Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[PhilS]

Barca fans, or at least a lot of the ones on this forum, as so spoiled that they are sadly not able to appreciate the skill of this squad.

Barca has the best group of forwards of any team in the world. Including all the national teams. The Barca midfield is no longer the strongest sector of this team.

No one is going to come in and take Messi's position, the idea is ludicrous. No, Barca is not going to hide Messi off to the side, he is going to play where he can score the most, which is where he is now. Any other center forward coming to the team would have to beat out Neymar and Cesc for backup minutes. Cesc gets lots of criticism for his forward play on this forum, but that is where he is the starter for Spain, that is where he has been scoring and assisting plenty for Barca.

No, Barca is not going to bring in any forward to play on the left. Barca has made it's choice, with the best acquisition in the world for this year.

The competition between Alexis and Pedro has been fantastic for Barca. Alexis is winning, which is getting him to the level he has shown in Serie A and for Chile. Pedro is just about what you would want for your first alternative at forward, someone who can put up a hat trick. Tello might have to leave to get enough playing time, but lots of the biggest teams would love to have him.

Remember what happened to Ibra at Barca? Being talented is not enough, playing the Barca style is required. I can't conceive that any forward in the world could come into the Barca team and displace any of the current starters. Enjoy them, they are gems.

 

[Juan Shoe]

And who do we drop? One of our midfielders? Play Messi at right wing? Or our 57 million signing Neymar? Or is it the wingbacks who are thrown out and replaced by three center backs?

We can't fit Lewandowski in without making needless sacrifices, with no guarantee of success.

Lewandowski has every skill required to play the Villa role, as well as the obvious CF position. He's not some lumbering Dzeko or Crouch type.

 

[JamDav1982]

Lewandowski has every skill required to play the Villa role, as well as the obvious CF position. He's not some lumbering Dzeko or Crouch type.

Lewandowski would not be a better wide player than Barca have.

 

[DonAK]

Bartomeu (vice president): "Ter Stegen? Can't deny he's an option, but there are others. Reina? We followed him, can't rule him out either."

Bartomeu (sports vice president): "We'll announce our new goalkeeper when Valdes announces his new club, which could be in January." [rac1]

 

[Flavia]

Midfielders Tata likes:
Koke, Vidal, Ramires.

 

[barcanuck]

Vidal would be my pick out of those guys. He's got a sweet scoring range and does alot of the dirty work.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Why? We have Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Busquets and Song, Mascherano can play in midfield, Roberto and JDS on the bench, the likes of Samper coming up... I guess Vidal would be interesting just to give us a completely terrifying midfield, Koke for yet more depth, and I have no idea why we would want Ramires.

 

[The Observer]

Vidal just extended his contract 2 months ago. I'm afraid the usual "player is desperate and willing to take 80 % pay cut to join Barca" stories will get him here as likely as they got us Thiago Silva.

 

[KingMessi]

Why? We have Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Busquets and Song, Mascherano can play in midfield, Roberto and JDS on the bench, the likes of Samper coming up... I guess Vidal would be interesting just to give us a completely terrifying midfield, Koke for yet more depth, and I have no idea why we would want Ramires.

To replace Song, perhaps? Or the papers just want to make money.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

But Song is already not getting enough playing time, even though he's played well when he featured, so I doubt Vidal would like those terms. We could try to play a 4-4-2 diamond, have something like this:

-----------------Neymar/Pedro-----------Messi/Asexis--------------------
-----------------------------Cesc/Iniesta--------------------------------
--------------Vidal/Iniesta--------------------Xavi/Cesc------------------
----------------------------Busquets/Song-------------------------------

With a ton of rotation based on form and who in our midfield is playing well and all the jazz, and that actually looks pretty sexy, and now that I think about it, I don't know why I don't like it....

 

[Sumlit]

But Song is already not getting enough playing time, even though he's played well when he featured, so I doubt Vidal would like those terms. We could try to play a 4-4-2 diamond, have something like this:

-----------------Neymar/Pedro-----------Messi/Asexis--------------------
-----------------------------Cesc/Iniesta--------------------------------
--------------Vidal/Iniesta--------------------Xavi/Cesc------------------
----------------------------Busquets/Song-------------------------------

With a ton of rotation based on form and who in our midfield is playing well and all the jazz, and that actually looks pretty sexy, and now that I think about it, I don't know why I don't like it....

