Alex Song

[The Observer]

Predicting that Thiago would get more and more playing time with time and experience and the more Xavi declines isn't "pretending to predict the future". It's a natural process that would happen. After the World Cup Xavi will take a back seat. He already wanted to retire from the national team in 2012. Only del Bosque convinced him otherwise. Yet people here blame him for not knowing his limits and make fun of his "3 days" comment. Every professional player in the world feels better when he plays every game, especially midfield engines that cover lots of ground need that rythm, not 2 weeks of pause from game to game.

I don't know why Thiago didn't play much in the last 5 games. If you look at the 14 games before that, he started 11 out of 14 games before those 5 dead rubbers. I don't know what changed in the last 5 games. That was the time when the Thiago buyout rumours came to light. Tito might have tried to make a point that he won't start Thiago just because of contract clauses. Might have tried to test his character and whether he will stay regardless and fight for a spot and if not he isn't worth it anyway. Might have tried to evaluate certain players (like Villa) and therefore played a familiar full strength lineup and not kids. Might have been because of incentives for reaching 100 points. Maybe Thiago at that point already told them that he's considering to leave so Tito didn't bother. Xavi might have asked to play to get some ryhtm after all the injuries and get in shape for the Confeds Cup. Who knows? Pep didn't play Thiago either in his very last game when the league was already lost. He played Xavi. What do I know what the plan is? What I know is that he didn't leave because of those last 5 dead rubber games because that would be the most ridiculous thing ever. No one leaves because of 5 games.

 

[Flavia]

Predicting that Thiago would get more and more playing time with time and experience and the more Xavi declines isn't "pretending to predict the future". It's a natural process that would happen. After the World Cup Xavi will take a back seat. He already wanted to retire from the national team in 2012. Only del Bosque convinced him otherwise. Yet people here blame him for not knowing his limits and make fun of his "3 days" comment. Every professional player in the world feels better when he plays every game, especially midfield engines that cover lots of ground need that rythm, not 2 weeks of pause from game to game.

I don't know why Thiago didn't play much in the last 5 games. If you look at the 14 games before that, he started 11 out of 14 games before those 5 dead rubbers. I don't know what changed in the last 5 games. That was the time when the Thiago buyout rumours came to light. Tito might have tried to make a point that he won't start Thiago just because of contract clauses. Might have tried to test his character and whether he will stay regardless and fight for a spot and if not he isn't worth it anyway. Might have tried to evaluate certain players (like Villa) and therefore played a familiar full strength lineup and not kids. Might have been because of incentives for reaching 100 points. Maybe Thiago at that point already told them that he's considering to leave so Tito didn't bother. Xavi might have asked to play to get some ryhtm after all the injuries and get in shape for the Confeds Cup. Who knows? Pep didn't play Thiago either in his very last game when the league was already lost. He played Xavi. What do I know what the plan is? What I know is that he didn't leave because of those last 5 dead rubber games because that would be the most ridiculous thing ever. No one leaves because of 5 games.

Yes, no one leaves because of 5 games. He left because he got less playing time than the season before, he didn't feel valued, and it was quite obvious Tito didn't like him. This season Xavi is still not being benched, and Cesc should be playing more. And look how many minutes Roberto played.

 

[The Observer]

He won't play as much at Bayern this season as he did at Barca in his first season either. Wanna bet? That's because it's usually hard to play when you're sitting in the treatment room with a hernia on your knee almost the entire first half of the season.

Cesc should play more? Cesc has started 12 out of 15 games this season. How much more can he play? Xavi was getting rotated quite nicely up until Messi's injury. Tata even left him out in the Mestalla, one of the toughest grounds for us.

Roberto is a box-to-box player who likes to drive forward with the ball at his feet. Not a passer. He's not competing with Xavi. He's competing with Iniesta and Fabregas further up the pitch. Iniesta+Roberto would be a desastrous midfield.

 

[Flavia]

Cesc should play more in midfield, not false 9. Xavi shouldn't be playing as much as he is, he's currently a shadow of himself, but still no bench.
Roberto played well in preseason, and other matches. He is not good as Thiago, but he can be paired with Iniesta or Cesc.

 

[spark]

Yes, no one leaves because of 5 games. He left because he got less playing time than the season before, he didn't feel valued, and it was quite obvious Tito didn't like him. This season Xavi is still not being benched, and Cesc should be playing more. And look how many minutes Roberto played.

