Jeremy Mathieu

J

JamDav1982

Senior Member
serghei said:
Lucho likes Mascherano very much as a CB it seems, so Bartra might be no4 after Pique, Mascherano and Mathieu (not sure where Vermaelen fits in the equation), but the idea is many things that went wrong in the past might work better in the present, due to the multiple changes in the team. I guess we'll wait and see if Pique-Bartra will work or not. They are similar, true, in the sense that Bartra doesn't seem to complement Pique very well, but both can have good performances.
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Not just Lucho, he may well be the fourth manager in a row that doesnt fancy the Pique/Bartra partnership.

That has been through four different styles of play under four different managers.
 
serghei

serghei

Senior Member
JamDav1982 said:
Not just Lucho, he may well be the fourth manager in a row that doesnt fancy the Pique/Bartra partnership.

That has been through four different styles of play under four different managers.
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He might not fancy it, but if the situation calls for that partnership, they'll have to make it work. Now we can use Mascherano, so, most likely, it will be Mascherano-Pique.
 
P

PhilS

Active member
serghei said:
Lucho likes Mascherano very much as a CB it seems, so Bartra might be no4 after Pique, Mascherano and Mathieu (not sure where Vermaelen fits in the equation), but the idea is many things that went wrong in the past might work better in the present, due to the multiple changes in the team. I guess we'll wait and see if Pique-Bartra will work or not. They are similar, true, in the sense that Bartra doesn't seem to complement Pique very well, but both can have good performances.
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I think those are the first 3 CBs, though in what order is not yet clear.
 
Neeraj

Neeraj

Senior Member
fcbdna said:
With Mathieu and Pique in the squad how come we still aren't an aerial threat during set pieces?
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I think people tend to overestimate height, when it comes to heading ability. The best headers out there, those who always pose a goal scoring threat - John Terry, Ramos, Godin, Suarez, Puyol ,Hernandez (gets a buttload of headers) to name a few - none of them are especially tall (not short either). They are just very good at heading the ball, which requires a specific skill set or training. Being aggressive, and being able to direct headers is not something we seem to have. The best example is Biscuits. He is quite atrocious at heading for someone of his height. Pique isn't that great either. I'm not sure Matheiu is either. Having said that, you don't need to be a great header to fend off attackers and get to the ball in defensive situations, so we should hopefully be better in those situations.
 
Der Kaiser

Der Kaiser

New member
Neeraj said:
I think people tend to overestimate height, when it comes to heading ability. The best headers out there, those who always pose a goal scoring threat - John Terry, Ramos, Godin, Suarez, Puyol ,Hernandez (gets a buttload of headers) to name a few - none of them are especially tall (not short either). They are just very good at heading the ball, which requires a specific skill set or training. Being aggressive, and being able to direct headers is not something we seem to have. The best example is Biscuits. He is quite atrocious at heading for someone of his height. Pique isn't that great either. I'm not sure Matheiu is either. Having said that, you don't need to be a great header to fend off attackers and get to the ball in defensive situations, so we should hopefully be better in those situations.
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Or look at Falcao, he´s 177cm but a great header. Height is an advantage but timing and jumping ability is very important. Busquets for example very often mistimes his jumps and gets bullied in the air by smaller players.

But just looking this thread, isn´t it awesome how many options we have right now for the CB spots? Last seasons we were always fucked once Pique or Masche got injured, now we have Bartra and Mathieu, two great defenders. And then there´s Vermaelen, all my Arsenal friends told me about how great he used to be, one of the best CBs in the Premier league even. If he can come close to that level again, he could really force himself into the team.
 
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