Barca Transfers and Rumors

ebieymjunior

Senior Member
https://youtu.be/QQUkZluKHC4

30m clause, 22 years old and 189 cm tall.

Why wouldn't we get this guy?

Cause he sucks. LOOL

In all seriousness though, he reminds me of Gomes. He's all over the place and can't control the midfield or the flow, which is what we need.
He's more of an AM in Barca-terms, and we already have Coutinho, Alena, Denis (if he stays), for that. It's the controller that's lacking.

He'd be the perfect number 12, a player needed when nothing's working to shake things up, but we already waisted our money on Paulinho for that and we have Roberto who's perfectly capable of doing just that too, so...
 
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Joan

Well-known member
Cause he sucks. LOOL

Oh, it's late. Go to bed, get some sleep. LOL

I might reply in detail but I'll keep it short for now. What's wrong with Gomes? He's not been good for us but he has problems with mentality.

Controler is a rare type. Move on.
 

ebieymjunior

Senior Member
Oh, it's late. Go to bed, get some sleep. LOL

I might reply in detail but I'll keep it short for now. What's wrong with Gomes? He's not been good for us but he has problems with mentality.

Controler is a rare type. Move on.

That was a joke dude. Don't get me wrong, Gomes is a good player, just doesn't fit Barca. Same profile as Fabian.
 

ebieymjunior

Senior Member
I get it was a joke. :lol:

What Barca? EV's Barca? I'd say he fits us like a glove.

OK, say we buy him, where'd you play him?
I see 2 possibilities, either at CM/DM(RM) or at CM/AM(LM). The problem with that is that at RM he doesn't seem to be able to keep control of the midfield, Rakitic is good at it, but even he had problems doing so in bigger matches. We'd basically be shooting ourselves in the foot.
At LM, there's Coutinho, Alena, and possibly Denis. We don't really need another, even in, as you put it so elegantly, "EV's Barca".
 

Joan

Well-known member
OK, say we buy him, where'd you play him?
I see 2 possibilities, either at CM/DM(RM) or at CM/AM(LM). The problem with that is that at RM he doesn't seem to be able to keep control of the midfield, Rakitic is good at it, but even he had problems doing so in bigger matches. We'd basically be shooting ourselves in the foot.
At LM, there's Coutinho, Alena, and possibly Denis. We don't really need another, even in, as you put it so elegantly, "EV's Barca".

That's an assumption, that he has no control of the midfield. He's done pretty well in Betis in that regard this season being involved in a lot of plays. Also, more vertical than Rakitić.
Alenya is not a LCM. Denis is no midfielder at all, good one at least. There is plenty of space, if he's the guy.

If we didn't get a WC midfielder, he'd be my pick.
 

ebieymjunior

Senior Member
That's an assumption, that he has no control of the midfield. He's done pretty well in Betis in that regard this season being involved in a lot of plays. Also, more vertical than Rakitić.
Alenya is not a LCM. Denis is no midfielder at all, good one at least. There is plenty of space, if he's the guy.

If we didn't get a WC midfielder, he'd be my pick.

Ok, good to know. Every time I see him, he looks all over the place (I won't go as far as to say a headless chicken). I'd personally prefer getting someone with another profile.
Agree on Alena, but the fact that we're promoting Alena further convinces me that we don't need Fabian.
Also, I've criticized Denis a lot during this season, but he's kind of proven me wrong the last times he's played (you have to admire his tenacity). I can see him play in that Iniesta position if he keeps it up, especially as a substitute to Coutinho.
 

Joan

Well-known member
Ok, good to know. Every time I see him, he looks all over the place (I won't go as far as to say a headless chicken). I'd personally prefer getting someone with another profile.
Agree on Alena, but the fact that we're promoting Alena further convinces me that we don't need Fabian.
Also, I've criticized Denis a lot during this season, but he's kind of proven me wrong the last times he's played (you have to admire his tenacity). I can see him play in that Iniesta position if he keeps it up, especially as a substitute to Coutinho.

Might be, but players develop. He's been involved in Betis' play a lot, a positive sign. I like him for his attributes, physicality and good technique. Might be wrong on him, don't claim he'll make it.

