is david villa being saved for the 2nd half season run-in?

Noticed that D.Villa has been slowly eased back into action. Is his lack of playtime a sign of being saved for the season run-in? or is his time finished and we are already looking at Neymar?
btw; I think, bar further injuries, the impending returns of Puyol,Pique and Abidal should go a long way in plugging our defensive holes. By New Year's, we should be good to go in all depts.

PS: Wanted to announce that in September of this year, I got Married and also completed the Memorization of the Holy Qur'an.

Also, Happy Birthday to my 'old' friend, BarcaKizz!![b]

Congratz on the marriage bro. I wish you and the Mrs. all the best.

Meh I think Villanova realized Messi isn't cut out to play everygame too rigorously like he used to under Guardiola.

Villa >>> Sanchez, honestly. Maybe Villanova is indeed going to spare him until the end of the season.

congratz on marriage and the memorization of the Holy Quran which is a great gift from Allah.

Spare? your best weapon for the end?? do anyone do that in football??? i doubt....so no, i think he is no more considered as the best weapon and thus not better than Alexis(at least to Tito)

Congrads

The villa saga baffles me. Whenever villa has started the game, he's been horrible, however as a sub its a diff story - scoring, hitting the post etc.

I dont think villa will ever get back to undisputed starter, and sadly will prolly leave at the end of this season.

He and Messi are becoming incompatible, and even on a personal level, if u believe the rumors.

If only messi would stop being too lazy, we would have our beloved MVP back.

Congratulations

I agree that Villa seems to be "saved" for the 2nd season. His playing time can only increase if he remains fit.

I wonder what it will take for Tito to see that Sanchez is a liability when on the field and that he should be replaced with Villa on a more regular basis.

And congrats, larisano

Congrats Lari, long time.

I dont know if he is being saved so to speak..more, we have seen guys get broken legs before and it takes more than a year to return to the sort of level and intensity needed. Its going to take time for him to be able to handle game after game, relied on for 90 minutes, whenever, wherever.

I guess we are just playing minutes by minutes to increase his match fitness. By the new year, he should be starting most games. He probably won't be the same Villa we knew after a serious injury like that but his presence is needed for sure!

so he seems to be slowly getting eased back into the team rather than being saved.

ps:to those who remember me from goal.com forums, I do read regularly but since I have rarely watched in my time here, I prefer to just read what others report and say. Feel rather disconnected,tbh.

I believe he i VERY slowly being brought back from injury with no risk of further injury

Thanks Lari. Only just saw this.

Congrats on the marriage first of all and good to hear from you.

Hmmm I want to believe he's just being eased back in slowly. They are definitely being very careful with him and so I hope he isn't getting too frustrated. Sanchez started preseason well but is proving again why he's a flop. Not impressed and I think soon enough they will have to turn to Villa consistently.

As you know I'm a big fan of him so I'm hoping to see him play a big role in the rest of our season so I hope that Tito sees things similarly to you and considers Villa important in the 2nd half.

I've noticed that barca are playing really well with iniesta on the wing!

Is Alba's presence making it a good thing? Afterall, iniesta is rarely stuck there, he is constantly switching positions with pedro, messi, cesc.

As much as I love villa, I feel atm, our strongest first 11 does not include him. Messi seems to love playing with cesc upfront than villa imo.

No, we are not playing very well with him on the wing.

Lost possession, worse pressing and beating two meh sides means very little when compared with the years of evidence to the contary.

The Franchise wrote:No, we are not playing very well with him on the wing.

Lost possession, worse pressing and beating two meh sides means very little when compared with the years of evidence to the contary.

Iniesta seems to have gone up a gear since moving to the wing.

Spartak, Levante werent meh sides!

I think we pressed well in our last 3 matches and villa isnt really gonna improve the side in this department anyway.

On the possession stats, I think its Tito's tactics, he is more direct.

MVP hasnt really worked well this season., e.g vs Granada, Zaragoza, Celta.

Its going to be interesting to see if MVP returns as our first choice attack this season

Villa is past it. Tito is preparing for MDN

Nerman - Messi - Deulofeu

Jibs i don't agree Villa has a ridiculous goals to minute ratio considering his time on the pitch.

He looks more lethal than he did before his injury he just hasn't had consistent game time.

gondov wrote:

The Franchise wrote:No, we are not playing very well with him on the wing.

