Barca-related Open Thread

[serghei]

Digisport, the best sport station in my country are Barca and Madrid obsessed. They are showing Clasicos since 2003 and some of the best matches of Pep's Barcelona. Barcelona - Atletico right now from 2008 (6-1, 5-1 at HT).

Some things which are incredible compared to how we play today.

- The speed of passing and moving is at least two levels above what we see right now. We played so fast and moved so well that we basically got away with playing Gudjohnssen in midfield.

- Eto'o was incredible, his movement and hard work is incredible. Even in 2008 he used to go in the wing really a lot, making room for Messi and even Iniesta centrally.

- Busquets was great, but he was clearly the worst midfielder in that team (first 11).

- Xavi never loses the ball, but we all knew that.

- Camp Nou was fuller and louder then.

- Messi was living for football at that time. He celebrated goals like a mad man even in La Liga. So much joy and ambition.

- Xavi's workrate, stamina, and physical level are incredibly underrated. The man never stopped moving.

- Iturralde Gonzales was a great ref. He's what Lahoz could be if he wasn't a self-centered idiot.

- 2008-09 team is greater than 2014-15 team imo. Would be a serious match for 2011 Barcelona. 2009 in a more well-rounded, more direct in transition and less dominant possession team compared with 2011 Barcelona (while still being a monster possession team, just not 80% possession-monster). Like 2011 Barcelona with some Jupp's 2013 Bayern thrown in.

It's somewhat of a paradox, because if we kept the physical and slightly more individualistic profile of the 2009 team more, we would have won more CLs (at least 3/4) than we did, even though we ended up creating the best team I've seen in 2011.

Selling Eto'o is why we lost the CL in 2010. From Eto'o to Bojan was just .

Wish they'd show games from Stoichkov and Romario days too.

 

[KingLeo10]

Digisport, the best sport station in my country are Barca and Madrid obsessed. They are showing Clasicos since 2003 and some of the best matches of Pep's Barcelona. Barcelona - Atletico right now from 2008 (6-1, 5-1 at HT).

Some things which are incredible compared to how we play today.

- The speed of passing and moving is at least two levels above what we see right now. We played so fast and moved so well that we basically got away with playing Gudjohnssen in midfield.

- Eto'o was incredible, his movement and hard work is incredible. Even in 2008 he used to go in the wing really a lot, making room for Messi and even Iniesta centrally.

- Busquets was great, but he was clearly the worst midfielder in that team (first 11).

- Xavi never loses the ball, but we all knew that.

- Camp Nou was fuller and louder then.

- Messi was living for football at that time. He celebrated goals like a mad man even in La Liga. So much joy and ambition.

- Xavi's workrate, stamina, and physical level are incredibly underrated. The man never stopped moving.

- Iturralde Gonzales was a great ref. He's what Lahoz could be if he wasn't a self-centered idiot.

- 2008-09 team is greater than 2014-15 team imo. Would be a serious match for 2011 Barcelona. 2009 in a more well-rounded, more direct in transition and less dominant possession team compared with 2011 Barcelona (while still being a monster possession team, just not 80% possession-monster). Like 2011 Barcelona with some Jupp's 2013 Bayern thrown in.

It's somewhat of a paradox, because if we kept the physical and slightly more individualistic profile of the 2009 team more, we would have won more CLs (at least 3/4) than we did, even though we ended up creating the best team I've seen in 2011.

Selling Eto'o is why we lost the CL in 2010. From Eto'o to Bojan was just .

Wish they'd show games from Stoichkov and Romario days too.

2008-2009 roster (not just the first XI) is the most complete club football team in football history.

Madrid 2017 come close. Just look at this:

Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o, Henry, Eto'o, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Marquez, Toure, VV, Busquets, Keita, Abidal. And then guys like Pedro, Sylvinho, Caceres, Milito etc.

 

[Richard.H]

For me, 2011 is not better than 2009. 2008-2009 had everything you could ask for in a football team: speed, stamina, physicality, technical skills, and most importantly, MOTIVATION. Bench was stacked too. It was seriously unfair to most teams.

