Maybe Abidal stated this publicly because he wants to lift the team up and the only way to do so was to expose them publicly. Maybe the players will now give their maximum effort on the pitch to prove him wrong, so his action might have a psychological counter effect after all. Not everything from what he did and said may be as bad as some of you think.
Lionel Messi - v7
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
malvolio
Senior Member
Exactly! Don't understand how people can go with Abidal on this one, when it was evidently an idiotic move from his part.
So far we have this against Messi:
Suarez is a starter - Messi's fault as he is his friend
Suarez doesn't have a backup - Messi's fault as he is his friend
Griezmann doesn't deliver - Messi's fault as he doesn't pass to him
Valverde is a mediocre manager and is not fired after Roma/Liverpool- Messi's fault as he doesn't speak badly about him in the press
Rakitic is a starter and plays badly - Messi's fault as he is not calling out his colleagues in the press
We don't train hard enough - Messi's fault as captain as he tolerates this and doesn't go to the press
We can't seem to have a proper direction or game plan - Messi's fault as he is a polarizing figure and we should sell him
Bartolomeu ruins the club - Messi's fault as he doesn't speak up in the press against the board
Abidal goes and says stupid shit in the press - Messi's fault as he has the nerve to fight back
Devils
Senior Member
This is always more likely to turn your employees against you rather than motivate them to do better.
It's a suicidal play in management.
LeeRomeno
Active member
Where does this simplistic view on football come from? Our losses away to Liverpool and Roma did not come from lack of physical fitness, but mental fitness. We did not suddenly get overrun away from home, players were just not mentally there. Mental health is just as important as physical and this is what determined our losses in CL. I can guarantee you that ever since Peps time in majority of games we always ran less than opponent. First of all because you automatically ran less if you have more possession and we have always had more possession than opponent, secondly for good part of last decade we had 1 player mostly walking on pitch.
Messi983
Senior Member
I was thinking about this yesterday and optimistic part of me wants to believe that this debate will have a similar positive effect on the team than almost sacking Lucho after Anoeta 2015. But circumstances now are different (not just our squad depleted by injuries) so I don't see anything good in our short-term future (and I'm usually optimistic when it comes to Barça). If Abidal will be fired as expected then Messi&friends power will even increase.
People might (dis)agree with Abidal's or Messi's point of view here but I think they were both wrong in the way they've handled things. Nothing good has come out by trying to resolve (potential) internal problems in public. EVER.
But this club has a great history of self-destruction so this is nothing new or surprising.
Raketa10
Senior Member
Let's be fair here people. Forget about Messi for a second. Can any of you name ONE good thing Abidal did as a sporting director and do not forget De Jong was actually signed by Barto. Just one? He is basically a person who can be fired and nothing significant will happen at all. He adds nothing at all to our club except he tends to give totally moronic interviews from time to time.
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Asylum15
Senior Member
Like 5 year old girls. Are these men at all? They should be able to sort it out amongst themselves FFS.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
I expect to stay, but I think his power within the club will be less and less
Raketa10
Senior Member
He has no power whatsoever. He was employed by Barto as a marketing move to show how much they care about Barca legends while in reality they don't give a shit about that. Even bigger problem is the fact that Abidal has seriously low IQ so he probably believes he can influence Barto which is laughable. 2021 elections can't come soon enough.
After Txiki Begiristain left we didn't have a competent sporting director since Barto and Rosell wanted to have a complete control of the club and signings which is a disaster for a club like Barca. What's even worse is the fact that Barto doesn't understand football at all. We are being lead by a bunch of incompetent idiots who were saved numerous of times by Messi alone.
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behindbrowneyes
Well-known member
I can understand why Messi is pissed. Suárez got injured and they tried to sign a #9 in the winter and failed. Not only that, they've also sold one of the wingers in the squad while hoping for Demélé, a player who is very talented, but very injury-prone. So all they did in this whole month was selling players, weaken the squad (at least in depth), chasing Rodrigo and buying a winger who won't join before summer.
Then Abidal has the nerve to come out and saying players didn't work hard under Valverde. I'm sure he is right with this statement, but he shouldn't say that. Instead of criticizing players he should admit that he failed to sign a Suárez-replacement the same way players took responsibility for Anfield or Valencia.
Then Abidal has the nerve to come out and saying players didn't work hard under Valverde. I'm sure he is right with this statement, but he shouldn't say that. Instead of criticizing players he should admit that he failed to sign a Suárez-replacement the same way players took responsibility for Anfield or Valencia.
Just this season. Can't be bothered to get last seasons.
https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsl...d=2001140/match=2027091/statistics/index.html
A. vs Inter
H. vs Inter
A. vs Slavia
A. vs Dortmund
H. vs Slavia
Valverde: "I never give much importance to physical fitness"
Atleast you admit he was sh*t at mental preparation too though.
As I said Abidal is factually correct and even supported by the quotes of the ex-manager.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Our mental preparation is not bad since 2017 but since 2012.
We were always mentally fragile.
The only difference is that in some eras we were so technically superior that we managed win CLs inspite of being a team of choirboys.
In other eras, when we aren't technically superior, we are just a normal team with a weak mental strength.
In the core of our footballing phylosophy is to play, pass and dominate.
There is no word or lessons about mentality, leaders, fighting spirit.
So, it is what it is.
It is more a cultural and historical thing with Barca.
A fun fact:
Do you know that in a CL final of 1986, between Barca and Steaua, played in Seville, a match ended 0:0 and we went into a penalty shootout.
Since Barca never won a CL prior to that final, our players were so scared and impressed that we missed all 4 penalty kicks, and lost 2:0.
A classical example of our mental strength in CL finals and key moments over years.
Our strength improved only due to having Messi to save our asses.
Without him, more or less, we were always a team of frightened choirboys who can play a nice flowing possession football, but who eventually crumble under pressure in key moments.
With or without Valverde.
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