Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[raskolnikov]

What is the reason we keep failing to bring in a cb for years now? It seems like we keep hoping Puyol is going to find the fountain of youth when it clearly isnt happening.
What is wrong with buying a talented quality cb that is young but still proven (like N'koulou,Martinez) and then bring in a talented player as well, with Puyol,Pique and Mascherano that would be enough depth for cb's.
Also feel we need a tall strong defensive minded lb like abidal was for balance in bigger games.
So thats 3 players and we have no more major flaws, N'koulou for 20 mil, Papadopoulos 15 mil and Mathieu for 8 mil.
Done for 43 mil, even if you don't think its ideal it definitely is much better than the current situation.

We need management to care about defence.

 

[barcanuck]

^sigh - again we stand idle and don't even replace Abidal. Bagnack may be the answer though, time will tell.

 

[Co0ter]

What the hell does this even mean? It makes zero sense. The aim of the team from a defending sense is to prevent the opposition from scoring, simple.

The fact is, based on the past 2 seasons, where Barca has been at its worst defensively, its done a better job of this than Madrid, no matter how much you try to twist it, this is true and is a fact.

Barca press better, have a better work rate? so what? that is part of the barcelona's defensive tactic, it's proving to be a very good tactic too if even at its worst(the past 2 years), it lets less goals in than Madrid and all their "so much better defenders".

What's this new trend on message boards these days of ignoring the basic, fundamental facts and trying to bring all this baseless theories that are based on pure conjecture and nothing else?

Did you even read the rest of my post; or do you merely just not understand the point- I thought I was being obvious.

I was stating, hopefully clearer now, that you DEFEND as a TEAM. You can't pull out a statistic like goals conceded and blame it solely on the defense; that is simply not how it works. We've had an incredibly energetic midfield and forward line the last few seasons and they press all season long to give our defense less to do; other defenses didn't have that luxury. The fact that our team did this hid the fact that our defense had some issues- and that's with us having a healthy influential Captain and a world class, tall defensive LB. We are playing two wing-backs who clearly aren't strong defensively and that showed quite clearly last season in the big games. Our center-backs are good players, but whether it has to do with form or not being in their proper position, they aren't working.

Our defense is not good; far from it.

 

[Aryagorn]

Even Arsene Wenger bought a star player before our idiots even tried for a defender

That's actually facepalm worthy... and a lot more!!

I guess I will probably watch the football till January and if these stupid fit-for-nothing incompetent batsards still won't sign a defender, I will not bother to watch the big matches anymore, not until the Rosell monster's term is over! There's no point in hurting myself so much, after last season!!

 

[raskolnikov]

I would say maybe we should lose to Real at home, but then again if that 7-0 from Bayern didnt wake them up nothing will.

 

[Papabeef]

No new defender, makes me think next season Pinto might replace VV and we also dont get a new keeper... I cant understand it,

It seems like its : 1- Management + Directors Cant see the same problem us fans, the media and pretty much the whole world see's... in our lack of solid defense, for a couple of reasons like age factor to our most important defender, LB and RB are mostly players with great balance between attack and defense but not the rock solid defender again, and last but not least "aerial guarding" where we get caught too many times in proportion to the goals we receive.

2- Management + Directors See the problem but fail to really try and solve it, wonder if thats out of having blind faith in our youth players to do a great job if the front line is not in shape or injured... but after last season why push the envelope ONE MORE TIME?

Such a waste to have one of the greatest set of midfield + attackers of maybe the century and not plan to buff every part of the field to its (realistic) limits.. not asking for a Madrid, PSG, Man City type of spending but jeez..

Needed to vent, as i kept some last minute hope today and feeling frustrated with how this xfer window shut on us.

 

[Elite-BkD]

Did you even read the rest of my post; or do you merely just not understand the point- I thought I was being obvious.

I was stating, hopefully clearer now, that you DEFEND as a TEAM. You can't pull out a statistic like goals conceded and blame it solely on the defense; that is simply not how it works. We've had an incredibly energetic midfield and forward line the last few seasons and they press all season long to give our defense less to do; other defenses didn't have that luxury. The fact that our team did this hid the fact that our defense had some issues- and that's with us having a healthy influential Captain and a world class, tall defensive LB. We are playing two wing-backs who clearly aren't strong defensively and that showed quite clearly last season in the big games. Our center-backs are good players, but whether it has to do with form or not being in their proper position, they aren't working.

Our defense is not good; far from it.

Our pressing was a joke last season and we didn't play or defend well as a team when it mattered, Puyol struggled with injury problems and Abidal was essentially a complete non-factor.
I'm not thrilled with the first team defenders available for the year (considering we should be challenging for both La Liga and the CL) but we can definitely field a 'good' back four any day of the week, and quite an excellent one assuming all of our defenders are fit/healthy. Granted with Puyol that's questionable and Adriano can't pull it off even in a parallel universe, but it's realistic that we may actually see a solid defensive line throughout the season depending on what options Tata has and how he uses them.

 

[darthvader7888]

^sigh - again we stand idle and don't even replace Abidal. Bagnack may be the answer though, time will tell.

We have a replacement for Abidal. His name is Montoya. If he's not up to it (which, imo, he is), we need a defensive RB, not LB. Alves should be benched, not Alba.

 

[sabby]

Squad for the season:

Good to see Affelay and Cuenca back on squad. We will have a variety of options to try and rotate to give Xavi/Iniesta rest.

 

[lostchild]

We have a replacement for Abidal. His name is Montoya. If he's not up to it (which, imo, he is), we need a defensive RB, not LB. Alves should be benched, not Alba.

you DO know that Montoya is actually RB .. ?

if anything
i would let Montoya start instead of Alves, and let him build himself up a bit more.. he doesnt get enough playtime imo. and i actually belive he would be a lot more cautious in defending, and yea, maybe a bit more rusty in attack, but that will change as time goes on.

and about LB, i have no problem with Adriano as a sub for Jordi Alba, i think he's a really good player actually

 

[Aryagorn]

you DO know that Montoya is actually RB .. ?

if anything
i would let Montoya start instead of Alves, and let him build himself up a bit more.. he doesnt get enough playtime imo. and i actually belive he would be a lot more cautious in defending, and yea, maybe a bit more rusty in attack, but that will change as time goes on.

and about LB, i have no problem with Adriano as a sub for Jordi Alba, i think he's a really good player actually

darthvader believes all that you have said is true, knows that Abidal is a LB and Montoya a RB and opines that Montoya should be our 'right-side' Abi and Alba the left-side Alves in prime

 

[jumping_box]

More humiliation in coming CL ...

 

[sabby]

No new defender, makes me think next season Pinto might replace VV and we also dont get a new keeper... I cant understand it,

Pinto is also on his last year of the contract

Well, bring that guy/girl who complained there's no separate thread about only Barca transfer. Talk about major jinxing !

 

[Aryagorn]

Well, bring that guy/girl who complained there's no separate thread about only Barca transfer. Talk about major jinxing !

Like it would have been any different the other way

 

[Messi+Eto]

We have a replacement for Abidal. His name is Montoya. If he's not up to it (which, imo, he is), we need a defensive RB, not LB. Alves should be benched, not Alba.

I hope you have been taking your medication as well as watching the most recent games.