Has Thiago disappointed you this season?

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:What Dani said lol, plus he's just a kid his finishing aside which is far from the most important thing as a CM he's been great IMO.

Also he was better than all the midfielders as Dani keenly pointed out.

Another id like to point out before Iniesta came on he was better than Messi tonight who was average until Iniesta came on.

Seriously i wonder what goes through peoples minds sometimes..... Cesc? he's utterly useless for Barca if he doesnt score.

I would really like to know what more you expected from Thiago? he's been great imo.

Also one more thing what was Xavi and Iniesta doing at Thiago's age?

Yh that's what i thought.

He's top 10 in La Liga in assists too...

If you prefer Thiago to Fabregas because you think Fabregas messes with the teams flow and style of play thats fine and all

But claiming he's "utterly useless when he doesnt score" when he's in the top 20 in the league for goals and the top 10 in the league for assists in his first season in a new league on slightly limited starts is just dumb, frankly

whoscored.com ftw

Adebayor has more assists than most midfielders including Luca Modric.....

Is Adebayor better than midfielder than Modric now?

All Cesc's assists and goals mean which he has'tn contributed for a very long time btw......

Is that he's very good in the final third which in Barca's system makes him a forward in my eyes.

As a midfielder he is useless, he constantly gives the ball away and its not because he tries risky passes either because he gave the ball away around a dozen times against Levante for simple passes, he doesnt know how to press, his movement in tight spaces is f*ckin awful.

As a forward he has a role, but why buy a forward when you loads already ? and a distinct lack of defenders.

Splashing over 30m on a player that was'nt needed just because he's the prodigal son and Catalan.

He has done nothing to prove any of us wrong.

All the goals and assists in the world changes nothing, he upsets not just the attacking shape of the team but the defensive shape too.

I have no doubts Barca would have performed better x100 this season if Cesc was'nt here, mainly because the system wouldnt be changed just to suit him.

I reckon Özil would have been a better suit for Barcelona, especially for a mere €10 million. I remember he had his favourite team on his website set as Barça (which he quickly brought down after joining madrid ). There were rumours stating Zubi had reached an agreement with his representative but eventually Guardiola rejected the move, insisting he was not any better than any of youth team's midfielders. For me, the German would have been the perfect suit to Barcelona's style of football.

Also I want to say, while Guardiola has brought so much to the first team from the youth system, he has also been very overly wary of non-Masia talents. When he claimed, before the match against Arsenal last year that Barcelona have so many players in the B team like Jack Wilshere, I was like Ironic how the 19 year old Englishman didn't let Xavi and Iniesta breathe a few hours later.

We should of got Ozil instead of Cesc, I think most people would agree with that when you consider the fee also.

And what Pep said about Wilshere was correct. Thiago is actually proof of that.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Adebayor has more assists than most midfielders including Luca Modric.....

Is Adebayor better than midfielder than Modric now?

I have no idea where you're going with that...What do Cesc's stats have to do with comparing Adebayor to Modric?

sprucenuce wrote:All Cesc's assists and goals mean which he has'tn contributed for a very long time btw......

Is that he's very good in the final third which in Barca's system makes him a forward in my eyes.

A) If he's very good in the final third than by definition he isn't "useless"
B) So if position is determined by numbers is Lampard a forward too? Scores way more than Fabregas..

sprucenuce wrote:As a forward he has a role, but why buy a forward when you loads already ? and a distinct lack of defenders.

Splashing over 30m on a player that was'nt needed just because he's the prodigal son and Catalan.

He has done nothing to prove any of us wrong.

A) You are now arguing something different. Arguing that he is useless unless he scores is a separate debate from arguing that his purchase was unnecessary

sprucenuce wrote:All the goals and assists in the world changes nothing, he upsets not just the attacking shape of the team but the defensive shape too.

