Cesc Fàbregas

[Flavia]

1 assist, 1 goal (penalty not counting). Another disgraceful performance as false 9.

Funny thing he was playing as a midfielder when those happened. He dropped back a lot again, as he is useless when not facing the goal. He's wasted as false 9, immense as a midfielder.

 

[Sumlit]

He had a very good game but all these you are mentioning don't go by the false 9 standard. The assist came from a position where someone in front of him in our case Pedro provided the assist. The bashing about false 9 comes in comparison with how Messi plays there or that Cesc is slow, not movable etc...

Messi is just a better CF than Cesc. When Cesc plays there, the team is basically playing without a CF, so they need the wings to be much more involved. He does the midfield part of the false 9 role as good as you could ask of him, but he just cannot give you what Messi gives you at the CF part.

 

[The Observer]

Funny thing he was playing as a midfielder when those happened. He dropped back a lot again

It's the whole point of being a false 9. Dropping into midfield. He doesn't play striker.

 

[Meitux]

Messi is just a better CF than Cesc. When Cesc plays there, the team is basically playing without a CF, so they need the wings to be much more involved. He does the midfield part of the false 9 role as good as you could ask of him, but he just cannot give you what Messi gives you at the CF part.

Im not against his job in any way, he's immense in playing as attacking midfielder. But that's what im saying, playing as false 9 everybody has the same expectations as Messi and you know, we lose some parts of this. The question is, wouldn't it be better if he started as attacking midfielder and if we had another attacker in there we would have more attacking flair in it. And he would have more targets to aim and assist, i just can't know. But today all he did isn't relevant to the false 9 situation to call it a good performance in that particular role.

 

[Ghosting]

It's the whole point of being a false 9. Dropping into midfield. He doesn't play striker.

But Getafe allowed the space between midfield and defence, good teams and teams who are parking the bus don't allow that space and then Cesc becomes essentially useless.
I would prefer Busi and Xavi playing deep- playmakers with Cesc as AM behind messi as false 9, then they could work together rotating and finding the space, one makes a run to stretch the defence allowing the other space to find a pass.

 

[Sumlit]

Im not against his job in any way, he's immense in playing as attacking midfielder. But that's what im saying, playing as false 9 everybody has the same expectations as Messi and you know, we lose some parts of this. The question is, wouldn't it be better if he started as attacking midfielder and if we had another attacker in there we would have more attacking flair in it. And he would have more targets to aim and assist, i just can't know. But today all he didn't isn't relevant to the false 9 situation to call it a good performance in that particular role.

You're right, problem is we don't have the player for that situation (outside of Messi obviously). Neymar can moonlight there, but Neymar is not an everyday CF type, he's not physical enough nor does he have the movement required of a CF. He'll get beat up and his production will dip the longer he stays there game after game.
Alexis is not a CF type for this team. He can play centrally for Chile because he has an ungodly amount of space and freedom there. For Barca he does not have space at all, and his first touch is poor and his lack of balance would have him falling a lot from contact of the ball in tight windows as well as the CBs.
Playing Pedro as a CF is a monumental waste of your best scoring winger. He has movement and first touch, but he's just far, far, far more efficient making runs and creating mismatches in the wing.

As less than ideal as Cesc playing false 9 is, sad to say it, he is the most efficient option out of a whole bunch of inefficient ones, because he can at least give stellar performance out of the midfielder part of the role, and he is a very underrated finisher. This is why the team needs another CF aside from Messi.

 

[Flavia]

It's the whole point of being a false 9. Dropping into midfield. He doesn't play striker.

And it worked today because getafe allowed tons of space, but usually it doesn't, and Barça's attack gets toothless. It's not the best solution.

 

[The Observer]

And it worked today because getafe allowed tons of space, but usually it doesn't, and Barça's attack gets toothless. It's not the best solution.

Tata knew Getafe were going to play like this and used Cesc as a false 9 accordingly. Against a different team he would have adapted and played Alexis there.

