5 - Iñigo Martínez

Cruijffista

SOY ANTIMADRIDISTA
Inigo Martinez actually reads the game really well and is very aware on the pitch.

The only knock on him would be his height and that he's not Thiago Silva.

I would have no problem with him being our CB of the present and the future. A bit overpriced @ 30M but he could end up playing with the club for many years.
 

Hamzah

High Definition Member
Pique plays any match thats even slightly difficult. He can get a rest against the lower end of la liga and mascherano can step in as he can play with the ball.
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
not a fan of this flavour of the month stuff. just like the hype around gundogan. both players may become world class but so can many players. if barcaforum were in charge we'd be a mess due to short term thinking transfers and would ruin the club.

who cares if hes good in the air ''for his height''?. thats like the ''decent touch for a big man'' argument. is he good in the air compared to other centre backs yes or no?

even if he is good in the air its pretty irrelevant. most our conceded goals are on the ground due to counter attacks and fullbacks being high up the pitch. this is solved with one attacking fb with one defensive fb. the main quality for a barca cb is reading of the game because of our high line coupled with a decent amount of pace to make up ground. i think hes average in this area. he's also reckless and will leave the back line exposed.

at the moment i think a good option is branislav ivanovic, until a truly world class centre back is available. i don't know if chelsea are looking to sell him though.

I really don't think you watch him or know enough about him to pull out "flavor of the month". He's been great all season, it's no ones fault but your own that you've never heard of him or know much about him.

Yes he is good in the air compared to other center backs. I'm not going to lie and say that he's among the best in the world in terms of aerial ability, but definitely sufficient to what we need.

He's great at reading the game and is able to intercept and block out counterattacks well, pressuring forward to close down space while Pique acts accordingly as his sweeper counterpart. Reckless? Far from it. Determined and strong in going forward to defend is a more accurate description. He, like all other CB's, will occasionally get caught in an error but he's 21 and is not very prone at all, reliable even compared to the best of defenders in this respect.

Ivanovic is a horrible CB option. Pique's passing ability does not make up for Ivanovic's unbelievable clumsiness in playing a passing game. While Pique is predominantly the "playmaking" CB, Ivanovic being there just disrupts the flow. If anything, Ivanovic is far more reckless than Martinez.
 

Hamzah

High Definition Member
I disagree with the third paragraph. He doesn't impress me with his reading of the game. I will forgive his recklessness as he is young and will Improve.

I chose ivanovic because he is an option for a low price until a truly great centre back in the class of thiago silva is available. He's a solid defender with good reading of the game and has good aggression (not recklessness). However his pace is questionable. I don't think he's a long term solution at all but a stop gap and his low price is what attracted me. He's the best available for such a low price and a massive upgrade on our current options.

We only need one ball playing centre back. Puyol is not exactly a master of bringing the ball out and he managed fine because he had pique as his outlet.
 

Neal Faradinho

New member
I disagree with the third paragraph. He doesn't impress me with his reading of the game. I will forgive his recklessness as he is young and will Improve.

I chose ivanovic because he is an option for a low price until a truly great centre back in the class of thiago silva is available. He's a solid defender with good reading of the game and has good aggression (not recklessness). However his pace is questionable. I don't think he's a long term solution at all but a stop gap and his low price is what attracted me. He's the best available for such a low price and a massive upgrade on our current options.

We only need one ball playing centre back. Puyol is not exactly a master of bringing the ball out and he managed fine because he had pique as his outlet.

Ivanovic is not reckless? :facepalm:
Iñigo is already better than that thug
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
I disagree with the third paragraph. He doesn't impress me with his reading of the game. I will forgive his recklessness as he is young and will Improve.

I chose ivanovic because he is an option for a low price until a truly great centre back in the class of thiago silva is available. He's a solid defender with good reading of the game and has good aggression (not recklessness). However his pace is questionable. I don't think he's a long term solution at all but a stop gap and his low price is what attracted me. He's the best available for such a low price and a massive upgrade on our current options.

We only need one ball playing centre back. Puyol is not exactly a master of bringing the ball out and he managed fine because he had pique as his outlet.

I really doubt you watch much of him at all. He's a better reader of the game than Varane ffs, he's shown it all season. Interceptions, positioning, applying pressure cleverly to force errors. It's one of his top qualities yet you act like it doesn't exist?

Ivanovic is hardly solid, can't defend counterattacks, and is very reckless. His first instinct when opposition attackers are running at him full speed would be to desperately slide at them.

Puyol is at least competent with the ball and continues the flow of the passing, Ivanovic would stick out like a sore thumb.
 

Hamzah

High Definition Member
All ivanovic is required to do is pass sideways or back to the goalkeeper. I don't see why you think he isn't capable of such an easy task, he's not the one bringing the play forward, that's piques role.

Varane is a much better defender and more intelligent than Martinez. You're liking of him is clouding your judgement. He's not as good a reader of the game as you think. I have watched him for sociedad and in real life for Spain under 23, he didn't impress me at all.

Ivanovic is not a long term solution remember. He does not fit the qualities of a Barcelona centre back in that he lacks pace for the high line and he could be more comfortable with the ball. However considering our budget has been mostly spent on Neymar he is the best available centre back for the price we can spend. He is an experienced and solid defender.

If we sell some players and have more money to spend I would suggest other, better options. I am only suggesting him because he is the best we can do with what we have available. You seem to think we have unlimited money, and can spend 30 million in addition to the 57 million we've already spent, and we haven't sold a player yet.
 
All ivanovic is required to do is pass sideways or back to the goalkeeper. I don't see why you think he isn't capable of such an easy task, he's not the one bringing the play forward, that's piques role.

Varane is a much better defender and more intelligent than Martinez. You're liking of him is clouding your judgement. He's not as good a reader of the game as you think. I have watched him for sociedad and in real life for Spain under 23, he didn't impress me at all.

Ivanovic is not a long term solution remember. He does not fit the qualities of a Barcelona centre back in that he lacks pace for the high line and he could be more comfortable with the ball. However considering our budget has been mostly spent on Neymar he is the best available centre back for the price we can spend. He is an experienced and solid defender.

If we sell some players and have more money to spend I would suggest other, better options. I am only suggesting him because he is the best we can do with what we have available. You seem to think we have unlimited money, and can spend 30 million in addition to the 57 million we've already spent, and we haven't sold a player yet.

Remember, the money for Neymar will be paid in installments. Since it'll be paid over 3 years, I'm guessing about 16M was paid up front (we spent 10m beforehand, so 47/3 = 16). So we have about 34M left.
 
Last edited:

Hamzah

High Definition Member
If you're right and we really do have 34 million then it's a better idea to first sell David villa for 12 million, and move on the better targets. This gives us plenty of money for my number one preferred target thiago silva. The transfer is complicated though because he will only leave in certain circumstances such as ancelotti or ibrahimovic leaving.

It's better to wait until things become clearer than to spend now.
 

XaviMessiGirl

New member
If you're right and we really do have 34 million then it's a better idea to first sell David villa for 12 million, and move on the better targets. This gives us plenty of money for my number one preferred target thiago silva. The transfer is complicated though because he will only leave in certain circumstances such as ancelotti or ibrahimovic leaving.

It's better to wait until things become clearer than to spend now.

Milan might try to buy Silva back if they sell El Shaarawy for 40m, that was some speculation in Sportmediaset yesterday anyway. So there's that issue too if that turns out to be true.
 

Home of Barca Fans

Top