Gerardo "Tata" Martino

[Meitux]

Well said. Problem is the market is not kind to us, I mean that Marquinos cost 40 million? That's ludicous.

The truth is that transfer market is gone crazy right now, even after one season valued so high. But its mostly due to PSG Monaco or City that are really careless of paying so huge amounts, so from the moment those teams are able and want to pay those amouts, prices will go even higher in the future..

 

[darthvader7888]

Yeah,the truth is that we wanted a defender 2 seasons ago, even before the start of 2011-2012 season. Its not like hard to understand that we need someone, but the just kept on ignoring it and ignoring it making of the excuses like ''Adriano can play as CB ''we signed Song because he is also capable of playing CB'' (which isn't the truth actually). And keep relying on an way off form Pique, a defensive midfielder in Mascherano who is not good playing as defender and on a 35 injury prone Puyol who they if hes fit we won't have problems there. But that isn't the case really, everybody who doesn't want to lie himself knows that Puyol is unfortunatelly at the start of the ending...

Our best options right now is signing someone with potential, if they are cheap they won't make the big of difference if they fail, but if any of them performs we have a player for now and improving for the future. Varane surely is a big example of it, its not like every of them will flourish but we need to take risks at the moment.

Yeah, I also think signing a youngster with potential could be our best option now. There aren't that many experienced world class CBs available.

 

[Corb]

Well said. Problem is the market is not kind to us, I mean that Marquinos cost 40 million? That's ludicous.

The is nonsense. The price of the things are the quantity of money you're going to accept for it and for how much money the seller is going to ask for getting rid of it.

 

[oz187]

Actually the ideal was to bring 2 cbs. This kind of mentality, that you share with the board, is the cause of so many setbacks. Pique has no competition, and as a guaranteed starter he is getting sloppier by the minute. Masch is no cb, and after playing so much, it shows. Adriano the same, they hardly get the job done, both have terrible positioning. Bartra is far from the finished product, and to imagine a cb pairing of Masch/Adriano, or Masch/Bartra, or Adriano/Bartra gives me the chills. It's too much for a club as big as Barça. It's amateuristic stuff.

Bringing 2 CBs is just stupid. That would mean you have 5 players competing for 2 positions. It's not practical. 4 Players + Cantera is what would be optimum. Mascherano also is a CB now. He played a winning Champions League final there, he's played in a record winning league campaign there. He's not the best, but he's more than good enough for a 4 man rotation.

The board also doesn't share my mentality. I would have paid 40-50M for Thiago Silva two seasons ago and then there would have been no issues. This season I would have renewed Abidal. Even now I'd get a player for 4th choice since Thiago Silva isn't available. I'd even go for Vincent Kompany but he's not available either. What I don't advocate is panic spending 50M on a player that hardly plays.

As for those combinations giving you the chills. Adriano/Bartra was the combination in a 3-0 away win to Zaragoza. It's not what you'd want against Bayern, but against most of the fodder in La Liga what we have can do the job, especially in our home games where we often dominate completely.

 

[Flavia]

Bringing 2 CBs is just stupid. That would mean you have 5 players competing for 2 positions. It's not practical. 4 Players + Cantera is what would be optimum. Mascherano also is a CB now. He played a winning Champions League final there, he's played in a record winning league campaign there. He's not the best, but he's more than good enough for a 4 man rotation.

The board also doesn't share my mentality. I would have paid 40-50M for Thiago Silva two seasons ago and then there would have been no issues. This season I would have renewed Abidal. Even now I'd get a player for 4th choice since Thiago Silva isn't available. I'd even go for Vincent Kompany but he's not available either. What I don't advocate is panic spending 50M on a player that hardly plays.

As for those combinations giving you the chills. Adriano/Bartra was the combination in a 3-0 away win to Zaragoza. It's not what you'd want against Bayern, but against most of the fodder in La Liga what we have can do the job, especially in our home games where we often dominate completely.

Stupid is not bringing anyone. 2 cbs and bartra leaving on loan would be the best choice. He needs time and right now he is not good enough. Masch is no cb, he has showed this time and again. He has showed already in pre season, against bayern. Bad positioning, and not tall enough/bad on air. He used to get away with it because of the pressing. Still, he's far from being the ideal starter cb for a club like Barça. Last season Barça conceded too much, the most in some decades. Having to count on adriano or bartra for cb, even against weak oposition, is also stupid. Adriano is no cb and has terrible positioning. Not to mention he's always injured.