Not sure whether thats extreme hyperbole or whether you've lost your mind with the first part of that...."All the goals and assists in the world change nothing" the whole point of the game is to score more goals than your opponent...

sprucenuce wrote:I have no doubts Barca would have performed better x100 this season if Cesc was'nt here, mainly because the system wouldnt be changed just to suit him.

Cesc didn't start in either of Barca's league losses this season, although he did start in 5/6 draws....Valencia, Bilbao, Villareal, Espanyol, Sociedad

Last season they had 6 draws and 2 losses...Shouldn't they have been 100x better since they didn't have Cesc?

You were using stats to back up your argument so i used the one that Adebayor has more assists than Modric to prove a point, the reason Cesc has those goals and assists because he plays in the final third.

Also no the Lampard comparison is moot because its a different system, meanwhile Cesc effects the balance and shape of the team attacking wise and defensive wise when he plays in midfield or as an AM because a whole new system is used to fit Cesc is in.

As the old saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it, Cesc playing in midfield slows down the whole process because his movement in tight spaces is poor, his know how of when to press and when not to press is poor, his idea of knowing what pass to go for at any particular ( basically decision making ) is poor compared to the other Barca midfielders and this includes Thiago and Busquets.

When he plays AM he feels more comfortable but he effects the defensive balance of the team and restricts the space Messi has to operate in.

He is fantastic in the final third but i never once on this forum denied that, infact i praised him for it on many occasions.

But his occasion goal and assist ( and atm its just that its occasional he isnt provided consistency of goals or assists in a very long time) is not worth it when he upsets the attacking and defence balance and structure.

I'll admit i never wanted him in the first place because i foresaw all these issues a long time before the two clubs agreed a fee it greatly annoys me that he stunts Thiago's growth as a player plus he's nowhere near as good as Thiago as a midfielder ( atleast in Barca's system) and money spent which should have been used on a defender.

So what iam argueing is that as an Midfielder he doesnt offer anywhere enough and he was an unecessary purchase to boot.

Goals and Assists wont change the fact that he upsets the balance of the team and slows the team down as much as Keita does and everyone hates him and wants him benched.

The difference? Cesc supposedly score goals but hasnt done that since the beginning of Febuary and that was'nt even a key goal as Barca won 5-0.

Have to agree with Mole here

BTW full props to both of you for including Godric in this discussion. We could use more Godric examples around..well, the whole forum

Don't you think Pep has already thought this through? He hasn't played Cesc to his full potential. He will resign his contract and develop Cesc to the player he wants or finds most potential. Again (Im starting to get annoyed), but both Cesc and Thaigo need time and Pep knows that.

What’s with this thread anyway?
A mediocre performance and people start screaming in disappointment?
Kid has been great and in time he would grow to be a magnificent midfielder

I have no doubts Barca would have performed better x100 this season if Cesc was'nt here, mainly because the system wouldnt be changed just to suit him.

So it was Cesc's fault now for Barca's fail season? I mean it was Cesc's fault for being more productive than the supposed best winger in the world Sanchez. Or it was Cesc's fault for Messi missing penalties in crucial games. It was Cesc's fault that he contributed directly to 20 goals in the league how more useless can you be?

Messi only costed us 1 game with a pen.

Meanwhile, Cesc playing we struggled to create and the entire team looked out of whack as we dropped many points away from home.

I know you want to support Cesc still, but be real.

With that penalty scored against Sevilla, Barca would be 1st now (considering you win against Madrid) and we wouldn't even discuss this. As for Barca's away games it's not JUST Cesc's fault, it was the whole team's fault. If Barca is so superior without Cesc in away games why did u were so poor against Mallorca (was it Mallorca, anyway that 3-1 loss)? Or other games where Cesc did not start? That's a very poor excuse.

And if you want to believe that it's Cesc's fault, then again it's not his entire fault. Why don't you blame Guardiola for asking for him in the first place. Or Puyol, Pique and Xavi for making this happen? It's not that he asked in the public for the transfer. With this transfer two teams were destroyed (Arsenal and Barca).

