Daniel Alves

[Irish_Cules]

Not good going forward? Earlier in the season he hit the crossbar against Real Madrid and also forced a save from Casillas in another match. At the weekend he also made the keeper work with a good shot.He is a different type of full back to Dani. He is pretty good when he attacks but his main attribute is his defensive stability which is what we need at right back now. Sure he is more conservative in his forward runs but we have Jordi Alba on the left to provide a consistent attacking threat.

Saying that he isn't a better defender than Dani because he doesn't really attack is ridiculous.Not leaving spaces too exposed behind him is the sign of a good defender. Defending isn't all about marking and tackling. It is also about covering the right areas and not leaving anywhere overexposed. Montoya does that much better than Alves. When Dani is highly motivated he can mark the best wingers in the world out of games but nowadays he is doing that less frequently and is getting caught too far forward constantly.

 

[Stric]

Sorry but I disagree too. How can you say that the actual Montoya is at the same level ? He doesn't add anything offensively and that's the main strength of Dani because playing like a right winger and defending very well when he has to (I can just tell you to look at the Clasicos of the last years where Dani didn't let CR7 express himself) .
Actually, Dani is probably in decline but he's still one of the best in the world (with Philip Lahm).

As I said before, Montoya is a good defender but doesn't know how to be dangerous offensively ; Once again, look at yesterday's match : he had the ball many times on the right side and lost it because he didn't know how to dribble and hasn't any relation with our forwards.

Let's be honnest ; if he was so good than what you're actually saying and if he Dani was leaving this summer, I think that Martin would have start a lot of matchs during the second part of the season (he did during the first part because of Dani's injury).

The fact that he didn't progress during this season is probably because of the coaching staff which didn't give him the opportunity to play but he has a loooooot of things to work if he wants to replace our Dani because offensively and defensively there's a world btw them (don't tell me that Martin is better defensively because my argument will be that the young lad doesn't really attack and he doesn't let much spaces behind him).

He does add a lot offensively (as seen last night and in each game he's played this season, including the Clasicos), but he doesn't do it as often (read: too often) like Alves. The Clasicos of the last year is exactly the period when Cristiano started scoring regularly against us. He scores against us more often that not in the last year. Earlier, Alves was doing a good job. But he's has been abysmal since 2011.

I take it you don't remember Montoya's brilliant shot that hit the crossbar against Real Madrid? What has Alves done in attack lately? Apart from that one brilliant pass to Messi against PSG. Which was, by the way, totally out of the ordinary for him - both the type of pass and the positioning. He makes dozens of completely useless crosses and maybe one good one in a game. He's just a guy to pass the ball to on the right, then he'll pass back. Last night, Montoya was much more involed in attack and provided better opportunities and even took a few shots.

I'm only one of a great majority of people here who are mesmerized by Montoya's lack of minutes this season. It's inexplicable and a disgrace.

I agree that he probably has a lot to work on (he makes mistakes, I won't disagree) and that he hasn't been given many opportunities, but if gets decent playing time, he'll be a great RB. He's already very, very good. And as for the part where you don't want me to tell you that he's better defensively than Dani... Well, too bad, because he is. You had the opportunity to see that last night, as well. He spent a lot of time attacking, and unlike Alves, not only does Montoya track back, but he does it fast. These days Alves strolls back as if it weren't his job to defend at all.

 

[Yaya]

It's time to cash in on Alves. Still a good player but way past his prime, high earner and declining quickly.

 

[Keikoku]

Can we lower his wage? Like the first time when he signed with us, maybe he will back chasing back like crazy to get salary hike

 

[USWAY]

Make it happen, . It would be good to sell both him and Valdes to Monaco. We ought to sell our players to these wealthy clubs.

Yes! We should try and sell a package deal for like 40m.

 

[DonAndres]

Alves missing the previous game gave insight to many theories I had. His absence balanced the play out much better.

-Pedro was very involved in attack all night unlike usual when he's chained down by having to cover Alves. Although his finishing was dismal so he couldn't capitalize on all the chances he had.

-The play flowed through the left flank and thus, Alba had an amazing game running up and down the pitch and made us more fluid than we would have been had it been Dani who was dictating our flank play (yes, fullbacks have that much of an influence on buildup)

-Montoya balanced the play out very well and was efficient as a RB in attack

Overall Dani seems to really disrupt our flow right now. I don't see him linking up with one-two's much as opposed to running, stopping, receiving the ball, then wasting a cross. His playing style is wild and impractical in both defense and attack, thus reflecting on our buildup play to some extent. In form, he's great, but he's been very inconsistent this season and undeserving of a starting spot.