 

[Meitux]

You're right, problem is we don't have the player for that situation (outside of Messi obviously). Neymar can moonlight there, but Neymar is not an everyday CF type, he's not physical enough nor does he have the movement required of a CF. He'll get beat up and his production will dip the longer he stays there game after game.
Alexis is not a CF type for this team. He can play centrally for Chile because he has an ungodly amount of space and freedom there. For Barca he does not have space at all, and his first touch is poor and his lack of balance would have him falling a lot from contact of the ball in tight windows as well as the CBs.
Playing Pedro as a CF is a monumental waste of your best scoring winger. He has movement and first touch, but he's just far, far, far more efficient making runs and creating mismatches in the wing.

As less than ideal as Cesc playing false 9 is, sad to say it, he is the most efficient option out of a whole bunch of inefficient ones, because he can at least give stellar performance out of the midfielder part of the role, and he is a very underrated finisher. This is why the team needs another CF aside from Messi.

Yeap, we have talked for all these in the past and agreed on that, that even if we have attackers they're not the type ones that will really bring goals and a dynamic flair to the attack. Neymar hasn't really settled into goals yet but last games he's getting more. I believe as well that he's not the one to play CF. Alexis will never be a goalscorer even for the other things he offers are admirable. We still are Messi depending for most of the goals and making most things happen and you see when he's not playing and even today without Neymar that at least we have a fake thought or something that he will be the one to do almost the whole things. But today our attack didn't look so dangerous we could say? At least Pedro who's proved that he can get goals got a good performance and we scored goals. Otherwise i don't know, it seems hard to do, even if we have players to create chances we still lack another guy that would score and create more danger.

 

[Flavia]

Tata knew Getafe were going to play like this and used Cesc as a false 9 accordingly. Against a different team he would have adapted and played Alexis there.

Surely he would

 

[TornAndFrayed]

Neymar lacks movement ?

 

[Flavia]

You're right, problem is we don't have the player for that situation (outside of Messi obviously). Neymar can moonlight there, but Neymar is not an everyday CF type, he's not physical enough nor does he have the movement required of a CF. He'll get beat up and his production will dip the longer he stays there game after game.
Alexis is not a CF type for this team. He can play centrally for Chile because he has an ungodly amount of space and freedom there. For Barca he does not have space at all, and his first touch is poor and his lack of balance would have him falling a lot from contact of the ball in tight windows as well as the CBs.
Playing Pedro as a CF is a monumental waste of your best scoring winger. He has movement and first touch, but he's just far, far, far more efficient making runs and creating mismatches in the wing.

As less than ideal as Cesc playing false 9 is, sad to say it, he is the most efficient option out of a whole bunch of inefficient ones, because he can at least give stellar performance out of the midfielder part of the role, and he is a very underrated finisher. This is why the team needs another CF aside from Messi.

Alexis hasn't been really tested as a #9, has he? Or Pedro. Not false 9, but real 9... With Cesc as am.

 

[JamDav1982]

Alexis hasn't been really tested as a #9, has he? Or Pedro. Not false 9, but real 9... With Cesc as am.

Alexis played and scored against Real Madrid as a CF a couple of seasons ago I am sure.

 

[Sumlit]

Yeap, we have talked for all these in the past and agreed on that, that even if we have attackers they're not the type ones that will really bring goals and a dynamic flair to the attack. Neymar hasn't really settled into goals yet but last games he's getting more. I believe as well that he's not the one to play CF. Alexis will never be a goalscorer even for the other things he offers are admirable. We still are Messi depending for most of the goals and making most things happen and you see when he's not playing and even today without Neymar that at least we have a fake thought or something that he will be the one to do almost the whole things. But today our attack didn't look so dangerous we could say? At least Pedro who's proved that he can get goals got a good performance and we scored goals. Otherwise i don't know, it seems hard to do, even if we have players to create chances we still lack another guy that would score and create more danger.

Yup. Pedro returning to form is a huge blessing for this team if he can sustain it. He is a excellent scorer from the wing position. If Neymar continues scoring, I can see Pedro overtaking Alexis as a starter. Team needs scorers up front.

If it weren't from Pedro today, the team would have been in a huge amount of trouble. He decided the game in 8 minutes. That's the sort of directness this team lacks and is hugely important.

 

[Sumlit]

Alexis hasn't been really tested as a #9, has he? Or Pedro. Not false 9, but real 9... With Cesc as am.

I can be wrong, no doubt. But I just don't see him succeeding there for Barca on a consistent basis. He's just not going to have space at all, and his first touch and balance is less than ideal for that role, to put it mildly.