PSG vs Barcelona

looking at our recent signings we probs end up buying a dm and converting him into a CB

in all seriousness i hope we sign a CB with immense leadership quality, some1 who can actually command the back.

Still pissed off that we couldnt hold possession for the last minute

Bénin wrote:Dani , you got a point about the '' luck '' part . In a final , little details make the différence and it's hard to imagine what the starting 11 would be . Either it's Xavi, Alba, Adriano etc .. someone is always missing
The way the defenders are injuried every then and now is really worrying.

What defenders, CB , do you expect to be signed this summer ?


PS: Yesterday a RM fan told me '' Barca is nothing without Messi, Messi makes Barca '' . this same guy was among the ones who used to say '' Messi is nothing without Xavi and Iniesta '' ....

I dont know what to expect anymore. We are too unpredictable in terms of transfers. I have a bad feeling we are looking at Vermaelen or Hummels, two guys for different reason I am not very convinced by for us.

Messi is fine guys

the injury is minor and he'll be out 7-10 days

what a relief!

The Franchise wrote:Villa?

It wasnt too different from the Milan performance, the only difference is he didnt receive any chances and therefore didnt score. His movement and work rate was more or less the same, just couldnt find him. It doesnt help that Thiago Silva plays on the left of the defence and he is freaking everywhere.

Villa is a real striker, he doesnt have to do much for long spells but he can come alive at any moment to do something. Just have to set the conditions for that to happen. It didnt happen but thats just one game, no doubt he should remain in the team.

agree... I said it already that he didn't have adequate service. Still it was painful to see him doing nothing in there

So then here's how we should line up for the return.

Sanchez Villa Tello
Iniesta Busquets Xavi
Alba Bartra Pique Alves
Valdes

My line up can change if someone recovers from injury.

Anyone wants to suggest any other line up?

I'd say there's a 90% chance of Cesc playing false 9 if Messi is not fit.

I'm all for JDs line up

MaraVilla wrote:looking at our recent signings we probs end up buying a dm and converting him into a CB

in all seriousness i hope we sign a CB with immense leadership quality, some1 who can actually command the back.

Still pissed off that we couldnt hold possession for the last minute

I think Vertonghen really was the best choice. It's not easy to find a WC CB. Been trying this for years ( Dimitri Chyng , Thuram, ... )
hummels is the favorite imo but paying 25m for a player, as good as he is , is another gamble. No Vermaleen i hope, still has to prove himself at Arsenal.
Alex song should be sold before his value decrease too much, he won't even be as useful as Kéita.

Even though he's expensive, go for Mangala... the young french CB at Porto. He's going to be huge. Also, Sakho is leaving PSG for sure if Carlo stays... so there's another one.

sportsczy wrote:Even though he's expensive, go for Mangala... the young french CB at Porto. He's going to be huge. Also, Sakho is leaving PSG for sure if Carlo stays... so there's another one.

You said the same thing a year ago and that lead nowhere

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Even though he's expensive, go for Mangala... the young french CB at Porto. He's going to be huge. Also, Sakho is leaving PSG for sure if Carlo stays... so there's another one.

You said the same thing a year ago and that lead nowhere

i kind of believe him now : Carlo might leave if Mourinho or Wenger agree to replace him. But if he stays , Either sakho would be promised a starting place or he'll leave .

Sport : Who is going to replace Carlo if he leaves ? that's the question ?

sportsczy wrote:Even though he's expensive, go for Mangala... the young french CB at Porto. He's going to be huge. Also, Sakho is leaving PSG for sure if Carlo stays... so there's another one.

This.

Farting around with slow pokes who can "pass from the back"...tired of it, its so overrated.

Give me Mangala.

As for next week, I think for sure Cesc will start and im not too unhappy with that. As a forward he could probably do a decent job, he did create the pen after all.

futbol wrote:The irony is that Fabregas would be shitting all over Özil in Real Madrid's system where he would be playing right behind the striker and just needs to deliver the final ball instead of understanding the 20-30 passing move patterns of Barcelona and how to orchestrate a midfield with 100+ passes while at the same time having the pressure of Xavi and Iniesta breathing behind his neck.

He's got 72 goals and 118 assists in his last 7 seasons which means he's averaging 10 goals and almost 20 assists per season, most of those numbers averaged at a very young age while playing alongside crap at Arsenal like Bendtner, Arshavin, Rosicky etc. There is a reason why he was tagged with a € 60 million price tag by Wenger when Barca started sniffing around and Özil went for € 18 million despite being only a year younger.

Cesc can't be moulded into a midfield orchestrator. He's a creator and not a distributor. Forget Xavi, he's not even an Iniesta type of player ( #8 ). Ideally he plays even further forward as a #10, close to the box, away from central midfield. Just like Pep used him in his 3-4-3 and where he thrived. Positionally he's actually competing with Messi more than with Iniesta.

