Alex Song

[MrKnowitAlll]

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

I saw and i agree with you he was terrible in that game.
I understand. But why would he play against strong teams when we have Busi? He will always be behind Busi in the pecking order.
In my opinion , just my opinion , he should stay. He brings balance to the team. There is no point having everyone frail and very technical, because against some teams you would need to be dirty and gritty without Song we cant win those games.

Some people have short memories and they don't remember when Song was playing so immensely that everyone loved him. In these times i expect people to go back to this, calling for everyone out. And they cant accept the fact that they were better than us and we played really bad.

We need to just relax and judge these players later.

To be honest , its a good thing that some of us aren't managers of FC Barcelona because we would have the worst team ever. I hear people calling for Valdes out ( last year ) , Pique out ( always ) , Bartra out ( last year ) , Alba , Alves , Xavi to retire , Iniesta out , Pedro , Sanchez , Tello , Song and believe it or not , someone said we should sell Messi because he has "become injury prone". Ridiculous. We wouldn't have a first 11.

 

[Flavia]

I saw and i agree with you he was terrible in that game.
I understand. But why would he play against strong teams when we have Busi? He will always be behind Busi in the pecking order.
In my opinion , just my opinion , he should stay. He brings balance to the team. There is no point having everyone frail and very technical, because against some teams you would need to be dirty and gritty without Song we cant win those games.

Some people have short memories and they don't remember when Song was playing so immensely that everyone loved him. In these times i expect people to go back to this, calling for everyone out. And they cant accept the fact that they were better than us and we played really bad.

To be honest , its a good thing that some of us aren't managers of FC Barcelona because we would have the worst team ever. I hear people calling for Valdes out ( last year ) , Pique out ( always ) , Bartra out ( last year ) , Alba , Alves , Xavi to retire , Iniesta out , Pedro , Sanchez , Tello , Song and believe it or not , someone said we should sell Messi because he has "become injury prone". Ridiculous. We wouldn't have a first 11.

Song's paycheck is too high for a player that plays so little. He wasn't even needed in the 1st place, and keeps not being needed.

 

[The Observer]

Maria:

Xavi is playing this much this season because he doesn't have a backup anymore and because Messi is injured which forces Fabregas to fill in upfront. Thiago wouldn't have gotten 0 minutes this season obviously. Who do you think would have lost his minutes for Thiago? Alves? What a ridiculous conversation. It's obvious that his minutes would rise the more experienced and better he gets and the older Xavi gets. The comparison with Sergi Roberto is daft. Does Roberto even look like a passing midfielder? He drives the ball forward like Messi. No wonder Tata is considering him a false 9. lol

You got your information wrong obviously. Xavi wanted to retire. Not Puyol. Puyol is still dreaming about playing until 40.

Xavi: "I told Del Bosque that I wanted to call it a day and he asked me: 'What's getting you down?', saying: 'You have to go to the Brazil World Cup. You can't miss playing in that?'".

http://www.marca.com/2013/06/21/en/football/national_teams/1371836047.html

Xavi playing on painkillers at the end of the season is a myth. There is no evidence whatsoever. The rumours were that in order to make it in time for the Milan first leg in February he took painkillers and rushed himself. How that all of a sudden turned into "Xavi played on painkillers in May and June" I don't know. Did he play on painkillers for 4 months?

We are going to much into meaningless details here anyway. Bottom line is that Thiago was competing with 3 of the greatest midfielders this decade has to offer. He can't ask for more minutes than he got. Even Fabregas was on the bench against Milan this season. Twice. And he moaned about it. And this is with Thiago gone. Tito left him out of the starting lineup in many games as well. PSG, Bayern etc. The idea that there was some sort of agenda and hatred and anti youth policy and deliberate mismanagement against Thiago from Tito or the club is laughable.

 

[MrKnowitAlll]

Song's paycheck is too high for a player that plays so little. He wasn't even needed in the 1st place, and keeps not being needed.

He was needed when Busi was injured am i not right?

 

[JamDav1982]

He wasnt needed.

I am sure they bought him thinking that he could play CB/DM.

He was not playing there for Arsenal and never had the mobility or positional sense to do it.

The only position he has ever seem to excel in in his career is when given the freedom of a more box to box player. Even then other players have to keep out an eye and cover for him.

 

[Flavia]

He was needed when Busi was injured am i not right?

Nope. Masch could've played there in an emergency. If Busi were injured for long, Barça would be screwed with Song as lone dm. Song was a really bad buy. Can't play lone dm, nor cb.

 

[PhilS]

Nope. Masch could've played there in an emergency. If Busi were injured for long, Barça would be screwed with Song as lone dm. Song was a really bad buy. Can't play lone dm, nor cb.

I certainly would prefer to see Masch at DM instead of Song when Busquets is rested. Or Luiz. Whoever backs up Busquets needs to be able to play a second position, both at Barca level. Song is OK on this team, but upgrading would be good.

 

[Maria]

You got your information wrong obviously. Xavi wanted to retire. Not Puyol. Puyol is still dreaming about playing until 40.

Xavi: "I told Del Bosque that I wanted to call it a day and he asked me: 'What's getting you down?', saying: 'You have to go to the Brazil World Cup. You can't miss playing in that?'".

http://www.marca.com/2013/06/21/en/football/national_teams/1371836047.html

Xavi playing on painkillers at the end of the season is a myth. There is no evidence whatsoever. The rumours were that in order to make it in time for the Milan first leg in February he took painkillers and rushed himself. How that all of a sudden turned into "Xavi played on painkillers in May and June" I don't know. Did he play on painkillers for 4 months?

