Jordi Alba

[La Furia]

So Alba is secretly a good defender because he doesn't defend on a more defensive orientated team? Well, it's possible....

Still would make more sense to get a defensive orientated player, but hey, visca Catalunya and stuff.

 

[estranged]

woohoo another shitty meaningless post by la furia who totally misses the point again!

 

[Galning]

People are being myopic if they are dismissing the Alba signing simply because he's short. Also why is everybody promoting this theory that he's a shit defender? At arca his duties will differ than what he was responsible for at Valencia, and who knows maybe he can become a better defender. Abidal 07-09 was certainly nowhere as good as Abidal 09-11 defensively, or as a footballer in general, so its unfair to assume that Alba won't succeed, this coming from somebody who loves Abidal, doesn't really like Alba and doesn't really understand this signing, but also hates presumptuous people and assumptions. Even if he can't defend, a good CB signing and a more experienced Mascherano+in form Pique will definitely help out.

Well said sir.

 

[La Furia]

woohoo another shitty meaningless post by la furia who totally misses the point again!

Yeah, I got your point, that hypothetically, just because Alba is a soft, small attack-only player doesn't mean, hypothetically he has to be, and even if he does, hypothetically our CB depth can be superior next year so who cares if playing with two wing backs and an offensive central midfield typically doesn't work long term, and Alba's only real upgrade over Adriano is in potential? Because hypothetically, how fuckin' bitch' will it be if we have another Catalan on the team!

It's a fair point, but it doesn't mean you aren't completely full of shit like you are with your Cesc worship. And you resorting to an ad-hominem response yet again, honestly I don't known why I even bother.

 

[Cruijffista]

I really don't see the risk of bringing in Alba. He's a tenacious player and he's almost sure to fit in. He's going to surprise a lot of his doubters.

Bringing him in actually allows us to go after a legit CB, which needs to be our main focus.

Thiago Silva, Jordi Alba, and a new forward like Luis Suárez or Adrián is all I'm asking for this summer. :barca scarf:

 

[Metaphysical]

He won't have a bad Euro individually because he'll play behind a double pivot and with Arbeloa playing rightback.

Ramos: 183 cm
Pique: 192 cm
Arbeloa: 183 cm
Alonso: 183 cm
Busquets: 189 cm

At Barcelona he would play behind a single holding midfielder, another midget wingback on the right side and another midget centreback (Mascherano):

Mascherano: 174 cm
Alves: 173 cm
Alba: 172 cm

As you can see: Barca = midgets. Spain = tall.

Dani fits in very well when being partnered with Abidal, Pique and Puyol. At the time we bought him, we also had Marquez and Yaya. Alba doesn't when being partnered with Mascherano and Alves. When we conceded at Stamford Bridge this season, a simple diagonal ball exploited the space behind Alves. Now imagine not having 1 but 2 wingbacks.

just misdirection and half-truths ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Barcelona ALSO have the 192 Piqué and 189 Busquets, so basically we lose the height of Ramos and Arbeloa/Iraola. sure, we lose height but nowhere near as much as you make out. Barcelona also don't have Xabi slowing shit down in the middle so can play faster and higher up the pitch.

and we conceded at Stamford Bridge because Mascherano and Puyol had fucked up. that space should have been MUCH smaller but Badger & Capi, being the same type of player, both tracked Drogba as he ran across the field and left ACRES of space open. then to compound their failure they both ran back into the space and left Drogba unmarked. jesus we needed Piqué so much in that game.

So Alba is secretly a good defender because he doesn't defend on a more defensive orientated team? Well, it's possible....

Still would make more sense to get a defensive orientated player, but hey, visca Catalunya and stuff.

oh hey look everyone Nolan is ragging on a Catalan signing again with some sarcastic Catalan pride.

