Daniel Alves

[suckabov]

Well, the reaction to Semi-Neutral's statement made it seem like his opinion is sooo "off the mark", which is bollocks. While you might disagree that we have the best defense Europe (I don't necessarily think so either), it is way more "off the mark" to go on about how it is among the worst in the world. Which is quite an annoying tendency on here. Seems like every bit of positive thinking has to be trolled at as if it was some sign of stupidity.

 

[PhilS]

This year, Barca has had an amazingly effective defense considering the number of injuries and the amount of systematic risk there is in the Barca defensive scheme.

It is fashionable on this forum to pretend that the Barca defense is miserable, despite their excellent record so far this year. Since I am from the United States, hearing this sort of persistent denial of reality is familiar, since of course we do have quite a few Republicans in our fine country.

Alves will never be the primarily defensive type of full back that plays in other good defenses. Alves and Alba only actually play fullback for parts of each game. Much of the time, Barca is playing with a very high 3 man backline of Barta/Masch, Busquets and Pique. With runs forward by those 3, leaving a back 2.

Barca is not set up to defend in numbers, particularly against the counter. Every game, Barca has to defend some attacks with only as many defenders, as attackers, or even being outnumbered. I don't care who you have in your defense, when you don't have enough men back, one on one defenders will get beat fairly often, with no cover. Then you need a Victor Valdes, but even he will not stop them all. The flip side of this lack of numerical commitment is the huge contribution to the offense by players who on other teams would be staying back just in case they are needed in defense. How is this working out? Pretty damn well, even though it can look bad at times.

No, Barca will never play defense as effectively as the stingiest Serie A teams, that is not the Barca way.

 

[CatalinR10]

Nice glasses

 

[DavidVillano1]

He is wide off the mark, as shown by his other posts. He claimed Barcelona's defence has been better than Roma, yet they've let in less goals. Roma have let in ONE goal.

As footyfan pointed out, he tried to show Barcelona are top of the list, when in-fact when sorted correctly that's not the case. I don't care if Roma have had more shots against them, those could be 40 yard shots..... I'm basing him being 'wide of the mark' on watching both teams.

It's clear to me Barcelona have issues defensively, the defensive stats need to be looked at in context, Barcelona have much more of the ball so the stats will always look much better because the opposition don't get as much possession in the final third. When put under pressure Barcelona's defending looks suspect and has done this season already...

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Not sure how my "other" posts show how wrong I am in this one, but that's not the point. Serie A, and especially Roma's opponents are of a much lower caliber than ours. From what I know, Inter and Lazio are both decent, but the other teams that they have played? The likes of Sevilla, Valencia, and Sociedad (admittedly poor due to lack of depth this season) are much better than them.

Barcelona have much more of the ball so the stats will always look much better because the opposition don't get as much possession in the final third.

Yes? That's how we play? That's like saying "because they put ten players behind the ball, their defensive abilities don't really count". It's not that we just "have" more possession, it's that due to our quality we are able to keep more possession and that in itself is a way of defending! By our defense being the best in the world, I don't mean our individual defenders, I mean as a team, we are currently defending the best.

Put it this way. If we played Roma right now, would you bet on their defense stopping Messi, Neymar, Cesc and Sanchez? And how many goals do you think the likes of Gervinho and Ljajic and Florenzi will put past us? I could see an absolute maximum of two goals going in if we played Roma with both starting XIs in place.

 

[lostchild]

Well, the reaction to Semi-Neutral's statement made it seem like his opinion is sooo "off the mark", which is bollocks. While you might disagree that we have the best defense Europe (I don't necessarily think so either), it is way more "off the mark" to go on about how it is among the worst in the world. Which is quite an annoying tendency on here. Seems like every bit of positive thinking has to be trolled at as if it was some sign of stupidity.

who cares about other teams in europe?

personally im just sick and tired of seeing Alves shooting crosses to the corner flag, and wandering around attacking without bothering to go back when he's clearly needed, considering the awful performances of Pique (falling down for no reason, cant seem to get any headers.. etc. but thats for another thread)

thats all.
i could give a tiny crap about Roma tbh

 

[Semi-Neutral]

But why, if one of our CBs is so bad and the RB doesn't even bother to come back, if every time he puts in a cross it goes to the touchline, then why are we still undefeated in all competitions? How can half of our defense be as bad as you say but us not concede more than we do?

 

[JamDav1982]

who cares about other teams in europe?

personally im just sick and tired of seeing Alves shooting crosses to the corner flag, and wandering around attacking without bothering to go back when he's clearly needed, considering the awful performances of Pique (falling down for no reason, cant seem to get any headers.. etc. but thats for another thread)

thats all.
i could give a tiny crap about Roma tbh

His crossing isnt shit and any wide player Barca has one of the hardest jobs at crossing a ball in world football. The number of assists he get every season proves he does not have a poor final ball.

As for making him out to be lazy and never tracking back he along with Xavi has been the player to cover more ground than the other players in the team.

He is an easy target for some but is still well worth his place in the team and a far more complete full back than the likes of Alba.