He might've proven you wrong playing as a winger, not midfielder. He hasn't played in the middle for some time. Not the type I like, but he's had quite a few good cameos. He just can't make it in Iniesta's spot. Not able to protect the ball well enough.
 

ebieymjunior

Senior Member
Might be, but players develop. He's been involved in Betis' play a lot, a positive sign. I like him for his attributes, physicality and good technique. Might be wrong on him, don't claim he'll make it.

He might've proven you wrong playing as a winger, not midfielder. He hasn't played in the middle for some time. Not the type I like, but he's had quite a few good cameos. He just can't make it in Iniesta's spot. Not able to protect the ball well enough.

Fair enough. We'll just have to see how everything evolves.
Love this discussion by the way :lol:
 

BBZ8800

Senior Member
To BBZ
1. Pep had several tall strikers at Bayern (Lewandowski, Mandzukic, Muller) and they also played a lot of crosses from the wings (Costa, Alaba, Robbery). Against Atletico, they used 442 with Muller and Lewa up front, so I'm not sure why you use that as an example of why 433 possession play can't break down busses.
2. At Manchester City, neither Liverpool or Monaco beat them by parking the bus. City scored 6 against Monaco, and had two disallowed goals vs Liverpool so it was hardly a case of their attack being one dimensional. They also scored 8 goals in the two league matches against the same Liverpool team.

433 with short players (my estimation) will have 20% chances to break the bus and win a tie.
433 with SOME crosses will have 50% or more chances to win a tie.

So, there is no guarantee (even though, RM is winning all the time though), but you can raise your chances.

If you remember our matches against Atletico, we were extremely sterile in attack against their bus.
2014:

They scored after a cross, predictable.
We had 7 good actions in the match.
4 came after pure good old crosses.
One came after a through ball through the air.
1 came from Neymar's solo wing action.
And only ONE action in 90 minutes came from a middle, even though we had MSN, Xavi, Iniesta, Busi and Alves, lol.

So, my point is that in a CL, majority of big teams are so good in parking the bus, that we are usually toothless through the middle and there is way more free space on wings (for crosses).

In 2016:

We conceded after a cross again.
In 90 minutes, midfield managed to create only 1 opportunity for our 3 attackers.
So, in 2 away matches in 2014 and 2016, our midfield created 2 chances through the ground and through the middle over 180 minutes.
Is that a coincidence?
Of course not, because it is repeating over and over every season.

Atletico:Bayern 2016:

Bayern figured out that you can't break them through the middle.
So, they created 10 chances, 7 out of 10 chances came after crosses.
Other were long range shots.
So, Bayern created 0 or 1 chance through the middle.
Is that again a coincidence?

So, if you play SOME crosses, it doesn't mean that you will win, but you will raise your chances.
Lately in all matches in a CL between Real-Barca-Atletico-Bayern, almost all goals are:
1. after crosses
2. after set pieces
3. or after counters

It is almost impossible to score a goal against an organized defense in a possession-style-type of action in 2018, on this, the highest level.
And in Barca's DNA (and in Pep's DNA from Barca's days), we have a rule: slow down, don't play counters, don't lose a possession and sadly: WAIT until an opponent parks the bus and then we will try to create something.

About Pep, his Bayern "suffered" from a possession football, high defensive line and too many players in attack, which led to easy counters.
In City, he plays with shorter players and relies only on possession and counters, plus, his defense is as always prone to counters.

On the other hand, in a CL: Real can score from a possession game, from counters, from crosses, from set pieces.
And they are less prone to counters because they don't attack with 8 players (3 attackers, 3 midfielders, 2 full backs) with passes around the box, like Barca and Pep. And we are prone to easy counters after we lose a ball in that possession style.
Unlike Real Madrid.

So, their current style is just way more smarter than ours in 10s of different levels.
And we are just trying to do the same thing over and over even though it is not working.
With the same crazy reply all the time: but it worked in 2009 and 2011... :(
 

Givenchy

Senior Member
People keep going on and on about bus parking when honestly? why would you need to park the bus against the current Barca? we have a slow midfield, questionable at RB. we aren't the all dominating controlling force anymore and we haven't been since Xavi left us.

a team like Liverpool would blitz us
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
No need to park the bus against us when you can press high up and watch our underwhelming midfield and lack of energy + tactics collapse like a house of cards.
 

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