 

[Meitux]

Bringing 2 CBs is just stupid. That would mean you have 5 players competing for 2 positions. It's not practical. 4 Players + Cantera is what would be optimum. Mascherano also is a CB now. He played a winning Champions League final there, he's played in a record winning league campaign there. He's not the best, but he's more than good enough for a 4 man rotation.

The board also doesn't share my mentality. I would have paid 40-50M for Thiago Silva two seasons ago and then there would have been no issues. This season I would have renewed Abidal. Even now I'd get a player for 4th choice since Thiago Silva isn't available. I'd even go for Vincent Kompany but he's not available either. What I don't advocate is panic spending 50M on a player that hardly plays.

As for those combinations giving you the chills. Adriano/Bartra was the combination in a 3-0 away win to Zaragoza. It's not what you'd want against Bayern, but against most of the fodder in La Liga what we have can do the job, especially in our home games where we often dominate completely.

Your only excuses about this defence is the leauge. But you don't remember that we almost conceded in every game, we didn't win the leauge because of good defending but from Messi's brilliance scoring and securing a win. This won't happen in a big game, and of course the biggest example is Bayern, we were clueless attacking and because our defence was so bad we didn't stand a chance, i mean how really can you compare the weak la liga teams with big teams.

The question is, are you so smalled minded that you actually believe what matters is the number of players we have in defence? What does it really matter from the moment they are bad. As already Flavia mentonied and as it proved countless and countless times, Mascherano is not a CB, wrong positioning and understand of the situation, useless in the air in a moment we lack air ability. Adriano is very injury prone and obviously not a CB too, Pique is way off form for two seasons in a row and we can't count on Puyol anymore. He gets injured more often right now, and injuries can bring inconsisteny so what's the difference..

Not to mention that you always look for the impossible options, Thiago Silva and Kompany are not available but you always keep mentioning them with no purpose. And you say that we can only bring someone young only when one of the biggest teams is interested, in your mentality Madrid shouldn't go for Varane that right now is developing to one of the best defenders and came for cheap.. Our only options right now is probably Mathieu and some young players with potential so if they come for cheap it won't make a big difference if they fail but if someone of them performs and develops we will have someone for now and the future. In situations like ours you risk, not stand there like you saying that because we have enough number of defenders we are covered..

 

[oz187]

This won't happen in a big game, and of course the biggest example is Bayern, we were clueless attacking and because our defence was so bad we didn't stand a chance, i mean how really can you compare the weak la liga teams with big teams.

Against Bayern the problem was we had Bartra in defense(as well as an injured Busi and poor play/tactics from the midfield). I don't see the point of replacing or supplementing one youngster that's not good enough yet with another youngster that's not good enough yet. Puyol we know is at higher risk of injury, so if we get someone we have more of a need of someone that is ready to play. Hence why Mathieu or Abidal would be better options than trying to unearth a Varane. We already have risk in Puyol, we don't need more risk, we need more reliability.

The question is, are you so smalled minded that you actually believe what matters is the number of players we have in defence? What does it really matter from the moment they are bad.

I'm not small-minded, that's why I mention Thiago Silva and Kompany. Those would be reliable options to succeed. If there is another reliable option that is available, great, get him now. But, the problem is, that option might not be there. What I see is a bunch of options that will likely be worse than what we currently have. If the club wants a fourth choice, better to pay 10M for Mathieu than play 50M for Luiz.

Also, you have to remember, if Barca overpay for a defender now, then any future transfers the club will likely have to overpay as other clubs will know how weak we are at negotiations. Overspending on a top player like Thiago Silva or a Falcao would be fine, it's expected at the top of the market that you have to pay a premium. But we shouldn't be overpaying for B class players.

 

[Darko]

It was enough to get a club record points in La Liga this season. Why isn't it enough for next too?

It was enough to lose 7-0 to Bayern

 

[Deco 20]

It was enough to lose 7-0 to Bayern

I think it would've been a completely different story with a fit Messi. Our main problem was not being able to score.

 

[spark]

Bringing 2 CBs is just stupid. That would mean you have 5 players competing for 2 positions. It's not practical. 4 Players + Cantera is what would be optimum. Mascherano also is a CB now. He played a winning Champions League final there, he's played in a record winning league campaign there. He's not the best, but he's more than good enough for a 4 man rotation.

The board also doesn't share my mentality. I would have paid 40-50M for Thiago Silva two seasons ago and then there would have been no issues. This season I would have renewed Abidal. Even now I'd get a player for 4th choice since Thiago Silva isn't available. I'd even go for Vincent Kompany but he's not available either. What I don't advocate is panic spending 50M on a player that hardly plays.

