Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[Howes]

Matthias Ginter is been linked with Manchester United, I watched him play and was very impressed. He's young though, not sure if he's what Barcelona need right now. David Luiz seems a more sure option.

Also can we please stop talking about Videl, its never happening, let's be realistic please.

 

[Gascav]

184,30 Schalke
183,76 Hertha BSC
183,25 Dortmund, Leverkusen
183,15 Hamburg
182,70 West Ham
182,40 Fulham
182,35 Juventus, M'gladbach
182,05 Fiorentina, PSV
181,76 Tottenham
181,75 Roma
181,70 Milan
181,67 Everton
181,57 Liverpool
181,29 Chelsea
181,15 Inter
181,14 Bayern Munich, Newcastle
181,10 Monaco
181,00 Real Madrid, Lazio
180,95 Paris-SG
180,85 Feyenoord
180,48 Atlético de Madrid, Athletic Club
180,35 Ajax
180,19 Man City
180,05 Arsenal
179,86 Marseille
179,60 Lazio
179,52 Man United
179,29 Lyon
178,90 Espanyol
178,52 Valencia
178,33 Swansea, Sevilla
176,38 Barcelona

No wonder we are poor in both offensive and defensive set pieces

 

[Der Kaiser]

184,30 Schalke
183,76 Hertha BSC
183,25 Dortmund, Leverkusen
183,15 Hamburg
182,70 West Ham
182,40 Fulham
182,35 Juventus, M'gladbach
182,05 Fiorentina, PSV
181,76 Tottenham
181,75 Roma
181,70 Milan
181,67 Everton
181,57 Liverpool
181,29 Chelsea
181,15 Inter
181,14 Bayern Munich, Newcastle
181,10 Monaco
181,00 Real Madrid, Lazio
180,95 Paris-SG
180,85 Feyenoord
180,48 Atlético de Madrid, Athletic Club
180,35 Ajax
180,19 Man City
180,05 Arsenal
179,86 Marseille
179,60 Lazio
179,52 Man United
179,29 Lyon
178,90 Espanyol
178,52 Valencia
178,33 Swansea, Sevilla
176,38 Barcelona

No wonder we are poor in both offensive and defensive set pieces

thats not as bad as I expected, given how many 1,70m dwarfs we have. some more height is needed badly, good thing we signed halilovic!

 

[Semi-Neutral]

No wonder we are poor in both offensive and defensive set pieces

Sevilla, who are right above us, have scored the most set piece goals in La Liga. Not to mention we've barely conceded any goals from set pieces in the past few months.

 

[Gascav]

thats not as bad as I expected, given how many 1,70m dwarfs we have. some more height is needed badly, good thing we signed halilovic!

But it is worth noting that we have some tall players in the squad who are generally not starters

 

[Gascav]

Sevilla, who are right above us, have scored the most set piece goals in La Liga. Not to mention we've barely conceded any goals from set pieces in the past few months.

Actually average height for our starting eleven should be a lot shorter than that number. That number is made higher by taller players like afellay, cuenca, tello, sergi roberto, song, who are fringe players

We've barely conceded off a set piece ? What about song's own goal,

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Actually average height for our starting eleven should be a lot shorter than that number. That number is made higher by taller players like afellay, cuenca, tello, sergi roberto, song, who are fringe players

We've barely conceded off a set piece ? What about song's own goal,

Song is one our tallest players though, how could he concede a set piece goal? Not to mention 1 goal proves nothing.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Sevilla, who are right above us, have scored the most set piece goals in La Liga. Not to mention we've barely conceded any goals from set pieces in the past few months.

Tello,Afellay,Cuenca are all 1.8m ,with Pinto Oier being 2 of the tallest 5 players in the squad ,the fact is that the average height on the pitch is much smaller .
1.7m isn't actually short for man at all (see average male height outside Europe& USA usually less or around that length ) but football is a game that usually needs more height on the top level than the average population height specially in defense ,hell even VV is relatively short between top notch GKs

 

[BarçAjax8]

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.

Great post!
I myself am guilty of judging Cesc based on his playing style since he's come back to Barcelona. But I remember him playing alongside Gilberto Silva and also saying in an interview he modeled his game after Pep. I think Cesc's style within the team is down to what the manager tells him to do. Tata needs to sit him down and tell him he wants him to maintain a more disciplined role playing close to Busquets, maintaining possession and picking the passes. The problem with playing both Cesc and Iniesta has been that Cesc likes to work on the left side and he hinders the Don's game/space. This season has been Cesc's best by far and if he allow Andres his space I believe he can fill Xavi's role.

No need to blow the bank on Vidal or Kroos when we have Busquets, Mascherano, Xavi, Andres, Roberto, Cesc & returning Rafinha. A quality CB, R/LB and Striker should be our focus.

 

[pepi]

Sevilla, who are right above us, have scored the most set piece goals in La Liga. Not to mention we've barely conceded any goals from set pieces in the past few months.

