Jordi Alba

[Morten]

I wonder how good messi would be at LB

Probably quite well in truth, beast at going forward, though i would be concerned at his overall workrate, positioning in defence and airial duels.

 

[Icarium]

How many is he out? Damn the international break

 

[DonAK]

Probably quite well in truth, beast at going forward, though i would be concerned at his overall workrate, positioning in defence and airial duels.

I think Messi is quite good in aerial duels for a 1.69m guy.

 

[Morten]

I think Messi is quite good in aerial duels for a 1.69m guy.

I can never quite get the "aerial" word right for some reason, its called air, so in my mind its airial. Anyway, he is a good header when he is not in a challenge with someone, most of his heading goals comes from that. Ofc there is a challenge once in a good while where he still scores a header, ajax-player should be ashamed of himself.

 

[Vlom]

Who knows, many rbs can play decently at lb, so Douglas then?

Problem with Douglas is he wouldn't be at 100% with the Copa America closing in ...

 

[Morten]

Problem with Douglas is he wouldn't be at 100% with the Copa America closing in ...

Saving himself for Copa America, i see.

 

[Luftstalag14]

From what I have read about adductor injuries, they take at least 3-4 weeks to recover. If that's the case, he will surely miss the first leg of the CL game, and possibly the second leg as well.

 

[Zangash]

My mistake, i didnt read to lufts message properly. Thought it had something to do with Alba not being good enough, which is kinda my impression these last couple of seasons anyway, judging by Barca-fans being less than pleased with him in general.

These "Last couple of seasons" is how long we've had Alba on the team.

There's not a single non-Messi player we have who doesn't receive hate from one crowd or another. If you were to judge any player's quality on their threads here you'd think every single one of our players with the possible exception of Messi are really quite terrible.

Not that I'm saying I disagree that Alba is lacking, but you know...

 

[anguy]

Wouldn't surprise me if the Board thought "Well we got Adriano so we are all good".

So? I'm thinking the same. Adriano is a great backup, because he can play both position. The people who are blaming board again for "our lack of bench options" are laughable. What do you expect? World class LBs coming to Barca to be benched? Or buy some young talent and let him rot on bench so that he'll never have chance to develop his skills? Does Montoya look happy to you with his role? It sucks that ALba was injured, but you simply can't have top bench players for every position. We would have to go with Adriano/Mathieu. We should be lucky we have world class Busq/Masch for DM. And our CBs are ironically quite deep (with Masch).

 

[Topolino]

I think Messi is quite good in aerial duels for a 1.69m guy.

It's 21 April 2015, second leg of the Champions League - FCB vs PSG. Minute 90+2. Barca gets a corner against PSG. Messi scores a header, beating Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Zlatan and Cavani.

That would be a spectacle.

 

[FC B]

Shit news. Hope he is going to recover fast.

 

[instinct]

Out for 10 days.

Great news.

 

[Kohe321]

Fantastic news! It will be a good little rest for him then, as I said yesterday this could work out for the better as the rest of his body will get to recover. We should be able to manage Celta without him, and Almeria as well if he's not back for that either.

 

[Zangash]

So? I'm thinking the same. Adriano is a great backup, because he can play both position.

The problem is Adriano doesn't play either position particularly well. He's worse than Alves defensively and offers next to nothing in attack. I would say that he's only better than Douglas as far as leftback options go, and this is if we consider Vermaelen, Mathieu, and Montoya as possible replacements for Alba.

The people who are blaming board again for "our lack of bench options" are laughable. What do you expect? World class LBs coming to Barca to be benched? Or buy some young talent and let him rot on bench so that he'll never have chance to develop his skills?

Passable and world class are two very different things. Madrid has players for every position who are, at the very least, passable. Arbeloa. Khedira. Coentrao. Varane. Keylor. Jese. All players who, if played, would not leave their fans in full panic mode over how screwed they are if they have to play. It's really not that hard.

Does Montoya look happy to you with his role?

Montoya wasn't happy when Lucho was systematically ostracizing him from the team (Even going as far as to play Lord Douglas over him in a big away game), but now? He's pretty happy. He saw his playing time increase to what a squad player could expect and since then we haven't heard a peep from him.

It sucks that ALba was injured, but you simply can't have top bench players for every position. We would have to go with Adriano/Mathieu.

Who is asking for TOP PLAYERS for every position? We don't even have someone SERVICEABLE. Adriano is highly injury prone and is lacking in both attack and defense. Mathieu is not the kind of player we employ at the LB position. Having a LB who can actually play LB when the starter is injured is NOT too much to ask for.

We should be lucky we have world class Busq/Masch for DM. And our CBs are ironically quite deep (with Masch).

So you attribute any and all depth to "luck"? Why? We spent so much to shore up our CB position but we're screwed when anyone else in any other position takes a kick to the knee. It wouldn't have been hard to spend 5-6m on an older player who can play LB. Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, starting with our starters in every position is not something we do out of necessity, but due to a lack of options. If we had another serviceable LB or solid up and comer they wouldn't be sitting on the bench every week.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Out for 10 days.

Great news.

Danke schoen!!!!!