TEH SURPRISE.

wait a couple of posts and he'll start talking about his momma's pa amb tomaquet.

for what it's worth though, I do sorta agree with you and barcelonista. Alba's not the perfect signing he's being made out to be. he'd be a good signing, no doubt, and potentially a great one because he is a great player & has obviously got a capacity to learn (and we do improve defenders, Adriano & Abidal being the best examples tbh). but he doesn't have Abidal's strength or defensive savvy (even if he is fast as grease lightnin') and quite obviously does not and will never have anything like the size Bilal does.

and while size isn't as important as barcelonista is trying to make out, it is more important than Bojan is admitting too. it would almost certainly prevent him from ever playing LCB for us in a back three, and that's a tactical variation we absolutely MUST have available to us.

I suppose the most visceral example I can give of how Alba isn't anywhere near a perfect signing is that I don't think I've ever been crazyhappy about the idea of us signing him, and I fackin' love Catalans.

 

[La Furia]

It's not a high risk move except that it just doesn't really make sense when you consider what we need. I rather like Alba as a player but I don't see him as a starter for Barca without other changes, especially when the team already tries to play too many attacking midfielders at once.

But hey, who knows. I just hate when rich teams throw money around for reasons that reek of politics over football.

Alba is a nice talented player, but at this point he's not really an upgrade over Adriano, of course he has a higher ceiling but I really don't see much of anything in his game that suggests being a good defender. Physically slight players CAN be good defenders, but there's obvious obstacles.

I suppose the most visceral example I can give of how Alba isn't anywhere near a perfect signing is that I don't think I've ever been crazyhappy about the idea of us signing him, and I fackin' love Catalans.

You see, here it is. You all claim I'm being some sort of bitter Catalan hater on one end, and then you say things like this or about "coming home". It's obvious that signing Catalans is a big deal, like the club promotes Spanish hegemony without local players.

Local players are a good thing, every team should have local players. Barca should always have a Catalan core, Madrid needs more Castilians, Milan should develop more Lombards, and so on. But when you have unlimited resources, and pretend you are doing the right thing by signing one Catalan for every weird-haired Brazilian Nike tells you to sign, it's a clear attempt at playing the marketing game both ways, with the added bonus of crippling a league rival who can't financially compete.

And to pretend that Alba owes his entire career to the Barcelona youth setup, well that's just historical revisionism.

 

[Metaphysical]

I swear to superjesusallahbuddhayahwehshiva if I see one more person say we need a CB I'm going to kill someone.

WE. DO. NOT. NEED. A. CB.

Valdés just got his FOURTH ZAMORA IN A ROW despite Piqué playing about 10 good games all season because of injury and Abidal dropping out for the last 2 months of the season due to health issues.

defence is NOT the problem given our style. we defend with the ball, we defend with possession, and that becomes much much harder IF YOU DON'T SCORE FUCKING GOALS. and that was our problem this season. we relied to an absurd degree on Messi. we need to correct issues at the attacking end of the field and get our #2 and #3 scorers back, meaning the goals Cesc & Xavi score will be extra, rather than required.

 

[estranged]

It's a fair point, but it doesn't mean you aren't completely full of shit like you are with your Cesc worship.

See, this is exactly why I resort to ad-hominem responses to your posts. If you support an opinion, then argue for it like a human being instead of trying to come across as a smart ass.

 

[La Furia]

I'm sorry, but do you not think you need above average defenders for possession based football?

I know what the stats say, I know we relied too much on Messi for goals (for a lot of reasons, some of which you don't want to hear), but if you don't think this team showed incredibly soft defending at parts of the season I don't know what you were watching. Barcelona is down to three true and tested CBs, and none of them except maybe Puyol who needs to be saved for big games at this point in his career can play regularly on the side. Having three reliable defenders in your back 4, one of whom is old and one other who should recover but is coming off a season where he went full-retard, is not a good idea. It doesn't matter if you have 75% if the rare occasion you lose the ball leads to a rapid counter or you are so physically soft that you are pinned in the middle of the pitch the whole time.

