Marc Bartra

[Zangash]

And somehow he not being chosen ahead of Pique is on Lucho, and not Bartra? I love Marc, but this is just a bad excuse. If he is good enough he will start. If he's not starting, it's on him, not on Lucho or Pique. Munir starting, and Rafinha over XAVI are proof of that.

Never said or implied anything of the sort, but thanks for saying it for me.

If he's so inferior to our current batch of starters that he can't even dream of getting into our XI we should sell him and in the rare instances where another CB would be needed Edgar IE would be more than enough depth. It's not like we have any particular problem with selling CBs from our academy that aren't good enough, and with playing time I bet Bartra could develop into a CB that actually is Barca quality.

 

[Flavia]

Never said or implied anything of the sort, but thanks for saying it for me.

If he's so inferior to our current batch of starters that he can't even dream of getting into our XI we should sell him and in the rare instances where another CB would be needed Edgar IE would be more than enough depth. It's not like we have any particular problem with selling CBs from our academy that aren't good enough, and with playing time I bet Bartra could develop into a CB that actually is Barca quality.

Bartra is depth right now, whether you like it or not. Depth cannot come only form the b team, and cb's are thin there also. And one thing Lucho can't do, is to play Bartra if he thinks he's not ready, so he can develop. He will have his chances, but he has to earn them, not get them "to develop".

 

[Galning]

I disagree. A player, and especially a defender, is made through playing time. Bartra won't turn into a world class centre back by playing 15-20 games a season, most of them as a sub. He needs to start week in week out whether it's Madrid away or Levante at home, whether he makes mistakes or not. Does that guarantee he will become a world class defender? Of course not but at the moment he isn't learning much. The fact that Mascherano still started ahead of him at centre back worries me a lot. I'm glad at least Del Bosque decided to call him up.

No defender is "ready" coming from youth divisions or even the Segunda. He needs games. You don't become a starting centre back for Barça at the Ciutat Esportiva, you become one in Camp Nou playing important games. Every young defender needs to go through that learning stage and the longer Bartra sits on the bench waiting for a coach to give him a shot, the smaller the chance becomes of him turning into a great centre back for Barcelona. Unless Luis Enrique has a plan for Bartra and this is all part of it, I don't see it ending well for Marc.

 

[DonAK]

I disagree. A player, and especially a defender, is made through playing time. Bartra won't turn into a world class centre back by playing 15-20 games a season, most of them as a sub. He needs to start week in week out whether it's Madrid away or Levante at home, whether he makes mistakes or not. Does that guarantee he will become a world class defender? Of course not but at the moment he isn't learning much. The fact that Mascherano still started ahead of him at centre back worries me a lot. I'm glad at least Del Bosque decided to call him up.

No defender is "ready" coming from youth divisions or even the Segunda. He needs games. You don't become a starting centre back for Barça at the Ciutat Esportiva, you become one in Camp Nou playing important games. Every young defender needs to go through that learning stage and the longer Bartra sits on the bench waiting for a coach to give him a shot, the smaller the chance becomes of him turning into a great centre back for Barcelona. Unless Luis Enrique has a plan for Bartra and this is all part of it, I don't see it ending well for Marc.

Pretty much sums it up. Marc of course have to work hard in training and all that, but if he is not gonna get much playing time then he won't turn into a great centre-back for us simply because he won't be able to gain experience and develop as a player.

I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does then his agent should try to find a solution for him because he would be better off somewhere else starting games instead of riding the Barca bench. He only have a 25m buyout clause IIRC.

Marc doesn't strike as a guy who would slack off so the working hard in the training part should be fine. What he need is the manager's confidence in him to deliver and actually deliver whenever he gets a chance to do so, but if those chances are limited then he really should seek another solution away from Barcelona because he is a very talented player who I believe can become a World Class CB for any team for many years.

 

[Flavia]

I disagree. A player, and especially a defender, is made through playing time. Bartra won't turn into a world class centre back by playing 15-20 games a season, most of them as a sub. He needs to start week in week out whether it's Madrid away or Levante at home, whether he makes mistakes or not. Does that guarantee he will become a world class defender? Of course not but at the moment he isn't learning much. The fact that Mascherano still started ahead of him at centre back worries me a lot. I'm glad at least Del Bosque decided to call him up.