He played more when you consider the injuries he had. How is this hard to grasp? From the available minutes, he played a higher percentage of them, than the year before. You cant look at the final minutes when he missed more than 2 months ffs. The year before he only played when we were playing 3-4-3, once that was scrapped he had less time as one of 3 midfielders for one position than last year in the second half of the season. Tito didn't like him so much that when he made costly errors in front of the defense that led to goals and received criticism all around that he started him the the games immediately following those mistakes, never once dropping him as you would expect with a player you dont like. I cant believe all of these myths are being rehashed

 

[Flavia]

The myths are there in your post, too. Xavi on painkillers was played instead of him. Roberto's minutes this season are also a good indicator Thiago was right to leave.

 

[spark]

Fact is he didnt leave because of minutes against fodder teams. That was the mechanism which facilitated him leaving for cheap but not why he made the decision to leave. It was all about the big games. That was where the 'didnt feel important' came from. When you add that to the world cup being in his home country and Mazinho talking that up, you can see why he would take a chance elsewhere but it isn't about literally playing less minutes when he missed August to the end of Novemeber. The thing is even Fabregas doesn't bench any of the holy trinity of Busi and Xaviesta under three straight coaches when push comes to shove so it isn't about hating thiago or anything. Tito rotated Inieta with Cesc in the first half of the season and it didnt take long for Andres to make little hints in the media. Its a shadow that looms over the coaches. If Puyol wasnt injured every other game we would deal with it from that side too.

 

[Flavia]

Fact is he didnt leave because of minutes against fodder teams. That was the mechanism which facilitated him leaving for cheap but not why he made the decision to leave. It was all about the big games. That was where the 'didnt feel important' came from. When you add that to the world cup being in his home country and Mazinho talking that up, you can see why he would take a chance elsewhere but it isn't about literally playing less minutes when he missed August to the end of Novemeber. The thing is even Fabregas doesn't bench any of the holy trinity of Busi and Xaviesta under three straight coaches when push comes to shove so it isn't about hating thiago or anything. Tito rotated Inieta with Cesc in the first half of the season and it didnt take long for Andres to make little hints in the media. Its a shadow that looms over the coaches. If Puyol wasnt injured every other game we would deal with it from that side too.

The minutes in meaninless matches just showed Thiago that Xavi wasn't going to be rested, that even in those matches he wouldn't get to play. When a player plays in painkiller ahead of you, after the liga is settled, you know something's not right. He had Xavi and Cesc ahead of him, and with Tito as coach he knew this wouldn't change. Even Song got some of his minutes. For the amount Song plays, Thiago could've been Busquets backup. He can play dm. So it was a variety of things that made him decide to leave. And the funny thing is people called Roberto "the patient midfielder", and he didn't even waited a whole season to want to be loaned, so he'd get playing time.

Xavi is training on the side today, with pain. He clearly isn't 100%, still he plays too much. It's already December, and by the looks of it, most players will be tired come May.

 

[Maria]

Predicting that Thiago would get more and more playing time with time and experience and the more Xavi declines isn't "pretending to predict the future". It's a natural process that would happen. After the World Cup Xavi will take a back seat. He already wanted to retire from the national team in 2012. Only del Bosque convinced him otherwise. Yet people here blame him for not knowing his limits and make fun of his "3 days" comment. Every professional player in the world feels better when he plays every game, especially midfield engines that cover lots of ground need that rythm, not 2 weeks of pause from game to game.

I don't know why Thiago didn't play much in the last 5 games. If you look at the 14 games before that, he started 11 out of 14 games before those 5 dead rubbers. I don't know what changed in the last 5 games. That was the time when the Thiago buyout rumours came to light. Tito might have tried to make a point that he won't start Thiago just because of contract clauses. Might have tried to test his character and whether he will stay regardless and fight for a spot and if not he isn't worth it anyway. Might have tried to evaluate certain players (like Villa) and therefore played a familiar full strength lineup and not kids. Might have been because of incentives for reaching 100 points. Maybe Thiago at that point already told them that he's considering to leave so Tito didn't bother. Xavi might have asked to play to get some ryhtm after all the injuries and get in shape for the Confeds Cup. Who knows? Pep didn't play Thiago either in his very last game when the league was already lost. He played Xavi. What do I know what the plan is? What I know is that he didn't leave because of those last 5 dead rubber games because that would be the most ridiculous thing ever. No one leaves because of 5 games.

