Re: Barca at the Euros/Olympics

by harhar11 Sun 24 Jun - 17:50

Yeah Alba has been great. Just hope that his price doesnt rise that much

by BarcaKizz Mon 25 Jun - 3:38

Jonathan Dos Santos has turned down the call to play at the Olympics for Mexico so he can do preseason with Barcelona.

An amazing display of commitment, yet again, from Jona. Especially considering its largely expected he'll be loaned or sold. He's shown he really wants to make it time and time again. He's very motivated. I think he deserves to be rewarded for this. We should keep him with us and give him a chance. We've given chances to much less talented players in the past...

Question: Has anyone caught your eye at the Euros as a potential target?

by The Franchise Mon 25 Jun - 4:28

Yes, Alba has been good with the ball and coming forward. But we all knew that.

I prefer to look at the fact he got owned in the air by Debuchy, who at 5'9 isnt exactly tall either.

Yes, he isnt a scrub but I really cant be too happy we are not signing a scrub..thats minimum standard.

100% agree on JDS.

Any players who intrest me from the Euro's. No, not really.

For 1, not that many great individual performers. Second, im always gaurding against those who play so well for their country, but at club level can never do anything. The frankly lower standard of NT football is always a concern. I can think of too many players signed by good clubs because of NT performances and they turned out to be useless.

That being said I think its a shame Coentrao plays for (and is wasted by) Madrid. As shown for Portugal (and Benfica before that) he can really play. Defensively sound, excellent with the ball and a pretty scrappy player. Deucebag face which screams punch me, but yeah. Dont know why he is so poor for Madrid.

Bruno Alves has shown very good defensive skills, monster in the air and has the ability to play some excellent long balls out to wide areas. But at 30, its too late.

The 3 games Agger played, he was fantastic. Just a great performance each and everytime, really leading the backline. Its a shame he was surrounded with trash back there, but he was outstanding.

I guess most of the other guys who have done well, we have no use for whatsoever.

by BarcaKizz Mon 25 Jun - 5:02

Agree on Alves, its a pity his father rated him at like 30m or something when we wanted him.

Agger was great, wouldn't mind if we considered him.

Otherwise I agree, nobody has been great at this tournament.

The Franchise wrote:
That being said I think its a shame Coentrao plays for (and is wasted by) Madrid. As shown for Portugal (and Benfica before that) he can really play. Defensively sound, excellent with the ball and a pretty scrappy player. Deucebag face which screams punch me, but yeah. Dont know why he is so poor for Madrid.

Hahaha. I'm so glad someone agrees with me on this...Far out he has a punchable face.

by The Sanchez Tue 26 Jun - 6:37

Wow Jonathan Dos Santos :bow:

. The amount of faith he has with Barca is just unbelievable. To turn down from the Olympics to play with Barca in preseason who could possibly be on his way and I feel he may not be the first team with the reports from the Barca camp is just incredible. I hope he plays regularly in preseason and does well because the commitment is just :bow:

. As for the Olympics well Alba definately will be a decent signing through these couple of game times in Euro. The amount of energy the guy has, is incredible. Agger has been literally the guy carrying the Danish side and Im disgraced that Barca aint even rumoured with him. He definately has talent and he is a solid, cheap centre back that we desperately need.

by alexjanosik Wed 27 Jun - 21:45

Yesterday game is the reason why Alonso needs to be on the bench.He is useless when a presses.He was the worst player on the pitch and as usual went into hiding as soon as a team presses.He was unable to maintain possession and Xavi had to drop deep to help maintain possession.
Playing Alonso didnt statisfy anything.Spain were left a man short in midfield,Xavi drops deep and hence there is one less man upfront.To top it all off,Xavi who was Spain's best player gets subbed off while Alonso stays!!
WHy doesnt VDB learn?Just play Xavi,Busquets,Iniesta in midfield and play runnners uptop.
Instead to accomodate the useless Alonso he plays Xavi at AM.But since Alonso cant do his job Xavi anyway ends up dropping deep.

by CBarca Wed 27 Jun - 22:06

Nice to hear that from JDS. I really do still love the kid, I think it would be a shame if he never got a chance with Barcelona...he should at least get some minutes with the first team.

