Wishlist and General Juve mercato talk (2013-14) (38 Viewers)

Status
Not open for further replies.

MikeM

Footballing Hipster celebrating 4th place with Tuz
Sep 21, 2008
12,834
I feel like Barca has a huge problem when they play Iniesta, Cesc, Xavi and Busquets together. They can hold the ball all game and nothing else. They all want to do the same things so you lose the individual effectiveness of each other. They are not complements but for the most part, equals.

It's like us playing four Vucinic's. There will be lots of brilliance but no one to win the ball back, no one to make runs and no one to score. Useless.

Cesc has little value in the current Barca setup. Either play him instead of Xavi or don't play him IMO. But no one will do that.

I think their best attacking setup against tight teams would be Iniesta as the other MF next to Xavi, Pedro/Sanchez on one wing, Messi on the other wing and a real fucking striker.

In the end, it's simple. If you intend to play 6 midfielders then you will play all game in midfield. No goals.

Of course, this rationale does not apply to games in La Liga because that is a joke league. Play whoever you want there.
 

Buy on AliExpress.com

Zacheryah

Senior Member
Aug 29, 2010
42,251
That's one of Barca's problems.

They should get a winger or a forward back in that position like they did in the past and play Iniesta in midfield.

yeah, thats their second problem

Barcelona should buy Falcao and a quality CB and use this:

Valdes
Alves-Pique-Good CB-Alba
Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta
Messi-Falcao-Pedro​
exactly. Been wondering how freaking good they'd be if they had falcao and messi in his natural position

Eto'o barcelona was freightening
 

MikeM

Footballing Hipster celebrating 4th place with Tuz
Sep 21, 2008
12,834
Also, another problem I've seen over and over is the space they leave between their backline and their midfield when teams resort (correctly) to long balls.

Their midfield doesn't have the work rate to close the gap on balls played over the top. If Puyol manages to stay on his feet long enough to win a header, the ball simply falls back to a storming midfielder from the opposition.

To me, Busquets is useless for that team. Unnecessary. A proper pitbull of a DM who can track back quickly would be of more use IMO. Busquets is great with anticipation when teams are trying to work through Barca's midfield. He can sense how pressured players are and can anticipate where they will try and play a hurried pass. But when that ball gets whacked over his head, he cannot recover. Neither can Xavi. Neither can Cesc/Iniesta.
 

Carlos Primera

Il Vecchio Signore
Mar 29, 2009
1,189
The thing is, Messi demands to play in the middle or will start throwing his toys out of the pram. They need to stop over indulging him all the time. Whats the point of demanding to play against every Liga scrub to pad your goals scored statistics, then sputter out in the games that truly matter.
 
Jul 1, 2010
26,352
The thing is, Messi demands to play in the middle or will start throwing his toys out of the pram. They need to stop over indulging him all the time. Whats the point of demanding to play against every Liga scrub to pad your goals scored statistics, then sputter out in the games that truly matter.
Because he puts himself ahead of the team, his stats are more important than his team's performances.

This is one of the main reasons for which I dislike Messi.
 

Red

-------
Moderator
Nov 26, 2006
47,024
Also, another problem I've seen over and over is the space they leave between their backline and their midfield when teams resort (correctly) to long balls.

Their midfield doesn't have the work rate to close the gap on balls played over the top. If Puyol manages to stay on his feet long enough to win a header, the ball simply falls back to a storming midfielder from the opposition.

To me, Busquets is useless for that team. Unnecessary. A proper pitbull of a DM who can track back quickly would be of more use IMO. Busquets is great with anticipation when teams are trying to work through Barca's midfield
. He can sense how pressured players are and can anticipate where they will try and play a hurried pass. But when that ball gets whacked over his head, he cannot recover. Neither can Xavi. Neither can Cesc/Iniesta.
Mascherano.

Remember when he was just about the best DM around before he went to Barca and they never played him in position?
 

Badass J Elkann

It's time to go!!
Feb 12, 2006
68,911
Mascherano.

Remember when he was just about the best DM around before he went to Barca and they never played him in position?
yeah but that has a lot to do with the way he plays as a midfielder, he is a pure destroyer but by no means a better passer than busquets (someone i don't rate that highly) but at the same time i don't get what the point in signing alex song was.
 

MikeM

Footballing Hipster celebrating 4th place with Tuz
Sep 21, 2008
12,834
Mascherano.

Remember when he was just about the best DM around before he went to Barca and they never played him in position?
Ya and now he's a CB somehow. They obviously don't like his ball playing. TBH, I think Song is a better fit as a DM at Barca. Better with the ball IMO and more pure range to recover and to simply cover gaps with his superior pace.

Obviously the best fit might be someone like Yaya Toure :shifty:
 

Suns

Release clause?
May 22, 2009
22,086
Barcelona should buy Falcao and a quality CB and use this:

Valdes
Alves-Pique-Good CB-Alba
Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta
Messi-Falcao-Pedro​
I don't think Barca will move a player that scores more than 50 goals away from the middle anytime soon.

And lol at people who say Messi won't perform or whatever. Dude scored over 100 goals in 2012..
 

Kasaki

Moggi's Assistant
Jun 1, 2010
13,750
I don't think Barca will move a player that scores more than 50 goals away from the middle anytime soon.

And lol at people who say Messi won't perform or whatever. Dude scored over 100 goals in 2012..
Thing about Messi is that if he wants to play in the middle thats fine...but he doesn't even make the occasional run. He's always dropping deep, perhaps its their system but they would be better if they varied their runs a wee bit more
 
Jul 1, 2010
26,352
I don't think Barca will move a player that scores more than 50 goals away from the middle anytime soon.

And lol at people who say Messi won't perform or whatever. Dude scored over 100 goals in 2012..
He's nowhere to be seen whenever he plays against a well organized defense. Yeah, he scores a shitload of goals but when in matters, in big games, him playing as a false 9 neutralizes him and harms his team.

I know they won't move him back to the right wing(mainly because he'd whine like the little bitch he is) but that's what they should do.

Messi is scoring many more goals as a false 9 but his team is certainly not as good and dangerous as they used to be when they played with a proper CF in the middle. They are now almost exclusively dependent on him to score goals, which is not good.

It is far easier to stop a Barcelona that score goals mainly through one man(Messi) than one that has its three forwards(Henry, Eto'o, Messi) share the load of goals. Also, with Messi as a false 9, crossing is useless for them, which is why their style of play is so unidimensional. He also does not do the penalty box runs that a classic 9 would do.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 38)