24 - Eric García

[khaled_a_d]

Are we really? He might be to foreign players (I know him wanting to renew Dumbele doesn't fit into that category although I know it's mostly from financial reasons) but he has strong La Masia bias imo.

Alena was just sold, along with Monchu and other La Masia kids. Roberto is on the market and we have strong stance with Illaix.
We just bought Demir who is going to take Collado place.
Non of that really fits that narrative.

He thinks Mavericky could be an important player for the future and might push Koeman to play him even if he clearly doesn't rate him.

How do we know that?
Puig is on 2 years cheap contract, and a back up who is willing to stay.
What is our depth in midfield exactly? Busquets, FDJ , Pedri and then? Roberto is on the market, Illaix is refusing to renew, Saul deal if off and we are trying to get rid of Pjanic who the coach rate even worse than Puig.

Yeah, he might golf with him and talk good things about him, but tbf Puig is a popular figure among cules, if we ignore accusations about leaking stuff to the media, the kid doesn't make any fuss about his playing minutes.
Highly doubt Laporta will force anything on Koeman.

Busi and Pique will still be starters next season.

Will this be because of Laporta?
We have no replacement for Busquets in the squad (please don't say Pjanic, who we already know the coach doesn't rate) and he inherited a squad that can't be improved from financial perspective. We just got all free players we can afford and only one that could have ever replaced Busquets from free agents is Alaba who went to RM for hefty salary.
I don't agree that Pique being a starter. Garcia and Araujo should be both ahead of him.

 

[Total-Football]

The mofo is the size of a peanut.. Get the fuck outta here.. Joke of an idea to put him as a CB. This is not 2009 where pep used to put the CB at the midfield and it used to work.

 

[vegitot]

I'm sure everyone will really appreciate his long balls when he gets his ankles broken regularly vs midtable players like it was when he played for pep

This is actually can be true. If Garcia plays then he needs a CB with strong defending skill to pair with. Look at current CBs, Pique is almost done, Lenglet is same, Minguenza is weak at defending. Only Araujo left but he is an injury prone lately.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I guess it's easier said than done for Garcia to add 10kg (which he definitely should though, he doesn't look like a CB).

Huh?
Eric is 76kg while being 182CM, there is no way he needs to add anything close 10 kg.
For comparison, Umtiti is same height and is 75 kg, Mingueza is 75 kg while being 184 cm, Lenglet is 81kg and 186cm, Pique is 85kg and 194cm, Araujo is 79kg and 188cm.


I am not saying that Eric doesn't need to add some weight, because everyone is built different and he needs some core strength. But there is huge exaggeration here.
I don't think he is that far from being optimal strength, think it can be done on couple of years normally.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Why have we bought him if he has no pace ??

Today you NEED to have incredible pace if you are a defender or 10 plus years experience like the two Italian CBs

The problem is we play high line and we need defenseman who are extremely tough to beat on 1vs1 and in running competitions.. Only Araujo is okay for that. All other defenseman suck.

We are building wrong type of defense for gameplay we want to use. We just look at the ability to play the ball. That's why you end up with Lenglets of the world. Who is not fast, not good heading, not strong and soft as hell. Zero defending ability. but hey he can pass the ball on some level but even then shits the bed under pressure.

Fuxking pojntless!!

 

[Neeraj]

The problem is we play high line and we need defenseman who are extremely tough to beat on 1vs1 and in running competitions.. Only Araujo is okay for that. All other defenseman suck.

We are building wrong type of defense for gameplay we want to use. We just look at the ability to play the ball. That's why you end up with Lenglets of the world. Who is not fast, not good heading, not strong and soft as hell. Zero defending ability. but hey he can pass the ball on some level but even then shits the bed under pressure.

Fuxking pojntless!!

Agreed. We never seem to get the kind of defenders we need. Defenders like a young Varane, we need to be scouting people like him. Remember how difficult it was to beat him 1 v 1 with long balls? It's obvious we need pacey CB's, but we keep focusing on the wrong kind of players.

 

[mc_lovin]

Agreed. We never seem to get the kind of defenders we need. Defenders like a young Varane, we need to be scouting people like him. Remember how difficult it was to beat him 1 v 1 with long balls? It's obvious we need pacey CB's, but we keep focusing on the wrong kind of players.

That's a bit simplistic. We have two fast talents as well (Mingueza+Araujo). Problem is we just don't have established world class defenders. Prime Pique would do wonders for us, just as much as a Ramos or Varane. But doesn't matter if it's a more positional or physical/fast CB. Both types work in football (usually in a combination, but we have the players to compliment both).