I remember him playing against Villareal...(2?) years back and I was fairly impressed. Don't see why he can't impress now, especially given his commitment and faith.

Doesn't want to follow in his brothers foot steps it seems.

by Ganso Wed 27 Jun - 22:38

Mexicans dont give 2 cents about the olympics mate,pretty much all of their key players are pulling out lol minus Gio of course since he needs hype to move to another club

by The Sanchez Thu 28 Jun - 2:17

Pedro was GOAT! :bow:

. He really made an impact and just displayed amazing skill on the ball. He has proved why Spain need Businiestavi and have a proper winger/striker. Negredo was :facepalm:

and was literally no where in the time he played and when he did have the ball, just constantly gave it away. Saying this, his replacement really wasn't the right tactic to get a goal. Yes Fabregas did do more on the ball than Negredo and his link up play was better but he still doesn't display the characteristics of a striker and is far to slow... Pique had a much better game imo and didn't give the ball away... Valdes and Reina lead the cheerleading squad :bow:

by billy_gr Thu 28 Jun - 2:58

Iniesta was amazing as always.
Xavi is way below his standards IMO.
Busquets had a great game.
Pique was effective but seemed shaky throughout the game

by Khaled Thu 28 Jun - 6:06

billy_gr wrote:Iniesta was amazing as always.
Xavi is way below his standards IMO.
Busquets had a great game.
Pique was effective but seemed shaky throughout the game

Del Bosque said that Xavi was tired, this is why he subbed him..
Xabi + Xavi + Busquets is useless... they are playing the same role, Spain needs JUST 2 of them together...

Yesterday, Xavi did do so much? true..
few passes forward, cause:
1- Playing upfront ahead of Alonso and Busquets as an AM (he's not an AM).
2- Iniesta and Silva dropping to midfield, Negredo was useless.. No one making runs behind Portugal's defense, which left Xavi with no option than passing back to Alonso or Busquets or sideways to Silva or Iniesta.. most of his passes going forward were to Arbeloa, only one made some runs on the right flank in 2nd half...

Problem was solved when Navas and Pedro entered the pitch.. Pedro was great.. This is the kind of players Spain are missing.. They need a forward who can make these runs forward behind the defense, he also showed some good skills...

Again, Spain should play with this lineup:

Casillas
Arbeloa Ramos Pique Alba
(Although i prefer Ramos as RB, Javi CB.. Arbeloa is fine in this tournament, he's not the problem)

Xavi Busquets Iniesta
Silva (Cesc or Torres) Pedro

Yesterday, Del Bosque said that Xavi was tired this is why he subbed him.. If Xavi is not fit, Xabi starts.. ( but plzz no more Xabi+Busquets+Xavi as an Am.. its useless, they are playing the same role.. Spain needs another Forward like Pedro)....

by The Sanchez Thu 28 Jun - 6:19

Khaled wrote:
billy_gr wrote:Iniesta was amazing as always.
Xavi is way below his standards IMO.
Busquets had a great game.
Pique was effective but seemed shaky throughout the game
Del Bosque said that Xavi was tired, this is why he subbed him..
Xabi + Xavi + Busquets is useless... they are playing the same role, Spain needs JUST 2 of them together...

Yesterday, Xavi did do so much? true..
few passes forward, cause:
1- Playing upfront ahead of Alonso and Busquets as an AM (he's not an AM).
2- Iniesta and Silva dropping to midfield, Negredo was useless.. No one making runs behind Portugal's defense, which left Xavi with no option than passing back to Alonso or Busquets or sideways to Silva or Iniesta.. most of his passes going forward were to Arbeloa, only one made some runs on the right flank in 2nd half...