Vidal brings enough punch to the midfield to allow for that formation to work. The biggest problem with dropping 1 forward for 1 midfielder in this Barca team is the fact our midfielder is so poor at scoring and lacks direct attack options. Doing this completely handicaps your team in the scoring department, even more so that it has already been lately. This is why Cesc, Iniesta and Xavi together has not worked well when it matters.

Doing the switch, but inserting Vidal gives enough punch to allow for it to be successful.

I still don't particularly like Neymar as a 2 striker tandem with Messi. Neymar is not a good enough scorer yet, and he's definitely not physical enough yet to be so centrally forward. I'd be concerned with him getting muscled and handled too often.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Well, this formation would probably be quite fluid, with Neymar drifting out wide and allowing Cesc to roam into that space, either into the middle with Messi going out wide or vice versa. Vidal could play a box-to-box role and has a sick shot, so he'll be that shooter from midfield you're looking for, Xavi will be even more focused on controlling the game in this formation, and Busquets will be his usual self. I think the main problem is not so much scoring from midfield in this formation (Vidal has 7 in 16 appearances, Cesc 5 in 16), but rather the loss of the manic workrate, distraction runs and support play provided by Alexis and to a lesser extent Pedro. Messi and Neymar could be that much more marked, and we would have to rely on Vidal and maybe Adriano for shots outside the box, but it could still hurt us.

What we could try is play three center backs, dropping the fullbacks (for some games obviously, not all of them) and adding in Sanchez, just distracting the defenders that much more, giving Messi and Neymar the roles they really excel at, and maybe prevent counterattacks from happening due to fullbacks not getting back in time.

 

[Sumlit]

Well, this formation would probably be quite fluid, with Neymar drifting out wide and allowing Cesc to roam into that space, either into the middle with Messi going out wide or vice versa. Vidal could play a box-to-box role and has a sick shot, so he'll be that shooter from midfield you're looking for, Xavi will be even more focused on controlling the game in this formation, and Busquets will be his usual self. I think the main problem is not so much scoring from midfield in this formation (Vidal has 7 in 16 appearances, Cesc 5 in 16), but rather the loss of the manic workrate, distraction runs and support play provided by Alexis and to a lesser extent Pedro. Messi and Neymar could be that much more marked, and we would have to rely on Vidal and maybe Adriano for shots outside the box, but it could still hurt us.

What we could try is play three center backs, dropping the fullbacks (for some games obviously, not all of them) and adding in Sanchez, just distracting the defenders that much more, giving Messi and Neymar the roles they really excel at, and maybe prevent counterattacks from happening due to fullbacks not getting back in time.

You make a good point about the fluidity of the formation. This movement could even bring more space for Vidal and Cesc to run from deep positions and threaten the goal.

I would not be too concerned with the loss of work rate from the exclusion of an Alexis or Pedro, because you'd be adding even more work rate from Vidal, who is as tireless and rabid a ball hound as you can find. You can still employ Dani Alves to provide the width on the right that the loss of your right winger might have lessened.

 

[Sumlit]

I think from what we've seen so far from the team and from Tata, we can entertain ourselves with some not so far fetched assumptions, and we can at least explore some educated guesses about what the future of the team might bring.

This is just my opinion, but:

1. I think it is safe to say Tata wants the team to be much more direct than it has previously been. I think he still wants them to retain control of the game, but to be much more direct with that control. The main problem he is facing right now is that when the team attempts to be very direct, they quickly lose control of the game. He is still trying to find a happy medium between control and direct attack, and perhaps he realizes he does not have the personnel to achieve this.

2. I think Tata likes Cesc more than he likes Iniesta. Cesc brings that direct nature he wants, whereas Iniesta holds on to the ball too much and too long and stalls plenty of attacking plays.

3. I think Tata likes Xavi because he just brings so much balance and control to that midfield, which is something no other player on this team is capable of doing. This is why Xavi has played so much and has been such an indispensable part of his formations. However, he sees that Xavi has certainly declined as a player. I think he wishes Xavi brought more to the other areas of the game.
This is why you're seeing all these rumors about midfielders. Tata wants a midfielder who can bring a similar type of game control and pace keeping ability, but that brings more to the attack and contributes more to the defense.

4. Tata wants another direct scoring option, more likely a natural and technical CF, to reinforce the attack. I think more than a plan B, he really wants an everyday type of player.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

I would not be too concerned with the loss of work rate from the exclusion of an Alexis or Pedro, because you'd be adding even more work rate from Vidal, who is as tireless and rabid a ball hound as you can find. You can still employ Dani Alves to provide the width on the right that the loss of your right winger might have lessened

I guess you're right, it was more the 2 vs. 1 out wide I was concerned about rather than any issue in the middle, but Vidal is enough of a monster to be able to cover out wide as well as in the middle, so I guess that wouldn't really be a problem. And we could always switch to our regular formation by subbing out Vidal or Cesc for Sanchez and then go back to a 4-3-3, should that prove a problem.

