Daniel Alves

[Cule4life]

I have watched Montoya this season and I have to say Alves is Eons ahead of him.

You also think Pedro has been better than Alexis this season.

 

[DinhoR10]

You also think Pedro has been better than Alexis this season.

Scoring wise he had been.

But I just think Alves plays too much like a winger to be paired with Mascherano or Pique he needs someone like Bartra to cover the gaping hole he leaves back. Alba has the speed and stamina to run back and get in position so it's less noticeable on his end. Alba-Montoya/Adriano or Adriano-Alves should be the only combos we use when everyone is fit and which one we use should be determined by the strength of the other team's full backs and wingers.

 

[pawanme10]

Wow. People in here are murdering Alves for RB. His defending is suspect, but we knew that already, didn't we?
We play him for his attacking abilities to be able to also play as right winger while being an RB.
Someone also mentioned that he is a "goddamn right back". At Barça, we do not sit behind and absorb pressure like some teams with disciplined lines of 4.

Also, his crosses- guys go see a traditional long-ball crossing team like United getting it wrong almost every single time. Crosses don't ping into a forward's head. Forwards usually attack crosses.
We know that other than Pique none of our squad members can actually attack a cross.
Even with such a squad Alves manages to put in some great crosses and all I see here are people murdering him for a couple of crosses.
His cross has won us our only trophy so far this season.
Welcome back, Dani. You were missed.

 

[BarçAjax8]

He's not "infinitely better" than Montoya at either of the things you mentioned. You act like Dani is a semi god and Montoya some crappy Getafe reject. But I guess that's just the way it is, once you have your mind set on something, it's hard to change it and you immerse yourself in exaggerations and overstatements to prove your point.

Let's just be objective for a moment, he had an ok game, but he was by no means a lot better than Montoya has been in the last couple of games; he could do a lot better so your timing of hailing him and belittling Montoya is strange to say the least. You saying he was a "fresh breath of air and actually dangerous" makes me question your integrity and objectiveness, considering Montoya was often in very dangerous positions and even had an assist in the last game he played.

Well said! +1

 

[darthvader7888]

Wow. People in here are murdering Alves for RB. His defending is suspect, but we knew that already, didn't we?
We play him for his attacking abilities to be able to also play as right winger while being an RB.
Someone also mentioned that he is a "goddamn right back". At Barça, we do not sit behind and absorb pressure like some teams with disciplined lines of 4.

Also, his crosses- guys go see a traditional long-ball crossing team like United getting it wrong almost every single time. Crosses don't ping into a forward's head. Forwards usually attack crosses.
We know that other than Pique none of our squad members can actually attack a cross.
Even with such a squad Alves manages to put in some great crosses and all I see here are people murdering him for a couple of crosses.
His cross has won us our only trophy so far this season.
Welcome back, Dani. You were missed.

If no one is likely to meet the cross... THEN DON'T FUCKING CROSS.

 

[DonAK]

Just a few days ago I was hearing on here on how Montoya sucks, how Montoya is not Barca quality and how Alves is 100000000x better than him.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

He's not "infinitely better" than Montoya at either of the things you mentioned. You act like Dani is a semi god and Montoya some crappy Getafe reject. But I guess that's just the way it is, once you have your mind set on something, it's hard to change it and you immerse yourself in exaggerations and overstatements to prove your point.

Let's just be objective for a moment, he had an ok game, but he was by no means a lot better than Montoya has been in the last couple of games; he could do a lot better so your timing of hailing him and belittling Montoya is strange to say the least. You saying he was a "fresh breath of air and actually dangerous" makes me question your integrity and objectiveness, considering Montoya was often in very dangerous positions and even had an assist in the last game he played.

It's not hard to get into dangerous positions; all you do is run down the line and yell "Overlap!" and the chances that a winger will actually mark you are really slim. I should know, I play right back. That's not what determines if a right back is good at attacking or not. Montoya has one attacking play, and, aside from one assist, it never worked. All he does is get the ball out wide, take a touch, and put in a low cross. Every single time, mostly because he took a touch, it was blocked. Every single time. Alves, on the other hand, frequently got it into the box yesterday and had Alexis's positioning been better he might have gotten a goal or two. Not to mention Alves doesn't cross it every time, he can actually go inside and produce passes like the one that set up Sergi Roberto, can you really see Montoya doing that right now?

If no one is likely to meet the cross... THEN DON'T FUCKING CROSS.

Darth, in that case no one would ever cross, or take a long shot, or even play a throughball; just because the probability of someone scoring from it is less than 50% doesn't mean it's not worth the time, as 1/10 is still more than 0/0. Dani has assisted tons of goals with his crosses and will continue to do so as long as he's at this club, he provides a valuable attacking outlet on the right that Montoya, as of yet, cannot replicate.

 

[Maria]

Wow. People in here are murdering Alves for RB. His defending is suspect, but we knew that already, didn't we?
We play him for his attacking abilities to be able to also play as right winger while being an RB.
Someone also mentioned that he is a "goddamn right back". At Barça, we do not sit behind and absorb pressure like some teams with disciplined lines of 4.

