowd just because it seems the thing to say.



Dany. I know Rojo is not Abidal technically, not even close. Neither is Alba for that matter. But what I mean if, Abidal, Keita and Mascherano..they all improved technically, all of them older than 25 (some even older) where you would expect technical abilities to show no real noticeable improvements. I wouldnt expect Rojo (at 23) to improve, I KNOW he would. I dont think he is average defensively at all and I think his passing is a little better than you think. I would ask you to look for his performance vs Porto (the only game of his I saw last season) and you might be fairly impressed.

positioning is a rather important skill for a defender wouldn't you say?
his positioning all season long has been disguistingly bad
hell his 1v1's have costed us many goals as-well
and I can recall one of the shorters players in la liga out jumping him for a goal that costed us the game.
just from memory Alves hasn't been himself like you said he is old and injuries, so logically it is time to start moving on and finding a replacement no?

Where did I say positioning isnt?

1 v 1's? Now, dont lie..if there is one thing he can still do, is defend most players in a 1 v 1.

And not this crap again...yeah, replace Alves..when we come up with an actual name, not some inferior player who just has some kind of rep because he plays for a good team. Like Piszczek who you seem to love..who is nowhere near good enough to start for us.

but you say alves is good enough to start for us? lol
there are dozens of full backs that are currently better then alves but by your standard none bar alves should play for us? why.. because he can do one two passes? or have a below 20% cross rate.
idk why your so fixated on him alba has done better then him defensively this season and that says alot.

Erm...yeah..most defiantly. Put him in a team which has an organised pressing system and not half hearted bs then yes, easily.

Who are all these players better than Alves? Lets hear them. Im fascinated.

Who is fixated? I didnt bring him up, I got asked and I answered. Your the one who is constantly fixated because you cant help but bring him up/talk about him, even when he isnt even the worst problem we have in the defensive line.

It's a conversation in which you started
and I ask what does Alves posses that makes him by your standards good enough to play for us.

I personally don't see it.  His defending is average at best, positioning is bad, height doesn't help, the only thing he has contributed this season is his forward runs which has very rarely helped us oh and constantly blaming the fan support for his bad job.

and from this very moment I would take all these players over Alves in a heartbeat.
Juanfran, Lahm, Azpilicueta, Piszczek, Adriano, Zabaleta, Aurier

and what is wrong with discussions in a barca board are we only allowed to talk about the biggest problem in our defense? if you don't wanna answer don't answer no one is holding a gun to your head my friend.

but back to my original question what makes you believe he has the quality to start for us, what attributes does he have that are far greater then the other options.

The Franchise wrote:FFS man....showing me still images prove nothing...

Dont bother with your gifs, trust me I wont watch them.

If you don't accept images and gifs you're simply not interested in a reasonable discussion. As there is nothing more I can do to illustrate his bad positioning and errors as clear as possible.

Alves doesn't need to travel faster than the ball. He needs to read the game well and not be caught upfield in the 87th minute when Barca is leading and pick his moments when to go forward and when not instead. No other top fullback in the world will be in that kind of situation where his zone is attacked and he is somewhere around the halfway line jogging back. It's ridiculous. Pls show me a goal against Bayern where this happens to Lahm. I can show you 10+ videos from last season alone with Alves like the above picture.

His 1 on 1 is also not good at all anymore. You can clearly see that he has lost acceleration. Some Mexican scrub was knocking the ball past and accelerating past him for fun. Let alone what Di Maria did to him this season 1 vs. 1. He can't block crosses for shit. Even my German commentator was amazed how shit he was during the World Cup and excused it with the phrase that he's not a fullback anyway but more of a winger.

Yes, it's true. The insane pressing of around 2010 Barca with the 3 man backline Pique-Puyol-Abidal covered for most of his mistakes. And it was worth it because he contributed with 20-ish assists per season and tireless link-up play. That's not the case anymore. And even back then he showed that he was never the most solid defender around. Case in point Inter 2010 and Arsenal 2011 where he is just jogging back like it's a summer breeze and could've easily stopped Arsenal's counter for the 2-1 if he bothered to run back.

Donuts wrote:It's a conversation in which you started
and I ask what does Alves posses that makes him by your standards good enough to play for us.

I personally don't see it.  His defending is average at best, positioning is bad, height doesn't help, the only thing he has contributed this season is his forward runs which has very rarely helped us oh and constantly blaming the fan support for his bad job.

and from this very moment I would take all these players over Alves in a heartbeat.
Juanfran, Lahm, Azpilicueta, Piszczek, Adriano, Zabaleta, Aurier

and what is wrong with discussions in a barca board are we only allowed to talk about the biggest problem in our defense? if you don't wanna answer don't answer no one is holding a gun to your head my friend.

but back to my original question what makes you believe he has the quality to start for us, what attributes does he have that are far greater then the other options.

Yeah..no..I mentioned fullbacks in one line of a maybe 2-3 paragraph post.

Of course you dont see it, I question alot of what you see so thats normal.

Those names you listed are a total joke minus Lahm, who we couldnt get obviously. Exactly the types im talking about, guys who played their part in a functional team but none of them are special in anyway. Other than Zab, who still isnt very good with the ball.

