I'll have to say that I'm truly disappointed.zubi promised a wc cb,and all that crap about the requirements of being a barca cb amongst other things ,and in the end we end up with a 31 year old and a scrap who is a bench warmer at a club whose dream is to finish third.barca really needed a top quality young centre half,somebody who can make pique leave.i font trust pique one bit.Bartra is ok.we needed someone like laporte.
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I
instinct
Guest
When exactly did he promise a "world-class CB"?
Egert
Estonian Culé
First El Clasico will end 6-7. Would be one hell of a game. Leo and Suarez both hat-tricks, Neymar with one golazo.
Icarium
Lifestealer
Our defense is better than last season and we did not concede that many goals in the last season. Team improved in every area mainly in attack which was the real problem imo. Not able to score many goals against some mid table teams and atletico or any other team who sit back. I don't know if suarez will help the team or not but i think it is better than playing cesc as false nine.
SeloBarca
Senior Member
The weak attack last year was part of the poor defence and mid. I would say what we needed to strengthen in order was: Defence, Midfield, Attack.
Insecurity in defence makes you unable to feel like you can attack without jeopardize everything.
Midfield had to cover up defence last year, making us weaker in attack and creating less. We even tried double pivots sometimes, making us create even less.
Its hard for the attack to score if you dont gett he passes needed from midfield. Iniesta had to pretty much do everything alone last year on midfield. Cesc didnt do to much to help him, and Xavi is not the old Xavi anymore.
But as usual, our board only sees attack and buys Suarez. Hes an extremly good player and im happy to have him. But we should have focused on defence.
Ter stegen, Aurier, Benatia or Hummels, Mathieu as backup, Pjanic, Gamble on Gündogan, Suarez. That would have been dream transferwindow. Could have skipped Suarez to afford it.
Insecurity in defence makes you unable to feel like you can attack without jeopardize everything.
Midfield had to cover up defence last year, making us weaker in attack and creating less. We even tried double pivots sometimes, making us create even less.
Its hard for the attack to score if you dont gett he passes needed from midfield. Iniesta had to pretty much do everything alone last year on midfield. Cesc didnt do to much to help him, and Xavi is not the old Xavi anymore.
But as usual, our board only sees attack and buys Suarez. Hes an extremly good player and im happy to have him. But we should have focused on defence.
Ter stegen, Aurier, Benatia or Hummels, Mathieu as backup, Pjanic, Gamble on Gündogan, Suarez. That would have been dream transferwindow. Could have skipped Suarez to afford it.
John Antonio Bilboa
Howard Roark laughed
I don't think it's a case of the team getting worse or xavi not being they 'the old xavi' it's simply evolution, the core of team hasn't changed for 5 years which is an age in football. We haven't gotten any worse, and at the same time haven't particularly gotten any better, we haven't evolved but everyone around has, so it's simply a matter of finding that next level. Bar rakitic these signings haven't particularly impressed me signing a 27,28 and 30 yo is temporary fix at best
F
Frejsgodes
Guest
More like your dream transferwindow.
We got ter Stegen, Mathieu and Suárez.
Dont start the Benatia and Hummels nonsense. Their quality doesn't match their ridiculous price tag. Buying Mathieu and Vermaelen and letting them compete with Pique and Bartra was the sensible thing to do.
Pjanic is good, but we got Rakitic who already knows the league, language, Spanish culture, and he fits what Lucho wants to do in midfield. Didn't cost a lot too. Pjanic would be more difficult i.e. more expensive to get. And Pjanic isn't really that much better than Rakitic that he would justify such a price tag.
Gündogan. Lol. Are you serious? You want to count on him? Maybe 2 seasons ago. You dont buy him and expect him to feature directly in your starting lineup with all that he's gone through. TOO MUCH of a gamble.
SeloBarca
Senior Member
Over time players gets older, and its noticable on some more then others. The team didnt hold the same tempo and didnt have the energy. So the team has declined.
If the players today would play against themselves 3-5 years ago, they woulda lost bigtime.
