He may be a good player, but we can't rely on 19-20 yrs olds to lead the back line. He may be great for his club, but how is he under pressure though? Can he handle a Clasico away? Or a 2nd leg Semi final where the aggregate is 0-0 or 1-1? Or playing for a club that is generally under the microscope 24/7? Because Pique sure can...
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He may be a good player, but we can't rely on 19-20 yrs olds to lead the back line. He may be great for his club, but how is he under pressure though? Can he handle a Clasico away? Or a 2nd leg Semi final where the aggregate is 0-0 or 1-1? Or playing for a club that is generally under the microscope 24/7? Because Pique sure can...
puri
New member
Someone who was called up for germany already and started playing professional football at 17 and scoring a winning goal in his first appearance seems like he can handle the pressure. He is a cool headed intelligent boy. A lot like ter Stegen, who's 21 and is going to be the keeper at best club in the world next year. Given a run of games next to pique and masche he's going to be great for us. Ofc their is always a risk. But he'd cost us 9-10M and the potential return his huge.
SeloBarca
Senior Member
Cesc have had some really good games. But he has also had alot of really awful games. More then Iniesta and Busquetes.
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Not for me, he has been on average better than both of those two this season and deserves to start ahead of Iniesta in middle.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
Madrid relied on Varane last season when he was even younger ,Pique was just one year older when he was in a 3 man rotation for CB in 2008-2009 season ,whoever come won't necessarily carry the back line ,but he need to be at least not a liability and is consistent
I know nothing about the Ginter and I don't if he is good enough for the team ,but I won't reject a good player because he is too young for the position
Yeah they did and what did they achieve? 0 trophys and 15pts behind Barcelona in liga.
That had nothing to do with Varane.
I understand your point. But I just want someone with experience, has CL experience, been through it all. Someone who can step in and make a difference right away. We have Bartra for future/potential.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
That is fine ,but I said it b4 and I will say it again ,it is almost impossible to find a CB that fills all the ideal criteria we need for our CB ,we need tall,quick,strong player who is good in aerial challenge while playing good with the ball in his feet ,-relatively young while has experience .not to mention being a high character guy who would help to organize the defense all of that while he doesn't ost more than 30M .we will need to compromise and I can get it if we get someone w/o experience
Barcilliant
Senior Member
We are the best club in the world? Are you stuck in 2011??
i_bleed_blaugrana
Senior Member
David Luiz has all of those qualities except perhaps the organizational part. You see, unlike at Chelsea, he actually has room in the squad here to actually be a leader and step up the "mature" side of defending as an organizer and a tactician. He shows a lot of heart and while his first season here is bound to produce some errors, I'd think with time he could really grow into the leader that Pique unfortunately isn't. While his errors at times is why I would prefer someone like Benatia or Mangala, both of them are still a bit raw and their ability to cope in the high pressure games that we play in is questionable. Luiz on the other hand has shown that he steps his game up in the big games and that's what we need.
I'm not saying Luiz is the perfect defender (that's Thiago Silva) but I'd say he is about 85% of the player we need and we won't find anyone as suitable in the market for at least another 2-3 windows which is obviously too long. He's experienced but still got enough room in his game to continue to develop and improve.
BigBarcaBoy
Active member
we're hardly down and out are we ?
i_bleed_blaugrana
Senior Member
Recently read this article and I'm gonna post in on here because I wanna return to this whole Vidal thread:
http://thinkfootball.co.uk/archives/14405
Particularly if you watch Cesc's early days at Arsenal (since like 70% of the people on here don't even remember when he wasn't at Barca), he started off playing in a double-pivot style, traditional 4-4-2 which was customary of the English game at the turn of the millennium. SaF had employed a lot of success by dominating down the wings with Becks and Giggs and particularly when the game was a bit slower, more physical and direct, this style of play ran the PL.
Since four defenders with two strikers was simply the convention in the PL, Wenger's possession based approach to the 4-4-2 with the wide MFs tucking in more inside to overload the center is what sparked Arsenal's rise. Plus when you got Bergkamp and then Henry leading your lines, its harder not to win.
But to bring this back to Cesc, for the first 4 years he played at Arsenal, he played as a box-to-box MF in a double pivot at the center of a 4-4-2, with an immense amount of responsibility in both sides of the pitch...it wasn't until he became captain after consistently showcasing classy performances playing almost as a DM that Wenger switched to a 4-3-3 in order to give Fabregas freedom to attack in the MF.
People who say Cesc can't succeed in the Xavi role and can only play as a AM didn't watch him at Arsenal and don't pay close enough attention to him now. He is much better defensively than a lot of people give him credit for now and all of that started due to his experience as a double pivot at Arsenal so I call bullshit to anyone who says he can't handle playing deeper. If you can not only be competent but shine as a double pivot in the PL with as much swag as he did, I think he can play a slightly deeper role in our MF. So again I ask, why sign Vidal when we already signed a player who can excel as a box-to-box, more direct version of Xavi?
I won't say Vidal wouldn't be a great addition to the squad but this is FIFA manager dreaming, nothing realistic. Forcing Vidal into the starting XI will force either Xavi, Iniesta or Neymar/Pedro out of the line-up which is asinine and to spend 50 million for Vidal to get as much time as Song gets doesn't make sense either. Unless we are going to phase Xavi out and have him play Puyol minutes, I just don't think Vidal would get enough playing time for him to be happy without ruffling other important players feathers as well.
If we get him I'll be happy and surprised but I think we need CBs and fullbacks a helluva lot more than MFs.
http://thinkfootball.co.uk/archives/14405
Particularly if you watch Cesc's early days at Arsenal (since like 70% of the people on here don't even remember when he wasn't at Barca), he started off playing in a double-pivot style, traditional 4-4-2 which was customary of the English game at the turn of the millennium. SaF had employed a lot of success by dominating down the wings with Becks and Giggs and particularly when the game was a bit slower, more physical and direct, this style of play ran the PL.
Since four defenders with two strikers was simply the convention in the PL, Wenger's possession based approach to the 4-4-2 with the wide MFs tucking in more inside to overload the center is what sparked Arsenal's rise. Plus when you got Bergkamp and then Henry leading your lines, its harder not to win.
But to bring this back to Cesc, for the first 4 years he played at Arsenal, he played as a box-to-box MF in a double pivot at the center of a 4-4-2, with an immense amount of responsibility in both sides of the pitch...it wasn't until he became captain after consistently showcasing classy performances playing almost as a DM that Wenger switched to a 4-3-3 in order to give Fabregas freedom to attack in the MF.
People who say Cesc can't succeed in the Xavi role and can only play as a AM didn't watch him at Arsenal and don't pay close enough attention to him now. He is much better defensively than a lot of people give him credit for now and all of that started due to his experience as a double pivot at Arsenal so I call bullshit to anyone who says he can't handle playing deeper. If you can not only be competent but shine as a double pivot in the PL with as much swag as he did, I think he can play a slightly deeper role in our MF. So again I ask, why sign Vidal when we already signed a player who can excel as a box-to-box, more direct version of Xavi?
I won't say Vidal wouldn't be a great addition to the squad but this is FIFA manager dreaming, nothing realistic. Forcing Vidal into the starting XI will force either Xavi, Iniesta or Neymar/Pedro out of the line-up which is asinine and to spend 50 million for Vidal to get as much time as Song gets doesn't make sense either. Unless we are going to phase Xavi out and have him play Puyol minutes, I just don't think Vidal would get enough playing time for him to be happy without ruffling other important players feathers as well.
If we get him I'll be happy and surprised but I think we need CBs and fullbacks a helluva lot more than MFs.
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