9 - Robert Lewandowski

[freetocan]

Robert Lewandowski: "Next year, I think we'll come back stronger and play better football."

We need to get rid of him ASAP and put and end to this

Absolutely. Need to get rid of this balerin.

 

[freetocan]

What is frustrating about him is that when the team plays well, he also seems to play well. But when the team needs him to produce a "moment of magic" he is rarely there. Like it happed with Atletico. Very frustrating

Absolutely correct.

 

[TemporaryFan]

But I think if someone is genuinely a Barca fan they won't want Messi's PSG to beat Barca without Messi. In that case they're a Messi fan, not a Barca fan. If they originally got into Barca because of Messi and Messi means more to them than Barca, then they're what I describe.

Like Catalin and Soul on here are big Messi fans. But I am sure Barca matter more to them than Messi. Maybe some got into Barca because of Messi, but for many - at some point - Barca became more important than Messi himself.

Anyway can't be bothered debating anymore. I was planning to stay offline for months and months (had not posted for 5 days) but some comments I read when I lurked annoyed me so I decided to post. Likely try not to post now til next summer or something if possible.

Again, sorry for any offence caused. Believe it ot not, I dislike confrontation. I am just opinionated too so it is a bad mix.

One's kibitzing soul loyalty can go with a club but also with a player. They can also manifest themselves simultaneously.
Why is it that Arsenal fans hate the Spurs and vice versa, so fervently but comes England vs Germany on Wembley, they all unite and sing "God save the King" like they're twin brothers?
I am 100% sure, my childhood local club, would come first before of any players, if I still lived there. Now, deprived of the real maternal ties, I am left with other options.

 

[Maradona37]

One's kibitzing soul loyalty can go with a club but also with a player. They can also manifest themselves simultaneously.
Why is it that Arsenal fans hate the Spurs and vice versa, so fervently but comes England vs Germany on Wembley, they all unite and sing "God save the King" like they're twin brothers?
I am 100% sure, my childhood local club, would come first before of any players, if I still lived there. Now, deprived of the real maternal ties, I am left with other options.

yeah that stuff is a good point too - the contradiction of club vs national teams. I will say though that I feel a lot of people don't feel much connection to their national team. I know a guy from Manchester who supports United who said he could never support England because he'd have been wanting Gerrard etc to do well.

Overall, it is an interesting debate. I don't necessarily think it's a football thing with me - it's a wider thing about me with celebrity worship and parasocial relationships in general. I have NEVER understood worship of celebrities (see my post in social club).

 

[freetocan]

The people who think this guy was ever better than far more talented players like Benzema and Suarez must be high on glue. It is so obvious that he is absolutely finished for fuck sake and people here are writing essays on how to get the best out of him? IT WILL NOT HAPPEN, EVER. Barca will win nothing in future with this guy as the main striker. He has good hold up play but was basically just a goalscorer playing for by far the most dominant team in a defensively porous league.

The fact people were outraged that this guy didn't win the Ballon d'or over Messi simply for beating up on Bundesliga teams who can't defend is laughable. The guy was pissed on in every other metric than goalscoring by Messi that season, and Messi is at least 15 times better at football than he is.

No offence, but what has this guy ever done outside of the Bundesliga to warrant his 'GOAT' reputation? Even his CL trophy is dubious. Other than that great performance at Dortmund against Real Madrid I don't remember him making any kind of difference is any really important CL game? He's really just a scorer and other strikers have done far more at the top of the game than this guy and are far more rounded players.

I have never been a fan and I genuinely believe he's extremely popular for some reason, and it leads to vast overrating of him, because people want him to be the best, rather than genuinely thinking he is. We have people here saying he's the best striker ever and better than R9, which is so delusional it just defies belief. He's liked a lot more than Benzema and Suarez and nobody can convince me this doesn't play a massive part in people who rate him above them.

WHY is this guy loved to the extent he is? To the point that people fanboy over him and can't bear any criticism of him? I mean we have Tempt, Rassy (I like them both but come on), TemporaryFan talking him up and slagging off Barca legends like Iniesta and Messi at the same time (!), that Tookien guy and other various people posting like they are related to him. Why are they so invested in a fucking footballer who doesn't know they exist and doesn't care about them? And overrate the fuck out of him and spin everything in his favour, blame his team-mates for his failure. Makes zero sense. It's creepy to be honest.They're like Ronaldo fanboys, except Ronaldo is far better than 'Lewy' ever was.

Like @Andresito says, Lewandowski is extremely bland, both as a person and as a footballer. He's like plain white bread with no butter on it. I just assume he is being carried by his good looks at this point in terms of people liking him.

Totally agree with @Messi983 and @KingLeo10 on this guy. I have never ever got the hype around him - he's a finisher with a very limited skillset who hung out at Bayern in a league his team had a vast monopoly over for 8 years or so. Benzema and Suarez are definitely better for me, and if I ever said differently I was betraying my real feelings to appease friends on here.