We knew that Alves is not the best defender in the world and we accepted it because what he gave us in atack was invaluable and because at LB we had Abidal and better CBs. But now with Jordi Alba at LB, with Pique&Masche&Puyol being worse than they were before, unfortunatelly Dani's weaknesses are more visible. And they are going to be a problem in CL.

 

[Alarcón]

It's not hard to get into dangerous positions; all you do is run down the line and yell "Overlap!" and the chances that a winger will actually mark you are really slim.

I wonder why Dani rarely does it anymore these days. If it was so easy to get into these positions and Dani was so much better at decision-making than Montoya, he would have 3 assists per match.

I should know, I play right back.

I think there's a little difference between professional and amateur football...

That's not what determines if a right back is good at attacking or not.

Then tell me what does.

Montoya has one attacking play, and, aside from one assist, it never worked. All he does is get the ball out wide, take a touch, and put in a low cross.

Montoya has shown in the last couple of games that he does more than that. His link-up play is not as good as Dani's at the moment, but it's solid. He also plays great through balls, but of course you wouldn't notice if all you ever thought was how "infinitely better" Dani is at basically everything.

Every single time, mostly because he took a touch, it was blocked. Every single time.

There were only 1 or 2 times where Montoya was clearly at fault; we have seen him do a lot better in these kinds of situations and yet all you seem to remember are the ones he messed up.

Alves, on the other hand, frequently got it into the box yesterday and had Alexis's positioning been better he might have gotten a goal or two.

You could say the same about Montoya. I am amazed how you fail to realise you're applying double standards for those two players.

Not to mention Alves doesn't cross it every time

Oh yes he does. I find it funny how the one thing that you're constantly holding in Dani's esteem - his decision making - Montoya is actually better at. He might not be as skillful in attack as Dani but he's certainly more intelligent and only puts in crosses when he sees a good opportunity. Dani crosses too often, I suspect because he's too impatient or doesn't know what to do with the ball.

he can actually go inside and produce passes like the one that set up Sergi Roberto, can you really see Montoya doing that right now?

Yes I could and if you didn't let your irrational love for Dani affect your memory, you could, too. He's done exactly that plenty of times.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

I wonder why Dani rarely does it anymore these days. If it was so easy to get into these positions and Dani was so much better at decision-making than Montoya, he would have 3 assists per match.

What do you mean, he gets into dangerous positions all the time, a right back with the ball near the goal line is in a dangerous position, just because you get into a position doesn't mean anything will result from it.

I think there's a little difference between professional and amateur football...

The difference is mostly in ability; tactics-wise, amateur coaches take what works at professional level and apply it at whatever level they're at. Any player can learn principles, knowing them takes no skill, the hard part is applying them.

He also plays great through balls

Yes I could and if you didn't let your irrational love for Dani affect your memory, you could, too. He's done exactly that plenty of times.

When? I don't remember that at all...

There were only 1 or 2 times where Montoya was clearly at fault; we have seen him do a lot better in these kinds of situations and yet all you seem to remember are the ones he messed up.

You could say the same about Montoya. I am amazed how you fail to realise you're applying double standards for those two players.

1 or 2 times? Pretty much every time except for his assist, here's what happened. We worked the ball around the midfield and quickly got it to Montoya, who, had he taken the first time cross, would probably have a lot more assists. Instead, he took a touch, and every time a defender managed to get in the way to block it. That was all we were discussing those games, how Montoya needs to improve on his first-time crossing because he keeps taking a touch and delaying for too long. Alves, on the other hand, gets the cross in early pretty much every time.

I mean, just look at their attacking statistics - I admit, Montoya has 2 assists to Dani's 1, so he wins at that. But look at every other area of the game:

(All of these stats are per game)
Key Passes: Montoya 0.3, Dani 1.4
Average Passes: Montoya 45.8, Dani 67.1
Pass Success: Montoya 86.7, Dani 87.6 (not a huge difference but nevertheless )
Accurate Crosses: Montoya 0.3, Dani 1.2
Long Balls: Montoya 1.6, Dani 1.9
Through Balls: Montoya 0, Dani 0.4
Dribbles: Montoya 1, Dani 1
Fouled: Montoya 0.8, Dani 1.7
Dispossessed: Montoya 0.9, Dani 0.9
Turnovers: Montoya 0.9, Dani 0.7

How you can say that Dani's worse at attacking than Montoya is beyond me.

 

[pawanme10]

We knew that Alves is not the best defender in the world and we accepted it because what he gave us in atack was invaluable and because at LB we had Abidal and better CBs. But now with Jordi Alba at LB, with Pique&Masche&Puyol being worse than they were before, unfortunatelly Dani's weaknesses are more visible. And they are going to be a problem in CL.

Our team's overall defending weakness is exposed when we lose the ball in midfield. When he used to play along side a MF trio of Xavi, Busi, Iniesta we'd almost never lose the ball in midfield. Possession was also our defense in a sense. So, in matches where we are not going to have as much possession we simply have to play Adriano instead of Alba. Or Montoya instead of Alves, whichever suits the bill.

 

[linetty]

 

[CatalinR10]

 

[barcanuck]

He's a cool dood no doubt, but those short shorts

 

[Behrox]

They should censor Dani's and Song's pics from the torso to their feet and the head too if they wear sunglasses or a hat