khaled_a_d
Senior Member
Icardi ,Bellerin & Thiago are all young and doing very fine . Sanabria is doing fine too
La Masia hasn't been that bad tbf .
Bojan Krkic
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Icardi ,Bellerin & Thiago are all young and doing very fine . Sanabria is doing fine too
La Masia hasn't been that bad tbf .
diegomessi
Anxiously waiting for the next match
Can't forget the picture with Puyi the agent.
Warms my heart. Even though Ivan is in it 😉
Butaan4barca
New member
Is puyol his agent ?
It seems like there's at least one La Masia player playing for every team in the premiership. Plus Sergi Roberto came through La Masia. That's one recent player who is good enough to get into Barca's team. Realistically that's about as much good as you can expect. Everton only have one recent youth product (Barkley) from their academy.
StokeFan
New member
Quick update. Bojan is having an extended period on the bench. I think it's fair to say that having not had a pre-season, we overplayed him when he returned from injury and it finally caught up with him. Against Liverpool, he was really struggling. Looked tired and seemed to lack the incisiveness he's usually so good at.
However, in his place, Afellay has been a revelation. He's been probably our best player for the past 7 or 8 games. Right now, he's pretty much undroppable. Last night was perhaps is first average game in a long time, but even then he wasn't the worst player on the pitch (we won 1-0).
Amazing to say that Bojan is on our bench, but there we go. Afellay is consistently good. I think Hughes would eventually like the midfield to be Imbula, Afellay with Bojan in front, but losing Whelan means we lose that defensive side a bit.
However, in his place, Afellay has been a revelation. He's been probably our best player for the past 7 or 8 games. Right now, he's pretty much undroppable. Last night was perhaps is first average game in a long time, but even then he wasn't the worst player on the pitch (we won 1-0).
Amazing to say that Bojan is on our bench, but there we go. Afellay is consistently good. I think Hughes would eventually like the midfield to be Imbula, Afellay with Bojan in front, but losing Whelan means we lose that defensive side a bit.
StokeFan
New member
Another update. Still getting a rest on the bench, although he had a great cameo against Chelsea basically setting up our equalizer. I imagine he's very frustrated. He doesn't like time on the bench, but I am sure Hughes has explained why he's getting it. The last thing we want is to cause any damage to his knee. I'm sure he has a big role to play coming up as we push for a European place. We're an outside bet for top four.... not likely, but we might get top 6 
F
Flavia
Guest
I like Bobo. Hope he gets back to his best. Thanks for the updates, [MENTION=19592]StokeFan[/MENTION]
StokeFan
New member
Afellay has been starting ahead of Bojan in that deep attacking role, not Walters. We tend to utilize Walters on the right hand side of the wing, partly because Shaqiri is injured right now, but also because.... and I know it probably seems a mystery to Barclona fans (hell fans from other teams in general), but it might surprise you that Jon Walters is a far far better player than people have ever given him credit for. He's become a target for unfair abuse in the Premiership from other clubs fans and commentators, but Walters is a very useful player at what he does. He's got a very good, accurate right footed cross and he is also has a knack of getting in the right places in the middle, and sneaking a goal. It's like having the instinct of a striker, from the wing. He's a comfortable 5-10 goals a season winger.
Take his latest against Watford. Walters was actually playing on the right hand side of that front three (Arnautovic Left, Joselu Centre, Walters Right), yet Walters drifts into the middle as Imbula breaks from midfield, he sees the ball from Afellay go to the right and then burst towards the back post.... ball across, nobody deals with it, Walters in a perfect place to put us 1-0 up. He's been doing that for years, it's his little party trick it seems, but yeah, he gets a lot of unfair stick imo.
I think the reason we're keeping Bojan on the bench is to prevent a recurrence of his injury. When he returned, he looked surprisingly sharp, scored on his return a great goal against Leicester, but rather than bedding him in, I think Hughes felt we needed to rely on him, so we overplayed him (imo). Come the semi final against Liverpool, he probably had one of the worst games in a Stoke shirt. He (and most the others) had played 3 games in about 8 days. Hughes made a bit of a mistake starting our first 11 against West Brom a few days earlier, which left most the players drained and tired for the cup semi. Bojan in particular struggled and looked to be limping as he left. I don't think he'd done any damage, but I think he was so utterly wrecked that he just couldn't keep going. He has not had the benefit of a pre-season like the others.
Since that game, Bojan has been playing sort of 45 minutes or less really, which I think is the right way to handle this situation because he's gradually been finding his best form again. Against Chelsea, he looked very good, coming on to set up our equalizing goal which got us a good point away from home. Rightly, Hughes didn't opt to use him against Watford. He's now had the luxury of a long break which will do his fitness, body and knees the world of good.
Now we have a tough game against Swansea this weekend. They're a highly inconsistent team but every so often, seem capable of pulling a great result out of their backside. We beat them earlier this season at their place and will be looking to win again. A win takes us closer to a Europa League place.
StokeFan
New member
Just a quick update.
Bojan started and looked back to his best, scoring a lovely goal in the process. He very nearly set up another for Afellay too. For some strange reason, Hughes took him off just as we were pushing for a third and we lost all momentum and threw away 2 points. Story of our season.
Bojan started and looked back to his best, scoring a lovely goal in the process. He very nearly set up another for Afellay too. For some strange reason, Hughes took him off just as we were pushing for a third and we lost all momentum and threw away 2 points. Story of our season.
Home of Barca Fans