Problem was solved when Navas and Pedro entered the pitch.. Pedro was great.. This is the kind of players Spain are missing.. They need a forward who can make these runs forward behind the defense, he also showed some good skills...

Again, Spain should play with this lineup:

Casillas
Arbeloa Ramos Pique Alba
(Although i prefer Ramos as RB, Javi CB.. Arbeloa is fine in this tournament, he's not the problem)

Xavi Busquets Iniesta
Silva (Cesc or Torres) Pedro

Yesterday, Del Bosque said that Xavi was tired this is why he subbed him.. If Xavi is not fit, Xabi starts.. ( but plzz no more Xabi+Busquets+Xavi as an Am.. its useless, they are playing the same role.. Spain needs another Forward like Pedro)....

I think this is where we are definately missing both Villa and Puyol. Ramos is definately better than Arbeloa at RB, especially with attacking runs and crosses. I don't trust Martinez in the centre of defense tbh. I rather Albiol imo. 4-3-3 is definately the way to go as it provides us with a sufficient forward in Pedro and hopefully an actual striker in Torres or Llorente can play as a striker. Doubt Llorente with no game time this tournament. Xavi is definately tired and he was a player I really didn't want to go to Euro's as it could flare up with Barca next season and with Thiago uncertain for the first 3 weeks or so, Fabregas will fill in. What happens if he goes... Roberto? Anyway, I agree 3 midfielders in Xabi, Xavi and Busquests is definately annoying the crap out of me...

by BarcaKizz Thu 28 Jun - 6:35

Spain are just crap... Calling them a Messi-less Barca is an insult to Barcelona. We would sh*t all over the Spanish team.

Can't blame Xavi for anything... he's had a crap tournament by his standards but its not his fault. Dunno who Del Bosque thinks Xavi is... the man is senile I believe, but he's using Xavi the complete wrong way. In fact, I think he's using like half his team in the wrong way... wtf is Busquets doing in this team? Alonso's been sitting deep. Its just the most retarded team ever, no wonder they couldn't dominate Portugal. They were hoofing the ball half the time.

Pep would do wonders with Spain, but I don't want a Catalan to coach Spain and make half of Catalunya angry (Free). This senile old fart is bloody useless...

by free_cat Thu 28 Jun - 6:41

Ah, but they will most likely win anyway.

by The Sanchez Thu 28 Jun - 6:48

BarcaKizz wrote:Spain are just crap... Calling them a Messi-less Barca is an insult to Barcelona. We would sh*t all over the Spanish team.

Can't blame Xavi for anything... he's had a crap tournament by his standards but its not his fault. Dunno who Del Bosque thinks Xavi is... the man is senile I believe, but he's using Xavi the complete wrong way. In fact, I think he's using like half his team in the wrong way... wtf is Busquets doing in this team? Alonso's been sitting deep. Its just the most retarded team ever, no wonder they couldn't dominate Portugal. They were hoofing the ball half the time.

Pep would do wonders with Spain, but I don't want a Catalan to coach Spain and make half of Catalunya angry (Free). This senile old fart is bloody useless...

VDB did say when negotations of a new contract were in place that Guardiola would be a nice replacement for Spain. He would definately play Xaviniesta to their full potential. He would definately have a hard time chosing who comes off the bench with the amount of talent in Spain.

by BarcaKizz Thu 28 Jun - 6:58

Spain can't use the Messi argument anyway... they might not have Messi, but they have a truckload of attacking talent who could help them... It would be a piece of cake making their passing more fluid, quick and more direct. They have no argument in saying 'we only have great midfielders, but nobody to finish it off', because they do... they just leave them rotting on the bench while Xabi Alonso is knocking useless balls up to Xavi and David Silva, the hulk-like targetmen :bow:

.

Pedro, Mata, Navas, Villa, Adrian, Soldado, Llorente, Cazorla...

So many players they could use to add some direct running and danger up front, and in turn make their midfield look so much better because aces like Xavi, Iniesta and Silva would then have people to pass a ball to, rather than watching Xavi and Iniesta go, 'No you shoot Xavi', 'No you shoot, Andres' and pass it around the area constantly before giving it to some donkey like Arbeloa.