Lost possession, worse pressing and beating two meh sides means very little when compared with the years of evidence to the contary.

Iniesta seems to have gone up a gear since moving to the wing.

Spartak, Levante werent meh sides!

I think we pressed well in our last 3 matches and villa isnt really gonna improve the side in this department anyway.

On the possession stats, I think its Tito's tactics, he is more direct.

MVP hasnt really worked well this season., e.g vs Granada, Zaragoza, Celta.

Its going to be interesting to see if MVP returns as our first choice attack this season

Levante were awful. They alway are vs us because their tactics never work vs someone like us.

What your ignoring is, before our first goal we struggled horribly BECAUSE of Iniesta playing on the flank in both Bilbao and Levante games.

Do you want to do this against the best of the best too?

No, we pressed poorly...players running around all over the place like headless chickens. When Villa plays, basically when 3 forwards play, they are natural fitting into their positions and know where to move.

vs Bilbao they escaped our press often because Iniesta isnt used to pressing fullbacks and Cesc is still slow to press. Putting everyone in their natural position improves us dramatically when pressing.

I dont understand why you would want Iniesta on the flank, its as if you havent seen the results over the long term.

Go watch any of our games vs Chelsea, vs Celtic, vs basically any park the bus team we struggled in. The common theme, not enough width, not enough depth, not enough stretching of play. Playing Iniesta over a forward only makes this problem worse.

I dont care how well Iniesta is playing, it wont work over the long term.

And I dont know what is with jibbers claiming x, y and z are finished. Villa, Sahin, everyone lol

Villa has done quiet well for me, the only games I seen him not do well was because he didnt recieve much of the ball. But on the ball, his movement, is general awareness and his lack of not forcing passes to Messi are a refreshing change to be honest.

LOL Mole I'm kidding. It's just unfrotunate that Barcelona have so many ppl that can play wide. Last season thats what they lacked

I don't know, I think maybe Tito is trying to give the squad a break till the Jan Feb fixtures maybe where Barcelona have done relatively poorly under Pep and thats were the fixtuures are are their tightest, copa del rey and League every week!

Best Villa is rested tbh. Yea Dani I agree that him not looking for Messi is refreshing. Messi's player/manager role needs to stop!

Messi denied charges today of being a player/manager/president of the club:

On Madrid-based media calling him "The little dictator":

Messi:" My teammates know how I am"

Villa hasn't had consistent game time because he was at first not fit enough to play 2-3 times a week, and when he played he rarely did so for 90 minutes. Even when he was having a better game than, say, Pedro, he would still be the one to get shafted for Alexis. Then he got re-injured hence not a consistent game time. But I think Tito is adopting a gradual system of allowing him more game time as his fitness improves, and will probably be a starter next season if all goes according to plan. If you read recent interviews by Tito he says things like "Villa was good, he scored two goals and was able to complete 90 minutes on the pitch. Every day I see him improved". It's clear that he's not 100% yet if there's need to point out that he is now able to play 90 minutes.

i definitely want to see more of him.
i was dissapointed not to see him agianst bilbao at all.
hope tito starts giving him some more time gradually

Last night I couldnt sleep, so I put on the CL final in 09 vs Manchester Utd. Thought it would be cool to relive the memory and look at how we changed since then I might not of remembered.

I learned a heck of a lot, but above all what I saw is how Etoo and Henry, in having somewhat below par games not once force feed passes into Messi.

There was one occassion, Henry up against Ferdinand....he could of easily passed to Messi for a shot, but instead dribbled Rio inside and out before getting his own shot off. It was almost shocking to see players doing things by themselves.

This same striker mentality, I like about Villa...he has it more than Tello, more than Pedro, more than Alexis.

I take it that's why you like the Neymar links? and to a lesser extent Deulofeu's possible promotion in the future?

Actually having forwards that can create things themselves instead of just playing for Messi.

I have to admit i like Villa for that reason too.

Well yes, but at the same time that exact thing is part of the reason I am concerned it wont work. I just think we need a forward with goals in him and Neymar has that, his finishing to me is the most impressive thing about him other than his dribbling.

But yeah basically, I think Messi has become so great that everyone passes it to him whenever they can. I understand it, but it isnt always the right play.

Villa takes shots on goal, none of our players would dare to.