 

[lostchild]

But why, if one of our CBs is so bad and the RB doesn't even bother to come back, if every time he puts in a cross it goes to the touchline, then why are we still undefeated in all competitions? How can half of our defense be as bad as you say but us not concede more than we do?

because the teams we played against so far were horrible. ?
actually there are only few strong teams that can compete with us at the moment..
and again i dont care if we win or not, its not only about that, and like i said before Dani Alves has his positive spots.. i never said he's a total failure

i just really believe we can get a better player, also maybe younger and more determined.. and smarter

His crossing isnt shit and any wide player Barca has one of the hardest jobs at crossing a ball in world football. The number of assists he get every season proves he does not have a poor final ball.
As for making him out to be lazy and never tracking back he along with Xavi has been the player to cover more ground than the other players in the team.
He is an easy target for some but is still well worth his place in the team and a far more complete full back than the likes of Alba.

if you enjoy watching him play, thats your issue. i dont.

about the crosses or ground covering
seriously
i cant even respond to that anymore. tiring.

 

[JamDav1982]

because the teams we played against so far were horrible. ?
actually there are only few strong teams that can compete with us at the moment..
and again i dont care if we win or not, its not only about that, and like i said before Dani Alves has his positive spots.. i never said he's a total failure

i just really believe we can get a better player, also maybe younger and more determined.. and smarter



if you enjoy watching him play, thats your issue. i dont.

about the crosses or ground covering
seriously
i cant even respond to that anymore. tiring.

Well thank god you dont pick the team and those that do know what they are doing.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

because the teams we played against so far were horrible. ?
actually there are only few strong teams that can compete with us at the moment..

Atletico is great, Valencia is good and Sevilla and Celtic are decent. The 1 goal conceded in two games against Atletico is especially impressive...

 

[lostchild]

Well thank god you dont pick the team and those that do know what they are doing.

 

[DavidVillano1]

So apparently Lazio and Inter are on Celtic's level of being decent?

The likes of Levante, Rayo, Almeria and Valladolid are hardly greater quality than the likes of Parma, Sampdoria etc.

But Barcelona are not defending the best at all, that's the whole point, you've already been shown the goals conceded by other clubs from footyfan which is a better record than Barcelona's. I'm not sure if your a Barcelona or Arsenal fan as you us 'we' when talking about both, but I do know sometimes you're unsure when Barcelona are on or fail to see the games. Against Valencia, Celtic etc Barcelona were very lucky not to lose more goals. Similar against Malaga, At Madrid and Sevilla. Sevilla having a fine goal ruled out which would have been 3 in one match.

Not to mention Valdes has been on excellent form and saved two penalties. Barcelona have had issues defensively and have let in 7 goals in 12 games. That is not a great record at all and in all honestly it could have been even worse. Barcelona have not been great defensively and it's been commented on constantly during the games. Either you're basing Barcelona's defending on that whoscored rating which is for overall performances or you haven't watched the games because the defending has certainly not been the best in Europe and it's been a long way from it.

Totti would score against Barcelona and Roma's counter attacking would certainly hurt Barcelona much more than what you've faced this season outside At Madrid.... but of course Roma would struggle to keep a clean sheet. But this season so far they've been more secure than Barcelona defensively, I'm convinced you've not watched any of Roma's games.

 

[JamDav1982]

So apparently Lazio and Inter are on Celtic's level of being decent?

The likes of Levante, Rayo, Almeria and Valladolid are hardly greater quality than the likes of Parma, Sampdoria etc.

But Barcelona are not defending the best at all, that's the whole point, you've already been shown the goals conceded by other clubs from footyfan which is a better record than Barcelona's. I'm not sure if your a Barcelona or Arsenal fan as you us 'we' when talking about both, but I do know sometimes you're unsure when Barcelona are on or fail to see the games. Against Valencia, Celtic etc Barcelona were very lucky not to lose more goals. Similar against Malaga, At Madrid and Sevilla. Sevilla having a fine goal ruled out which would have been 3 in one match.

Not to mention Valdes has been on excellent form and saved two penalties. Barcelona have had issues defensively and have let in 7 goals in 12 games. That is not a great record at all and in all honestly it could have been even worse. Barcelona have not been great defensively and it's been commented on constantly during the games. Either you're base Barcelona's defending on that whoscored rating which is for overall performances or you don't watch the games because the defending has certainly not been the best in Europe and it's been a long way from it.

Totti would score against Barcelona and Roma's counter attacking would certainly hurt Barcelona much more than what you've had this season outside At Madrid.....

The defending has not been bad at all it is seems that people cannot accept teams getting a few chances during a game.

The team are no longer trying to purely dominate the ball for 90 mins, they are trying to play on the break more which may well mean a few more chances for the opposition but hopefully gives the team a few more options going forward.

What top team in europe in your opinion has been the best defensively?

 

[DavidVillano1]

The defending has not been bad at all it is seems that people cannot accept teams getting a few chances during a game.

The team are no longer trying to purely dominate the ball for 90 mins, they are trying to play on the break more which may well mean a few more chances for the opposition but hopefully gives the team a few more options going forward.

What top team in europe in your opinion has been the best defensively?

I never said the defending was 'bad' however it's certainly not been the best!

Surely you can't deny that Barcelona have had some issues this season defensively? Two goals(should have been three against Sevilla) Two against Valencia. Ajax, At Madrid, Celtic creating chances etc. It's not been good enough for one if not the best club in world football, IMO.

Suppose it depends on who you would regard as the top team. Overall I would say Bayern Munich.