1. Xavi is playing right now as much as he played 3 years ago, so like I said you don't know that Thiago would have been a starter be next season.

2. The one that wanted to retire was Puyol, not Xavi..so yes, I can't still make fun of his comments of "playing better when he plays every 3 days" because it shows what he thinks..that is unless he is a liar.

3. Thiago's character has been tested 10 times before that, with Pep even sending him back to the B team to see if he is humble enough(for example Bojan refused to help Barca B when Pep was the coach, but nobody felt that his character should be tested again).

4. I've said this 10 times in my posts already, but it seems like you don't want to read it. Xavi was playing with painkillers at that point, after we won the league. And if the 100 points were more important for Tito than the development of youngsters, then I would say that it's not Thiago's character that should be tested. And again, I wasn't the one that said that Thiago played all the meaningless games, you were..all I was trying to prove is that your statement was false.

5. My personal impression from how Tito handled Thiago and Abidal, from what the 3 of them said, from how when Rosell was asked about Thiago he named Thiago Silva is that Tito wanted Thiago Silva more than anything. And after we bought Neymar, there were simply not enough money to make this happend. So he accepted Thiago's sale and Abidal's departure so that the club could afford TS. The problem was that Abidal and Thiago left, "the patient midfileder" played 60 minutes this season, Xavi is still playing through pain, Thiago Silva didn't came, Mascherano is still in front of Bartra and Puyol is still our new signing fro the CB. But I'm not worried because Bartomeu said that the team evolved since Pep left, so I'm expecting us to win the league this season and atleast play the CL final.

He played more when you consider the injuries he had. How is this hard to grasp? From the available minutes, he played a higher percentage of them, than the year before. You cant look at the final minutes when he missed more than 2 months ffs. The year before he only played when we were playing 3-4-3, once that was scrapped he had less time as one of 3 midfielders for one position than last year in the second half of the season. Tito didn't like him so much that when he made costly errors in front of the defense that led to goals and received criticism all around that he started him the the games immediately following those mistakes, never once dropping him as you would expect with a player you dont like. I cant believe all of these myths are being rehashed

I honestly can't remember those games, but I remember one against Athletic were Thiago played very well and he was still benched after that. And nobody said that Tito hated Thiago, but I also don't think that he liked him very much. Especially after the way he atacked Thiago after he left at Bayern, even thoguh Thiago never said anything bad about him. Also he made Thiago's choice very easy: for one hand he had a coach who said that it's Thiago's choice if he wants to stay at Barca and on the other hand he had another coach who said that he trusts him more than his father. For me it would have been a no-brainer.

The minutes in meaninless matches just showed Thiago that Xavi wasn't going to be rested, that even in those matches he wouldn't get to play. When a player plays in painkiller ahead of you, after the liga is settled, you know something's not right.

Yeah..I don't understand why it's so hard for some to get this.

 

[barca1899]

Napoli will offer Barcelona 2M to loan midfielder Alex Song (26) until the end of the season, including an 8-10M buy option. [il mattino]

 

[darthvader7888]

Just sell him and move Masch to DM (or get a new backup DM) or keep him.

 

[KingMessi]

If we sell, we would need to get a cb first.

 

[barca1899]

If we sell, we would need to get a cb first.

More like 2, Puyi is unfortunately done

 

[MrKnowitAlll]

Masch cant do what Song does. Song is imo the best player for us in his position. He will only get around 20 games a year if he's lucky and he's always smiling. And when he plays he usually bosses the mid. Masch would be much worse if his games were reduced because he doesn't have the sharpness.

So, reject the bid and keep Song. He is a perfect replacement for Busi. Busi being all artistic and him being all combative.

 

[Flavia]

Masch cant do what Song does. Song is imo the best player for us in his position. He will only get around 20 games a year if he's lucky and he's always smiling. And when he plays he usually bosses the mid. Masch would be much worse if his games were reduced because he doesn't have the sharpness.

So, reject the bid and keep Song. He is a perfect replacement for Busi. Busi being all artistic and him being all combative.

Did you see the game against ajax? Song is terrible as a lone dm, unless it's against weak oposition. He should go.