Sick of Keita and these lineups

And he played the most games in La Liga out of the whole team last season

Frankly I am a little bit surprised by the Keita criticism.
I am not the biggest fan of the guy but I think he has performed quite well at DM the last 3 games.Said so even after the Villareal game.
Even in the Milan game he was good imo.
Pato goal I am still not sure whose fault it was.I think it was just an amazing bolt of acceleration that caught everyone by surprise.
But I saw Keita make a crucial interception on Pato later on.

Alex, I looked closely at Pato's goal and while he did excellent there is blame to go around.

Keita, Maschrano and Busquets all get blame for me.

Keita was horribly positioned and Pato was able to turn without even touching the ball, Mascherano rushed out and didnt get the ball and Busquets wasnt in the best position and on top of that he is slow.

I know the Keita interception you speak of, but if you watch it all over again, the reason that happend was Pato dropped the deep. Keita should of seen that but instead he was half ball watching half looking at another player (he should of seen Pato was the bigger threat in that play) and because of his lack of awareness a centerback came out (I forget which) and got beat and then Keita used his speed to recover. He did well to recover, but it was actually his fault in the first place.

I agree he did well vs Villarreal, but the combonation of him plus Busquets is horrible. Busquets is worse in his role then Keita is in his, but for me, neither should be playing in those positons against elite opponants.

The Franchise wrote:Alex, I looked closely at Pato's goal and while he did excellent there is blame to go around.

Keita, Maschrano and Busquets all get blame for me.

Keita was horribly positioned and Pato was able to turn without even touching the ball, Mascherano rushed out and didnt get the ball and Busquets wasnt in the best position and on top of that he is slow.

I know the Keita interception you speak of, but if you watch it all over again, the reason that happend was Pato dropped the deep. Keita should of seen that but instead he was half ball watching half looking at another player (he should of seen Pato was the bigger threat in that play) and because of his lack of awareness a centerback came out (I forget which) and got beat and then Keita used his speed to recover. He did well to recover, but it was actually his fault in the first place.

I agree he did well vs Villarreal, but the combonation of him plus Busquets is horrible. Busquets is worse in his role then Keita is in his, but for me, neither should be playing in those positons against elite opponants.

You are probably right.I have seen it just once.Still think Keita did ok.
Now that Puyol is back we can expect a normal pair at the back for once!!!!!!!

Yeah, I didnt think he was horrible. He was at fault for a couple things but he did some positive things. I think people feel that Pep is playing Busquets at the back, not because he is great there, but so Keita can get on the pitch. Thats were the frustration comes from I think.

As you said, I am hoping for some kind of normal pair.

I would be nice to have 2 defenders in the back for a change.

Another thing that worries me is Fabregas movement off the ball in midfield.
Compared to our high standards it needs to improve a lot.
If I were him I would watch the Milan game again and see how Xavi moved off the ball to create space for himself and to receive a pass.
Fab just seemed to be wandering aimlessly.
Needs to move much much better off the ball.

To be honest, I think the PL has soiled him in this regard.

He is used to running off the ball into the box to get on the end of things, its the role he has been playing for Arsenal fora while now.

Thats why he is getting goals and even Pep has commented on that ability. It is clearly his biggest assest after the final pass.

He hasnt had to do any of what Xavi does, because he hasnt needed it in the PL for Arsenal.

To be fair to him, he has already said Barca are good as disguising this for him. of course, close watchers can see the difference.

He really is a better version of Lampard now, rather then the "next Xavi" as many thought he might of been.

Well ofcourse I wouldnt expect him to be Xavi.Its not possible but still from a player of his calibre and especially at Barca much better movement is expected.
He needs to learn to pass and move,make space for himself.
He can learn this from the likes of Iniesta,Messi,Busquets and the maestro himself Xavi.

Dani stop stealing my views I came up with next Lampard

Anyway i share both of your concerns, which is why i never wanted him signed apart from the fact a CB was desperately needed, known for years now he was never going to be the new Xavi he is absolutely nothing like him.....

Also Keita was'nt the problem against Milan it was playing Busquet's at CB which was the problem.......


