David Villa

[ricknattery]

Perhaps a moment in the season will come when we will regret not playing Villa regularly, hopefully not next week or ever, things are going well now(it's just the beggining of the season, hard matches are yet to come) but we might regret the decision later. The staff should be more clear about his situation. Nobody can understand what is happening, the excuse of the injury is no longer of use

 

[Richard.H]

Perhaps a moment in the season will come when we will regret not playing Villa regularly, hopefully not next week or ever, things are going well now(it's just the beggining of the season, hard matches are yet to come) but we might regret the decision later. The staff should be more clear about his situation. Nobody can understand what is happening, the excuse of the injury is no longer of use

Trust me, we will regret it. It will hit us hard at some point, and I will bump this post when the time comes...

 

[Zuess99]

Playing Inesta at LW instead of Villa, weakend both our midfield and our scoring threat at LW. Messi was spending way too much time going back to help at midfield and that allowed Alonso and the other midfielders help mark (and maul) Messi instead of just the central defenders. With Inesta at midfield with Xavi, and busquets instead of Fabregas I feel Messi could have played higher and closer to goal against the makeshift central defenders and made it more difficult for the midfielders to help attack Messi.

There is obviously a problem other than Villa's form IMHO considering he is scoring at such a high rate. I am so pissed at the coaches right now I could chew nails. They should have let him go to Arsenal to at least get some playing time so the guy can earn a spot on the national team.

I agree with you, as a matter of fact I personally think Fabregas is the weak link, we should be playing the same players as we did in the last cl final accept for masch.
But I honestly dont like the fact that we have to put iniesta on the wing just to add fabregas to the starting line up. He should be a sub.

 

[Vapor]

Trust me, we will regret it. It will hit us hard at some point, and I will bump this post when the time comes...

I agree with both of you. Our MAIN problem keeping us out of winning both the CL and the league last year was lack of finishing, point black. Villa was SORELY SORELY missed. Now, we are nearing the final stretch of the season soon and once again we are having the SAME problem - great possession play, lack of finishing chances. Who is the BEST striker we have at creating and finishing chances up front? David Villa by a LONG SHOT.

I hope that this situation turns around because I too foresee it really biting us in the ass if the coaches keep up this rigidity in their way of thinking. Surely they must know that their entire fanbase is baffled at this decision... I'm interested to see where they go from here.

 

[barcanuck]

Playing Inesta at LW instead of Villa, weakend both our midfield and our scoring threat at LW. Messi was spending way too much time going back to help at midfield and that allowed Alonso and the other midfielders help mark (and maul) Messi instead of just the central defenders. With Inesta at midfield with Xavi, and busquets instead of Fabregas I feel Messi could have played higher and closer to goal against the makeshift central defenders and made it more difficult for the midfielders to help attack Messi.

There is obviously a problem other than Villa's form IMHO considering he is scoring at such a high rate. I am so pissed at the coaches right now I could chew nails. They should have let him go to Arsenal to at least get some playing time so the guy can earn a spot on the national team.

Fully agree here. I think Cesc has been having the best season of his life, but the only team we should not do the Iniesta on LW lineup is against Madrid. Iniesta played alot of midfield during the classico and Cesc was just stranded up front. Villa should be used on LW since he makes runs behind defenders for a living. Cesc is magnificent however but still not his ideal position going up front against Real with no pace is not going to open any runs up.

For the second classico we just need to go back to the basics of the Xavi-Busi-Iniesta mid with MVP up front and we'll be good.

Also another alternative I would like to see is the lineup Pep put out against Santos in club world cup with all Cesc, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Thiago out on the pitch against Real to see how that works.

 

[Papabeef]

Arsenal coach Wenger has indicated to staff he is going to turn his attention this summer to younger options instead of David Villa [people] @ Barcastuff

This is a great indication that Barca officials have given Arsenal very limited hope of selling Villa, which means theres a bigger chance (than i thought) he would stay for next season, which also means with the most probable arrival of Nerman the parting with Alexis seems ever more inevitable. Just my two cents, to be honest i'm a happy camper if all this happens, we could also use a CB and a replacement Keeper for Vv.. But Villa - Messi - Neymar or Neymar - Messi - Pedro will not be fun for our opponents

 

[FCBarca]

Or it just means Villa might go elsewhere, like City perhaps?