 

[Neeraj]

That's a bit simplistic. We have two fast talents as well (Mingueza+Araujo). Problem is we just don't have established world class defenders. Prime Pique would do wonders for us, just as much as a Ramos or Varane. But doesn't matter if it's a more positional or physical/fast CB. Both types work in football (usually in a combination, but we have the players to compliment both).

That's the thing though, sometimes we just have to look at simple solutions. Often, you don't need a world class solution for your play style. We don't play like Juventus or ATM that needs world class CB's. We need a couple of good CB's, but what is important for our extreme high line is pace. Such a large amount of goals conceded are people basically countering our high line.

At times you need to look at multiple angles and various permutations. In certain cases though, just a back to basics approach would be good enough. Also, we haven't really tried this approach for a while; we've forever been doing weird things like making Masch our CB, putting Busquets at times, etc. As for Mingueza I'm not convinced he's at this level to be honest. He's done great so far given our circumstances, but we really need to be recruiting talents that are already much better than him at his age. Araujo - yes, so far he seems like the only one who might fit the bill.

Young, pacey upcoming CB's - I don't think there is a lack of them as such if you look around leagues. The problem is we tend to overcomplicate things like how good is he with passing out the back, Barca DNA, etc.

 

[mc_lovin]

(...)

That's just fairytale stuff. Most of them are at best Mingueza level. Finding the one in a thousand is incredibly hard.

 

[Neeraj]

That's just fairytale stuff. Most of them are at best Mingueza level. Finding the one in a thousand is incredibly hard.

I think you might be underestimating talent out there, or severely over estimating Mingueza. I think it's the latter, but let's see how he performs this season. I like him and his attitude, but I just don't see him at this level of football. Let's hope I am wrong.

 

[mc_lovin]

I think you might be underestimating talent out there, or severely over estimating Mingueza. I think it's the latter, but let's see how he performs this season. I like him and his attitude, but I just don't see him at this level of football. Let's hope I am wrong.

Amuse me.. you have some names (not costing 40ME+)?

In retrospect 2 things fucked us: a) Umtiti b) Lenglet, who apart from being a shitty defender (recently) is a terrible fit for Pique.

 

[Neeraj]

Amuse me.. you have some names (not costing 40ME+)?

In retrospect 2 things fucked us: a) Umtiti b) Lenglet, who apart from being a shitty defender (recently) is a terrible fit for Pique.

Well, that's the thing though. Whatever names you and I can come up with will obviously not be upcoming talent that scouts have to find, that's their entire job. Finding the next VVD - sure that's wishful thinking. But the point I'm making is that I don't see us invest enough on CB's, especially the kind of profile we need. I'm fine if we get some people and we fail, shit happens (like Umtiti). Or if we get 'good enough' CB that's not lighting the world on fire but is acceptable given the fiscal condition we are in. Araujo is a start yes, but I'm just done with the Lenglet, Garcia, Pique profile.

(Not giving up on Garcia before he starts here, I definitely want to give him a chance and hope he does well. But on the face of it, not the right profile for us).

Lenglet being a shit fit for Pique - that's my point. Wrong profile. If Lenglet was equally shit as a player overall but at least had complementary skills like pace and agility, he'd be more useful (or less of a liability) than he is now.

 

[aragorn]

Well, that's the thing though. Whatever names you and I can come up with will obviously not be upcoming talent that scouts have to find, that's their entire job. Finding the next VVD - sure that's wishful thinking. But the point I'm making is that I don't see us invest enough on CB's, especially the kind of profile we need. I'm fine if we get some people and we fail, shit happens (like Umtiti). Or if we get 'good enough' CB that's not lighting the world on fire but is acceptable given the fiscal condition we are in. Araujo is a start yes, but I'm just done with the Lenglet, Garcia, Pique profile.

(Not giving up on Garcia before he starts here, I definitely want to give him a chance and hope he does well. But on the face of it, not the right profile for us).

Lenglet being a shit fit for Pique - that's my point. Wrong profile. If Lenglet was equally shit as a player overall but at least had complementary skills like pace and agility, he'd be more useful (or less of a liability) than he is now.

Umtiti was not a shit signing - Umtiti was brilliant signing. Just that the lad decided to fuck us up by not going for surgery but instead opted to play the wc and screwed his own fitness levels. It's unprofessional yes, but I guess any/every footballer not named di Maria would do that!

 

[Neeraj]

Umtiti was not a shit signing - Umtiti was brilliant signing. Just that the lad decided to fuck us up by not going for surgery but instead opted to play the wc and screwed his own fitness levels. It's unprofessional yes, but I guess any/every footballer not named di Maria would do that!

Yes that's what I meant. That it was a good signing but shit happened, lol. It was a good signing.

 

[vegitot]

Till now at Olympic, he shows his good passing ability but pretty much nothing from his defending skill.