1 - Marc-Andre ter Ansplant

[God Serena]

I agree with you and with the first poster whom I quoted.
This team is full of older players and most importantly, players who have won too many trophies (on a club and NT level) and they lack a motivation to some extent (Messi, Iniesta, Busquets, Alves, Alba, Pique, Mascherano etc).

So, we will surely need some fresh blood and motivation.
But the options are:
1. either young and extremely good players (like Pogba, Gundogan and similar)
2. or players aged 25-26-27 who haven't won too much (like Rakitic)
3. and 2-3 very good local youngsters to give some fresh blood, motivation and devotion for a club

But for example, relying suddenly (or even in the future) on Roberto, Rafinha, Halilovic, Samper and similar players to become starters=also won't work.
Roberto and Rafinha can offer some fresh, young blood and some motivation as squad players.
But kicking Iniesta or Raki our for Roberto or Rafinha, well, that won't end well for us in terms of trophies surely...

I want to say: smart planning and bringing fresh blood through good, young and semi proven players is good.
(But we don't need 5 or 10 younger players suddenly. 2-3-4 guys will bring enough of fresh blood and energy).
On the other hand, throwing youngsters in just for the sake of making some changes (like mentioned above: Roberto, Rafinha, Samper and similar) won't help either.
It fact, it would weaken our (already somewhat questionable) team significantly.

Replacing the likes of Adriano, Douglas, Turan, Vidal, Vermaelen, etc. with younger players couldn't possibly hurt our team more than having these players taking up space already does.

 

[BBZ8800]

Replacing the likes of Adriano, Douglas, Turan, Vidal, Vermaelen, etc. with younger players couldn't possibly hurt our team more than having these players taking up space already does.

Changing oldies who are not good enough to replace our starters with La Masia players who are not good enough to replace our starters won't help too much, except in terms of wages.
Our bench will be thin either way and starting 11 will be tired in the 2nd part of a season.

If we are talking about younger players with quality and motivation (who will be starters), then again non of La Masia players is good enough and we again need to splash a lot for proven younger and motivated players like Pogba, Gundogan etc.

And then there's a question about our finances and how much we can spend on these younger players who are good enough to be starters,

 

[barcanuck]

This is MATS big break here! 2 games and the Copa Final so he's got 3 finals to play in! Knock em down Mats!

 

[Ritchie]

Julio Ceasar is having an incredible career resurgence at age 36 in Portugal.

And 6 years ago he was 30 and one of the top keepers around winning the treble with Inter. Then he declined after that.

Portuguese league is a doddle for Benfica most weeks.

 

[mark1nhu]

We need to build from Masia because that's the only thing that works for us.
That being said, Stegen is here for 2 years now and knows the language. If Lucho plans long term then it would be wise to switch roles between keepers next season.

I am still not convinced about "long term plans" with Lucho.

He is a warrior and I love him, but I keep thinking he looks only for his coming years with us, not the next Barça decade.

I don't know why, though.

 

[Ritchie]

I agree with you and with the first poster whom I quoted.
This team is full of older players and most importantly, players who have won too many trophies (on a club and NT level) and they lack a motivation to some extent (Messi, Iniesta, Busquets, Alves, Alba, Pique, Mascherano etc).

So, we will surely need some fresh blood and motivation.
But the options are:
1. either young and extremely good players (like Pogba, Gundogan and similar)
2. or players aged 25-26-27 who haven't won too much (like Rakitic)
3. and 2-3 very good local youngsters to give some fresh blood, motivation and devotion for a club

But for example, relying suddenly (or even in the future) on Roberto, Rafinha, Halilovic, Samper and similar players to become starters=also won't work.
Roberto and Rafinha can offer some fresh, young blood and some motivation as squad players.
But kicking Iniesta or Raki our for Roberto or Rafinha, well, that won't end well for us in terms of trophies surely...

I want to say: smart planning and bringing fresh blood through good, young and semi proven players is good.
(But we don't need 5 or 10 younger players suddenly. 2-3-4 guys will bring enough of fresh blood and energy).
On the other hand, throwing youngsters in just for the sake of making some changes (like mentioned above: Roberto, Rafinha, Samper and similar) won't help either.
It fact, it would weaken our (already somewhat questionable) team significantly.

We need a mix of the 3 in the short term to boost the squad and in the medium term to start replacing all the 30+ players.