Overall though, I just don't get why Tempt, Tookien, TemporaryFan and so on defend this guy like they're related to him and get angry at JUSTIFIED criticism of him, fanboying over him like schoolgirls. It's very creepy to be honest.

Thank you so much for this post. Very good characterization of an already fucked/ retired/ slow/ poor control and overall soccer skills. Once again, hat down to your post.

 

[Maradona37]

Thank you so much for this post. Very good characterization of an already fucked/ retired/ slow/ poor control and overall soccer skills. Once again, hat down to your post.

Thanks, yeah. Obviously he was an excellent striker in his prime, but I never rated him as highly as Benzema and Suarez.

But he is 36 now and totally past it, utterly finished. Relying on him is doom for Flick and Barca. He started the season okay but if he isn't finishing chances he's generally useless. The one game where his all-round game looked good to me was Real Madrid, ironically.

Other than that he's slow, can't hold the ball up, can't trap it, misses a lot of chances (he scored a lot because he got a lot of chances).

No team can win big prizes with a 36 year old past it striker - it cannot happen. All discussion at length of what he will or won't do in future is futile - the guy cannot do it at the business end of the season, he is too old and finished.

 

[freetocan]

Thanks, yeah. Obviously he was an excellent striker in his prime, but I never rated him as highly as Benzema and Suarez.

But he is 36 now and totally past it, utterly finished. Relying on him is doom for Flick and Barca. He started the season okay but if he isn't finishing chances he's generally useless. The one game where his all-round game looked good to me was Real Madrid, ironically.

Other than that he's slow, can't hold the ball up, can't trap it, misses a lot of chances (he scored a lot because he got a lot of chances).

No team can win big prizes with a 36 year old past it striker - it cannot happen. All discussion at length of what he will or won't do in future is futile - the guy cannot do it at the business end of the season, he is too old and finished.

Absolutely true. Hopefully Barca board is NOT blind to see that and will take action against this useless clown. I doubt the profesionalism of Flick if he will continue with him still. Even Marc Guiu who Chelsea want to get rid of him asap, would be much more useful than this slow elephant.

 

[Maradona37]

Absolutely true. Hopefully Barca board is NOT blind to see that and will take action against this useless clown. I doubt the profesionalism of Flick if he will continue with him still. Even Marc Guiu who Chelsea want to get rid of him asap, would be much more useful than this slow elephant.

Yeah I must say (as a guy who likes Barca but is not an actual Barca fan) I am far from convinced with Flick either. He has a lot of flaws too.

As for Lewandowski, it's self sabotage for Barcelona to have him as a starter and have no adequate replacement even. He needs to go, he's too clumsy and cannot finish now either. Real Madrid was a weird game - he finished two hard chances then missed two absolute sitters. Given he offers so little outside of goalscoring, Barca cannot have someone that erratic in front of goal.

 

[freetocan]

Yeah I must say (as a guy who likes Barca but is not an actual Barca fan) I am far from convinced with Flick either. He has a lot of flaws too.

As for Lewandowski, it's self sabotage for Barcelona to have him as a starter and have no adequate replacement even. He needs to go, he's too clumsy and cannot finish now either. Real Madrid was a weird game - he finished two hard chances then missed two absolute sitters. Given he offers so little outside of goalscoring, Barca cannot have someone that erratic in front of goal.

Agree. Flick proves to me that he has no balls. It’s impossible for a professional coach to not see how finished is this guy. I got so frustrated when I saw last match how easy he failed to score. We practically lost the game because of him. Period.
By saying that, if Flick would be a real couch, this guy should be benched and maybe introduced in the last 15 min at max. I would never trust and start with him. I hate this guy and never liked him from very beginning. And you know what, such a stupid Barca gave him the highest salary of 33 mil euro brut/ year. I guess Barca board has the most poor management in the history of football giving such huge salary in general. That’s why our finance are where they are in a huge debt.
They should make a huge effort and try to lure in Victor Osimhen from Galatasaray. It will sort all money Barca may still have ….

 

[Maradona37]

Agree. Flick proves to me that he has no balls. It’s impossible for a professional coach to not see how finished is this guy. I got so frustrated when I saw last match how easy he failed to score. We practically lost the game because of him. Period.
By saying that, if Flick would be a real couch, this guy should be benched and maybe introduced in the last 15 min at max. I would never trust and start with him. I hate this guy and never liked him from very beginning. And you know what, such a stupid Barca gave him the highest salary of 33 mil euro brut/ year. I guess Barca board has the most poor management in the history of football giving such huge salary in general. That’s why our finance are where they are in a huge debt.
They should make a huge effort and try to lure in Victor Osimhen from Galatasaray. It will sort all money Barca may still have ….

Yeah I get your point. I don't hate Lewy per se, I just don't rate him as highly as many. Was never really my type of player, feel playing for Bayern in the Bundesliga enhanced his goalscoring record as a flat track bully in that league.

But that is irrelevant - whether he was amazing or not, what isn't in dispute is he has declined heavily and just does not have it now. If Flick persists with him he has problems. The issue is nobody can really replace him - the squad isn't deep enough as you are down to the likes of Ferran Torres if Lewa is dropped. There's nobody particularly good that can come in in the striking position (as far as I am aware of). It has been awful planning - building the forward line around a 34/35 year old player when he signed.