If you want to blame someone for this season than it's Guardiola. He failed tactically, even you guys knew that Cesc wouldn't work lol

Every game Cesc played in midfield and we didnt win, he was largly at fault. Even games we won, he played crap in midfield.

Noone said its ONLY Cesc's fault...Noone once said that here.

However, look at the facts. Last season without Cesc we had no problems in terms of players figuring out roles, players moving without the ball, everyone knew exactly what they were doing out there.

Cesc, especially early, stood out as someone who didnt know these things this season. He even said that himself.

His inclusion in many games earlier in the season cost us many times. Of course we dropped points without him too, but we didnt win every game last season either.

We already blamed Pep for signing him in the first place, thats old news to us.

And please, stop crying about Puyol and Pique. Cesc himself continously indicated he would come.

And btw, Barca have not had a fail season...as you can see, we are still in the running for everything we entered.

Every game Cesc played in midfield and we didnt win, he was largly at fault. Even games we won, he played crap in midfield.

So everytime he played in the midfield he was crap (I watched Barcelona when Cesc played and he was not crap EVERY time he played that's exaggerration anyway) that means he was not crap entire season because he barely even played as a CM.

Noone said its ONLY Cesc's fault...Noone once said that here.

Great Leader Sprucenuce said that and CBarca agreed with him.

However, look at the facts. Last season without Cesc we had no problems in terms of players figuring out roles, players moving without the ball, everyone knew exactly what they were doing out there.

Now that Cesc came they all forgot how to move without the ball? Even if they did, again not his fault.

Cesc, especially early, stood out as someone who didnt know these things this season. He even said that himself.

Maybe because it's his first season with Barcelona, if people give him a chance he can improve on that. He's still 25 years old , I believe Guardiola can bring the best out of him.

And btw, Barca have not had a fail season...as you can see, we are still in the running for everything we entered.

Sorry I didn't mean that, just thought Great Leader Sprucenuce described Barcelona's season like that.

This is the same situation as at our section. At us it's Ramsey. He's blamed for every game even when it's not his fault. Just that he's still not blamed for our entire dissapointing season like Cesc is.

And I'm sorry for interrupting the discussion here, I just found Great Leader Sprucenuce's statement ridiculously wrong. Maybe you guys can forgive me

It's not only Cesc's fault in fact it isnt even his fault, its Pep's fault for completely re-working the system to fit Cesc in which has completely un-balanced the side defensively and offesnsively......

Which is what my point was, if Cesc didnt come the system wouldnt have been re-worked to fit him in and the side wouldnt have been unbalanced.

Which is why i say they would have performed better without him.

No literally every game, come on man. But lets say, 1 in 7 or 8 would his performances in midfield be classified as good or very good.

He had probably had 3 games in midfield I thought he was good.


Please quote Mole's post on that line, because I dont see it where im reading.


No, Cesc didnt move without the ball...noone else and nobody said they arent willing to give him a chance. But the answer to the question of, has Cesc cost us points this season..the answer is yes.

Its not Cesc fault we are behind in the table, but it is partly his fault, more him than any other midfielder other than Keita.

In terms of individuals, Pedro, him, Keita and Pique have not covered themselves in glory this season.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:It's not only Cesc's fault in fact it isnt even his fault, its Pep's fault for completely re-working the system to fit Cesc in which has completely un-balanced the side defensively and offesnsively......

Which is what my point was, if Cesc didnt come the system wouldnt have been re-worked to fit him in and the side wouldnt have been unbalanced.

Which is why i say they would have performed better without him.

Totally fair opinion...I only objected to the "utterly useless" characterization

This is what Cex has to say to you mole

Cesc's facial expression are really legandary. I mean, come on.

The Camera loves him

"The truth is I don't know anything about football"

looooooooooooool completely ruined my posts here.