Luis Suárez

[MessiCam]

You're crazy if you think we're gonna win CL playing Madrid style crossing for 90 minutes. We'd have to literally revamp the entire starting lineup to make something like that viable. Barca has never won being reliant on crosses and long deliveries into the box for headers. It's much better and more realistic to win games in our way rather than theirs.

How is he not a striker? Cause he's been playing with Costa or Gameiro??? He drops back sometimes but in Barca's system he is ideally going to be the most advanced player and that's where he would excel. Firmino is also this "pseudo-false 9" type player you seem to be referring to, look at how well he combines with Salah and creates space for him, a Messi-esque player. Griezmann plays nothing like Messi and does not operate in the same zones or situations as he does.

He is not a Pseudo-False 9, he is playing as a False 9.

Coutinho and/or sign a player that has the freedom to try and dictate and probe not just win ball and look for Messi.

Even then could be Coutinho on left and front three are still the creative force and can come central at times.

But midfield needs to be where ball is dictated and used to find the attacking players in better positions. Not just left to Messi to try and dribble or split the defence or not much else happens.

Messi is not a play maker that Barca need in my opinion. He needs to be in final third more.

This I very much agree with. Messi is not a playmaker per se and never has been. With a decent midfield Messi, at False 9, wouldn't have to drop deep all that often. He could look for spaces between lines.

Even when playing in a 4-4-2 Messi is still doing what a False 9 or at the very least a 10 does by dropping deep. Only difference is that he has a useless striker ahead of him. That's just the way he plays and it is the reason why we dominated the midfield to no end previously. He is an additional passing option.

 

[Morten]

I dont understand why its so popular to claim that Suarez is past it, washed up etc.
I mean, he is still scoring 30-35 goals with double digit assists, he is doing rather well, i would say.

Honestly, scoring 50-60 goals a season isnt normal, and you cant expect him to do it anymore, and you cant expect that from anybody you bring in to replace him with either.

 

[MessiCam]

I dont understand why its so popular to claim that Suarez is past it, washed up etc.
I mean, he is still scoring 30-35 goals with double digit assists, he is doing rather well, i would say.

Honestly, scoring 50-60 goals a season isnt normal, and you cant expect him to do it anymore, and you cant expect that from anybody you bring in to replace him with either.

You clearly don’t watch the games then. He first touch is awful, he’s always offside, he’s slow, he’s passing is whack and he fumbles the ball a lot.

90% of his goals are tap-ins and even then finds ways to miss some of them.

His level has dropped significantly and to top it all off he thinks he has earned the privilege of no defensive duties ala Messi. He is just bad man but the goals blind people to what is really happening.

 

[Morten]

You clearly don’t watch the games then. He first touch is awful, he’s always offside, he’s slow, he’s passing is whack and he fumbles the ball a lot.

90% of his goals are tap-ins and even then finds ways to miss some of them.

His level has dropped significantly and to top it all off he thinks he has earned the privilege of no defensive duties ala Messi. He is just bad man but the goals blind people to what is really happening.

I watch some Barca games, then turn off when they get into the lead, so i guess you could say i watch 20% of their games. Well, seeing as the league was wrapped up so early, i didnt really watch Barca much from january onwards.

Okay, so he isnt that great anymore, but honestly, ofc his level was going to drop, from 50-60 goal seasons there was only one way to go, down. I know you have been spoiled with some incredible players over the years(Suarez included), but a strikers job is to score, and to score mostly tap-ins, and he is doing that at a good rate still.
He also have loads of assists for someone who is "useless" on the ball.

You could use an upgrade, but lets not pretend that there are loads of number 9s that are better than Suarez, there are only a few.

 

[MessiCam]

I watch some Barca games, then turn off when they get into the lead, so i guess you could say i watch 20% of their games. Well, seeing as the league was wrapped up so early, i didnt really watch Barca much from january onwards.

Okay, so he isnt that great anymore, but honestly, ofc his level was going to drop, from 50-60 goal seasons there was only one way to go, down. I know you have been spoiled with some incredible players over the years(Suarez included), but a strikers job is to score, and to score mostly tap-ins, and he is doing that at a good rate still.
He also have loads of assists for someone who is "useless" on the ball.

You could use an upgrade, but lets not pretend that there are loads of number 9s that are better than Suarez, there are only a few.