Osimhen is good for sure. I am not entirely sold on him, but he's much younger than Lewa, far more dynamic and explosive. The issue with him from what I have seen (admittedly nowhere near as much as I have seen Lewy over the years) is he might not have the best technical ability in terms of close control. However, the striker market isn't great right now - most teams rely on their wide forwards to score goals, so hopefully Yamal and Raphinha can score more goals (I know the latter has been scoring).

Don't get me wrong - there's other problems in the team than Lewy. But he is far from the solution in the number 9 position either.

Flick for me is too ardent to his philosophy - everything looks like German chaos. I think the guys on here saying he isn't pragmatic enough and doesn't react well in-game to patterns of play/game states or players tiring and rotation have a real point.

 

[freetocan]

And let’s be honest. Barca team cannot be compared with a Real Madrid team. I hate to say that but to me, it’s obvious. We have poor quality players, many of them very young. In my opinion, the only players we have to the level of Barca calibre are very few: Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Raphinia and that’s it. There are few acceptable ones like Araujo, Gavi, ter Steven, Cubarsi and maybe Cassado. Rest are very poor to me. So, we cannot compare with Real team what has just one or two of an average calibre. We have no chance to win anything this year.

 

[ForzaBarca]

All those cunts who mocked anyone like me who said Haaland isn't all that have been looking clueless for ages now. The guy's all around game has always been a tragedy, but now his scoring his fallen off a cliff too. The guy is an absolute donkey of a footballer.

I have been proved right again.

As for Halland - I've always said the same. He's a player who relies solely on his height, strength and speed. Even his movements aren't typical football ones and probably won't be. Notice that his goal scoring, maybe with a few exceptions, is purely power goals, lacks technique and lacks pitch intelligence... unfortunately. Apart from those goals, he doesn't offer anything to his team and his value on Transfermarkt is greatly, greatly overestimated.

 

[ForzaBarca]

Agree. Flick proves to me that he has no balls. It’s impossible for a professional coach to not see how finished is this guy. I got so frustrated when I saw last match how easy he failed to score. We practically lost the game because of him. Period.
By saying that, if Flick would be a real couch, this guy should be benched and maybe introduced in the last 15 min at max. I would never trust and start with him. I hate this guy and never liked him from very beginning. And you know what, such a stupid Barca gave him the highest salary of 33 mil euro brut/ year. I guess Barca board has the most poor management in the history of football giving such huge salary in general. That’s why our finance are where they are in a huge debt.
They should make a huge effort and try to lure in Victor Osimhen from Galatasaray. It will sort all money Barca may still have ….

Damn, how such words annoy me, blinkers or maybe a filter on the eyes that only lets Lewandowski through? I quote: "We practically lost the match because of him. Period." And didn't Casado's mistake cause the defeat? Damn, how many times has Lewandowski saved Barcelona's ass and given them points? He doesn't score a goal, OK - right, the situation is simple, it happens to every player. How many of his goals were acrobatics, where other players wouldn't even receive the ball? Yes - at this point I defend Lewandowski, because I hate blaming only one person. The team is playing like shit! Can't you see that? Compare the matches from the beginning of the season and now. Another thing, if Szczęsny was in goal I guarantee you that several of those goals wouldn't have been scored.

 

[Temptation]

Damn, how such words annoy me, blinkers or maybe a filter on the eyes that only lets Lewandowski through? I quote: "We practically lost the match because of him. Period." And didn't Casado's mistake cause the defeat? Damn, how many times has Lewandowski saved Barcelona's ass and given them points? He doesn't score a goal, OK - right, the situation is simple, it happens to every player. How many of his goals were acrobatics, where other players wouldn't even receive the ball? Yes - at this point I defend Lewandowski, because I hate blaming only one person. The team is playing like shit! Can't you see that? Compare the matches from the beginning of the season and now. Another thing, if Szczęsny was in goal I guarantee you that several of those goals wouldn't have been scored.

RL9 will be back to scoring goals soon.

Unfortunately, he'll always be the one scapegoated here. Even if the whole team plays like crap.

 

[iniestaGOAT]

Damn, how such words annoy me, blinkers or maybe a filter on the eyes that only lets Lewandowski through? I quote: "We practically lost the match because of him. Period." And didn't Casado's mistake cause the defeat? Damn, how many times has Lewandowski saved Barcelona's ass and given them points? He doesn't score a goal, OK - right, the situation is simple, it happens to every player. How many of his goals were acrobatics, where other players wouldn't even receive the ball? Yes - at this point I defend Lewandowski, because I hate blaming only one person. The team is playing like shit! Can't you see that? Compare the matches from the beginning of the season and now. Another thing, if Szczęsny was in goal I guarantee you that several of those goals wouldn't have been scored.

We have 1 win in last seven games.
That 1 win came when this bum did not play.

It is not a coinicidence.