Incredible player but just another case of Barca not giving a *bleep* about specific player positions and expecting them to be world class all over the pitch.

Wow futbot, this is a very good explanation and description for him I think....

Also agree with Benin, Xavi is a special player difficult to exactly replace.... hope we can find someone or find a system that can ensure that once he leaves we will still be at such a high level.

If Pique and Alba get a yellow card next week, our defense could look like this for the SFs, assuming we qualify ofc;

---montoya---song----batra----alves--



Imagine if we get Madrid or Bayern in the draw

That Ref was horrible. Whats going on? Second game in a row I have seen refs meltdown in comical ways.

That first PSG goal was a travesty in how it was called by the ref from beginning to the end. I’m with Lev here, the foul against Villa could have easily gone the other way, because Villa was blocked. Lets not mention that foul on Alves that was ignored.

Alexis is either not a good striker or severely lacks confidence lately. I can forgive misses, but I can’t forgive bad basic striking stances. Why fall away from the ball when one on one with the goalkeeper? Atleast Ibra had good form on his one on one, he just got nervous and rushed his shot…thats’ always been his big problem.

Valdes is getting a lot of support here, which is great, but I’m still of the opinion that we can improve that position. He may not have been entirely at fault for the 2nd goal, but he didn’t cover himself in glory either.

To understand why Valdes was less than competent for that goal, you have to go back to Messi’s goal. Sirigu thought Messi would go near-post and high, but Messi went far post and low. What did Sirigu do? He re-adjusted his position, transitioned quickly and led with his leg, which was closest to the ball. Messi still scored but Sirigu put himself in the best position to stop it.

Now, let’s review what Valdes did. Granted, the ball took a deflection, but I honestly don’t know what Valdes was trying to do. It seems as if he wanted to slide across the ball and ended up having his leg tangled up under him. If he leans to his left and the ball is deflected, he could have led with his leg and easily kicked at it.

But my main issue with Valdes wasn’t that. In my eyes, I’ve never really rated his shot stopping skills as much as I rated his ball playing skills. To me, he has lost that plot this year spectacularly. In this game, his problems started around the 60th minute, when he resorted to just booting the ball forward. It gave PSG too many chances with the ball. That second goal was a direct result of an attack being relaunched immediately after Valdes boots it upfield. Just like that first Milan goal was relaunched after Valdes booted it upfield. I’m sorry guys, but Valdes has lost the only thing that set him apart from other goalkeepers.

The Sanchez wrote:



But my main issue with Valdes wasn’t that. In my eyes, I’ve never really rated his shot stopping skills as much as I rated his ball playing skills. To me, he has lost that plot this year spectacularly. In this game, his problems started around the 60th minute, when he resorted to just booting the ball forward. It gave PSG too many chances with the ball. That second goal was a direct result of an attack being relaunched immediately after Valdes boots it upfield. Just like that first Milan goal was relaunched after Valdes booted it upfield. I’m sorry guys, but Valdes has lost the only thing that set him apart from other goalkeepers.

did the idea that PSG were pressing a bit more at that time cross your mind? and that our players looked a bit clueless to pass the ball to them?

The Franchise wrote:As for next week, I think for sure Cesc will start and im not too unhappy with that. As a forward he could probably do a decent job, he did create the pen after all.

dani, at least Cesc is better in that position than he is in midfield.

BTW you mentioned something about us being too unlucky to win the UCL. By the same logic Real Madrid seem so lucky this season that their name is perhaps etched on the trophy. I was watching Malaga vs. Dortmund but have heard tonight Madrid got away with two penalties and two red cards not given against them and a few other wrong decisions in their favour as well. I am just speaking from hearsay. Only someone who has watched the match can comment with confidence on this.

Messi might make it for the return leg apparently

messixaviesta wrote:

The Franchise wrote:As for next week, I think for sure Cesc will start and im not too unhappy with that. As a forward he could probably do a decent job, he did create the pen after all.

dani, at least Cesc is better in that position than he is in midfield.

BTW you mentioned something about us being too unlucky to win the UCL. By the same logic Real Madrid seem so lucky this season that their name is perhaps etched on the trophy. I was watching Malaga vs. Dortmund but have heard tonight Madrid got away with two penalties and two red cards not given against them and a few other wrong decisions in their favour as well. I am just speaking from hearsay. Only someone who has watched the match can comment with confidence on this.

Perhaps, but I refuse to entertain that right now. I dont think Madrid are that good really.

They got decisions and cards, whats new? They should already be home, they lost to Man Utd.

But again, I refuse to entertain that possibility of them winning it.