He is not even doing that... He had that purple patch between December and February but has since fallen again. The 9's at Barca (and every other serious club at the moment) are expected to do a lot more than just score tap-ins. He has scored only 4 in 11 since the 6 - 1 hammering of Girona.

Regarding the assists... When you play in the box for Barcelona you will give assists. Eto'o also gave double digit assists...

But more than that, when you have a player like Messi (playing at his current level) then you don't need a 9.

 

[MTL_Barca]

I watch some Barca games, then turn off when they get into the lead, so i guess you could say i watch 20% of their games. Well, seeing as the league was wrapped up so early, i didnt really watch Barca much from january onwards.

Okay, so he isnt that great anymore, but honestly, ofc his level was going to drop, from 50-60 goal seasons there was only one way to go, down. I know you have been spoiled with some incredible players over the years(Suarez included), but a strikers job is to score, and to score mostly tap-ins, and he is doing that at a good rate still.
He also have loads of assists for someone who is "useless" on the ball.

You could use an upgrade, but lets not pretend that there are loads of number 9s that are better than Suarez, there are only a few.

Well the stats are ok but he is supposed to be one of our main players. Somebody that makes the difference but in CL he completely disappeared and in most of the league game he was terrible too even if he scored and seems to rely on Messi even more than the rest of the team, not exactly what one of our stars should do.

The "a striker just has to score" is an easy way to look at it but its risky, because if a player is dead weight in every minute he doesn't score then what is left if he doesn't score in a game? Then we pretty much played it with 10 men. So by that logic there pretty much are only two outcomes for a game. Scores = good, doesn't score = useless and imo that's really bad.

Suarez also was know for his defensive contributions but for the most part that seems gone now, not even talking about his physical form.

I would take a striker that scores 5 goals less but contributes more overall over him any day

 

[ronniecro]

I defended him whole season and believed that he will bounce back,i hate to bash him but this yesterday was just pathetic. I don't even talk about his fuck ups,his attitude was thrash,as others said screaming,yelling and fuming like insulted child if he did not received pass was embarrassing. I still don't want to see him kicked out through the back doors,but this performances together with that attitude definitely does not help him...

 

[kenny]

I really hope he isn't in the starting XI next season. Contributes nothing right now and the shouting at teammates harms us more than anything. With Villa we could count on him to create something and not be dependent on Messi, with Suarez all I hope for is he doesn't lose the ball. And that missed header showed he's completely past his prime

 

[Neymessi]

The dude is an absolutely horseshit footballer.

You watch him play apart from his goalscoring and he plays like a 80 year old with a fractured spine on crack. An absolute weak link in our attack. Griezzmann should be a huge priority.

Its funny how neymar was crticised 10 times more for the exact thing suarez is 10 times more shit at than neymar ever was.

 

[Joan]

Yeah, alwats liked the guy but it's time to save the memory.

 

[Pedro]

Is 31 goals not enough for you guys this season? He's a great player, just lacking that sharpness and fitness currently, which I fully expect him to get back for next season.

 

[Andrew M]

People are being too hard on him in my view. Did no-one see Griezmann at the start of the season? He was terrible for a couple of months too.

He has scored over a 1/4 of our league goals this season.

 

[KingMessi]

He needs to take diet tips from Messi. He's not in the shape he was in the first two seasons here.

 

[Stoichkov1]

He needs to take diet tips from Messi. He's not in the shape he was in the first two seasons here.

It's not about diet.

 

[Barca83]

Maybe the biggest problem with keeping Suarez imo is that if we go back to 433, the only position in the front 3 he can play is through the middle which is where Messi plays. If Suarez could play on the wings, then it would be great to keep him for another year because he could rotate in for any of Messi/Dembele/Griezmann.

However, he is dreadful on the wings, which leaves us with a player that is only capable of playing in the same position that our best player will occupy, is on huge wages, and has serious ego/anger issues that will only get worse as his form and playing time diminish with age.

Personally, I think we should sell him to raise the funds to bring in Griezmann along with a top class midfielder. We could then have Messi/Dembele/Griezmann/Coutinho rotating as our forwards (with Munir as backup) and New Signing/Busquets/Rakitic in midfield with Coutinho occasionally playing there as well.