Thank you ACN

For making Keita unavailable for more than a month! Good job Mali to qualify!

I'll be cheering for Mali! 1 Mali win = 1 less game for Keita at Barça.

Let's hope Pep doesn't get a depression when his best friend forever leaves for two months, though.

For the love of god, with all these hamstring injuries cheering for more players being unavailable is just sad

Nah, Iniesta is fit, and Cesc will be fit for the next game after Racing. We'll be completely fit in midfield, and Keita is surplus. And if we need another midfield, just give a chance to JDS, Sergi Roberto, Rafinha or Espinosa, all of them great midfield prospects in our B team.

Thanks ACN!

lol... my reaction too.

I have no problem with Keita, just with the minutes he gets. I think he's a great asset for the team and an important bench player. However, with the squad we have I don't really want him to be any more than a bench player. Comes off the bench when we need him, starts when we desperately need him. He's a good tactical option.

GO MALI! (Though more because I'd like Keita to win, and because others will get chances in his place)

If someone could guaranty that our players will remain injury free for a long time I wouldn’t mind either (not that I’d be thankful anyway)
However with the rate the recent injuries happened, Keita being there was almost a blessing.

As for the youngsters, Pep has already shown he has a plan as to how they should be integrated in the team.
Overall, I too agree that keita gets more minutes than he should. However I cannot do otherwise but feel that he is vastly underrated by some fellow Barca fans

Opened up facebook, saw my Barca updates.

Headline, Keita will be away in Jan and Feb.....I almost jumped out of my seat and celebrated.

Roll on ACN.

The Franchise wrote:Opened up facebook, saw my Barca updates.

Headline, Keita will be away in Jan and Feb.....I almost jumped out of my seat and celebrated.

Roll on ACN.

I wish i felt you guy's same enthusiasm because of the damn ACN, two of our best players (Tiote and Demba Ba) are away for a month....

FML

The Franchise wrote:Opened up facebook, saw my Barca updates.

Headline, Keita will be away in Jan and Feb.....I almost jumped out of my seat and celebrated.

Roll on ACN.

If I recall correctly, you always defended Keita quite a lot? What changed your mind?

I used to hate ACN because we lost eto'o, Toure and Keita (when he was important to our squad), but now I'm fine with it. I say they should celebrate it yearly instead of every two years. A pitty Madrid doesn't have a couple of african players.

Plus, Jan-Feb is usually our worst period of the season. I'm sure Pep would give Keita lots of minutes because during those months our team trains harder, so he would rest the starters and we would lose. Now with Keita out we can even have a decent run on Jan-Feb.

U people are harsh on Kieta!! he's not that bad..!!

Visca el Kieta !!

Lol I'm with Billy here. One only has to wonder what the reaction here would be if Keita were to be injured for 6 months or so...

I found this really funny, especially with The Franchises comment

Khaledbarca wrote:U people are harsh on Kieta!! he's not that bad..!!

Visca el Kieta !!

KeIIIIIta, Khaled, Keita.

On other hand: has Keita given you the same medicine he gives to guardiola? They say it is a love elixir prepared for the best catalan magicians... just saying.

Mali to the final!!!

But free... Keita isn't that bad, he's a very good option. Its only that Pep plays him way too much! If he was a bench player, I'd be very supportive of him too.

And yeah... Khaled's spelling annoys me... along with Deulitoo...wtf? aha

BarcaKizz wrote:But free... Keita isn't that bad, he's a very good option. Its only that Pep plays him way too much! If he was a bench player, I'd be very supportive of him too.

And yeah... Khaled's spelling annoys me... along with Deulitoo...wtf? aha

I was never fond of Keita, but I wasn't the biggest critic of him. I understood why he had minutes in the 08/09 to rotate with Xavi and Iniesta (as Toure was the starting DM) in the 09/10 when Iniesta was injured... but last season was just too much. And this season we have one of the best midfields in history both in quantity and quality (Busi, Cesc, Iniesta, Xavi, Thiago, Mascherano, AND Keita). He should be 7th choice midfielder, and thus 7 in minutes.

Actually in the 09/10 it was also way too much as Toure should have gotten most of Keita minutes as well.

Awesome thread. lol

free_cat wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Opened up facebook, saw my Barca updates.

Headline, Keita will be away in Jan and Feb.....I almost jumped out of my seat and celebrated.

Roll on ACN.

If I recall correctly, you always defended Keita quite a lot? What changed your mind?

I used to hate ACN because we lost eto'o, Toure and Keita (when he was important to our squad), but now I'm fine with it. I say they should celebrate it yearly instead of every two years. A pitty Madrid doesn't have a couple of african players.

I dont dislike Keita at all, he is still useful in my opinion.

But last season he was used far too much, this season even more so considering the options we have.

Bottom line, he plays more then his talent dictates and him being away is the only way Pep wont overuse him.

Disagree here. I'm fine with Keita, I wish he had less minutes, but I'd rather have at least that option here. But to be honest, at the same time, I'm not gonna miss him for a month anyway.

every time this tournament comes around i feel sick, thank god nigeria didnt qualify (although it will mena less game time for romeu) but at least he wont be at the ACN
afer what happened to essien at the ACN i just dont trust it

Great tread, free. Keita is playing too much this season, he played too much in every our season tbh, maybe only in 08-09 Pep didn't overplay him. He slows our game, doesn't bring anything in the build-up, he waste too many balls, bad at DM, when he plays there Busi plays as CB and it's terrible. He should be 7th midfielder in our club, but because Pep loves him, he started in 7 games (7!!!). That's ridiculous.

With Keita in starting line- up - 3 wins, 4 draws, percentage of wins = 43 %

Without the best human that Pep ever met in starting line-up - 4 wins, percentage of wins = 100%

I'm glad that ACN will make Keita unavailable, hopefully Sergi Roberto will get a chance to play and impress Pep. Tomorrow Keita will start, let's prepare for it boys.

free_cat wrote:For making Keita unavailable for more than a month! Good job Mali to qualify!

I'll be cheering for Mali! 1 Mali win = 1 less game for Keita at Barça.

Let's hope Pep doesn't get a depression when his best friend forever leaves for two months, though.

cat, don't you think that after the first few matches Pep has stopped playing Keita needlessly and he is back to being the utility squad player that he used to be?

It seems so JD, thanks god.
I was so sure Pep would start Keita against Racing...
Let's hope he drops Keita and the 343.

I agree that Keita gets a bit more playing time than i would like. But actually i do like him. He brings nothing new, but he is stable enough and does not screw things up. So having such a reliable player is always good.

I just get the feeling he is being hated by some Barca fans, and i really think that he does not deserve that.

cat, thanks for the reply.

eelir, we don't hate Keita. Its just that when he gets minutes at the expense of players like say Thiago the fans don't like it.

However Keita is a very sincere worker and a team loyalist. Besides he is said to possess extraordinary human qualities. I hope we will recall him quite fondly long after he completes his time with us.