How do you think Barcelona could improve?

I dont see Reus going to Barca. He seems happy at Dortmund, and i just dont see it happening. Barcas problem is simple. As good as he is, Messi cant do everything. Xavi, Puyol, Alves, and Villa are past it. Busquets and Pique are overrated. Valdes and Mascherano are just garbage. So who does that leave? Basically Messi and Iniesta to do everything. They need to play with more width so Sanchez can get in the game more, and buy a WC CB to play next to Pique and hide his flaws like Puyol used to. Also, Xavi should no longer start. Use Fabregas in his role. I homestly domt think theyll ever get back to their 2008/09 or 2010/11 levels again, or at least not any time soon, but they having gaping holes in their team that need to be fixed.

Fabregas wouldn't work in Xavi's role imo.

He suits the more attacking CM role.

The Franchise wrote:
So because Marca and some guy said so, it must be right?

I will go with what see, his defending is fantastic. In this bad spell in fact, he has been the only defender not to make some awful error...that despite being 1 v 1 with Cristiano with no help most of the time.

When Pique was 1 v 1 with Cristiano with no help, he gave away a pen.

When Puyol with 1 v 1 with DI Maria with no help, he got broke so bad he ended up doing the splits.

No, I am saying that because that's what I see. The only reason I mentioned them was to show you that we are not making this up and we are not the only one who thinks that Alves defending has been lacking this season..

I have seen Alves get caught out of position lots of time this season which in itself is a defensive mistake and if you do it as many times as Alves has...

Maybe it might have more to do with the system, but its still a big problem that needs to be fixed..

But if you really think that his defending has been great then honestly, I don't think that I can change your mind. So we better leave it at that..
--

OT: I don't really know if Puyol really got broken that badly on that play. To me it looked like Puyol slipped before Di Maria even made his dribble..

Great? No, but not bad at all...hes done a good job, hes not flawless...but noone else.

Alba has been far worse, Montaya in his limited action made more errors per minute...Adriano is the only one who has been a better defensive player.

The problem is not if you think he hasnt been good or not, it dont matter...what does matter is the notion that others have been better, when they have not.

Puyol only slipped because of what Di Maria did btw in my opinion.

Reus is one of the best wing forwards in the world IMO but i don't see Dortmund letting him go very easily.

Just like Gotze, Hummels etc etc he will cost well in excess of 30m+

They can sell Sanchez and use that to buy a new inside forward?

Franchise still on the WUM. Examples about Alba's shitty defending, por favor!

Meanwhile, let me quote you some nice bits from the Dani Alves thread on barcaforum this season:

In January 2013:

If it was Arbeloa or whoever, I probably wouldn't be so hard on them, but for a player who's been named the best RB in the world for several years in a row, yes he was pretty terrible.

Alves has never been great in the final third. He stretches the pitch width and also provides good 1-2s in buildup, but his crosses and strikes are hit or miss (mostly miss), his 1v1 dribbling is not good enough to take on most defenders on the goal line. At his best, he makes some good cutback passes in the box. Alba spoils us, and shows what Dani is not, both technically and in decision-making.

It's not just a few misplaced passes or crosses here and there. He was looking as wasteful as Alexis tonight and that is saying something. It's just that the entire team was playing great so it kind of masked Alves's mistakes. I can guarantee you he would be criticized a lot more if this were a tight match where we couldn't afford to waste any chances.

He's always been bad at crossing but today... i have no words.
Worse player on the pitch today.

oh those were crosses? I think he tried to shoot

March 2013:

He does as much good things as he does bad things. That said, 50% isn't a good rate.

Defensively the worst, yes. rm 1st goal came from his side, again. But offensivly, he's great. Maybe he should take Pedro's spot, play Montoya at rb.

The assist was a fortunate isolated play, because other than that he was terrible, I defended him on Tuesday, but today he was really bad...

September 2012:

He had a dismal display tonight... I was specially angered at their first goal where he didn't even attempt to block the shot, and he didn't add anything in offense either... Better get his focus next week...

Uh.. Looking at the highlights again I have to say Dani made more mistakes than I thought. Was caught off guard for first Negredo's shot that went wide (Song covered him there). And then in the 19th minute left Trochowski completely alone (action ended with Rakitic pass) but fortunately the pass never came to him. I mean he doesn't even look around him to check for opposition forwards to pick for marking and I've seen him doing this quite a few times this season.
So the Sevilla goal which came after his 3rd mistake wasn't a coincidence at all.