I agree however that all other teams have adjusted their gameplay to beat Barcelona (If you can beat Barcelona, you can beat them all)
Ter Stegen is a good signing aswell.
Dont see him as starter right now either, but we can probably get him very cheap now, instead of very expensive if he starts dominating again. Rather do that then buying Vermaelen.
Its a type of player we dont have, and really need.
If the players today would play against themselves 3-5 years ago, they woulda lost bigtime.
I agree however that all other teams have adjusted their gameplay to beat Barcelona (If you can beat Barcelona, you can beat them all)
Ter Stegen is a good signing aswell.
Dont see him as starter right now either, but we can probably get him very cheap now, instead of very expensive if he starts dominating again. Rather do that then buying Vermaelen.
Its a type of player we dont have, and really need.
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Would you say Suarez' quality justifies his price tag given his age and the baggage he comes with?
When its a star attacker any price becomes reasonable, but when it involves a star defender a high price tag becomes "ridiculous".
John Antonio Bilboa
Howard Roark laughed
To be quite honest, it's not just the players, it's also how we play football. People have come to realise that we play a high line and that we rely on iniesta massively. The instinctive connection that Messi Xavi and iniesta have was lacking last season, the front 3 wasn't set in stone so therefore weren't able to form any sort of understanding. Even when we did win it wasn't convincing, I've never seen so many Barca games end with the score line 2-1 or 2 nil..Hopefully the players we've brought in are yet to acquire can help us rekindle that ethos
ebc_99
Active member
I think its been a great transfer window. Ter Stegen is going to be a superstar, we are lucky to have him and Bravo is a very good back up.
Our defence has improved a lot with Mathieu and Vermaelen, neither are world class but they don't need to be. They are solid and offer competition for Bartra and Pique, as well as giving us more options in that area. It also gives us the opportunity of play Mascherano in midfield as further defensive cover which is something we lacked last year.
The midfield has improved too, Rakatic looks fantastic and he will be a much better fit than Cesc was and i think he will be a wonderful foil for Iniesta. Xavi played so much last year because Cesc was often playing false 9 and that is something that will not happen with Rakatic so i expect less games for Xavi so he will be fresher and fitter when he does play. Rafina looks a real prospect and I think he will add to the team more than his brother did.
Up front we are dynamite, it is going to be so exciting to see these guys in full flow. Messi can help out the midfield more now as we can trust Suarez to be a big threat which Cesc, Pedro or Alexis were not.
We are stronger in every area, our midfield and attack are both the best in the world on paper and I expect it to be the same on the pitch. Our defence just needs to be solid and avoid making stupid mistakes and with the players we have I think that will happen.
Our defence has improved a lot with Mathieu and Vermaelen, neither are world class but they don't need to be. They are solid and offer competition for Bartra and Pique, as well as giving us more options in that area. It also gives us the opportunity of play Mascherano in midfield as further defensive cover which is something we lacked last year.
The midfield has improved too, Rakatic looks fantastic and he will be a much better fit than Cesc was and i think he will be a wonderful foil for Iniesta. Xavi played so much last year because Cesc was often playing false 9 and that is something that will not happen with Rakatic so i expect less games for Xavi so he will be fresher and fitter when he does play. Rafina looks a real prospect and I think he will add to the team more than his brother did.
Up front we are dynamite, it is going to be so exciting to see these guys in full flow. Messi can help out the midfield more now as we can trust Suarez to be a big threat which Cesc, Pedro or Alexis were not.
We are stronger in every area, our midfield and attack are both the best in the world on paper and I expect it to be the same on the pitch. Our defence just needs to be solid and avoid making stupid mistakes and with the players we have I think that will happen.
Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
This.
Of course it is not ideal, far from it, one could argue that we would/should/could have done much better with our CB signings. However, having Mathieu and Vermaelen is better than not having them here and I think our defense can't be worse than what we had in the last two seasons. Therefore I am cautiously optimistic/content.
Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
So I take we have signed four captains in this window?
More leadership players. Good.
More leadership players. Good.
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