Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[Sumlit]

Even mentioning firing Tata is beyond ridiculous. Nevermind that the guy has won almost every game since he came back. Nevermind that the problems of this team are not his doing. The bottom line is, a coach needs to be given complete freedom to get the players he wants, make the changes he wants, and get rid of the players he doesn't.
If you trust him enough to give him the reins of your team, then you must trust him enough to get the players he wants, and get rid of those he doesn't, even if you disagree with him.

He does not have this freedom here. There are still holy cows on this team that are untouchable, and sadly are holding back the team.
I dislike Mourinho, but this is something he does well. He simply does not give a damn about the name of the player, or what he has done in the past and what he means to the team. If you're not the best option for his plan, you're getting replaced, period.

I'll say this for Tata. He has seen the symptoms of the problem, he knows what's wrong. The problem is, he does not have on hand the medicine to cure the disease; he does not have the players to solve the problems.

 

[Howes]

It's worth remembering Tata has only had about 12 training sessions with the first team and has yet to dip into the transfer market himself.
Been realistic Reina, Ter Stergen and David Luiz (for under £20mil please) are all the players that will be coming in.
Certainly Bartra will be starting more from now on

 

[André]

What the fuck?! Tata lost 2 games and now he must be fired? What about until those 2 games, he was a god. Those "fans" )

 

[darthvader7888]

Even mentioning firing Tata is beyond ridiculous. Nevermind that the guy has won almost every game since he came back. Nevermind that the problems of this team are not his doing. The bottom line is, a coach needs to be given complete freedom to get the players he wants, make the changes he wants, and get rid of the players he doesn't.
If you trust him enough to give him the reins of your team, then you must trust him enough to get the players he wants, and get rid of those he doesn't, even if you disagree with him.

He does not have this freedom here. There are still holy cows on this team that are untouchable, and sadly are holding back the team.
I dislike Mourinho, but this is something he does well. He simply does not give a damn about the name of the player, or what he has done in the past and what he means to the team. If you're not the best option for his plan, you're getting replaced, period.

I'll say this for Tata. He has seen the symptoms of the problem, he knows what's wrong. The problem is, he does not have on hand the medicine to cure the disease; he does not have the players to solve the problems.

I agree. I'm pissed about last week, which was partly Tata's fault (Puyol at RB? Starting Masch yet again after 672652756 shit performances? ), and I feel he has room to improve, but firing him mid season after losing 2 games would be ridiculous.

I really hope he looks carefully at what went wrong last week and fixes it or tries to fix it. And, like I said, it better not continue. And I do NOT want to see a repeat of last season. If last week's performances continue and/or we see a repeat of last season, then firing him would be justified. But not now.

Oh, and he needs to start Bartra ffs.

 

[Maria]

Messi would play BEHIND Lewa-simple. Messi himself has said that he prefers a striker playing IN FRONT of him.

But what makes you believe that Tata would want to play like that? With Tito there were a few games when Alexis or Villa played in front of Messi, but I can't remember Barca playing like that this season.

It's worth remembering Tata has only had about 12 training sessions with the first team and has yet to dip into the transfer market himself.

WHAT? I don't follow Barca's training schedule but that can't possibly be right.

 

[Aryagorn]

WHAT? I don't follow Barca's training schedule but that can't possibly be right.

he probably meant the pre season

 

[NeyMesSis]

WHAT? I don't follow Barca's training schedule but that can't possibly be right.

wtf, too????

 

[Sumlit]

I agree. I'm pissed about last week, which was partly Tata's fault (Puyol at RB? Starting Masch yet again after 672652756 shit performances? ), and I feel he has room to improve, but firing him mid season after losing 2 games would be ridiculous.

I really hope he looks carefully at what went wrong last week and fixes it or tries to fix it. And, like I said, it better not continue. And I do NOT want to see a repeat of last season. If last week's performances continue and/or we see a repeat of last season, then firing him would be justified. But not now.

Oh, and he needs to start Bartra ffs.

The only thing he can do is start Bartra over Mascherano. All coaches are stubborn, this is not something that is unique to Tata. For him, Mascherano is his stubborn spot. He needs to cut his loses and go with Bartra.