In fact part of the offensive issues this year was that the team commitment to covering on defense was increased. It wasn't as bad as the late Rijkaard era where the posession cules bragged about was a bunch of sideways passes to nowhere, but there was far more passive possession this year than previously.

Barca doesn't need to spend 60M on Thiago Silva but pretending the loss of Abidal and Puyol being old isn't a notable issue, and that replacing them with Jordi fucking Alba makes sense, well you even say it yourself it's not ideal. Don't give me that they don't need to defend because they pass the ball BS, full court defending still requires defenders.

See, this is exactly why I resort to ad-hominem responses to your posts. If you support an opinion, then argue for it like a human being instead of trying to come across as a smart ass.

Does everyone who disagree with you come across as a smart ass? Because you do it to everyone who disagrees with your view of the team. You are basically a smarter Dalitis without the racism or pseudointellectual posturing. I'm not going to respond civil to a guy who will just tell me to "get a life" like a child.

 

[Metaphysical]

I'm sorry, but do you not think you need above average defenders for possession based football?

I'm not saying we don't need a CB because we're going to sign Jordi Alba, I'm only bringing it up in this thread because I saw yet another post saying that we should sign a CB. and that's horseshit. we need to replace Abidal, not anyone else. and Abidal was a LB/LCB.

I know what the stats say, I know we relied too much on Messi for goals (for a lot of reasons, some of which you don't want to hear), but if you don't think this team showed incredibly soft defending at parts of the season I don't know what you were watching. Barcelona is down to three true and tested CBs, and none of them except maybe Puyol who needs to be saved for big games at this point in his career can play regularly on the side. Having three reliable defenders in your back 4, one of whom is old and one other who should recover but is coming off a season where he went full-retard, is not a good idea. It doesn't matter if you have 75% if the rare occasion you lose the ball leads to a rapid counter or you are so physically soft that you are pinned in the middle of the pitch the whole time.

In fact part of the offensive issues this year was that the team commitment to covering on defense was increased. It wasn't as bad as the late Rijkaard era where the posession cules bragged about was a bunch of sideways passes to nowhere, but there was far more passive possession this year than previously.

yes, and do you know why there was so much passive possession? because things always broke down in the final third. and you can put that down to Villa and Pedro fucking up their runs or passes, or because Cesc was wandering around getting in people's way, or because Messi was trying to walk through a wall of nine players...but ultimately? it comes down to players (especially Villa, Pedro and also Cesc in the 2nd half of the season) MISSING THEIR CHANCES.

our style of play is amazing, but when we have a lead it hulks out and becomes some fucking next level shit. but when we don't score goals, we can become too cerebral. we overthink things that should just be done on instinct (which is why Pep often subbed Cuenca & Tello in - they still play on instinct) and so we slow our play down. our attacks stop being as effective, and because we're not the type of side to just heave it in there, we start fucking around in midfield just lateraling it to each other. we probe too much. and then even if we do break through, we miss the chances anyway because we've upped the anxiety by taking forever to create a chance.

this has very little to do with Piqué going full retard or Puyol being an old man. this is the achilles heel of our style of play. even the 08/09 team got royally fucked in the ass when it didn't play with enough intensity in the attacking third (Numancia away, Chelsea away (oh god is Chelsea away ever an example of this), Villarreal home, Atleti away, Getafe home, Espanyol home, even Espanyol away despite the fact that we won). we could have fucking Passarrella, Gentile and Maldini back there running shit and we would have the same fucking problems.

Barca doesn't need to spend 60M on Thiago Silva but pretending the loss of Abidal and Puyol being old isn't a notable issue, and that replacing them with Jordi fucking Alba makes sense, well you even say it yourself it's not ideal. Don't give me that they don't need to defend because they pass the ball BS, full court defending still requires defenders.

we don't need a CB.

Puyol is old but he's about to internationally retire, so that'll keep him fresher for us. and we have Bartra coming through who looks a very promising no nonsense defender (let's discount Muniesa for now on account of his sadbrows). those are two solid options to have in addition to Piqué and Mascherano.

we need a LB, and really someone who can play LCB in a back three too.