Ffs Llorente must be having suicidal tendencies or something... the poor guy should just leave the squad if the senile old man can't see his talents.

by billy_gr Thu 28 Jun - 7:32

On Xavi. I know he is misused. And I know that so much talent is being wasted that could have helped him look better.
But it’s obvious that he’s tired and giving 0 *bleep* about Spain I am skeptical about how this will affect his performance for us this season

by The Franchise Thu 28 Jun - 11:20

The fact Spain are still the best team, tells you all you need to know about NT football.

Last night, 75% passing accuracy.

Imagine if Barca ever passed the ball that bad, we would probably lose 3-0 given the quality other teams we face have.

They passed that bad and still Portugal didnt manage a shot on target.

by Le Samourai Thu 28 Jun - 11:25

^ Defense

by The Franchise Thu 28 Jun - 11:49

Yes, great defence, they defended very well.

But again, at club level, it doesnt matter what defence you have, we arent going to able to do that.

Dani Alves, Abidal prime, Puyol prime, in form Pique with Busquets/Yaya in front couldnt manage such a feat against mid table teams, let alone the semi final of a major competition.

by Khaled Thu 28 Jun - 16:53

Khaled wrote:One more thing:

Euro Final: Spain vs Italy, Italy with a better chance to it...

by The Sanchez Thu 28 Jun - 20:05

I think Spain would win it with a proper striker and forward. Pedro to start, Alonso out, Llorente/Torres in, prefer Llorente. Pedro is a must though!

by Khaled Sat 30 Jun - 10:03

‎- Most Passes #euro2012: #Xavi 509 (92.9%) #Alonso 497 (88.3) #Schwein 415 (89.9) #Busquets 405 (91.9) #Iniesta 374 (90.4) #Pirlo 366 (87.7)

- Most Chances created in #euro2012 (Via @whoscored): Ozil 22 (5 games), #Xavi 20 (5), Sneijder 19 (3), Cassano 16 (5), Pirlo 15 (5). #fcblive

by Khaled Tue 3 Jul - 8:15

>>> Full Spanish pre-squad of 22 players for the olympic games
(18 player List on Monday)

- ATHLETIC CLUB: Mikel San José Domínguez, Javier Martínez Aguinaga, Ander Herrera Agüera y Iker Muniain Goñi

- CLUB ATLÉTICO DE MADRID SAD: Jorge Resurrección Merodio “Koke”, Joel Robles Blázquez y Adrián López Álvarez

- FC BARCELONA: Martin Montoya i Torralbo, Jordi Alba Ramos, Thiago Alcantara Do Nascimento y Cristian Tello Herrera

- BENFICA FC: Rodrigo Moreno Machado

- BORUSSIA MÖNCHENGLADBACH: Álvaro Domínguez Soto

- CHELSEA FC: Oriol Romeu Vidal y Juan Mata García

- RCD ESPANYOL DE BARCELONA SAD: Álvaro Vázquez García

- MÁLAGA CF SAD: Francisco Román Alarcón “Isco”

- MANCHESTER UNITED FC: David De Gea Quintana

- OLYMPIQUE MARSELLA: Cesar Azpilicueta Tanco

- REAL SOCIEDAD DE FÚTBOL SAD: Iñigo Martínez Berridi

- REAL SPORTING DE GIJÓN SAD:Alberto Botía Rabasco

- VILLARREAL CF SAD: Diego Mariño Villar

---------------------------
De Gea
Montoya Botia Dominguez Alba
Thiago JaviMartinez (Herrera or Isco!!)
Munian Adrian Mata

by BarcaKizz Tue 3 Jul - 8:18

I hope Alba refuses and decides to train with us... ffs he just played every minute of a Euro... he doesn't need to go. Take Didac or Aurtenetxe.

by danyjr Tue 3 Jul - 8:26

Is Del Bosque coaching the Olympics team?

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