It may not have been your absolute ideal team, but you have shown thorough satisfaction over the years in how those teams were built and managed.
Let's rewind back to 2016. You were over the moon with pleasure when we bought Andre Gomes. You constantly praised him as a tall/strong workhorse beast and advocated that he start our biggest matches, and then he started the 4-0 catastrophe at PSG and the rest is history. You were also a huge proponent for Mathieu over the years (tall/strong/fast CB who could play at LB) and one of the biggest advocates on this forum for Mascherano playing in midfield because of his "fighting spirit" and all that jazz. Cue, 3-0 loss to Juventus specifically caused by those players.
Move one season forward, and you were absolutely in love with Paulinho and worshipped him. He was atrocious against Chelsea and didn't do anything at all valuable in that season except for a few tap ins at the beginning of the year. And this last season, your favorite transfers were Vidal and Lenglet. Many on this forum including myself preferred De Ligt, but you have no choice but to oppose the "sexy young prospect" in favor of Valverde's stamped and approved midtable level player Lenglet even though he is "small and weak" to your dismay. You also used to constantly call Coutinho one of the most important/crucial players on this team and how he was the best galactico signing we had in years and such.
Those are all transfers that were at best unsuccessful and at worst absolutely horrendous, supported by you. And most of all, you supported the man at the helm making the decisions of which players play and which systems we used. You were Valverde's biggest fan on this forum for years, saying how he was a Rijkaard-esque savior who brought "balance" and "toughness" to the team instead of the forum's desired "schoolboys". You supported every squad decision he made and you aggressively defended his 4-4-2 in 17/18. Before the Liverpool tie you were beyond adamant that Valverde's system is the ONLY way not to get dismantled in the CL.
If someone asked you on Monday, May 6 of this year and said "Tell me BBZ what lineup you would use against Liverpool, and how you feel about Valverde's system?" you would have said this:
----Suarez-Messi
Cou-Rakitic-Busi-Vidal
Alba-Lenglet-Pique-Roberto
---------Stegen
And you would've said you were thoroughly satisfied with Valverde's system and tactics which have proven to be successful with results and blah blah blah.
How exactly is that a big distinction from what we ended up doing on May 7?
This is like some epic ending reply from a legendary character in a GOAT Marvel movie just before he's about to win. No one would be able to comeback with a reasonable response after something like this.
Things will never be the same.
I'm actually lost for words.
Astonished.
DonAndres, such an asshole reply from you.
So you'll get a similar assholish reply.
1. Andre Gomes, still a way better player than your favorites Denise, Halilovic and similar. He is actually a footballer, even though a bad one for Barca.
2. Mascherano, lol. He sucked as a pivot, I don't remember that I have ever said something like that.
3. Mathieu was a good CB. On paper he offered an option as a LB in easier matches.
Not as a starter LB though.
But then, even Alba sucks against big teams, so...
4. Paulinho brought some virtues to our team.
5. I have already told you, that is not my preferred team. Roberto is a starter for me only when we need goals, not when we need to defend.
And our attack is shit where we can play only through the ground. No crosses, no counters.
For counters, Dembele is an option, but I will pass on that option also.
6. Coutinho, we will come back to that later.
Anyway, you are extremely dishonest and an asshole in your post.
Since, any user who had 500, 1000 or 5000 posts here probably commented on 50 or 100 different topics.
And every user who writes a lot will have a lot of good estimations and some bad estimations.
Not only you or me, but EVERY single poster.
You know my opinion on 50 different players and on 10s of players where I was wright, yet you are mentioning only players where I had wrong estimations.
Now, to prove a point, I will do the same for you.
I have just checked some players who were on top of my head to show you that you can make a similar post (which you wrote about me), about any single user.
What is worse, majority of other users wrote way more horrible estimations than me.
In a post from 3 days ago, you said that my posts are degrading a quality of our forum.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, let's enjoy a guy with perfect estimations, who has enough of credits to point fingers and laugh at other users:
Today's match was a showcase of his skill and deftness in forward minded situations. Great player and as a Cule I feel even more proud given how he's been in the cantera since he was around 6 years old. He and Munir are the most advanced prospects we have, Halilovic and Grimaldo just behind them. I think he deserves a great amount of training/playing time with the first team, much more than Roberto that's for sure.
MOTM easily today, he should join Munir at the 1st team and deputize for Rakitic/Xavi and Busquets. Highest footballing intelligence of any of our prospects, his preseason with the 1st team really sparked something in him to progress at such a high rate. Same thing with Munir.
Brilliant game, amazing confidence. He is every bit as mature and developed as Munir, ready to take on the first team challenge. It's unusual to bring up a player so quickly but one has to remember that the B team is a stepping stone and if he's ready to leap over it then no reason to hold him back. Much more of a chance to learn and grow when playing with the seniors and vets.
I feel like we're gonna have to rely on him sooner rather than later. Not as a pivot, but for the CM position. Xavi is the only true central midfielder we have that excels at controlling the game and circulating the ball but that comes at the price of only playing well when rested and leaving us defensively screwed. Samper would give us another option and if we can accelerate his development we'll have one major problem area covered.
I believe he's ready because the role that'd be required of him doesn't require him to deliver anything difficult (a consistent goalscoring tally or defending against top class players without making errors). It's just a matter of circulating the ball the way he's been taught to do since he was 6 and keep the team connected.
On Halilovic:
Dis boy.
Outdoing all the La Masia boys in 'Barcelona football' on his 45 minute debut. Now imagine him without having to deal with the Babunskis' and Nietos' of the world.