Will need to improve his marking. He left acres of space for Trochowski and was directly to blame for the Sevilla opener.

October 2012:

Serious liability this season at the back.

I love Dani, and I don't want this sound bitter, but I think the time to cash in on him is getting closer... I mean, his form has been low and the injuries are happening too often, I appreciate everything he's done to the club and I think he's a great character to have in the dressing room but Montoya seems to be doing quite well, so I don't know...

In his current form he will not be missed He has been shit since to start of this season

Since his divorce he has not been his usual self, understandable but still, he did have enough time by now to bounce back. Sometimes he shows his true ability but most of the time it's mistakes, losing marking and poor passing which doesn't cut it in this team. If he doesn't improve soon he should either retire or leave, same with Sanchez.

From like 2 dozen different members in different parts of the season.

alves..... hummels..... pique.... alba

........Busquets...........Xavi..........

....................Iniesta..............
Walcott........Messi............Tello

Real Kandahar wrote:alves..... hummels..... pique.... alba

........Busquets...........Xavi..........

....................Iniesta..............
Walcott........Messi............Tello

Please hope your not suggesting a 4-2-3-1...
Please hope not...

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Reus is one of the best wing forwards in the world IMO but i don't see Dortmund letting him go very easily.

Just like Gotze, Hummels etc etc he will cost well in excess of 30m+

If we sold Alexis and on top of that sold Cesc (it'd be drastic, but possible) we'd be more than able to purchase Reus. Whether they sell would be different. I mean I'd hate to sell a canterano so quickly after that whole saga but if they really wanted to, they could

futbol wrote:Franchise still on the WUM. Examples about Alba's shitty defending, por favor!

Meanwhile, let me quote you some nice bits from the Dani Alves thread on barcaforum this season:

In January 2013:

If it was Arbeloa or whoever, I probably wouldn't be so hard on them, but for a player who's been named the best RB in the world for several years in a row, yes he was pretty terrible.

Alves has never been great in the final third. He stretches the pitch width and also provides good 1-2s in buildup, but his crosses and strikes are hit or miss (mostly miss), his 1v1 dribbling is not good enough to take on most defenders on the goal line. At his best, he makes some good cutback passes in the box. Alba spoils us, and shows what Dani is not, both technically and in decision-making.

It's not just a few misplaced passes or crosses here and there. He was looking as wasteful as Alexis tonight and that is saying something. It's just that the entire team was playing great so it kind of masked Alves's mistakes. I can guarantee you he would be criticized a lot more if this were a tight match where we couldn't afford to waste any chances.

He's always been bad at crossing but today... i have no words.
Worse player on the pitch today.

oh those were crosses? I think he tried to shoot

March 2013:

He does as much good things as he does bad things. That said, 50% isn't a good rate.

Defensively the worst, yes. rm 1st goal came from his side, again. But offensivly, he's great. Maybe he should take Pedro's spot, play Montoya at rb.

The assist was a fortunate isolated play, because other than that he was terrible, I defended him on Tuesday, but today he was really bad...

September 2012:

He had a dismal display tonight... I was specially angered at their first goal where he didn't even attempt to block the shot, and he didn't add anything in offense either... Better get his focus next week...

Uh.. Looking at the highlights again I have to say Dani made more mistakes than I thought. Was caught off guard for first Negredo's shot that went wide (Song covered him there). And then in the 19th minute left Trochowski completely alone (action ended with Rakitic pass) but fortunately the pass never came to him. I mean he doesn't even look around him to check for opposition forwards to pick for marking and I've seen him doing this quite a few times this season.
So the Sevilla goal which came after his 3rd mistake wasn't a coincidence at all.

Will need to improve his marking. He left acres of space for Trochowski and was directly to blame for the Sevilla opener.

October 2012:

Serious liability this season at the back.

I love Dani, and I don't want this sound bitter, but I think the time to cash in on him is getting closer... I mean, his form has been low and the injuries are happening too often, I appreciate everything he's done to the club and I think he's a great character to have in the dressing room but Montoya seems to be doing quite well, so I don't know...