Aside from that, the only other option he has is playing Sergi Roberto over Xavi, and I'm not so sure he has the freedom and leeway in this team to do something like that. Xavi is one of the Holy cows on the team.

Everything else he has his hand tied because of lack of players. Who's going to play at CF? Sadly, his best option is Cesc. Neymar is not ready to play there. You might play Alexis there, but I doubt he'd do much better, and you run into the problem of who plays in the wing. Pedro? He is in poor form but is your only option. But then, that means you have to drop a midfielder. Who? Cesc? He has been your best midfielder this year. Iniesta? Another Holy cow. What does he do?

These are the problems he has. I am almost convinced he knows and is very aware of the problems in the team. He just does not have the players to fix them, nor has he been given the complete freedom to do so.

 

[Maria]

And about transfers: I go back to 2008, when everyobody thought that we should get rid of 2/3 of the team, when Xavi and Iniesta couldn't play together and Valdes was mediocre, when Messi couldn't stay fit, when Abidal wanted to leave the club and when the famous "entorno" of which Tata is complaining was already crucifying Pep for wanting to get rid of Ronaldinho. Then some though decisions were made and players who were hungry were bought or brought from the cantera and at the same time were sold those who even though weren't professional were blaming Eto'o for not having Barca's best interests at heart.

IMO something like that should have been done this summer(keep Abidal, sell Adriano and buy a good CB-if Borussia could find Sokratis I don't understand how our management couldn't-, convince Thiago that he will be the treated fairly and that an injured Xavi wouldn't play in front of him ever again and buy Neymar). But Rosell only bought Neymar and thought that all our problems will be solved(and those that even dare to criticize him were called bad cules)..so instead of aspyiring at another CL, we are doing the same thing Manchester United did after they sold Cristiano and these are the consequences.
Unlike other cules, I am very calm right now because I was already suffering for all these things last season and because I know that is highly unlikely that Rosell will buy more than 2-3 players in the summer. So it's isn't worth to spend your energy doing lists with possible transfer targets when our sporting director says that "if we are to talk about good players, we have them all at Barca" and Barca's president says that "it's good to lose from time to time".

These are the problems he has. I am almost convinced he knows and is very aware of the problems in the team. He just does not have the players to fix them, nor has he been given the complete freedom to do so.

I thought so too..until I heard him say that Barca was never a team that had 10 shots per game and that the first half was our best this season.

 

[Flavia]

And about transfers: I go back to 2008, when everyobody thought that we should get rid of 2/3 of the team, when Xavi and Iniesta couldn't play together and Valdes was mediocre, when Messi couldn't stay fit, when Abidal wanted to leave the club and when the famous "entorno" of which Tata is complaining was already crucifying Pep for wanting to get rid of Ronaldinho. Then some though decisions were made and players who were hungry were bought or brought from the cantera and at the same time were sold those who even though weren't professional were blaming Eto'o for not having Barca's best interests at heart.

IMO something like that should have been done this summer(keep Abidal, sell Adriano and buy a good CB-if Borussia could find Sokratis I don't understand how our management couldn't-, convince Thiago that he will be the treated fairly and that an injured Xavi wouldn't play in front of him ever again and buy Neymar). But Rosell only bought Neymar and thought that all our problems will be solved(and those that even dare to criticize him were called bad cules)..so instead of aspyiring at another CL, we are doing the same thing Manchester United did after they sold Cristiano and these are the consequences.
Unlike other cules, I am very calm right now because I was already suffering for all these things last season and because I know that is highly unlikely that Rosell will buy more than 2-3 players in the summer. So it's isn't worth to spend your energy doing lists with possible transfer targets when our sporting director says that "if we are to talk about good players, we have them all at Barca" and Barca's president says that "it's good to lose from time to time".

Rosell surely wasn't counting on Messi getting injured. Thought he'd keep carrying the team by himself, now with neymar's aid.
The team's been needing reinforcements for so long, this was due. And not only not enough reinforcements came, but Barça lost Thiago and frankly sergi roberto isn't as good. The squad is thin and old in key positions. Having untouchables also doesn't help... CL is not a realistic target this season, unless Barça gets lucky aka chelsea in 2012. And I don't think we'll see signings in the winter. Maybe in the summer, but probably just the gk's and maybe a cb... But who knows, maybe Tata gets a striker.

