6 - Carles Alena

[BBZ8800]

I'm talking from 2004-05 on. Rijkaard even trusted him as a DM pretty often. DM! No, by then, Iniesta was a very solid player. Iniesta was never about "hero dribbles". Still not the player he became with Guardiola, but not the joke some people are pretending him to be in order to make a further point about Aleñá that, quite frankly, I'm missing. If we're talking about Aleñá's current situation, who remembers Iniesta's first two appearances in league games that added up to not even a half hour and why is it of any significance? Isn't that a bit too early to make any reasonable judgments about any player in the history of the universe?

That's changing a past, imo.

Iniesta was talented and won lots of trophies with youth NT teams in years 2000-2003.
He was something like a best player of a tournament or something like that (I remember watching it on Eurosport back then).
So, he surely had talent, he was the best young Spanish player in youth NT teams and of course our coaches "had" to play and develop him.
But his development was less smoother than Messi's or Xavi's.

Iniesta played 11 matches (usually subs) in 2003-04, when he was old like Alena.
But also, it needs to be said, Barca finished 6th in La liga in 2002-03 and we were horrible.
Rijkaard came in a summer of 2003 and we started from zero, with some new and young La Masia players.
We also played "only" Uefa Cup that season.
So, in those circumstances, it was way easier to play young Iniesta and to "forgive" his mistakes.

In 2004/05, when Iniesta played 37 matches (25 as subs), it also needs to be said that our team was "short" from the day 1 and then we were struck by 4-5 horrible knee injuries in Spetember and October.

Our all midfielders were:
Cdms: 1. Edmilson 2. Motta
Cms: 1. Xavi 2. Deco 3. Gerard 4. Iniesta 5. allrounder Gabri
That's our whole midfield back then.

And then what happened?
1. Edmilson=injured knee ligaments in September, out till the end of a season
2. his replacement Motta=injured knee one Month late, out till the end of a season
3. allrounder Gabri=the same injury, out till the end of a season
Plus, we had only 4 attackers: Ronaldinho, Etoo, Guily and Larsson, and Larsson broke also knee ligaments and was out till the end of a season.

That meant that since around November we had only:
Zero Cdms (Edmilson and Motta out)
4 Cms (Xavi, Deco, Iniesta, Gerard) with Gabri out
Only 3 attackers (Ronaldinho, Etoo, Guily) with Larsson injured.

Marquez was pushed from a Cb position into a Cdm and we were left only with Puyol-Oleguer as 2 Cbs for the whole season.
That meant that Puyol-Oleguer needed to play all matches, and that Marquez-Xavi-Deco will need to play a lot, and their only subs were young Iniesta and Gerard Lopez.
Also, front 3 needed some rest and young Iniesta was a sub for all 3 midfield spots but also a sub for Ronaldinho and Guily at Lw and Rw.

So, Iniesta didn't play back then ONLY because he was good, but because our team was totally ruined by injuries.
If Marquez was tired=put Gerard in
If Xavi is tired=put Iniesta/Gerard in
If Deco is tired=put Iniesta/Gerard in
If Ronaldinho is tired=put Iniesta in
If Guily is tired=put Iniesta in

One match which I will always remember when I was pissed as hell at young Iniesta was 2004/05's CL knockout 2nd leg against Mourinho's Chelsea.
We were without Larsson, Edmilson, Motta, Gabri already and then even without Marquez and Guily for that match.
So, young Iniesta played as a RW instead of guily and we played with 4 short midfielders Xavi, Deco, Gerard, Iniesta and we were eaten alive by Chelsea in every arial duel and in every tackle at the middle of a pitch.

In that match, young Iniesta (but also our other soft midfielders) were totally outplayed and outran by Chelsea in every department (something like Psg:Barca 4:0 from a few weeks ago).
As others said, Iniesta back then was too soft, his movement was poor to average, and he too often tried solo runs through 2-3 opponents which led to nothing in 90% of attempts (and stronger opponents would easily take the ball from him).
Iniesta was a Goat later, but his early years were not so good.

 

[xXKonan]

[tw]850316270297862144[/tw]

I would rather him play in the Mid instead.

 

[God Serena]

The day Lucho seriously considers a B team player for one of his lineups is the day hell freezes over and grows a lavish rainforest at the same time and that's only after the mermaids swim up the waterfall to declare the Earth is flat.

 

[gasgas]

The day Lucho seriously considers a B team player for one of his lineups is the day hell freezes over and grows a lavish rainforest at the same time and that's only after the mermaids swim up the waterfall to declare the Earth is flat.

He considered Gumbau and nothing happened

 

[Barcaman]

Xavi was awesome from the get-go. I remember his first match and he immediately imposed himself.

Puyol was a trainwreck. I never would have guessed he'd turn out to be one of the greatest FCB legends.

Iniesta was that highly talented guy that is getting more and more chances and grows. So his trajectory was somewhat normal in comparison to Xavi and Puyol.