 

[Co0ter]

Yes! We should try and sell a package deal for like 40m.

Honestly, I love Dani, but I think this is the way to go. He hasn't been the same the last 1.5 seasons and Alba looks great on the attack and is a better defender than Alves. It's time to give Alba the freedom to attack and cement a defensive fullback on the right, like we used to do with Abidal on the left for Dani. Two offensive fullbacks was always doomed, I said that even when we were first being linked with Alba- it was just suicide for our defense.

I think Montoya is really good, probably a better defender than Dani but nothing offensively like Dani on form....but Montoya is young, he can improve that. The most important thing is his defending, and if that can improve then I'm all for a Montoya/Alba partnership. I would of liked a taller fullback to partner Alba though...

Alves/Valdez for 40mil to one of the oil money clubs is fine with me.

 

[Stric]

We should offer Alves + cash for Thiago Silva. Somehow I think PSG would be more likely to accept that than just cash.

 

[Gooch]

All the points about Alves are valid. He's slowed down and become predictable in attack, like the whole team. But his work rate and ball retention is excellent. Montoya on the other hand brings variety because he's less predictable - he doesn't _always_ go forward - which actually makes him more dangerous. He looks for the cross and sticks more to the line and doesn't come in and crowd the midfield like Alves. And he's more solid defensively partly because he's not always going forward. He's a better cross defender.

So I say keep both Alves and Montoya, but increase Montoya's playing time significantly and rest Alves more. We'll have true variety in the right back position. Of course, I'm not looking at the financial implications - I don't have access to Barca's books!!

 

[KhaledBarca]

We should offer Alves + cash for Thiago Silva. Somehow I think PSG would be more likely to accept that than just cash.

Alves + 10-15M for Thiago Silva seems fair!
Then, buy a defensive minded Right Back (example: Ivanovic).

 

[Galning]

I am aware that not everyone wants to post the rumours in the rumours' thread but if you want to post them in the players' specific threads at least post a source. From now on we will delete all rumours without sources.

 

[Mr Hulot]

Alves missing the previous game gave insight to many theories I had. His absence balanced the play out much better.

-Pedro was very involved in attack all night unlike usual when he's chained down by having to cover Alves. Although his finishing was dismal so he couldn't capitalize on all the chances he had.

-The play flowed through the left flank and thus, Alba had an amazing game running up and down the pitch and made us more fluid than we would have been had it been Dani who was dictating our flank play (yes, fullbacks have that much of an influence on buildup)

-Montoya balanced the play out very well and was efficient as a RB in attack

Overall Dani seems to really disrupt our flow right now. I don't see him linking up with one-two's much as opposed to running, stopping, receiving the ball, then wasting a cross. His playing style is wild and impractical in both defense and attack, thus reflecting on our buildup play to some extent. In form, he's great, but he's been very inconsistent this season and undeserving of a starting spot.

One game, against a mediocre Valladolid, that didn't even care to win, isn't a very reliable sample to prove or disprove any of your theories, I am afraid.

 

[DonAndres]

Never said it completely proves it or disproves it, just provides insight to a situation without Dani (which we've hardly seen for a while now). That's what I observed from the game and it's what I'll be looking to observe every time we play without Alves. The more consistent the observations remain, the more stability the theory has.

 

[darthvader7888]

Never said it completely proves it or disproves it, just provides insight to a situation without Dani (which we've hardly seen for a while now). That's what I observed from the game and it's what I'll be looking to observe every time we play without Alves. The more consistent the observations remain, the more stability the theory has.

I'm starting to think you and the others who are saying this have a point. There was that stretch from the 3-0 against Spartak until the 3-1 against Malaga when we were playing great, scoring 3-4 goals in pretty much every game. And Alves was injured for most of that stretch. Makes you wonder...

I'm starting to think I wouldn't mind us selling him if we could get another RB (Montoya should become the starter, but we do need depth) who costs as much as or less than what we get for Alves.

 

[MessiDinho10]

I'm starting to think you and the others who are saying this have a point. There was that stretch from the 3-0 against Spartak until the 3-1 against Malaga when we were playing great, scoring 3-4 goals in pretty much every game. And Alves was injured for most of that stretch. Makes you wonder...

I'm starting to think I wouldn't mind us selling him if we could get another RB (Montoya should become the starter, but we do need depth) who costs as much as or less than what we get for Alves.

A more defensive RB maybe? With some length and pace this ''player'' could be a good back up for Montoya if Alves leaves (which I hope he does).