David Villa

[Mes que un club]

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?

So everything good of Tito's Barca is not down to him, but everything bad is? If he had been injured he had been substituted. You don't know for who.

 

[Barcaman]

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?

Hard to argue there. Pointed out exact the same thing in the match thread. But that has nothing to do with Villa nor the fact we have more balance with Iniesta and Pedro than Iniesta and Villa.

I imagine now that Cesc is injured and Alexis is back (Cuenca soon too), Tito will move Iniesta back to midfield so we might see a different setup.

 

[Mes que un club]

+1

Tremendous avatar.

 

[Ursegor]

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'm not counter-intuitive at all. In fact you are. Betis could afford to push forward because we had only 1 guy in the team who could hit the back of the net. Betis could take the risk to play that offensively and gamble on leaving spaces behind without getting punished. The way they pushed forward if we had proper strikers upfront this game would have ended 5-1. Thiago chance. Alba chance. Pedro chance. Etc. If these chances fell infront of the feet of genuine goalscorers like Eto'o, Henry or or Villa this game doesn't end with just 2 goals for Barcelona.

But it's ok. Pedro and Sanchez are "hustling" and defending. That's enough. Barcelona has 2 Dirk Kuyts on the wings.

 

[Ursegor]

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.

Villa is on the same wage category as Xavi and Iniesta. There is no way he will become a "super sub". For financial reasons alone. He will leave next summer. Probably to Juventus.

 

[Mes que un club]

I'm not counter-intuitive at all. In fact you are. Betis could afford to push forward because we had only 1 guy in the team who could hit the back of the net. Betis could take the risk to play that offensively and gamble on leaving spaces behind without getting punished. The way they pushed forward if we had proper strikers upfront this game would have ended 5-1. Thiago chance. Alba chance. Pedro chance. Etc. If these chances fell infront of the feet of genuine goalscorers like Eto'o, Henry or or Villa this game doesn't end with just 2 goals for Barcelona.

But it's ok. Pedro and Sanchez are "hustling" and defending. That's enough. Barcelona has 2 Dirk Kuyts on the wings.

How am i being counter-intuitive?

Your analysis is the most over-simplified form of football-analysis there is. We had a chance, and we missed? Should've played a goalscorer instead. In fact, why don't we just play goalscorers in every position, as we never know who the chances might fall for, as in the case of Alba. After all, defending from the front is for players like Dirk Kuyt. We are barca. We shouldn't worry about such things.

 

[Trequartista]

Villa had a terrible, terrible game a few days ago against an "easy" opponent. I figure that's the reason Tito didn't bring him in or start him.

Sorry you cant give a player like david only minutes in.mickey mouse games and expect him to be motivated,anyway as sad as it is to see david being given a pinto role in the team,and as much as I think that tito should have handled thr situation better,cant blame titi as there is too much competetion and it lools that he doesnt like him
Anyway anyone noticed that villa didnt even complain about his minutes in press?class as ever,hope juve get rid of bendtner and matri and go all for him,best option for him now

 

[Stric]

It's a difficult situation for Villa. As Bojan said, now that Cesc is injured, Iniesta will probably move back to midfield, opening the LW spot, which is Villa's default. At the same time, Alexis is back from injury, so we still might see Alexis starting and Villa as a sub. I hope to see it the other way around by default.

 

[Ursegor]

We had a chance, and we missed? Should've played a goalscorer instead.

Yes, sometimes it's that easy. Especially when it's a symptomatic problem for Barcelona not just after this game but since every proper goalscorer has been driven away from the club and our games exclusively depend on Messi's individual form.

We might continue this discussion once I've cooled down. Alexis-Pedro combination gives me heart attacks.

 

[Stric]

And just to clear any misunderstanding, I'm not justifying Tito's (or whoever it is) decisions, if it was me, Villa would have had many more minutes by now.

 

[Mes que un club]

As for the talk of being insulting to David Villa, if anything is insulting to him it is the typical-barca-forum argument that he should play more, and play centrally so that he won't sulk and be offended, and can't bother to be motivated playing a few minutes on the wings. That is extremely insulting to the character of Villa, to suggest that he can't handle things not being handed to him on a silver-platter.

 

[Mes que un club]

Yes, sometimes it's that easy. Especially when it's a symptomatic problem for Barcelona not just after this game but since every proper goalscorer has been driven away from the club and our games exclusively depend on Messi's individual form.

We might continue this discussion once once I've cooled down. Alexis-Pedro combination gives me heart attacks.

Symptomatic problem? Well, the symptom of a problem would be if we didn't score enough. We have scored 50 goals in 15 league games. We are not lacking goals.

 

[Ursegor]

Symptomatic problem? Well, the symptom of a problem would be if we didn't score enough. We have scored 50 goals in 15 league games. We are not lacking goals.

Half of them scored by Messi. The other half probably either assisted or pre-assisted by Messi. The symptom is not the lack of goals. It's the lack of goals bar Messi. Once Messi is effectively guarded in a CL semi-final and no one else makes use of the extra spaces this will happen again:

 

[Ode to Django]

Sorry you cant give a player like david only minutes in.mickey mouse games and expect him to be motivated,anyway as sad as it is to see david being given a pinto role in the team,and as much as I think that tito should have handled thr situation better,cant blame titi as there is too much competetion and it lools that he doesnt like him
Anyway anyone noticed that villa didnt even complain about his minutes in press?class as ever,hope juve get rid of bendtner and matri and go all for him,best option for him now

Mido long time!

 

[Mes que un club]

Half of them scored by Messi. The other half probably either assisted or pre-assisted by Messi. The symptom is not the lack of goals. It's the lack of goals bar Messi. Once Messi is effectively guarded in a CL semi-final and no one else makes use of the extra spaces this will happen again:

Well, your arguments are finally boiled down to something which actually makes sense. That game is the extreme case. I do not wish for our clubs direction to be ruled exclusively by hypothetical extreme scenarios. In that game, the extra spaces were (barring the Camp Nou 2nd half) used very intelligently and very well. And i don't think that is really the argument you should intend to make; usage of space. The argument you could make was that Villa would have finished some of those chances, but i disagree with the mere notion that Villa by default buries all his chances. He does not. But more crucially, as i've already indicated, that game was a mixture of bad luck and, yes, lack of sharpness in front of goal - and even in that extreme scenario we are a missed penalty and a barrage of posts and bars away from being in the final.