I really don't see him continuing past summer with us, especially if the Brasilian arrives

 

[Fourteen]

Yep. Even if Neymar doesn't sign I think he'll go. Therefore i'm hoping that his last few months are a successful one. It'll be hard to see my favourite ever striker leave without much playing time in his last season.

 

[darthvader7888]

Arsenal coach Wenger has indicated to staff he is going to turn his attention this summer to younger options instead of David Villa [people] @ Barcastuff

This is a great indication that Barca officials have given Arsenal very limited hope of selling Villa, which means theres a bigger chance (than i thought) he would stay for next season, which also means with the most probable arrival of Nerman the parting with Alexis seems ever more inevitable. Just my two cents, to be honest i'm a happy camper if all this happens, we could also use a CB and a replacement Keeper for Vv.. But Villa - Messi - Neymar or Neymar - Messi - Pedro will not be fun for our opponents

Iniesta-Messi-Neymar would be the best one. Shame Villa won't be getting a lot of playing time if that happens. Maybe rotate between Villa-Messi-Neymar and Iniesta-Messi-Neymar frequently. Either of them would be awesome. Though Villa's probably gonna leave if Neymar comes.
Anyways, a replacement keeper is probably coming. We'll probably have to wait on getting a CB if we get Neymar as well. Then again, Puyol with Bartra rotating with him could work for another season or so...
But yes, Neymar could make our attack fucking deadly.

 

[Scottro]

Here we go again.

The reason he's not playing is because he's off-form, not fit, constantly being plagued by injuries, and arguably getting a bit old for the winger's spot.

When the LW spot is available and Villa is fit enough to compete with Tello/Alexis, he gets his time. No mystery there. The only thing I mind is that he's never been tried on the right wing, which would additionally be another opportunity to get playing time.

No one can score goals at a rate of every 102 minutes played that is off form, not fit, or plagued by injures at this level of play. That is obvious really. He has been playing etremely well and has a higher finishing rate even than Messi.

 

[Der Kaiser]

And he has not been playing anywhere near as "decent" as Iniesta or Cesc for the better part of the season. I hate to say it, but it's true. He hasn't made a decent shot at goal in ages. He did other things well, but that's what's most important, considering the fact that his scoring is really the primary reason why anyone would support the idea of playing him instead of Alexis/Pedro/whoever.

Villa: 1133 minutes, 11 goals, 4 assists
Alexis: 1489 minutes, 3 goals, 5 assists

Stats are not everything but Villa is the 2nd best goal producer in the team behind Messi, thats why we want him to play instead of Alexis. 1goal/100 minutes plus a few assists here and there are exactly the stats he should have at this point in his career.

 

[Youngie]

No one can score goals at a rate of every 102 minutes played that is off form, not fit, or plagued by injures at this level of play. That is obvious really. He has been playing etremely well and has a higher finishing rate even than Messi.

Goal scoring i.e. finishing is a reflex. Nothing to do with being match fit or not.

 

[Cule4life]

Goal scoring i.e. finishing is a reflex. Nothing to do with being match fit or not.

That reflex is what decides matches. The whole point of playing football is to score more goals than the opposition. And if he's never gonna be match fit why didn't Barca sell him and use Tello? And not being match fit doesn't prevent him from playing 20-30 minutes a match . But our coaching staff seems to forget that there are actually 3 subs allowed in football

 

[Youngie]

That reflex is what decides matches. The whole point of playing football is to score more goals than the opposition. And if he's never gonna be match fit why didn't Barca sell him and use Tello? And not being match fit doesn't prevent him from playing 20-30 minutes a match . But our coaching staff seems to forget that there are actually 3 subs allowed in football

No point getting mad at me

 

[Cule4life]

No point getting mad at me

Just stating my point Bro no hostility