As for those combinations giving you the chills. Adriano/Bartra was the combination in a 3-0 away win to Zaragoza. It's not what you'd want against Bayern, but against most of the fodder in La Liga what we have can do the job, especially in our home games where we often dominate completely.

Which defender would we be buying for 50 million that would hardly play.CB being the position with the worse competition in the squad that is? That kind of scare mongering you expect from politicians.

 

[Meitux]

Against Bayern the problem was we had Bartra in defense(as well as an injured Busi and poor play/tactics from the midfield). I don't see the point of replacing or supplementing one youngster that's not good enough yet with another youngster that's not good enough yet. Puyol we know is at higher risk of injury, so if we get someone we have more of a need of someone that is ready to play. Hence why Mathieu or Abidal would be better options than trying to unearth a Varane. We already have risk in Puyol, we don't need more risk, we need more reliability.



I'm not small-minded, that's why I mention Thiago Silva and Kompany. Those would be reliable options to succeed. If there is another reliable option that is available, great, get him now. But, the problem is, that option might not be there. What I see is a bunch of options that will likely be worse than what we currently have. If the club wants a fourth choice, better to pay 10M for Mathieu than play 50M for Luiz.

There is point. Cause those players for example N'Koulou or Zouma or anybody of them have played regurarly while Bartra has been used for rotation, they are not same cases. Bartra needs to go on loan and be a regular starter to gain enough experience, rotation is not enough for him to be ready.

The point is that we won't overpay for them so it won't make the big damage if they fail. Abidal would be fine considering that we could have someone reliable to rely to, but he is not there so what can you do? Mathieu is fine considering the price and the experience and im not against the idea of signing him but thing that concerns me is that he didn't have a full season as a CB and im not sure if hes ready to take most of the weight in defence. In fact we need one player to rely to and another one to provide competition for the off form in two seasons in a row Pique,you can be sure that he won't improve if he doesn't have competition. A young defender with potential is fine for competition and even if he performs better than Pique he can bench him..If we don't get Mathieu or any experienced we have only young defenders with potential left, there aren't choices existing. Sticking for a 3rd season with the same defence would provide the same results again..

Im not from the ones that want to overpay for Luiz just to get a defender he is not worthy of this price and will never be, i wouldn't want him generally. We won't overpay for every player at least for young players. But you can't really know if they are B class, they haven't got their chances yet. Same can be said about Varane who was noone before Real and was there for most people for rotation, but when given the chances he flourished. In the matter of fact N'koulou was the second best defender of Ligue 1, i already know that this isn't something tottaly reliable but its a hint for something.

 

[FCBarca]

Stupid is not bringing anyone. 2 cbs and bartra leaving on loan would be the best choice. He needs time and right now he is not good enough. Masch is no cb, he has showed this time and again. He has showed already in pre season, against bayern. Bad positioning, and not tall enough/bad on air. He used to get away with it because of the pressing. Still, he's far from being the ideal starter cb for a club like Barça. Last season Barça conceded too much, the most in some decades. Having to count on adriano or bartra for cb, even against weak oposition, is also stupid. Adriano is no cb and has terrible positioning. Not to mention he's always injured.

Yeah, mostly agree with this...although I still think Bartra should've played more than he has up until this point...But it's true, best thing is Marc going out on loan but I wonder if he will be up for that...Fortunately, he's not confused and thinking this is a social club like JDS and will either fight for his minutes or leave

I've liked Masch but it's true as well, that experiment should end

 

[poltergeist]

I thought our major problems as regards our defence last season were more tactical than an issue with personnel. If we maintain this template, the only gains we would get from from adding Silva, Luiz or whoever would be an improvement on our aerial presence.
Our transition defending is bad. We hardly ever win the ball in midfield. Once our opponents win the ball, they are instantly in our box almost without any hindrance.
When you leave a CB with 10 defensive options at a time, any decision made will be wrong. If midfield and attack fail to show intensity in defence and you don't cover fullbacks, signing the best centre-halves won't help.
Not signing a centre-back may not be such a disaster if Tata fixes our tactics.

 

[ryuken]

Yeah, and next year and the next next year you guys will bring the same argument back to protect the myth that we dont need CB. Cause a 37 years old Puyol next year will probably still be a "beast" and Adriano is a great "CB" right?

 

[Jadentheman]

Puyol is 36? Wow we need to find a replacement ASAP. Signing Puyol is not a good headline when you realize that he's 36 years old and unreliable in terms of being 100% or even the same.