Wonderful post man. Loved reading it.

BTW enjoyed your use of 'Mourinho and his henchmen'. It shows that at times he is viewed more like a mafia boss than a football coach. We should let him know that. Who knows it might even please him.

Another comment that I have heard to describe us that night is 'blood thirsty wolves who hadn't eaten for days'.

Does anyone have a link to the picture in which Iniesta pumps his fists in the air after the match?

Last but not the least where is mole when all this is happening?

Mole is around JD, he just isnt a frequent poster on the Barca section. He likely watches the game though.

After being repeatedly accused of being a closeted barca fan mole has decided not to watch barca anymore and claims to have stopped altogether since december

I'm here JD

I don't post anywhere near as much as i used to fullstop tbh.

I watch when i can as i don't have easy TV access to La Liga games anymore.

I of course watch the CL games though and found it quite shocking and great that Messi was used in a floating role behind Villa.

Something Barca should use more often IMO it would also suit Sanchez a lot more as it would give him more space to exploit instead of on the wing where he clearly struggles.

The fullback balance in that tactic is an interesting one though.... Alves was great at exploiting the space on the right hand side.

But Alba isn't ever going to be the Abidal type fullback who can be more balanced to help the defense.

Long term you could use Alba in Alves role and swap the wings around and have a more defensive minded RB because against most teams as great as watching BusiXaviesta was with Messi in between them and Villa there obviously needs to be fullback balance against stronger teams.

Better teams will exploit the spaces fullbacks leave..... there is a possibility i suppose you could sort the CB situation out and go 3 at the back with Alves and Alba as wingbacks, BusiXaviesta as midfield 3 with Messi behind Villa.

Lots of tactical things to consider when the 4-3-3 isn't working.

I have said most of this in the chat but JD hasn't seen it so might as well mention it here.

No disrespect to Adriano but his injury problems are persisting, he barely has 90 minutes without getting injured. In that case, how about Barcelona sells him to get Filipe Luís instead? Seeing Abidal will never be back to his best (lets face it, he is 33 and hasn't played for a year - what are the odds?), this will bring more competition for the LB role. Not to mention Luís brings something different to the table compared to Alba, and amongst those, more balance as you prefer.

Would guys ever try Song at fullback ?

RealGunner wrote:Would guys ever try Song at fullback ?

STOP IT RG

RealGunner wrote:Would guys ever try Song at fullback ?

No. Just No.

Filipe Luís we should of got a long time ago, before Maxwell, before Adriano and again before Alba...but luck (his broken leg) plus stubborness on our part has stopped this.

How old is he now, 28?

I would still have intrest, dont know about us.

If not then there are other candidates, Alex Sandro, Siqueira, Umtiti who he may or may not have shown intrest in and various others.

Didn't realize we had the international break now. Since I've missed the last 3 (2 due to flights, 1 due to exams) this means I won't have watched Barca live for almost a month

I don't know how I'm gonna survive the next ten days.

RealGunner wrote:Would guys ever try Song at fullback ?

He isn't fast enough for one lol

mole, nice to hear from you. Thanks for the post. Wonderful comments.

The Franchise wrote:Filipe Luís we should of got a long time ago, before Maxwell, before Adriano and again before Alba...but luck (his broken leg) plus stubborness on our part has stopped this.

How old is he now, 28?

I would still have intrest, dont know about us.

If not then there are other candidates, Alex Sandro, Siqueira, Umtiti who he may or may not have shown intrest in and various others.

Honestly though the way i look at is that Alves as great as he is is getting older now and due to the fact he relies a lot on his physical tools if you were to buy another fullback down the road it would most likely be a RB version of Abidal and Alba takes the offensive role.

I think that is the plan anyway.

Sure, but I see Dani Alves in the mold of Cafu...I think he may be great even 5 years from now.

What we do may be different I agree, but just saying what I think.

Also, I was more talking about replacing Adriano should he be deemed too injury prone. If we dont, we have 1 leftback.