On Denise Suarez:
Proving to be the 2nd most creative midfielder we have after Iniesta and is probably top 5 in terms of vision/creativity in our squad overall. So dynamic, great balance and dribbling into space, and his passing is great. I think he's the most influential sub we'll have this season. He can come on and change a game, add loads of energy, and give us new attacking lanes.
It's a lack of attention if you really thought he was that quiet today. Started like 3 quick sequences/counters and won the ball in advanced positions high up the pitch a few times as well. He was involved and stimulating a lot of quick attacking play around/in the box and moved the ball really well. Really good creative input in our midfield.
This is the second game where Denis really made his impact felt I feel. In the first Supercup leg his sub made us more direct and dynamic. Lots of forward direction in our play while we were extremely slow and static before he got on. Now today we were sending wave after wave of attacks with him in midfield, often with his involvement both on and off the ball. He was at the nucleus of a lot of dangerous moves and supported other ones. As Jamdav mentioned in the chat, his runs away from the ball into space really help stimulating our attacking impetus. After he was subbed off and Arda moved into midfield, the game slowed down very significantly on our end. Our only source of energy and directness came from an inspired Messi.
If we're playing slow (which has often been our issue in deadlock games), Denis is the guy I want to sub on without a single doubt. He can change the energy and tempo of a game with his style of play. His influence in adding something we sometimes lack is very pronounced.
On Adama:
What a player
Faster than Tello, a better dribbler than Deulofeu, and a constant danger man. He's basically been the B team's best player every time he's played.
His ceiling is right up there with Neymar and Deulofeu, but considering we only have 2 spots for wingers it remains to be seen who will make it.
His technique is great. He has close touches when needed, unbelievable balance and changes of direction, etc.
Unbelievably talented player. Under the right coaching, it's scary how good he can become.
On a new Xavi Jean Michel Seri:
He was very impressive today vs Troyes in their opener. Only saw the 2nd half but he was so comfortable and expressed himself on the pitch with so much personality. Apparently his first half was even better judging from stats and clips of some really nice actions. He had like 168 touches, 131 passes, 4 dribbles, etc. which are pretty crazy numbers (though I guess they weren't playing against the best opposition). He should've bagged at least a couple of assists and his gorgeous through ball set up the chance that led to their penalty and only goal. He pulled all the strings and could take or send the ball wherever he wanted to on the pitch because of how confident he was. Also was great vs. Ajax in their CL qualifiers. Here's the match comp for that:
If that's how he plays on a consistent basis then he's a clear example of a top player hidden at a smaller team. Not only would he fit in, but might be completely confident and oozing class from the start and showing that he belongs at that level. The hype of getting Verratti has been dead in me for months but if we do manage to get Seri, we may be getting a player who is extremely similar for a much cheaper expected price. The convenience of getting exactly what we've desperately needed in spite of all the board's groundbreaking levels of foolishness, hopefully they can wake up and capitalize.
At any point before now I would've thought that getting even only Seri, or any other midfielder (Verratti, Eriksen, Coutinho, etc.) would've been sufficient. However, after the Supercup I'm starting to think Iniesta will play sparingly and that EV will use the new CM to start in place of Iniesta instead of partnering him. He might want a system that relies on the legs of Rakitic (or god forbid Paulinho) even as a starting mid in big games.
If ultimately we're getting Seri so that our new best lineup just becomes Seri-Rakitic, it's not much of an improvement really. EV can't have that be our starting midfield because Rakitic is simply not fit to start here, he's a massive burden. If our big game lineup is Iniesta-Seri with Rakitic subbing in, as well as Seri-Rakitic in smaller games, then the case is different and I'd take that as a pretty good improvement. In any case Aleña needs to rise up ASAP and get Rakitic tf out of our starting lineup. It'd be a wet dream to get both Seri and Coutinho along with Dembele but I'm not gonna hold my breath. It is imperative to get 2 new starting CM's as soon as possible, because the midfield as it is now is simply nowhere near the caliber we'd need to compete with RM.
If someone didn't notice, DonAndres laughed at me for having hopes in Coutinho when he came, yet a guy mentioned that he had wet dreams of us signing BOTH Seri and Coutinho himself. Wtf, lol?
It'd be a wet dream to get both Seri and Coutinho along with Dembele but I'm not gonna hold my breath.
On Sandro Ramirez:
Sandro has such smart positioning and movement, not to mention his wicked finishing around the box. What a class #9
He's clearly surpassed Munir and improved as an individual over the season. Aerial ability, power, and pace give him a physical advantage but he also just thrives off of his own instinct. He knows how to make direct runs/movements, whether it be behind the defense or dropping to the edge of the box. His shooting technique is just perfect as well, vicious power and aimed well towards the corners of the goal. In years past his technical play was poor (his biggest fault) but now he's excelling at making supporting passes in tight spaces and being clean with the ball.
Almost every time he subs in he manages to get into dangerous situations and have great efforts at goal. He makes the team better and performs well individually.
So, yes, I am an idiot, and I am the only guy ever who made some bad predictions.
The only difference is: when someone believes in La Masia guys who fail=that is not a bad thing. Since, it is "a good thing" to believe in young, technical players.
But when someone believes in something which is not so popular on our forum (Pep, La Masia, technical light midfielders, young players) and if you make a mistake then while you were going against a majority=you are dead.
I probably won't be able to post for a few days since I will be rereading these quotes from DonAndres and I will be enjoying and soaking up his knowledge and godlike estimations
Kisses and hugs for everyone
