No.

Because he is worse than all of them.

Its only Alba, him and Mascherano who have these problems. For the most part Bartra, Adriano and Alves are defending very well and Pique has his moments (like yesturday, or Atletico) where he is very good and his moments where he is very bad.

Montoya doesnt have a role now asking him anything he cant do...so I dont know what your talking about. I dont know what someone's role has to with failing to control simply passes.

Defenders need to develop chemistry for you to reap any sort of benefit from them. Playing Montoya left and right when he is built for one position only isn't making his case any better.

Montoya, Alves, Pique, Marcherano and Alba have not remotely played as defenders worthy of starting for a team such as Barca this season, thats 5/6 defenders. And Bartra has seldom played so its human nature to instinctively overrate him. Montoya was never a good attacking player so asking him to attack just because his predecessor did isn't going to automatically make him better attacking wise. Ask him to do an Abidal job and you will realise that he isn't as bad as you claim after all because you will reduce your wide range of expectations of him. I can sit here all day and list Alves' flaws but I won't because I am sure you all know them by now. I don't know what kind of expectations you had of him but sometimes really understanding a players strengths and weaknesses can really change your judgements of him

Montoya has not played leftback this season. First of all.

He has played only rightback...and even in all these years, he has appeared on the left, just twice. This excuse doesnt fly.

Develop chemistry? He is playing worse this season than last, a season in which he is playing more often.

I have already disagreed with you on those defenders. And these are just lame correlations, not causations. What does Mascherano being bad have to do with Montoya getting taken to the cleaners by any leftwinger with any ability to dribble?

Montoya's only assest ever was in attack, so I really dont know what your talking about...his biggest strength was overlapping...

Nobody is asking him to be anything, they are asking him to not be bad.

He couldnt dream of doing Abidal's job...I am starting to question what the heck you have been watching.

Hala defending Montoya

I've seen it all.

I remember, and I know this happened, that there were whispers of Montoya replacing Dani last season on this forum. But since I'm not fully absorbed in the Azulgrana culture (or maybe I just suck at player potential), I swear I thought he would be on the level of Arbeloa (solid, dependable full back).

He isn't as bad as Franchise is making him out to be. Looking at the Sevilla game for example, he only made 1 major mistake where he didn't clear the ball immediately. As a Barcelona defender he wanted to be a bit too clever and play it out of the back instead of hoofing it away and failed. Not a big deal really. With more experience he will learn when to simply hoof it away and when to try to keep the ball at his feet. It's not as if Sevilla's left winger bamboozled him all night long. That would have been really worrying. He's young and he's getting inconsistent minutes. He will probably never become prime Alves but he can turn into a reliable enough fullback.

Alves isn't the player anymore Franchise seems to think he still is. He used to deliver 20 assists a season in his prime. Right now he's on 1. His production in the final third has waned. He barely overlaps anymore as he lost his speed. Now he pumps half-field crosses into the box to our big tall number 9 Messi. Alba at least overlaps and uses low crosses. I swear, 2 or 3 games ago I've seen Alves cross a ball into the box and not a single Barca player was anywhere near the box. It looked really awkward.

His defending is also questionable at best. His defending consists of pressing / fouling the opponent in his half. Once the press is breached you can play balls behind his back all night long. He's just not THERE. Look at Real Sociedad's goal yesterday, starting at 8:06 in this video:



Alves is the FURTHEST forward player as if he's a right winger. One long diagonal ball behind his back and it pulls Pique and Busquets out of position trying to cover for him => cross to the middle (Pique and Busquets aren't there anymore) => GOAL. Seen this millions of times.

Montoya might get beaten but at least Montoya is THERE. He picks his moments when to venture forward and when not. Alves is just completely brainless and attacks all the time.

People blame Barca's centerbacks but the bigger problem are the fullbacks IMO. With Alves and Alba you have basically 2 wingers there who can barely stop anything coming from the wide positions and once Pique is pulled out of position to go into a 1 on 1 with a pacy winger running at him, you're asking for trouble.

The reason Alves stayed on the bench against Sevilla, his old team in his old stadium, was a punishment from Tata by the way. For getting outjumped by the smallest player in La Liga against Valencia. I can't grasp why Franchise still likes him tbh.

Le Samourai wrote:Hala defending Montoya

I've seen it all.

He is no threat to Carvajal so its safe

Should I argue that long post or not? This isnt really about Alves so I wont bother.

All I will say in relation to Alves is Montoya wont ever be close what Alves is now, let alone his prime.

Doc wrote:I remember, and I know this happened, that there were whispers of Montoya replacing Dani last season on this forum. But since I'm not fully absorbed in the Azulgrana culture (or maybe I just suck at player potential), I swear I thought he would be on the level of Arbeloa (solid, dependable full back).

Your correct, and to be honest by people who I dont know what they were seeing.

Granted he was much better than this season but even then, I didnt see anything but a player who at best could be a back up...at worst, what we see this season, someone fit for a midtable side.

Azpi does not even play RB anymore so why is he mentioned?

Carvajal has been amazing for us, but on the same breath he has had some shockers.

Give him 12 months and he will be one of the best in the world in his position.

A few examples of him at his best would be:
The recent game against Atleti, the recent games against Beti, Espanyol and Granada, the wins over Valladolid, Almeria, Malaga and games from earlier in the season against Gala, FC Copenhagan, Villarreal and Getafe.

In all these games he was exceptional.

What I do not like from him is that he has a tendency to run into midfield or out of line from the right flank, although he is slowly rectifying the problem.