Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[Bertus]

Van Gaal who plays three at the back and knows the players needed to do so wants Vermaelen to play that role.

He would be a good back up player.

Good call.

That said, even the greatest technicians can be wrong sometimes. we will see next summer how did it go.

Right now if i could choose, I still think that Agger is a better choice.

 

[JamDav1982]

Its quality, not quantity.

Right now, honestly only Bartra is consistently a solid defender for us. That's 1 player. Pique is not consistent right now, Mascherano isn't a long term solution by any means and Mathieu is mediocre at best, its brutally honest but that's the truth.

You look at Bayern: Dante, Boateng, Badstuber, Javi Martinez as the emergency outlet, with true fullbacks in the form of Alaba and Lahm and honestly if push came to shove, Alaba could play as a CB and look very comfortable imho.

You look at Dortmund: Hummels, Subotic, Gunter, Sokratis all solid, reliable CBs.

You look at Madrid: Ramos, Pepe, Varane.

Hell even look at Juventus: Chellini, Ogbonna, Barzagli, Bonucci, Caceres who has gotten much better at Juve than he was here.

I'd take any of those teams CB pairings any day of the week over Masch-Pique again or even worse Verm-Mathieu.

I'm being harsh on Pique because he honestly is WC when he wants to be but his form has been terribly inconsistent for the last 2.5 years now. So even counting Pique, that's 2 true quality and reliable CBs while other teams have 4+ and especially for the style we play, I just don't expect players like Vermaelen and Mathieu to fit the bill in what we need. For depth playing the occasional La Liga or CdR game, sure. But against top quality in Europe and even in Spain, I question whether Verm in particular has what it takes.

Maybe those teams do have better starting CB partnerships but how many have better back up if their first two CBs are injured?

Barcelona will have strength in depth at back with Vermaelen and enough players to play three at back.

Bartra was not even better than Pique or Mascherano last season so strange one to start holding up as the standard.

As for being so specific the type of player needed to play three at back - the Dutch did it with not one CB that would get anywhere near the Barca line up and LVG who knows what it takes to play that way is after Vermaelen to play that exact role.

 

[Sumlit]

I don't understand all the uproar, I really don't. Barcelona already have the 3 first choice CBs in Mathieu, Bartra and Pique, getting Vermaelen as a 4th CB for €10M really warrants such an uproar?!? I don't get it.

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

I'm probably just being a tactical ignoramus here, but can you explain to me how these mentioned traits are so all-important compared to a 4-3-3, and where does a player like Mathieu fail in this category? I also didn't know that Bartra is ultra aware tactically, but hey, you learn something new every day!

With the 4-3-3 we play, which really in reality is more like a 2-1-4-3 with how high we push Alba and Alves up now, its even more important!

Bartra was by far our best defender last season too. He rarely was directly at fault for any goals when he was on for us and it took Bale just doing something amazing for him to get beat on his side. He was solid, made smart tackles and interceptions, read the game well and didn't allow players to get behind him often. He was also great in clearing the ball with a no nonsense approach when it was in the box, something Pique and Mascherano have been lacking in the past.

He said himself that Bale caught him when he was tired and even still he kept up with him for a while.

 

[Flavia]

Its quality, not quantity.

Right now, honestly only Bartra is consistently a solid defender for us. That's 1 player. Pique is not consistent right now, Mascherano isn't a long term solution by any means and Mathieu is mediocre at best, its brutally honest but that's the truth.

You look at Bayern: Dante, Boateng, Badstuber, Javi Martinez as the emergency outlet, with true fullbacks in the form of Alaba and Lahm and honestly if push came to shove, Alaba could play as a CB and look very comfortable imho.

You look at Dortmund: Hummels, Subotic, Gunter, Sokratis all solid, reliable CBs.

You look at Madrid: Ramos, Pepe, Varane.

Hell even look at Juventus: Chellini, Ogbonna, Barzagli, Bonucci, Caceres who has gotten much better at Juve than he was here.

I'd take any of those teams CB pairings any day of the week over Masch-Pique again or even worse Verm-Mathieu.

I'm being harsh on Pique because he honestly is WC when he wants to be but his form has been terribly inconsistent for the last 2.5 years now. So even counting Pique, that's 2 true quality and reliable CBs while other teams have 4+ and especially for the style we play, I just don't expect players like Vermaelen and Mathieu to fit the bill in what we need. For depth playing the occasional La Liga or CdR game, sure. But against top quality in Europe and even in Spain, I question whether Verm in particular has what it takes.

It reminds me a lot of Song. He will stick out like a sore thumb here and people six months from now will be complaining about how poor he is and why we didn't get a proper CB. I swear its like people on here don't remember past 3 months or so, like a long-term memory loss or something...

Mathieu mediocre at best? C'mon now, are you sure you know what you're talking about? He's not the best defender ever, but he's a really solid defender. Did really well for valencia all season long.

 

[Trickykid]

It reminds me a lot of Song. He will stick out like a sore thumb here and people six months from now will be complaining about how poor he is and why we didn't get a proper CB. I swear its like people on here don't remember past 3 months or so, like a long-term memory loss or something...