2011 was the most "cruyff-like" team, but 2009 was the best for me in all aspects, period.

 

[soul24rage]

2008-2009 roster (not just the first XI) is the most complete club football team in football history.

Madrid 2017 come close. Just look at this:

Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o, Henry, Eto'o, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Marquez, Toure, VV, Busquets, Keita, Abidal. And then guys like Pedro, Sylvinho, Caceres, Milito etc.

Eto'o is such a legend, it's not enough to mention him only once

 

[Andresito]

I remember doing a squad/transfer plan in 2009 and couldn't think of a single player in the world who'd improve our starting lineup. We had such a complete team.
Back then I recall there were talks and rumours about David Silva, Ribery and even Rooney. Quality players.

But now, we could do with like 7 new starters lol.

 

[Messi983]

Wish they'd show games from Stoichkov and Romario days too.

Just what you are looking for.

https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futb...e-jueves-12-horas-de-romario-en-barca-tv.html

Those games are already available on yt/other sites so I've also added links for anyone interested. Quality of the videos is poor but that's expected for the games played 26 years ago. Maybe Barca will upload some of those games to their yt channel in a better quality.

13.15 FC Barcelona ? Real Sociedad (Liga 1993/94) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilO_-yoAAMo

15.00 El 9. Romario. El dulce despertar del sue?o https://www.fcbarcelona.es/es/videos/776612/romario-el-dulce-despertar-del-sueno

15.45 FC Barcelona ? Manchester United (Champions 1994/95) 1 st half https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15u2zo 2nd half https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15umyw

17.30 10? Highlights. FC Barcelona ? Real Madrid (Liga 1993/94) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z27HF85zAY

18.45 10? Highlights. FC Barcelona ? Osasuna (Liga 1993/94) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puvNsadZL54

19.00 FC Barcelona ? Atl?tico de Madrid (Liga 1993/94) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYcD0J3dVt8

21.15 Jugadores de leyenda Romario

21.45 10? Highlights. FC Barcelona ? Real Sociedad (Liga 1993/94)

22.00 El 9. Romario. El dulce despertar del sue?o

22.45 Porta 104. La fiesta del 5-0 https://www.fcbarcelona.es/es/videos/776956/porta-104-la-fiesta-del-5-a-0

23.00 FC Barcelona ? Real Madrid (Liga 1993/94)

00:45h 600?? FC Barcelona ? Valladolid (Liga 1993/94) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaKbMzfcz1I

 

[Vilarrubi]

2011 was slightly better for me, we dominated the league better in 2011 (96 points) compared to 2009 (87 points). Also the way we beat United in the final was complete domination. Back in 2009 in was a much more even game.

 

[Catta]

For me, 2011 is not better than 2009. 2008-2009 had everything you could ask for in a football team: speed, stamina, physicality, technical skills, and most importantly, MOTIVATION. Bench was stacked too. It was seriously unfair to most teams.

2011 was the most "cruyff-like" team, but 2009 was the best for me in all aspects, period.

If Barca had just kept Eto'o and Yaya, they would have won 2-3 more CLs for sure. Those guys gave the much needed speed and psychicality to the team.

For all the praise that Busi has gotten as being the best DM for Barca, we only won one CL where he was important, the 2009 and 2015 ones he was nothing special. If we had a stronger presence like Yaya, maybe we would have not lost so many away KO matches.

Also Eto'o alone was better than Pedro and Villa combined. Villa for me was a huge flop, if Suarez had a season like Villas best for Barca, people would ask for his head. Scoring wise Suarez worst season is better than Villas best.

Messi was carrying the attack from 2010 till 2014. That is one of the main reasons why we failed in the CL. If he just had Eto'o or Suarez alongside him, for sure the team would have won the CL in all 4 of Peps years.

 

[serghei]

2011 was slightly better for me, we dominated the league better in 2011 (96 points) compared to 2009 (87 points). Also the way we beat United in the final was complete domination. Back in 2009 in was a much more even game.