Vertonghen is a staggeringly perfect fit but for some reason he wants to play for Spurs. if a guy is like that... I don't know what to tell ya.

Bale for me is a superb option because of his immense potential to fill Abidal's boots almost completely. he'll need work, but the talent is all there.

there are other options too (Radu, Lombaerts, Martins Indi) but THAT is the kind of player we should be looking for.

we really REALLY don't need a CB. sure we could get one, and sure it could work, but it's completely unnecessary unless Puyol's injury problems are much worse than is being admitted.

 

[Metaphysical]

so for those who haven't been following, or don't wanna read walls of text, to summarise:

1. Jordi Alba would be a good signing, but nowhere near a perfect one. he may improve his defensive play, sure, and he may even bulk up and become stronger, but he'll never been taller than 5'7 and height DOES play a factor when you're a defender. still, for €14m we could do worse.

2. we do not need a CB. that's not to say we don't need to replace Abidal with an (ideally big, fast & strong) LB/LCB, but to sign someone like Hummels or Thiago Silva would be a waste of money unless they suddenly develop the ability to play left-back. we have enough players (Piqué, Badger, Capi, Bartra, Muniesa & Busi in a pinch) to cover that spot without needing to bring another in.

3. our transfer priorities should be an LB/LCB and a forward of some kind.

 

[La Furia]

I think an LCB/LB type of player would be ideal...god damnit Abidal why did you have to get sick? Of all the pieces of shit who play professional football, Abidal is the one who had to lose life's lotto like that? John Terry will probably keep playing for another 10 years and live to 100.

 

[Aryagorn]

LB/LCB would ineed be ideal... But Adriano would still have to be replaced, his injuries and all. And seemss like we aren't really aiming at that kinda player either. I think that is the reason we are buying Alba in the first place, to replace Adriano.
We can probably buy Bale and have him learn the defensive duties again, which in itself is taking a risk... So it's really asking a lot if were to play as LCB.


So better thing would be to buy a CB, LB and promote Muniesa to be the LB understudy. Sell Adriano.
We're a team who couldn't trust Thiago of all to be an understudy(had numerous other options, as well as tactical variation possibilities) and bought Cesc Fabregas to have as a back up for Xavi... How can we be content with having Bartra as a back up for Pique, Masch and a 34 year old, having second surgery in less than a year, Puyi!? One injury and we'd have to play a totally inexperienced youngster in the heart of our defense!!


If it's too much work, just shut up and buy Vertonghen. Coz Bale and Alba both are not ideal to be playing as LCB. Have potential to be good signings overall, but it's taking a lot of risk

 

[psychotsek]

LB/LCB would ineed be ideal... But Adriano would still have to be replaced, his injuries and all. And seemss like we aren't really aiming at that kinda player either. I think that is the reason we are buying Alba in the first place, to replace Adriano.
We can probably buy Bale and have him learn the defensive duties again, which in itself is taking a risk... So it's really asking a lot if were to play as LCB.


So better thing would be to buy a CB, LB and promote Muniesa to be the LB understudy. Sell Adriano.
We're a team who couldn't trust Thiago of all to be an understudy(had numerous other options, as well as tactical variation possibilities) and bought Cesc Fabregas to have as a back up for Xavi... How can we be content with having Bartra as a back up for Pique, Masch and a 34 year old, having second surgery in less than a year, Puyi!? One injury and we'd have to play a totally inexperienced youngster in the heart of our defense!!


If it's too much work, just shut up and buy Vertonghen. Coz Bale and Alba both are not ideal to be playing as LCB. Have potential to be good signings overall, but it's taking a lot of risk

How would you rate J.Enrique as a left back?He is nowhere near Abi but he has strengh,speed,height and is better defender than both Alba and Bale.If the rumours about Suarez' price are true then getting Enrique cheap wouldn't be a problem.Maybe give Adrianno to Liverpool in exchange.