 

[mazp]

If Barca don't make a couple signings in Jan, then Rosell must go. My fear is that if we win out against Villa and Getafe and go into the winter break in first, he will then be reluctant to buy. He will just say getting Messi will be like a new signing or some BS.

 

[Howes]

Pre-season was a shambles, spent hopping between time zones and barely training. Their lack of fitness is startling

 

[Zincubus]

Been saying it for a while now, even when things were going well, this team needs some serious help and some serious overhaul. This team has no claws, and without Messi, it is positively toothless. Not playing with a CF will continue to cost the team dearly time and time again. With Messi playing, he covers this deficiency because he is such a once in a lifetime talent, but even he would benefit from having a target man up front. But even with a CF, this team has a mountain of holes.

The team has been so badly mismanaged, for so long, now all the issues are piling up together. They have lived and fed on pass glories for far too long, and have done very little to future proof the squad.

The team has gotten slower and slower, has progressively lost on physicality year after year, and has become more and more toothless with each passing season. The issues are all over the place, and frankly one season of heavy acquisition will not be enough to patch up the team again.

You basically need an entire team.

Need 2 Keepers - One starter caliber, one good back-up for depth and competition.

Defense needs an entire overhaul. Need to get younger and more complete lateral players. It is sad that even with his very apparent decline, Dani Alves remains your best all around lateral player. Alba is a zero on defense. Need to get better CBs, even if Bartra has bought himself a spot, you need to get better talent than Pique, and need to seriously consider demoting Puyol to last resort option, if not retire him. Mascherano should never have played this much as CB, that is a travesty.

The midfield is slow as slow gets. Xavi needs a replacement ASAFP. Need to find a two way midfielder than can give Busi some frigging help, and has pace and control on offense. Iniesta has been very frustrating. He is holding onto the ball far too much both on offense and defense and is costing the team dearly. Cesc is inconsistent, but as an attacking midfielder, he has shown a lot of good, he should be starter at this position. IMO.

Front line needs a CF, now. This team is seriously anemic in scoring. This needs to be fixed now and even with Alexis good form he is not a reliable scoring option when you absolutely need it, he just isn't. Neymar is not a scorer yet. This team is fighting battles with both hands tied behind its back. They need perfect team play to score right now.


The team sometimes doesn't trust La Masia enough, and sometimes they trust it too much. It is ok to give youngsters playing time. Mascherano should NOT be playing ahead of Bartra, and at this point, Sergi Roberto brings more to the team than Xavi, on energy and work rate alone, sadly.
At the same time, La Masia does not have all the answers. Montoya is not a starting caliber player. He is average. He cannot be your future. Tello is too one dimentional, you need more complete players than him.

Barcelona is a world class team. I know Catalans have fallen in love with the "la cantera vs la cartera" idea, and have pumped their chests in pride at this. However, farm systems in football are complementary to transfers. Specially if you want to be at the top consistently. You can get magical generations, like Barca's, but you cannot rely on this forever. You need to go out there, scout and spend money to bring foreign talent, and then complement it with la Cantera.

The team also needs to learn how to let go of stars that have decline due to age and play. Nothing wrong with these players taking on a secondary role to replacements. It is for the betterment of the team.

Wow !! Perfect !

 

[Cule4life]

If anybody has to be fired it has to be Rosell and Zubi. Even Rinus Michels or Alex Ferguson cant improve this team with this management. What can Tata do? He has no freedom to bring in the players he likes because there are too many untouchable holy cows in the team. Tata wants to innovate but you cant play fast counterattacking football with slow and physically weak players like Xavi and Iniesta.

 

[darthvader7888]

If anybody has to be fired it has to be Rosell and Zubi. Even Rinus Michels or Alex Ferguson cant improve this team with this management. What can Tata do? He has no freedom to bring in the players he likes because there are too many untouchable holy cows in the team. Tata wants to innovate but you cant play fast counterattacking football with slow and physically weak players like Xavi and Iniesta.

True. I'd also fire Rosell and Zubi before firing Tata. Or at least give Tata freedom to see what he can do. Still, Tata isn't entirely blameless.