Imo 2009 final was pretty one-sided. We scored them 2 goals, hit the post once, Puyol and Henry missed 1 vs 1s. While they had 1 shot on target in the first minutes through a Ronaldo freekick I think, and some long range attempts which were well wide. And some crosses.

Both were 4-0 type of games. But yea, 2011 team was incredible, more well-oiled while being maybe less stellar individually.

 

[KingLeo10]

Imo 2009 final was pretty one-sided. We scored them 2 goals, hit the post once, Puyol and Henry missed 1 vs 1s. While they had 1 shot on target in the first minutes through a Ronaldo freekick I think, and some long range attempts which were well wide. And some crosses.

Both were 4-0 type of games. But yea, 2011 team was incredible, more well-oiled while being maybe less stellar individually.

Xavi in 08-09 was better than Xavi in 10-11 for me. He was an even more refined final ball passer in 2011 (yes) but in 2009 his engine was something else. I think he put up like 13 km every game.

For me, his 08-09 season with like 10 goals and 30 assists is the most dominant season by a central midfielder. No one else comes close.

 

[xXKonan]

The 2008/9 team I seen as a raw diamond of a team that you felt had that raw power/talent and energy that can do anything.

The 2010/11 team I have seen as a team that was so well oiled that even if we lost some of the attributes the 2008/9 team had it made up for it in Pep's well ironed out system and sheer technical quality.

I guess it really depends on your taste, but for me, there's something about that 2008/9 team that just makes me love the raw power and talent that the team really had. Like a perfect blend of Physlicalty, Technical Ability while being in a system that hasn't quite been perfected yet.

 

[Richard.H]

Just rewatched the Barcelona-Bayern Munich SF first leg from 2015 again. It's on youtube for anyone interested.

Biggest difference that I can see from then and now that I can see: LOTS OF RUNNING. Alves and Alba absolutely dominating the flanks, Rakitic running a lot and basically covering all of the empty spaces. Lots of runs to the box from Neymar, Suarez, Alba, Alves, and Raki. Where are these runs now? absolutely nonexistent.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Just rewatched the Barcelona-Bayern Munich SF first leg from 2015 again. It's on youtube for anyone interested.

Biggest difference that I can see from then and now that I can see: LOTS OF RUNNING. Alves and Alba absolutely dominating the flanks, Rakitic running a lot and basically covering all of the empty spaces. Lots of runs to the box from Neymar, Suarez, Alba, Alves, and Raki. Where are these runs now? absolutely nonexistent.

Good times. Will watching this at some point

 

[Andresito]

 

[serghei]

Just rewatched the Barcelona-Bayern Munich SF first leg from 2015 again. It's on youtube for anyone interested.

Biggest difference that I can see from then and now that I can see: LOTS OF RUNNING. Alves and Alba absolutely dominating the flanks, Rakitic running a lot and basically covering all of the empty spaces. Lots of runs to the box from Neymar, Suarez, Alba, Alves, and Raki. Where are these runs now? absolutely nonexistent.

Well, Lucho did push the team in this area. He didn't last, and they got lazy and demotivated after a relatively short period, but he still got something great from that team, especially from MSN. Lucho was overall a very smart manager. Not a great one imo, but he did all the basics very well. To good tactics (until the 3rd season where things started to get out of hand), to giving fitness its proper weight, to being a person of authority and not afraid to sub players like Neymar, bench powerful figures in the locker-room like Pique and Alba and so on. I can respect that.

In comparison, we got Valverde post him which had neither of those things. Wasn't a strong voice, didn't had a big personality, didn't care too much for fitness and lacked the balls to bench amigos when they under-performed. Perfect combination for making our issues even bigger and harder to correct. No wonder all the complacent amigos loved him. Guy was like a good uncle who let everyone do what they wanted and tried to somehow mask the problems, pretend they didn't exist or they didn't matter (hence his talk about fitness being unimportant, he obviously knew we were crap in this area, so he downplayed it). It did work in long-run competitions which aren't built on intensity and fitness, like La Liga. But failed miserably in the one competition were slacking off and being lazy bites you in the ass very hard.

Things started to get shit in terms of energy, intensity, dedication in Lucho's last season. Then they got worse under Valverde.