Juanfran The true definition average fullback.

Aurier? A couple crosses from the 3 Ivory Coast games impressed you that much? Your talking about not good defensively and small (therefore not good in the air) and you go on to mention Aurier? Get it together.



Easy question. If we are a pressing team, there is no better rightback capable of pressing the ball. If we are a possession team there is no better rightback who has his composure with the ball, his passing ability to his ability to dribble in tight spaces.

What is reasonable about still images and gifs which obviously wont show what I am talking about?

Does the gif show that Dani Alves pressed a player, didnt get that same from surrounding players and the opponant easily passed out and into the space he isnt in?

Or does it show a team attacking down his side and him not here? Just like that still image?

That Mexican scrub you mentioned, that wasnt bad 1 v 1 defence at all. I remember your joke of a commentary on it lol

He won the first tackle, the ball bounced off both of them and ended up directly in the path the Mexican was running while Alves was still getting up from the tackle he just made. This not being accelerated past. The one time I recall him being beat for speed was when he kicked the ball down Alves side and he got to the goaline just in time for him to cross it, Alves was just behind him.

He got a cross in? Your talking like this is cardinal sin defending....

Commentators? Are they also proof of anything?

I notice this as a habit of yours. You say what commentators say, you say what coaches say, you say what "most people" say..well that dont mean squat to me because I dont trust any of their judgement over my own.

So what your saying is Dani Alves was never good? Really? That really says it all about how clueless you are on this subject.

No one said Alves was never good, just he sucks now, even a washed out maicon replaced him.

it's no surprise most of the goals conceded came from the right side of our defense, and you can blame everyone else but in the end it was because Alves was jogging down the halfway line while we get countered.

two or three years ago he would be back at defense marking his man but instead now all he resorts to is watching the team and complaining afterwords blaming the fans.

laughable how you keep saying players we name are "Average" but somehow alves is amazing for you, truly your bias is incredible if you cannot even recognize the talent of other players in that position.

regardless we're stuck with alves for the next 2 years and with you still coming up with excuses for the guy, whom you praise for his individual talent but blame the team for not helping him   

I think attributing goals conceded to Alves or gold conceded because they came from the right side is overlooking the larger picture here which is a broken pressing system and average CB's to help cover for an Alved who has a tendency (and responsibility) to get forward. They play into each other as well- when Alves is pressing the opposition and our other players are piss poor at it and space is exploited, this problem is compounded by our relatively average CB's who can't adequately cover for him. I don't think that's on Alves...

Next thing you know Busquets is in decline as well. But is he? No, he's simply not as good when the team isn't collectively pressing the correct way- he's not particularly fast and can be overwhelmed by teams playing on the counter.

I don't think Dani Alves had the best season. I do think he has declined. However, I think we fix our pressing system and get some capable CB's, you will find Alves to still be one of the best RB's in the world easily.

Where did I praise Alves at any point? Nowhere in this discussion..I talked about what he can do and what we still does well, when asked. Nothing else. Who said he is amazing? Putting words in my mouth is a pretty poor way to try and debate.

You look for individuals to blame when its a team problem, when you dislike the individual. When its someone you like (Messi) you protect him like he is your own son. So really, talking to you is pointless.

Some of you to be totally honest, see the game differently than I do. And without trying to be arrogant, its like your seeing it in 2D.

The David Villa goal vs us was a prime example of this. Alves got alot of blame for it because it came from his side, but it totally ignored what actually happened. The thing is, you dont even truly know what happened..because you see the game in 2D. Sorry if that sounds harsh and sorry if I come across as arrogant but thats just the way it is.

Lol and i put words in your mouth? when do i defend messi like my own son? especially in barcelona section, the only time i talk about messi is probably in the general discussion section or argentina thread other then that I just say news and facts I'm not jiopsi.

I criticize all players whom i think deserve to get criticized i'm not alex where I purely blame Messi nor am I you who flip flops your discussions where you blame Alba/Cesc as individuals but when it comes to Alves it's purely the teams fault

Alves still has allot of quality to offer and it would be tough to see him leave. I hope him and Xavi stay in this pivotal seasons we have to face going forward with the transition of new players/new manager/transfer ban

Alves will on Tuesday meet with Luis Enrique, who will confirm he doesn't count on him for this season. Coach wants to sign Cuadrado [sport]

i like that alves is leaving but still am skeptical about cuadrado replacing him.

Dear god.

brilliant....  

Barcelona right back Dani Alves (31) is more likely to leave than to stay this summer. [cope]

problem is where is he going to go..
PSG wont take him unless....

inbefore 40m + Dani alves for Marqinhos

I'm more than okay with him leaving but, this is plain stupid. The guy is still the best RB in the world even if he declined.

Way too late in the transfer season. We have no replacements lined up except Cuadrado. Would be stupid to let him go.

Montoya segunda defender to start this year

Lucho doesn't want him. Couldn't be more obvious.

Luis Enrique: "We continue working on transfers, some positions should be strengthened, club knows it, we're not in a hurry."

GK, CB, MF and ST have all been strengthened. What position could he be talking about?

To be fair we still need another CB