 

[Barcaman]

[tw]850316270297862144[/tw]

I would rather him play in the Mid instead.

Not surprised at his quote as he already played Alena as RW in 4-3-3 in one or two od those Copa matches vs. some minnows.

I agree with you though, he belong in midfield. Leave that wide spot for an athlete or goalscorer.

 

[navidjaan]

Not fond of using him wide at all, as he's clearly born to dominate the middle of the pitch, but at least Lucho is showing faith. It's like he's going full yolo now that he knows he's leaving...

 

[Raketa10]

Needs to be promoted next year. Enough with "loan your players" shit. We have to be responsible for development of our young players, we just can't expect from other teams to raise our new Xavi or Iniesta. Alena has to stay and must be given minutes or he will end up beeing average player like Rafinha, Denis, Deulofeu or even worse like Samper who is substitute in Granada.

 

[navidjaan]

To think that other teams can develop Barça players better than Barça themselves just because of a couple of handfuls more games per season is proving to be quite laughable, yes.

 

[El Barcelona]

Give thé man a chance instead of Gomes. Show some balls lucho.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

You know what, start him every game now that the season's over. See if he's the real deal.

 

[khaled_a_d]

You know what, start him every game now that the season's over. See if he's the real deal.

What if he doesn't look like the real deal at the age of 19? when you promote player there is no coming bad,players like Bojan,GDS,Sandro all could have benefited from extra time in youth system developing rather than being thrown into 1st team. Alena time will come but people need to have little patience tbh

 

[God Serena]

What if he doesn't look like the real deal at the age of 19? when you promote player there is no coming bad,players like Bojan,GDS,Sandro all could have benefited from extra time in youth system developing rather than being thrown into 1st team. Alena time will come but people need to have little patience tbh

Bojan and GDS were both let down by mental and behavioral issues, and Sandro imo was never ready for promotion in the first place and honestly was not needed in the first place with Munir leapfrogging him.

I maybe wouldn't start him in every game from here on out but using him in any instance where we'd use players like Gomes or Denis wouldn't hurt. He's seemingly hit his ceiling for improvement in the 3rd division and he's unlikely to stay with the B team into next season so it's hard to see moving him up to fast being a detriment to his potential.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Bojan and GDS were both let down by mental and behavioral issues, and Sandro imo was never ready for promotion in the first place and honestly was not needed in the first place with Munir leapfrogging him.

I maybe wouldn't start him in every game from here on out but using him in any instance where we'd use players like Gomes or Denis wouldn't hurt. He's seemingly hit his ceiling for improvement in the 3rd division and he's unlikely to stay with the B team into next season so it's hard to see moving him up to fast being a detriment to his potential.

Mental and behavior issues was part of the early promotion,it isn't just about talent when you promote teenagers to one of the biggest football teams in the world. And Sandro not being ready is exactly my point,non were ready someway or another.
Won't mind,won't be worse than X and Y are all sort of play station type of comments -no disrespect intended. Promoting him early could hurt him, staying too long is something that can be fixed easier than promoting too early. And I don't think he has overgrown the 3rd division that much tbh. I like him but it isn't like he is scoring or assisting in every game there.
I would love to see him as a starter next year and the next young La Masia to take the world by storm,but we need to be cautious and careful for what we wish for. Let the next coach decide if he is ready or not, May be it will be a season between Barca B and 1st team,sort of what players like Iniesta/Thiago and to less extent Xavi had at same age. After all we will be lucky if he came close to any of those players

 

[serghei]

Mental and behavior issues was part of the early promotion,it isn't just about talent when you promote teenagers to one of the biggest football teams in the world. And Sandro not being ready is exactly my point,non were ready someway or another.
Won't mind,won't be worse than X and Y are all sort of play station type of comments -no disrespect intended. Promoting him early could hurt him, staying too long is something that can be fixed easier than promoting too early. And I don't think he has overgrown the 3rd division that much tbh. I like him but it isn't like he is scoring or assisting in every game there.
I would love to see him as a starter next year and the next young La Masia to take the world by storm,but we need to be cautious and careful for what we wish for. Let the next coach decide if he is ready or not, May be it will be a season between Barca B and 1st team,sort of what players like Iniesta/Thiago and to less extent Xavi had at same age. After all we will be lucky if he came close to any of those players

True, but some players are different than others. Some cope better with pressure. I say we play Alena with Busi and Iniesta, and see how he does with the best team next to him. Because if we play him with an experimental side, we can't know for sure how his performance was influenced by having a less coherent platform. Give him a game on Camp Nou against a more than decent team, and we can see what his level is. In the first official game for Barcelona he scored a great goal in the Copa. Scoring on your first game like that can often be a sign of a future great player.

Putting some youngsters together isn't the way to evaluate a player. Putting that player in a working platform and seeing how he copes with that is. I'd like to see the standard team vs Sociedad with Alena instead of Rakitic/Gomes.