David Villa

[Stric]

But I will admit to the naysayers that all these circumstances (injury, rotation, Iniesta on the wing, Villa's bad games etc.) can really look suspicious if you want them to.

 

[Ursegor]

Tito is destroying Villa's confidence. That's all he does. So what if he had a bad game last week? When a striker doesn't play consistently he won't perform consistently. Rocket science. When Cesc played like crap Tito stuck with him for months until it worked. Playing Alexis who a) came back from a 4 week injury and b) didn't set the world on fire before his injury anyway ahead of Villa is almost insulting. Seeing Alexis flopping in the penalty box again and Pedro not scoring for 936 games now while Villa doesn't get a minute - fucking hell.

 

[La Furia]

I'm looking forward to the day he leaves this team.


Meta has been proposing on twitter that he be used exclusively as a sub from now on; he has the right to demand a transfer if that's the case.

 

[Vapor]

Tito is destroying Villa's confidence. That's all he does. So what if he had a bad game last week? When a striker doesn't play consistently he won't perform consistently. Rocket science. When Cesc played like crap Tito stuck with him for months until it worked. Playing Alexis who a) came back from a 4 week injury and b) didn't set the world on fire before his injury anyway ahead of Villa is almost insulting. Seeing Alexis flopping in the penalty box again and Pedro not scoring for 936 games now while Villa doesn't get a minute - fucking hell.

Exactly. This is the thing. Villa has proven to be the 2nd or 3rd most deadly goal scorer we have... as well as having some GREAT games with crazy backheels and interplay with the wingers. Our 2nd best goalscorer... and he's replaced by arguably our worst player up front this season, who's just coming off of an injury.

If there was any time to logically play Villa, it was at SOME point in this game. Either right after Cesc got subbed off or some time in the 2nd half when we needed another goal to secure our lead and gain some comfort.

 

[Mes que un club]

a) came back from a 4 week injury and b) didn't set the world on fire before his injury anyway ahead of Villa is almost insulting.

a) You all insisted that he should play Villa more when he was just coming back from a much longer injury. b) Neither did Villa. The barcaforum army were hating on Villa's every move before he got injured last season, the same way they are hating on Alexis and joining the Villa-loving-Tito-conspiracy bandwagon now.

 

[Dan1983]

All I am going to say is, we needed someone to kill the game off at 2-1 and Villa would've been the best sub for it as he is a better scorer then Pedro and Sanchez.

 

[La Furia]

All I am going to say is, we needed someone to kill the game off at 2-1 and Villa would've been the best sub for it as he is a better scorer then Pedro and Sanchez.

Tito wanted to keep the pace up though, I think the argument is Villa is too slow.

 

[Mes que un club]

All I am going to say is, we needed someone to kill the game off at 2-1 and Villa would've been the best sub for it as he is a better scorer then Pedro and Sanchez.

Or you could say we needed added defensive security, more energy, more pace; which Alexis and Pedro brought.

 

[Mes que un club]

Tito is destroying Villa's confidence. That's all he does.

Thank god you are not paranoid, btw.

 

[Mes que un club]

One more thing, in all the time i've been a barca-fan one of (if not the) biggest fall-downs of our team has been employing too many stars at the expense of balance. Tito is doing the opposite; balance at the expense of stars. The best way, though i like Villa.

 

[Ursegor]

Or you could say we needed added defensive security and more work-ethic; which Alexis and Pedro brought.

We didn't need "defensive security". Betis scored a goal and hit the woodwork 3 times. Where was the defensive security you're talking about? We needed someone with a serious goalscoring aura upfront other than Messi. Which automatically pins the opponent back and brings "defensive security" because every defender respects David Villa but no one respects Alexis or Pedro who TOGETHER have 1 goal in La Liga after 15 games.

And it's a myth that Villa doesn't do his defensive job anyway. He works as hard as Pedro or Alexis. Just because he doesn't flap around with his arms while running doesn't mean he doesn't track back.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

a) You all insisted that he should play Villa more when he was just coming back from a much longer injury. b) Neither did Villa. The barcaforum army were hating on Villa's every move before he got injured last season, the same way they are hating on Alexis and joining the Villa-loving-Tito-conspiracy bandwagon now.

+1

 

[Barcaman]

Tito is destroying Villa's confidence. That's all he does.

Well, that + breaking records to La Liga start etc. Among other things.
One can hardly argue with his selection of players. Particularly when you have Iniesta occupying one place on the flank you need a hard working winger on the other to have some balance.

 

[Ursegor]

Well, that + breaking records to La Liga start etc. Among other things.

That's not down to Tito. It's down to Messi's individual brilliance. If Messi would have been injured today please tell me who was going to score. Alexis? Pedro?

 

[Mes que un club]

We didn't need "defensive security". Betis scored a goal and hit the woodwork 3 times. Where was the defensive security you're talking about? We needed someone with a serious goalscoring aura upfront other than Messi. Which automatically pins the opponent back and brings "defensive security" because every defender respects David Villa but no one respects Alexis or Pedro who TOGETHER have 1 goal in La Liga after 15 games.

And it's a myth that Villa doesn't do his defensive job anyway. He works as hard as Pedro or Alexis. Just because he doesn't flap around with his arms while running doesn't mean he doesn't track back.

Well, you're being extremely counter-intuitive here. We needed the defensive security exactly because Betis were capable of scoring a goal and being dangerous enough to hit the woodwork 3 times. I didn't say it brought full-on defensive security; but neither you nor i know that it didn't add to it more than introducing Villa would have. The aura argument is ridiculous. Thankfully Tito doesn't play players based on aura, but rather based on footballing qualities and tactical considerations.

Sure, Villa does a decent amount of defensive work. And i never said he doesn't track back, full stop. His defensive work doesn't match up to that of Alexis and Pedro though; partly based on pace, partly on pure, unmatched work-rate, partly on immense stamina to keep running and working for 90 minutes, partly on using their raw pace and movement to pin opposing full-backs back.