RealGunner wrote:Messi might make it for the return leg apparently

Wouldnt be surprised. I have never seen someone "too good" to be injured, but it seems like he manages it

Overall it's quite clear that we are not at our level of 2010-11 but in spite of that one cannot claim as such that Real Madrid and/or Bayern Munich are definitively better than us. At the moment the feeling in the football world seems to be these are the three best teams in the world pretty much neck to neck with each other but Barca still has the highest intimidation factor of all.

danyjr wrote:

futbol wrote:The irony is that Fabregas would be shitting all over Özil in Real Madrid's system where he would be playing right behind the striker and just needs to deliver the final ball instead of understanding the 20-30 passing move patterns of Barcelona and how to orchestrate a midfield with 100+ passes while at the same time having the pressure of Xavi and Iniesta breathing behind his neck.

He's got 72 goals and 118 assists in his last 7 seasons which means he's averaging 10 goals and almost 20 assists per season, most of those numbers averaged at a very young age while playing alongside crap at Arsenal like Bendtner, Arshavin, Rosicky etc. There is a reason why he was tagged with a € 60 million price tag by Wenger when Barca started sniffing around and Özil went for € 18 million despite being only a year younger.

Cesc can't be moulded into a midfield orchestrator. He's a creator and not a distributor. Forget Xavi, he's not even an Iniesta type of player ( #8 ). Ideally he plays even further forward as a #10, close to the box, away from central midfield. Just like Pep used him in his 3-4-3 and where he thrived. Positionally he's actually competing with Messi more than with Iniesta.

Incredible player but just another case of Barca not giving a *bleep* about specific player positions and expecting them to be world class all over the pitch.

Boss post. Although I would have told you the same 3 years ago before Barcelona went to sign Cesc

Just watching Thiago Silva today, I wonder if the Barcelona board regret not signing him when he was the no-brainer solution (to me at least). Personally I very much disagree with Barcelona board's view on signings and I don't feel they have added much quality to their side in the past few years. The players who make the difference are still the same ones as 4-5 years ago. Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Busquets, Alves. Add the fact that Xavi is getting old and Puyol+Abidal are pretty much done (and Pedro is far, far off his best days), I can only see downhill from here. Barely any of Barcelona's recent signings have actually improved the team.

MaraVilla wrote:We splashed out ridicolous amount for chryfufuffuufu and back up dm but didn't for TS

I agree with the above somewhat, T.Silva proved probably a miss by us considering everthing we are missing a top CB for a while now to partner Pique.... Im not sure but money wise we shouldnt have had problems, maybe wage demands or we just didnt want to overspend so we didnt get T.Silva?

Im happy with Song though I think hes a good buy, as with Sanchez and Cesc, of cos it is hard to make sure all buys will work out, and I think Barca buy very carefully these days and try to keep it controlled unlike Real

BarcaLearning wrote:Im not sure but money wise we shouldnt have had problems, maybe wage demands or we just didnt want to overspend so we didnt get T.Silva?

I think quite simply we had used up the money to get Sanchez and Fabregas. Hence other areas needed to be compromised and defense was chosen to be the fall guy. Since we didn't want to openly admit we couldn't afford to buy a top center back we instead told the media that we have enough faith in our youth and we will manage - comments that even those who made them did not actually believe in. With the little money available Song was chosen as the cheaper option. Somehow we have this misguided belief that we can comfortably make midfielders play as defenders and its only this season that those in power are perhaps finally realizing that this is a tactical obsession gone too far.

The Franchise wrote:

RealGunner wrote:Messi might make it for the return leg apparently

Wouldnt be surprised. I have never seen someone "too good" to be injured, but it seems like he manages it

Yes Messi is so strong, and always comes back quickly. Im sure he will be back second leg....unless something more serious thats not annouced yet.... he just loves playing so much, never rests, never gets subbed even

messixaviesta wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Im not sure but money wise we shouldnt have had problems, maybe wage demands or we just didnt want to overspend so we didnt get T.Silva?

I think quite simply we had used up the money to get Sanchez and Fabregas. Hence other areas needed to be compromised and defense was chosen to be the fall guy. Since we didn't want to openly admit we couldn't afford to buy a top center back we instead told the media that we have enough faith in our youth and we will manage - comments that even those who made them did not actually believe in. With the little money available Song was chosen as the cheaper option. Somehow we have this misguided belief that we can comfortably make midfielders play as defenders and its only this season that those in power are perhaps finally realizing that this is a tactical obsession gone too far.

Thx for that messixaviesta, I hope then something will be done in this area this summer.... I remember all the talk were we're happy and confident in our youth....but I think thats proven to be less reliable than we would like, cant expect every youngster able to step up into the best team in the world~