What i would have gone for, Busquets must play as DM in every single game he is fit, its just a must .

alexjanosik wrote:Well ofcourse I wouldnt expect him to be Xavi.Its not possible but still from a player of his calibre and especially at Barca much better movement is expected.
He needs to learn to pass and move,make space for himself.
He can learn this from the likes of Iniesta,Messi,Busquets and the maestro himself Xavi.

Of course, he has the smarts and should be expected to get it. I think right now he lacks it, but I expect him to improve at this.

Right now, I share your worry. When Iniesta came off, we looked very different in the midfield. Iniesta wasnt playing well at all, but he was doing the right things. Cesc clearly was doing something quite different and I think it made Milan's job a bit easier.

Immaculate_Mole wrote:Dani stop stealing my views I came up with next Lampard

Anyway i share both of your concerns, which is why i never wanted him signed apart from the fact a CB was desperately needed, known for years now he was never going to be the new Xavi he is absolutely nothing like him.....

Also Keita was'nt the problem against Milan it was playing Busquet's at CB which was the problem.......

Alves Mascherano Abidal Adriano
Busquets

What i would have gone for, Busquets must play as DM in every single game he is fit, its just a must .

LOL But...but...I said it too (or was it another one of those things I say in my head and imagine I told someone but in fact I did not?)

I agree Keita wasnt the problem. I do feel though Pep plays Busi at he back as an "excuse" to get Keita minutes.

The Franchise wrote:

Immaculate_Mole wrote:Dani stop stealing my views I came up with next Lampard

Anyway i share both of your concerns, which is why i never wanted him signed apart from the fact a CB was desperately needed, known for years now he was never going to be the new Xavi he is absolutely nothing like him.....

Also Keita was'nt the problem against Milan it was playing Busquet's at CB which was the problem.......

Alves Mascherano Abidal Adriano
Busquets

What i would have gone for, Busquets must play as DM in every single game he is fit, its just a must .

LOL But...but...I said it too (or was it another one of those things I say in my head and imagine I told someone but in fact I did not?)

I agree Keita wasnt the problem. I do feel though Pep plays Busi at he back as an "excuse" to get Keita minutes.

Well i have been saying it since 2007, so either you stole it even if you didnt know me

None the less you did imagine it yes

Well regardless, its accurate so I will keep rolling with it lol

Keita love is the cancer of this team. Keita simply sucks. Pep failed with 3-4-3 and he played this system to accomodate Keita. When Thiago came our game was much better. What does Keita do that Pep loves him so much? Zero creativity, Keita is simply not good enough, he is playing because he is good human, not because of his footballing abilities.

100% - percentage of wins in games that Keita doesn't start (2 games from 8 in all competitions that he doesn't start, 2 wins)

33% - percentage of wins in games that Keita start (6 starts from 8 games in all competitions, 2 wins, 4 draws)

Keita's contract is up in June.

Sergi Roberto #18 next season. Book it

Tbh... its not playing Keita that is the problem... its that playing Keita means 'not' playing someone else.

Today playing him instead of Villa meant Pep used a dumb 3-4-3. I understood the logic in playing Keita today. He wanted more steel in the mids, but he should have played instead of Cesc and not Villa/Adriano/Afellay.

If he played

Alves-Masch-Puyi-Abidal
Xavi-Sergio-Keita
Pedro-Messi-Villa

we wouldn't be complaining.

We have better players than Keita, but Keita isn't a terrible player.

With all of respect... Keita needs to fu*k off!!!

The thing is Keita won't leave, at least until the end of the season... when I hope he does. So we still should support him as a Barca player. I hope he's used less, but when he's used I want him to play well, and he does offer us a different option in midfield.

I'd like to see him get similar minutes to Maxwell.

I agree that Keita has not been poor when he has played. For instance, yesterday who was really poor was Abidal. Keita was just meh, a 5. The problem is that to play Keita, we are either benching a much better player (Cesc, Thiago, Iniesta) or playing bad tactics (343) or players out of position (Busquets as CB). And all this is not working.

free_cat wrote:I agree that Keita has not been poor when he has played. For instance, yesterday who was really poor was Abidal. Keita was just meh, a 5. The problem is that to play Keita, we are either benching a much better player (Cesc, Thiago, Iniesta) or playing bad tactics (343) or players out of position (Busquets as CB). And all this is not working.