1. I think it is safe to say Tata wants the team to be much more direct than it has previously been. I think he still wants them to retain control of the game, but to be much more direct with that control. The main problem he is facing right now is that when the team attempts to be very direct, they quickly lose control of the game. He is still trying to find a happy medium between control and direct attack, and perhaps he realizes he does not have the personnel to achieve this.

1. I don't know how much of a problem this is for Tata. I definitely think we do want to be a little bit safer and concede less shots on target, but I think the overall strategy is to make the other team feel like they are playing well and get them to come out and get shots off and be all puffed up and then go 3-0 down in 5 minutes. The game vs. Betis was a great example, they were playing well early on, they were impressing their fans, they had killed our chat's hopes of ever winning the CL, they had injured our best player (no, Tata didn't want that), what could possibly-oh, oh, what, how-and we coast into halftime 2-0 up, crushing Betis's hopes and not expending hours worth of effort breaking down a bus. They came out strong in the second half, so we just soaked up the pressure again, then lashed out and got 2 more goals. Bang bang, game over. The careless tackle by Dani denied us a clean sheet, but oh well. I'm sure all of us, and Tata, are happy with this.

What I think Tata wants to work on is not the overall approach, but limiting the dangerous chances; Betis having shots on target is fine (we have the most in-form keeper in the world right now, we need to put trust in him), Betis hitting the post is not fine. Let them shoot from bad angles or make unlikely crosses, don't allow them to get into good positions and get actually convertible chances. Attacking-wise, I think the problem Tata has is us not converting all the chances we have; if we can get Neymar, Sanchez, Cesc, even Messi to be more clinical we can kill off the game that much quicker and give barcaforum chat that much less time to vent on how bad we are. The overall approach Tata is fine with, just the execution of it that needs work.

2. I think Tata likes Cesc more than he likes Iniesta. Cesc brings that direct nature he wants, whereas Iniesta holds on to the ball too much and too long and stalls plenty of attacking plays.

I'm not sure, I know I like Cesc more than Iniesta but I have a hard time telling if Tata is the same; Cesc can play brilliant through balls and is a much better finisher, but he is not nearly as good at retaining possession, dribbling, or playing little one-twos. I know Tata likes Cesc more for the games against small teams where we want to strike fast and don't really care about possession, but I'm not sure about big games, where throwing the ball away could prove to be too costly.

3. I think Tata likes Xavi because he just brings so much balance and control to that midfield, which is something no other player on this team is capable of doing. This is why Xavi has played so much and has been such an indispensable part of his formations. However, he sees that Xavi has certainly declined as a player. I think he wishes Xavi brought more to the other areas of the game.
This is why you're seeing all these rumors about midfielders. Tata wants a midfielder who can bring a similar type of game control and pace keeping ability, but that brings more to the attack and contributes more to the defense.

4. Tata wants another direct scoring option, more likely a natural and technical CF, to reinforce the attack. I think more than a plan B, he really wants an everyday type of player.

I don't know about these two, we've hardly played Roberto or JDS this season, if Tata wants a player it's going to be a starter, someone like Vidal, and no one else. We have plenty of depth for midfield, quality depth that already knows the Barcelona way, and I don't think we can just bring in a player. Not to mention no one really controls the game like Xavi and at the same time contributes to attack and defense, maybe Thiago in a few years, Ramsey and Pogba have the attack and defense but not the control, but otherwise... Not to mention Xavi is playing great this season, no doubt in part due to the increased rotation and rest he's had.

As for a striker, I really don't see any player out there that could offer more in a striker position for us than Sanchez or Neymar; they have pace, dribbling, great link-up and workrate, both aren't that bad in the air for their heights... And there isn't someone who could fit that slim range between good enough to play there but bad enough to not care about starting when Messi is back. The only one who really comes to mind is Torres, but this is a World Cup year and he still has fire left in him, so I doubt he'd want to go. Otherwise, Lewandowski, Suarez and Aguero wouldn't want to be Plan B, and the likes of Klose or Drogba don't offer good enough all-around play to replace Neymar or Sanchez. Perhaps if all our attacking players' finishing gets a lot worse in the coming weeks, but with that being pretty unlikely to happen...