In his current form he will not be missed He has been shit since to start of this season

Since his divorce he has not been his usual self, understandable but still, he did have enough time by now to bounce back. Sometimes he shows his true ability but most of the time it's mistakes, losing marking and poor passing which doesn't cut it in this team. If he doesn't improve soon he should either retire or leave, same with Sanchez.

From like 2 dozen different members in different parts of the season.

Watch the games, I aint going to spent 10 minutes on youtube looking for footage which may or may not be there.

Barcaforum? Who cares? Are their opinions any more valuable than yours or anyone elses?

Alba sucks, either you agree or you dont.

Neymar will come for sure. So you would need a player with high workrate alongside him and Messi. The midfield is set, but Thiago should rotate with Xavi. Play Adriano as a LB, with Alves, or Alba with another RB but with better defensive skills. Buy a WC CB, and a GK. Hummels is better than Pique, but they are both slow. Someone like Sakho would be perfect.

Hummels is the last thing Barca need.

madrid will skin him anytime he tries his overlap

infact I think mourinho want Barca to get Hummels badly.

Mou wont be there next season, so I doubt that he care's who Barça buys or not

Stormer77 wrote:revert back to Rijkaard's system

For some reason, this stuck with me.

Its one of the weirdest (or maybe lack of awareness IDK) comments.

The reason being, Rijkaard's system is the same system..only we made advancements on it.

Its like saying, we got this Blu Ray....but maybe if we go back to VHS we can see the image better.

harhar11 wrote:Mou wont be there next season, so I doubt that he care's who Barça buys or not

you think he won't want ton defend his UCL title.

secondly, even if Mou is not there this would be Mou's team, and Hummels playing would be good for Madrid with "Mou's legacy"

[quote="The Franchise"]

Stormer77 wrote:revert back to Rijkaard's system

For some reason, this stuck with me.

Its one of the weirdest (or maybe lack of awareness IDK) comments.

The reason being, Rijkaard's system is the same system..only we made advancements on it.

Its like saying, we got this Blu Ray....but maybe if we go back to VHS we can see the image better.[/quote

he probably meant less reliance on Messi

Well I think its much easier to be less reliant on Messi like back then, when he isnt the player he is now.

We wasnt as reliant on Messi, simply because he wasnt as good.

We just however, rely on Ronaldinho just as much as Messi now. A shown when Ronaldinho stopped playing, how bad we became.

Pretty much what Dani said. When you have an all time player like Messi, you have to over-rely on him. If you don't, you're almost wasting the player if that makes sense.

If the player is injured, off form or retired, it becomes a big issue. I mean look at France NT... we fell off A cliff when Zidane retired or was not available. Same with Platini.

That said, i don't think Messi is the big issue with Barca right now. It's overall effort, father time catching up to Xavi and rigid tactics believe it or not. I don't think a mickey mouse manager can work for a club like Barca... players will just ignore him. But there's no real manager alternative right now given there's only 3 months left in the season.

It still makes no sense to me why Vertonghen hasn't been bought in the summer. Frank de Boer recommended and offered him to Barca, almost begging even. Cheap, tall, strong, left-footed and skillful centreback from the Ajax system who can play as a leftback-centreback hybrid like Abidal. The perfect Abidal successor in fact. Barca went with Song instead. WTF?!

or they can always buy Varane

it won't hurt trying

aleumdance wrote:or they can always buy Varane

it won't hurt trying

Barca should offer Madrid Fabregas for Varane. Maybe they'll bite, they have a fetish for Spanish internationals.

we will never do that. It's harder to find a defender with the qualities of Varane than to find an Attacking midfielder nowadays.

Where would Cex play ?

likeastar wrote:Where would Cex play ?

if Cex were a merengue, the Manchester match would have been over by first leg

I have no idea why barca would attack Arsenal for 2 years for cex and not know how to use him

If we are honest, even when we were on top of the world our signings were hit and miss.

So, when you start losing that edge you cant afford hit and miss signings like we have done. Especially when all the "hits" become fewer and fewer.

But I am not so worried about the signings and stuff like that, we still have for me the best group of players.

More important than that, we are making a total mockery of our philosophy currently.

If you list say 15 details of our philosophy, I bet we arent even doing half of them correctly

Offside line and sweeper goalie? Nope.

Ball moving quickly from player to player. 1 touch the best, 2 touches if you have to? Hell no.

Do we have vertical depth? Are we a threat in behind? No again.

High pressing? No, hardly ever.

And so on..