Andrés Iniesta

[khorne]

He is riding his reputation train for some time. He went under the radar of serious criticism in both Barca's and Spain's failings even though he was integral in both teams. He has a poor season and still gets Best La Liga Midfielder award and even Ballon d'Or nomination. Hell, he probably thinks there's nothing wrong with his performance.

If you look for some serious iniesta criticism, just check the last 50 + pages of this thread, you'll find bashing a plenty. Just blank out spring 2014 when everybody was cyber fellating him again like the fencesitting bastards we all are.

Bojan is right that no player is bigger than the club and if you make sacred cows out of past legends, you're in for some dry spells. But there should be a middle ground between that and selling players after a dozen subpar games.

Besides, i would keep him in around just for the sake of no other team having freaking iniesta on the squad. I don't want to find out what he's still capable of when he plays for bayern under pep with alonso and schweinsteiger as his body guards and the motivation to prove himself again.

 

[evilhita666]

We have 3 players in Rafinha, Suarez and Halilovic who have the potential to replace iniesta. There is also Messi who can slot in there if needed.

And how many of them are actually being groomed into a solid future replacement? Suárez is loaned everytime, Rafinha gets injured often and is rarely given proper chances and Halilovic is still way too young and hasn't even played in La Liga...

I'm not denying the quality and potential of those three players, but we should be thinking into integrating them to the team sooner rather than later, we are already late if you ask me...

And Messi? He can be slotted there as long as there is proper cover or the opposition is really weak, if current Iniesta doesn't work defensively, Messi will do it even less...

 

[Alik]

Noone said he is finished as a footballer.
Is he the same player that he used to be 3 years ago? No
I've been following Barca since Cruyff and noone can call me fickle. I don't care what the player's name is, noone is bigger than Barca.
Pep earned 6 times less probably when he left Barca because he decided he isn't good enough for the team. So let's not build shrines for Iniesta.

Question for debate is: Can he again play on a high level every week.
After watching him decline for few years now and having turned 30, I think it's more than valid to raise that question.

If his motivation is gone, maybe it's time for him to focus fully on his wine business and not taint the legend.

Well said. For the matter, I'm not saying we should sell him right away, but that we should have thought about his replacement last window already, given the transfer ban. The fact that people are getting their panties in a bunch at a mere suggestion and a discussion is surprising.

Like I said, we can't expect every single player to stay until he leaves on crutches a la Puyol. We should think about the future and, if he stays, with Iniesta taking a secondary role.

This transfer ban though does screw things over. Can we recall Denis earlier?

 

[linetty]

Noone said he is finished as a footballer.
Is he the same player that he used to be 3 years ago? No
I've been following Barca since Cruyff and noone can call me fickle. I don't care what the player's name is, noone is bigger than Barca.
Pep earned 6 times less probably when he left Barca because he decided he isn't good enough for the team. So let's not build shrines for Iniesta.

Question for debate is: Can he again play on a high level every week.
After watching him decline for few years now and having turned 30, I think it's more than valid to raise that question.

If his motivation is gone, maybe it's time for him to focus fully on his wine business and not taint the legend.

This x1000

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Noone said he is finished as a footballer.
Is he the same player that he used to be 3 years ago? No
I've been following Barca since Cruyff and noone can call me fickle. I don't care what the player's name is, noone is bigger than Barca.
Pep earned 6 times less probably when he left Barca because he decided he isn't good enough for the team. So let's not build shrines for Iniesta.

Question for debate is: Can he again play on a high level every week.
After watching him decline for few years now and having turned 30, I think it's more than valid to raise that question.

If his motivation is gone, maybe it's time for him to focus fully on his wine business and not taint the legend.

This is really wrong.
The Don is not someone we bought at 23 years old and he happened to be a key player.
He's one of the select few who are barca through and through.
I will only say that you simply don't sell this kind of player, not when they are in their prime, not when they slump, not when they get old, you never sell this sort of player.
Anything else is a disgrace to the barca philosophy.

We can easily replace him in the starting 11 with a younger player while keeping him around until he retires.