Agree. Pretty much what I said.

Today I was only really impressed by Adriano when he came on, and Messi's second half performance. The rest were either average or very ordinary (Abidal was bad, Alves didn't offer much).

BarcaKizz wrote:

free_cat wrote:I agree that Keita has not been poor when he has played. For instance, yesterday who was really poor was Abidal. Keita was just meh, a 5. The problem is that to play Keita, we are either benching a much better player (Cesc, Thiago, Iniesta) or playing bad tactics (343) or players out of position (Busquets as CB). And all this is not working.

Agree. Pretty much what I said.

Today I was only really impressed by Adriano when he came on, and Messi's second half performance. The rest were either average or very ordinary (Abidal was bad, Alves didn't offer much).

I think that Thiago was very good in the only 20 minutes he played and Messi in the second half was terrible until the last 15 minutes. How he missed that one on one from a Thiago pass was not normal and he looked lazy and "argentined".

Btw, Kizz, you mentioned that you would be happy if Keita had the minutes Maxwell currently has. I agree with you, that would be perfect considering Maxwell has barely played this and last season. However a good question is: why Pep has lost confidence in Maxwell? He used him a lot in his first season at the club. Can this happen to Keita or it's impossible because he is too good as a person?

free_cat wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:

free_cat wrote:I agree that Keita has not been poor when he has played. For instance, yesterday who was really poor was Abidal. Keita was just meh, a 5. The problem is that to play Keita, we are either benching a much better player (Cesc, Thiago, Iniesta) or playing bad tactics (343) or players out of position (Busquets as CB). And all this is not working.

Agree. Pretty much what I said.

Today I was only really impressed by Adriano when he came on, and Messi's second half performance. The rest were either average or very ordinary (Abidal was bad, Alves didn't offer much).

I think that Thiago was very good in the only 20 minutes he played and Messi in the second half was terrible until the last 15 minutes. How he missed that one on one from a Thiago pass was not normal and he looked lazy and "argentined".

Btw, Kizz, you mentioned that you would be happy if Keita had the minutes Maxwell currently has. I agree with you, that would be perfect considering Maxwell has barely played this and last season. However a good question is: why Pep has lost confidence in Maxwell? He used him a lot in his first season at the club. Can this happen to Keita or it's impossible because he is too good as a person?

I knew someone would pick me up... yes, I did mean Messi's closing minutes of the game free.

Yes, was going to mention Thiago, I thought he was pretty good, but not brilliant. Its just the rest were really pretty average in contrast.

Yeah, well, I mean the minutes I expect Maxwell to get, I hope Keita gets. It won't happen though... Considering Maxwell only just returned from injury then I think we don't really know his role yet, but I expect him to see less time this year simply because Adriano has come through brilliantly. He's 3rd choice left back and while I think he's quite a good all-round player I can't really see Pep using him anywhere else.

He'll play the odd game, because Pep actually has spoken about admiring Maxwell's work ethic as well as Keita's, but I don't think he'll get many. The thing is, Maxwell seems content to be a role-player, whereas I feel Keita wants a decent role in the team.

Actually this season i think Keita did not have terrible game. Most of the times he was average. However now, i feel he should not start at least. I mean he is really good sub IMO.

But what do i know, i am just a fan, i don't play, i don't coach, so i guess Pep has his reasons. I also think he is using the beginning of the season Barca virus (you know we really have awkward starts) to experiment a lot.

Our right wing was getting raped the entire first half.

Barca didn't have a right winger which meant Alves was higher up allowing Valencia to exploit the RW.

Fabregas should of played at CM instead of Keita with Villa starting on the left.

Then if Barca were winning Keita would of came on to solidify the midfield.

Keita does not solidify any midfield, if anything he makes it weaker(best examples of this are against arsenal at emirates but there are many others). He is not a DM, he is a box to box, pressing midfielder who should most definitely not be used as a substitute for a DM