My bad about Xavi retiring from the NT..but Xavi did played through pain just liked he is playing now through pain and like he played in 2010 through pain(and there were more than rumours..there were also some statements from Zubi, Pep and Tito but I didn't think to save them at that time).. Also Puyol did think about retiring from the NT, but Del Bosque who convinced him that he should still play. And even if all those articles about Xavi having a chronic injury are wrong and Tito didn't forced him(though it's a long shot after we saw how Messi's injury was treated at the end of last season), then my original point(that Thiago didn't played all the meaningless games like you said) still stands.

Xavi is playing this much this season because he doesn't have a backup anymore and because Messi is injured which forces Fabregas to fill in upfront. Thiago wouldn't have gotten 0 minutes this season obviously. Who do you think would have lost his minutes for Thiago? Alves? What a ridiculous conversation. It's obvious that his minutes would rise the more experienced and better he gets and the older Xavi gets. The comparison with Sergi Roberto is daft. Does Roberto even look like a passing midfielder? He drives the ball forward like Messi. No wonder Tata is considering him a false 9. lol

We are going to much into meaningless details here anyway. Bottom line is that Thiago was competing with 3 of the greatest midfielders this decade has to offer. He can't ask for more minutes than he got. Even Fabregas was on the bench against Milan this season. Twice. And he moaned about it. And this is with Thiago gone. Tito left him out of the starting lineup in many games as well. PSG, Bayern etc. The idea that there was some sort of agenda and hatred and anti youth policy and deliberate mismanagement against Thiago from Tito or the club is laughable.

So Thiago was competing with "3 of the greatest midfielders" and that's why he couldn't have played more, but at the same time next year he would have been a starter before Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas(and that with you starting this convo by saying this: "Not so easy to coach a team like Barca in real life in a CL knockout game and make the decision to bench one of the most important players in Barca's history for a youngstar. If Sir Alex Ferguson loses Pogba because he won't play him at all in midfield and rather stick with 40 year old Giggs and out of position Phil Jones, who am I to blame Tito for not playing Thiago more when he can also choose between Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas?"). And now Thiago was the only one who could have given rest to Xavi, even though Bartomeu said that he was nothing more than a bench player and Zubi said that Sergi will play his minutes and Xavi said that Sergi Roberto will take his place. So yeah, if the comparison is daft, I wasn't the one who made it in the first place.

And again, why are you accusing me of saying that Tito hated Thiago when I just wrote this:

And nobody said that Tito hated Thiago, but I also don't think that he liked him very much.

And that was just my opinion, just like is your opinion that Thiago would have been a starter by next year or that he played all the meaningless games last season.
And I think that based on how Tito has handled Bartra and Thiago last season..if you believe that my view is laughable and only yours is good then is best to end this discussion right here because it looks like from the beginning you only tried to ridicule those who didn't think like you.

 

[The Observer]

Yeah, we can end the discussion because we aren't going anywhere with it. But, please, when you lead a discussion, in future can you give the sources whenever you quote Zubi, Bartomeu, Xavi etc.? I need to know the context. That's important. You just paraphrase people out of thin air to underline your arguments. If Xavi says "Roberto will take my place" (and I doubt he said it that way because Xavi has repeated thousand times that comparisons shouldn't be made) then it means squat in terms of minutes Roberto will get. First because Xavi isn't the coach. Second because - what else is he going to say? "He isn't as talented as Thiago and not even a playmaker to begin with, we'll probably have to buy someone from outside, lols"?

 

[Antimadridista1]

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

What ?? are you kidding me ??
It was the first game he failed in and you already think that he should go ?? lol

omg this forum...

 

[Flavia]

What ?? are you kidding me ??
It was the first game he failed in and you already think that he should go ?? lol

omg this forum...

No. He shouldn't had come, to begin with. I never thought this was a good transfer. And yes, he should go. I'll repeat myself: Not needed, doesn't play enough to justify his wages, not good enough to be lone dm.

 

[pEllee]

What ?? are you kidding me ??
It was the first game he failed in and you already think that he should go ?? lol

omg this forum...

Very good player, but not a very good holding midfielder. Not unless he's partnered with a more disciplined and tactical holding midfielder. Basically, Song alone is pretty average but Song in a box to box role together with Busquets could be incredible. For starters it's very solid defensively and you'll get to see more of Song's brilliant vision. He's a very creative player that's being wasted here in Barcelona.
However, if Tata has no plans at using him there then he should sell him. I'm sure he could get lots of money for him.

 

[Stric]

I agree with Flavia. It isn't exactly hurting us that he's here, but his being here is pointless. He was never needed, his transfer fee was absurd, and his wages are (probably) too high. And most of all, he doesn't even do what the team primarily needs him to do.

 

[Antimadridista1]

If I had to choose btw him and Mascherano, I would definitely choose Song. Younger, more talented, and we need this kind of physical player in our team.
Concerning what you said Pellee, I agree with you about the fact that Busi + Song can be amazing and I would love to see that when we play away against strong teams in C1.
I'm not sure that we can have a better back up than Song so we should be happy to have him in our team even if, yes Flavia, you're right when you say that he shouldn't had come, but this is because of Tito's bad coaching.
But now that we are in this situation, we can't get rid of him just like that. Mascherano should leave in Napoli or wherever he wants to go and we should buy a real CB.

 

[Stric]

I love how some people keep saying "physical", based on nothing but size. Song is big, but he's not strong or "physical". In fact, for a guy his size, he's actually pretty weak.