I want to see him, xavi, puyol, messi, busi, pedro in barca until they all retire.

 

[linetty]

This is really wrong.
The Don is not someone we bought at 23 years old and he happened to be a key player.
He's one of the select few who are barca through and through.
I will only say that you simply don't sell this kind of player, not when they are in their prime, not when they slump, not when they get old, you never sell this sort of player.
Anything else is a disgrace to the barca philosophy.

We can easily replace him in the starting 11 with a younger player while keeping him around until he retires.

I want to see him, xavi, puyol, messi, busi, pedro in barca until they all retire.

Who wants to sell him? I just want him to have a bit more limited role like Xavi.

It doesnt matter if someone is bought as a star signing or a Masia product. He doesnt have the same hunger as before. You just dont get results with that kind of players. Especially if you put them in your line up just because of their status in the club.

Class is not enough, you have to fight for every win and I doubt he can make it regularly week after week.

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Who wants to sell him? I just want him to have a bit more limited role like Xavi.

It doesnt matter if someone is bought as a star signing or a Masia product. He doesnt have the same hunger as before. You just dont get results with that kind of players. Especially if you put them in your line up just because of their status in the club.

Class is not enough, you have to fight for every win and I doubt he can make it regularly week after week.

Well, first of all, don't know about you but others say that we should sell him and that's outrageous.
Second, I didn't say that he's guaranteed a starter spot till he's 35, just keep him in the team, like xavi who was rly bad last year but this season he's our best midfielder.

 

[BBZ8800]

This is really wrong.
The Don is not someone we bought at 23 years old and he happened to be a key player.
He's one of the select few who are barca through and through.
I will only say that you simply don't sell this kind of player, not when they are in their prime, not when they slump, not when they get old, you never sell this sort of player.
Anything else is a disgrace to the barca philosophy.

We can easily replace him in the starting 11 with a younger player while keeping him around until he retires.

I want to see him, xavi, puyol, messi, busi, pedro in barca until they all retire.

Then we will have Seasons like the last few, until he and similar guys retire.

Xavi, you "can't" sell him.
Iniesta, you "can't" sell him
Busi, you "can't" sell him.

This is why you get a team who plays 1:0 or 0:0 on every single away La Liga match.
Yes, we shouldn't write off someone after a few poor matches, but when you start to have too many players in Iniesta's form (Xavi, Iniesta, Busi, Pique, Alves, Pedro), then you can't have good results anymore.

Again, as Bojan said, no one is bigger than the club.
It is insane to force too many kids in one moment and to ruin the first team's results (for example, playing Bartra, Montoya, Munir, Sandro, Rafinha in the same time). The club's current results are more important than development of some random young players, who may or may not develop into something.
But on the other hand, it is equally insane to play 3-4-5-6 players who are past their prime, in one match. Club's current results are suffering also.

We need to balance everything.
Play with 1-2 youngsters each time and play with only 1-2 players who are past their prime.

But again, we will need 2-3 more years of losses until the majority of fans, the board and a coach will realize that.

 

[BBZ8800]

like xavi who was rly bad last year but this season he's our best midfielder.

That doesn't mean that Xavi is good.
That means that other midfielders are also way past their prime, and that new players aren't good enough or haven't fit in yet.

With better transfers and if the board realized that waaaaaay too many players are past their prime, Xavi would never be our best midfielder.
He is the best because virtually none of our midfielders is currently good enough for our, Barca's standard.

 

[Galning]

You don't have to sell Xavi & Iniesta when they start declining. The problem is you can't have Sergi Roberto, Rakitic & Rafinha as alternatives. We should have bought a new centre midfielder a long time ago.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

Nobody talking about his goal? It was sick.

 

[Alik]

How did he play in general?

 

[Andrew M]

Well, though a few misplaced passes. Subbed at 45.

 

[Ghostmaster]

Looked pretty good in the second half in terms of ball control and vision.

 

[Antimadridista1]

You don't have to sell Xavi & Iniesta when they start declining. The problem is you can't have Sergi Roberto, Rakitic & Rafinha as alternatives. We should have bought a new centre midfielder a long time ago.

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