Also Alexis can outjump a lot of defenders. He is like Muggsy Bogues‎ :whistle2:

 

[BarçAjax8]

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

Mangala

Strong, tenacious defender with pace and aerial ability. He scored 2 headers the other night in the Europa league but the only problem with him is his ridiculous buyout clause (50m). Musacchio/Benatia are the 2 others which fit the description with Benatia being the cheapest out of the 3 unless he signs the reported new contract. I think it is going to be pretty difficult to get a quality CB without spending a little more than we want to unless our scouts know of someone we don't

A less considered option could be Juan Jesus (Inter)

 

[The Observer]

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.

It's not about "playing deep" or "playing high". Positionally Xavi plays as high up the pitch as Iniesta if not higher up at times. Prime Xavi was more trequartista than regista. Del Bosque won 2 tournaments using Xavi as the most advanced central midfielder. Here is the average positioning in Barca's last CL final:

Xavi is as much "attacking midfielder" as Fabregas although Martino, like Frank used to do, misuses him closer to Busquets because his brain, like 90 % of all coaches, works in the traditional "4-2-3-1" scheme. The problem is not about where but rather how they play. Fabregas is more erratic with his touches and passes, he doesn't read the game as well as our other La Masia midfielders, his movement is much more aggressive and archaic (rushing into the box to get into goalscoring positions every opportunity) and his defensive game is worse. He's more athletic and energetic and he might even cover more ground defensively than Xavi but Xavi reads the game and blocks the passing lanes correctly 9 out of 10 times whereas Cesc gets "stuck in". Overall Fabregas is more chaotic and hit and miss; not a great tactical brain or organizer either. If we want to play with Cesc and Iniesta, which is perfectly possible (although I made Cesc sound like a scrub so far but that wasn't my point ), we need a much stronger defensive unit. But that would be also true for Vidal.

 

[ZenI]

It's not about "playing deep" or "playing high". Positionally Xavi plays as high up the pitch as Iniesta if not higher up at times. Prime Xavi was more trequartista than regista. Del Bosque won 2 tournaments using Xavi as the most advanced central midfielder. Here is the average positioning in Barca's last CL final:

Xavi is as much "attacking midfielder" as Fabregas although Martino, like Frank used to do, misuses him closer to Busquets because his brain, like 90 % of all coaches, works in the traditional "4-2-3-1" scheme. The problem is not about where but rather how they play. Fabregas is more erratic with his touches and passes, he doesn't read the game as well as our other La Masia midfielders, his movement is much more aggressive and archaic (rushing into the box to get into goalscoring positions every opportunity) and his defensive game is worse. He's more athletic and energetic and he might even cover more ground defensively than Xavi but Xavi reads the game and blocks the passing lanes correctly 9 out of 10 times whereas Cesc gets "stuck in". Overall Fabregas is more chaotic and hit and miss; not a great tactical brain or organizer either. If we want to play with Cesc and Iniesta, which is perfectly possible (although I made Cesc sound like a scrub so far but that wasn't my point ), we need a much stronger defensive unit. But that would be also true for Vidal.

I agree. Sometimes when I say that Cesc is not really suited to play CM I also don't mean 'deeper' etc, but because of the reasons you say. Cesc is more chaotic, erratic and less strategical. Of course we can play Iniesta + Cesc midfield, but it will not look the same way as we play now. Would it be worse overall? Well, I'm not sure actually...

 

[Galning]

Mangala isn't even all that great, certainly not for that buy out clause. The only reason why people keep bringing up his name is because he is an alternative signing to the other "famous" centre backs. Sure we could use him but he's way too expensive for his level.

 

[BarçAjax8]

Xavi is as much "attacking midfielder" as Fabregas although Martino, like Frank used to do, misuses him closer to Busquets because his brain, like 90 % of all coaches, works in the traditional "4-2-3-1" scheme. The problem is not about where but rather how they play. Fabregas is more erratic with his touches and passes, he doesn't read the game as well as our other La Masia midfielders, his movement is much more aggressive and archaic (rushing into the box to get into goalscoring positions every opportunity) and his defensive game is worse. He's more athletic and energetic and he might even cover more ground defensively than Xavi but Xavi reads the game and blocks the passing lanes correctly 9 out of 10 times whereas Cesc gets "stuck in". Overall Fabregas is more chaotic and hit and miss; not a great tactical brain or organizer either. If we want to play with Cesc and Iniesta, which is perfectly possible (although I made Cesc sound like a scrub so far but that wasn't my point ), we need a much stronger defensive unit. But that would be also true for Vidal.

Good points and the reasons why I go back and fourth on Iniesta-Cesc starting together. You can't have 2 AMFs carelessly bombing forward anymore than you can have your R & LB. It leaves too much space for the CBs and DMF to cover and with every team looking to counter us we will get scored on.