I don't follow... I was saying we don't.
I think there's a "don't" missing in the "I'm not going to be convinced that we have a better squad right now."
Yeah, I made a mistake.
A proper captain is what we need, 2010-2011 was able to keep up the intensity because of Puyol according to the players testimonials, no offense to him but xavi is too quiet I think they need a general to corral them. Bartra seems to do it when he's on the field I'm not saying give him the arm band but having a general-type player on the team is needed to keep the intensity up I believe (Maybe have Puyol stand next to Tata and shout?)
In 2011-2012 Puyol played more than he did in 2010-2011 or in 2012-2013..yet we didn't win the league then. Not to mention that we also had Puyol in 2007-2008, when Ronaldinho was training when he wanted and Eto'o was calling Rijkaard a bad person, while Puyol and Xavi were looking the other way. So even though Puyol has always been important to us, the coach is far more important when it comes to motivating his team. And with that being said, I would apreciate Tata more if from time to time he would shout at his players instead of the 4th referee.
I think this is correct. The squad is better now on paper, but the players are:
1. not as motivated as they were.
2. not willing to work as hard as they did.
Those are key factors you absolutely need to have to win titles. We don't have them anymore, not in same degree we had them under Pep. Guardiola sensed that a major change was needed in the team after 2012, when our lack of concentration and motivation showed in many matches that season, Getafe away (1-0), Osasuna away (3-2), Villareal away (0-0), Sociedad away (from 0-2 to 2-2).
Actually I think that he sense it in 2011 and that's why he tried so many things in his last season. But like you said, the players didn't had the same motivation, the luck wasn't there(at 2-0 against Sociedad Alexis gets injured and Villa comes in and then he makes that back-pass, 2 penalties denied against Valencia for example, Messi missing his penalty against Sevilla, Getafe needing only one shot on target to win against us
and then there were the games against Chelsea
), we had numerous injuries and we end up playing with Adriano, Tello or Cuenca in atack(that for those who are still saying that we were having an amazing squad), plus Messi scored only one goal in the league games away from home until January.
Right now, with teams like Atletico, Barcelona and Real - which all have world class players -, the one thing that will decide the winner is the pure desire to win and give 100% everytime, against any team you meet. Out of the three, we are last at this chapter.
And Atletico is probably first..plus they have Simeone, who looks like a man on a mission.