How on earth can you compare Song to Vermaelen? One is a purebred defender, and the other is... well, not so much, no.

 

[JamDav1982]

With the 4-3-3 we play, which really in reality is more like a 2-1-4-3 with how high we push Alba and Alves up now, its even more important!

Bartra was by far our best defender last season too. He rarely was directly at fault for any goals when he was on for us and it took Bale just doing something amazing for him to get beat on his side. He was solid, made smart tackles and interceptions, read the game well and didn't allow players to get behind him often. He was also great in clearing the ball with a no nonsense approach when it was in the box, something Pique and Mascherano have been lacking in the past.

He said himself that Bale caught him when he was tired and even still he kept up with him for a while.

Bartra was not the best defender last season at all. He was not better than Pique or Mascherano even.

Pique/Masch was about the only CB pairing that looked stable against decent teams. Most times Bartra was in there beside one of them it was a riot.

 

[Trickykid]

With the 4-3-3 we play, which really in reality is more like a 2-1-4-3 with how high we push Alba and Alves up now, its even more important!

Bartra was by far our best defender last season too. He rarely was directly at fault for any goals when he was on for us and it took Bale just doing something amazing for him to get beat on his side. He was solid, made smart tackles and interceptions, read the game well and didn't allow players to get behind him often. He was also great in clearing the ball with a no nonsense approach when it was in the box, something Pique and Mascherano have been lacking in the past.

He said himself that Bale caught him when he was tired and even still he kept up with him for a while.

I believe you missed a couple of my questions? Anyhow, I'll probably be better off without a lenghty answer.
And no, Bartra wasn't by far our best defender last season.

 

[linetty]

Bartra was not the best defender last season at all. He was not better than Pique or Mascherano even.

Pique/Masch was about the only CB pairing that looked stable against decent teams. Most times Bartra was in there beside one of them it was a riot.

Pique/Masch haven't looked stable at all. Bartra has been better than both when he had to step up and he even created danger at opponents door, mainly against RM when he scored the equalizer.

 

[JamDav1982]

Pique/Masch haven't looked stable at all. Bartra has been better than both when he had to step up and he even created danger at opponents door, mainly against RM when he scored the equalizer.

Pique and Masch was about the only CB pairing that looked stable against the top sides.

Much more so than with Bartra partnering either of them.

Go and tell me the big games that Bartra partnered either of them to solid game.

Say top 7 La Liga sides and CL?

 

[linetty]

Pique and Masch was about the only CB pairing that looked stable against the top sides.

Much more so than with Bartra partnering either of them.

Go and tell me the big games that Bartra partnered either of them to solid game.

Say top 7 La Liga sides and CL?

I don't need to single out any matches for you. He looked top notch when Pique was out injured and he had to cover for him.

Of course he won't always look stable, impossible when you play 1 game and then warm the bench the next 4 games till you play again.

He needs to play regularly.

 

[JamDav1982]

I don't need to single out any matches for you. He looked top notch when Pique was out injured and he had to cover for him.

Of course he won't always look stable, impossible when you play 1 game and then warm the bench the next 4 games till you play again.

He needs to play regularly.

Masch and Pique together provided a solid defense in the three games against Atletico, against Man City and first game against Real Madrid. Granted not great in second game against them. Both Masch and Pique were amongst Barcas best players in these games.

It was a much more solid partnership than either Pique/Bartra or Bartra/Masch in the bigger games. Where Bartra never stood out in any other than maybe Cup Final against Madrid where the defence was a bit of a shambles anyway.

 

[linetty]

Masch and Pique together provided a solid defense in the three games against Atletico, against Man City and first game against Real Madrid. Granted not great in second game against them. Both Masch and Pique were amongst Barcas best players in these games.

It was a much more solid partnership than either Pique/Bartra or Bartra/Masch in the bigger games. Where Bartra never stood out in any other than maybe Cup Final against Madrid where the defence was a bit of a shambles anyway.

You know, it's kinda hard to perfrom on higher level without being played regularly. He was thrown on deep water many times without a consistent run of matches. He performed on world class level when he finally got that consistent run of matches.

He should be given the starter role from the beginning and everyone will realize how good he really is.

 

[KingMessi]

What's with the Bartra bashing today? Pique, in current form, no longer deserves to be an undisputed starter in defense. How we'll he did early on last season doesn't matter if he doesn't get back to that form.

 

[JamDav1982]

You know, it's kinda hard to perfrom on higher level without being played regularly. He was thrown on deep water many times without a consistent run of matches. He performed on world class level when he finally got that consistent run of matches.

He should be given the starter role from the beginning and everyone will realize how good he really is.

He started plenty though and far from coming in and replacing Pique well the defence was poorer when Pique got injured.

Could have conceded 6/7 over the two legs to Atletico over the two games CL games and a 2/3 in La Liga decider. That never even looked remotely possible earlier on in season against Atletico.

Even towards end of season - conceding two away to Villareal, two at home to Getafe. The Barca defence did not look solid at all when Batra replaced Pique.

Not that it was all Batras fault but it is not true to say he came in and improved the defence.