Barca's defensive problems are more tactical than any individual.

There were a joke tactically and pressing as a team last season.

They could buy Thiago Silva and it still wouldn't change much if they don't sort out the aforementioned tactical and pressing issues.

Tito and Rodgers are essentially the same.

They don't have much knowledge of the defensive side of football and are really arrogant to change their ways. So they try to play "score more" than the opposition approach.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Barca's defensive problems are more tactical than any individual.

There were a joke tactically and pressing as a team last season.

They could buy Thiago Silva and it still wouldn't change much if they don't sort out the aforementioned tactical and pressing issues.

its hard to use their pep tactics if they persist with starting Xavi. We have actually accepted Xabi is finished while Barca are happy with sticking by Xavi eventho he has become this shit. And for all Iniestas technical ability the guy tracks back less than Ronaldo. Then you have Barcas version of Callejon aka Pedro who seems to find himself a starting spot in the team despite being so limited

Pique has been crap and Alba is Alba lol. As you said Silva won't be able to save this disaster thats called defending for Barca

halamadrid2 wrote:we will buy a DM (hopefully Illaramendi) and we will actually have upgraded all our deficiencies.  Barca are in too much debt to get good players

you guys will still start Pique, Xavi, Pedro, Alba next season lmao

Arbeloa won't even see the bench for us and in attack we have got Isco as a new signing, Modric will take over from Khedira and hopefully Illaramendi from Xabi

so while we make improvements you are actually staying the same

Also notice how in a season filled with controversy we still won all Clasicos

Modric over Khedira ? They are not even the same type of player  

Khedira has not excelled in his role as a B2B at all and we are not in need of that if we already have a DLP. Modric plays as a CM and would be a good match to our DLP so in essence we will be swapping Modric with Khedira in a straight swap

halamadrid2 wrote:Khedira has not excelled in his role as a B2B at all and we are not in need of that if we already have a DLP. Modric plays as a CM and would be a good match to our DLP so in essence we will be swapping Modric with Khedira in a straight swap

So we are going to play with 3 playmakers ? Do you expect Illara(not even linked with him) to do all the defensive duty ?

thats his job at Sociedad so why not.

and where have you been. we have been linked with him alot

free_cat wrote:

zizzle wrote:That was said about Messi Villa and Messi Ibra but we all know how that ended. Let's wait and see how much spotlight Messi is willing to give up before we jump to conclusions.

Messi + Villa ended with a CL + League double...

Then Villa broke his leg.

However, as someone said, we don't stand a chance if we don't make some changes, mainly Xavi should be benched for Thiago and we should get our motivation back and sort some tactical problems.

^ This, I don't know why people view David Villa as some sort of failure at Barca. They basically won every major trophy while he was there, The Champions League, Copa Del Rey, La Liga, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup etc etc.

Not to mention reaching the Semi-Finals of the CL every year they didn't win it and when they did win it, him scoring a peach of a goal in the CL Final.

I mean what more do you want from the guy? He got injured and he's getting up there in age.

It's mind boggling the standards some of you hold Barcelona players to.

Barcelona would definitely have a more improved and dynamic attacking third. But that would not really help with their other glaring issues, like, Xavi losing all sorts of form (it was gonna happen) and no real improvements to their defensive line.

Make no mistake though, Barcelona would be still a great team and I'm pretty sure they'll rock most La Liga sides and go deep in the UCL.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Barca's defensive problems are more tactical than any individual.

There were a joke tactically and pressing as a team last season.

They could buy Thiago Silva and it still wouldn't change much if they don't sort out the aforementioned tactical and pressing issues.

I ask again though, could it be just that teams cannot be realistically expected to press effectively so well for months on eng every game? It just requires such energy.... And barca players are small compared with lots of other teams who adopt the same tactics nowadays, like Bayern and Brazil under different circumstances out pressed Barca/Spain? If it were ez to fix im sure it would have been on its way towards worknig it out or fixing it, thats what Im starting to think

Well it's Barcas home made problem. They're not deep enough. If you are so tactically inept that you can't win a single match without Messi, well, tough luck, I guess you have to play him each and every single game, so he can have his precious records. But at the end of the season he'll be spent.

Look at Bayern, they rotated pretty much everybody, and took a risk here and then in league games, not turning out their first XI. You have to do this, or your players get tired. If your squad only consists of 13 people, you will crumble under pressure after a certain amount of time, and you will concede 7 goals against that one team that did rotate.

Barca are great, but they need to trust their bench more. You really don't need Messi to beat Sevilla or Osasuna, you give him a rest every once in a while. And in return, have him press like every bloody one else.

Even Philipp Lahm got rested once or twice for Bayern, and he never gets injured or exhausted. I'm sure it was great to have Messi bang in a gazillion goals against Deportivo and Zaragoza - but I'm pretty sure, records aside, that Messi would've had a better time if he had gotten to sit the matches against the utter feeder clubs out.

At least with Nerman, Barca have the option to only play one of the two against the meh clubs. Only bring both against the big guns. That way at least one of the two will always be fit, and be able to press properly.

Messi is the most obvious problem, but there's other players that never get rested because the team is shit without them. You need backups for those. No rotation works for one season only, if you're lucky. No wonder everyone and their mum is injured.

The problem is not the size of the squad. Guardiola rotated often ans effectively. Tito did not rotate as much, and Roura barely at all.

He's going to improve the attack for sure. Barca has far bigger problem though, and that's defense. I think quality CB will improve Barca even more than Neymar.

I dislike repeating myself, but Puyol aside, Barcas defenders always were average at best, the pressing is where it's at, and basically any player that could reasonably start for Barca will improve them, simply because it will make rotation easier.

Even the best CB might not help us with alba on his side. A defensive LB is a must but the board effectively ruled this out by extending adriano's contract.

VivaStPauli wrote:I dislike repeating myself, but Puyol aside, Barcas defenders always were average at best, the pressing is where it's at, and basically any player that could reasonably start for Barca will improve them, simply because it will make rotation easier.

While it would improve them undoubtedly its not the remedy to all their problems....

They were a mess tactically and at pressing last season, if they don't fix that buying defenders is a waste of time.

Neymar solves one problem, they need to buy 1 or 2 defenders to solve another but it still leaves 1 or 2 problems which cannot be solved simply by buying players.

Of course not. They need to figure out a working way to heavily rotate. And have the players to do just that. That's a lot of work, and very few managers in the world can marry a regular rotation with good team chemistry.
This was Heynckes' greatest feat, after all.

No Abidal = no party

LOL @ this thread. What level? Walk la liga? Even with Pele on that team Bayern would still steam Roll Barcelona.

BRB no pressing
brb high line

Are you kidding me?

pls go OP

Good point by Viva, resting players must also be part of it I hope, I just hope Barca does this, and also make the 1 or 2 signing that we need in the CB area so that it gives us top class backup to rotate....

All this cry for a CB. As I said months ago, Even Baresi would struggle in that backline. Pique and Mascheran were never great cbs. Yet Barcelona conceded 18 goals in the league in 10/11, same as Bayern did so was statistically better. Why is that? We all know the answer. Instead of fixing the tactics and problems people look at individual pieces. Barcelona's MF is going to be finished son. No rest at all since 2011 summer. Xavi is almost done, Iniesta is inconsistent, Busquets can't carry the defensive load by himself, Messi will cntinue to walk like he has no care on this earth. It's actully startling Thigao did not start more games tbh.