I'd class Ter Stegen as category 1 on that list which means we should be doing all we can to keep him. Not sell him so we can continue to play a 33 year old who is not markedly better than him now and then end up spending a fortune on another keeper who might not settle and certainly won't be as good as MATS with the ball at his feet.

We're on the same page though. We can keep the fabled XI for another season or two but we can't afford a situation where we have to replace half the team at once and then the other half a couple of years later. You've said that yourself but that's what could happen. 4 of the team are already 32/33 and should be phased out over the next couple of seasons where we'll need adequate replacements. Mats is one of them.

We need to start building a squad, not getting by with a good first XI and dead weights backing them up.

 

[God Serena]

Changing oldies who are not good enough to replace our starters with La Masia players who are not good enough to replace our starters won't help too much, except in terms of wages.
Our bench will be thin either way and starting 11 will be tired in the 2nd part of a season.

If we are talking about younger players with quality and motivation (who will be starters), then again non of La Masia players is good enough and we again need to splash a lot for proven younger and motivated players like Pogba, Gundogan etc.

And then there's a question about our finances and how much we can spend on these younger players who are good enough to be starters,

The difference between La Masia youngsters and oldies who aren't good enough is La Masia players have room for improvement. Just look at Denis Suarez now compared to Arda Turan. Or Roberto in comparison to basically all of those older backup players (lol).

Your La Masia hate-boner has caused you to suggest we purchase Paul Pogba. I have to wonder, though, will you have the same opinion several years from now when the time comes for Carles Alena to knock on the door to the first team?

 

[Alik]

Well, it's Portugal.

Doesn't seem to help Casillas.

 

[El Guaje]

I agree with you and with the first poster whom I quoted.
This team is full of older players and most importantly, players who have won too many trophies (on a club and NT level) and they lack a motivation to some extent (Messi, Iniesta, Busquets, Alves, Alba, Pique, Mascherano etc).

So, we will surely need some fresh blood and motivation.
But the options are:
1. either young and extremely good players (like Pogba, Gundogan and similar)
2. or players aged 25-26-27 who haven't won too much (like Rakitic)
3. and 2-3 very good local youngsters to give some fresh blood, motivation and devotion for a club

But for example, relying suddenly (or even in the future) on Roberto, Rafinha, Halilovic, Samper and similar players to become starters=also won't work.
Roberto and Rafinha can offer some fresh, young blood and some motivation as squad players.
But kicking Iniesta or Raki our for Roberto or Rafinha, well, that won't end well for us in terms of trophies surely...

I want to say: smart planning and bringing fresh blood through good, young and semi proven players is good.
(But we don't need 5 or 10 younger players suddenly. 2-3-4 guys will bring enough of fresh blood and energy).
On the other hand, throwing youngsters in just for the sake of making some changes (like mentioned above: Roberto, Rafinha, Samper and similar) won't help either.
It fact, it would weaken our (already somewhat questionable) team significantly.

If there is one player that actually gives a f*ck and is as motivated as ever, it is Mascherano. Also, Sergi Roberto has showed hundreds of times that he is a very good player. He stepped up just as much as the 1st teamers against tough teams. How can he be such a huge downgrade?

The difference between La Masia youngsters and oldies who aren't good enough is La Masia players have room for improvement. Just look at Denis Suarez now compared to Arda Turan. Or Roberto in comparison to basically all of those older backup players (lol).

Your La Masia hate-boner has caused you to suggest we purchase Paul Pogba. I have to wonder, though, will you have the same opinion several years from now when the time comes for Carles Alena to knock on the door to the first team?

Paul Pogba is light years and light years ahead of all La Masia midfielders comming up.

 

[Question17]

Doesn't seem to help Casillas.

Casillas has had a Torres-esque death spiral in regards to his level. It doesn't matter where he plays.

 

[BBZ8800]

(I pasted it to Roberto's thread)

 

[BarçaBarça]

The game against Espanyol is going to be crucial for him, there really is a lot at stake. He needs to make no mistakes at all and maybe pull out a supersave or two to be considered for the last match, if Bravo is somewhat fit be that time. If the performance is significant (positive or negative) it will shape many peoples impression of him - and maybe also Luchos? (along with cup-final of course).

 

[gasgas]

I dont think he has anything to prove.
We

 

[Darko]

Espanyol won't have a shot on target m8.

 

[DonAK]

'End of the Soap: Ter Stegen stays'