No defender is "ready" coming from youth divisions or even the Segunda. He needs games. You don't become a starting centre back for Barça at the Ciutat Esportiva, you become one in Camp Nou playing important games. Every young defender needs to go through that learning stage and the longer Bartra sits on the bench waiting for a coach to give him a shot, the smaller the chance becomes of him turning into a great centre back for Barcelona. Unless Luis Enrique has a plan for Bartra and this is all part of it, I don't see it ending well for Marc.

He's still young, and I think masch started that game because Mathieu is new. But I can't see him playing more than 15-10 games this season, unless he really tops Pique.

 

[Zangash]

He's still young, and I think masch started that game because Mathieu is new. But I can't see him playing more than 15-10 games this season, unless he really tops Pique.

This is why he should leave. He's making a big mistake by sticking around at this club that doesn't have any faith in him.

 

[Galning]

Bartra loves the club more than the club loves Bartra. The only reason why he's still here in the first place is Puyol, at least el capità saw the potential.

 

[sabby]

He's still young, and I think masch started that game because Mathieu is new. But I can't see him playing more than 15-10 games this season, unless he really tops Pique.

I understand the point you are making, but there's no way Mascherano should start at CB before Bartra. And like DonAK said, he doesn't seem like a guy who is not working hard in the training. He always leaves his heart out in the pitch. I hope the club or Lucho has some long term plan for him otherwise he's putting his career at risk in what is usually the most crucial time for a talented CB to turn in to a World Class CB. I'll still wait for the season to see how he is trated. If he's still a 4th or 5th choice for CB position, I hope he leaves next summer for his own sake.

 

[CuleLife4Life]

Bartra loves the club more than the club loves Bartra. The only reason why he's still here in the first place is Puyol, at least el capità saw the potential.

This hurts to read. I really hope he makes it here but as of now he is just depth.

And he is already 23 turning 24 in January. As a cule, I want him to stay stay forever. But as an overall football fan, I think he needs to figure out what to do with his career if Lucho doesn't see him as a starter.

 

[Richard.H]

The sad thing is he is turning 24, which is an age when a talented footballer should get a lot of playing time. I feel just the same as you culeLife4life. As an overall football fan, I want to see him go somewhere where he'll get regular playing time.


Also, a lot of coaches would play masch over bartra simply because the former is so experienced. Keep in mind he's also coming from an excellent WC tournament, so that puts a lot of pressure on lucho

 

[BarçAjax8]

Agree with you guys that as a fan of Bartra if he doesn't get time here this season he should move on for himself. I don't have the pleasure of watching these players train but every match Bartra has played he's looked like he belongs in the starting XI. I really don't understand the snub.

I think Lucho should switch our back line to Dani - Bartra - Pique - Mathieu as this would make our defense tighter. It would eliminate the 2 small/attacking backs, balance out the side because having Alba, Iniesta, Neymar attack from the left also leaves that side wide open for counter attacks.

 

[Richard.H]

No way that will happen mate since alba is the fastest player on the team. He does a lot of defensive and offensive duties.

 

[BarçAjax8]

No way that will happen mate since alba is the fastest player on the team. He does a lot of defensive and offensive duties.

Very true... Villareal made a pass down the left flank and the player had a headstart on Alba and he turned on the afterburners to get in front. The shape of the team has been really good the first 2 games even with Alba & Alves so I guess we'll just have to see how the season progresses.

 

[BBZ8800]

I will get a lot of hate for saying against Bartra.

But:
-- Tito played Mascherano instead of him
-- Tata played Mascherano instead of him
-- now Lucho also plays Mascherano (and Pique, Mathieu, and he will probably play even Vermaelen when he will be ready) instead of him

Now, some people will say that it is only a coincidence and that coaches don't love him/rate him/trust in him that much.
But for example, when all coaches played Xavi and Iniesta before Fabregas, in turned out in the end that they were right. And Fabreags just wasn't good enough as those two, and the first two fitted much more to our system.

It is really indicative that all coaches pick not only regular defenders like Pique infront of Bartra, but even DMCs like Mascherano, all the time.
Again, maybe Bartra is not that good as people think.
Yes, he is from La Masia, he is the first La Masia defender since Puyol who could turn into something.
It seems that people are biased towards him because of that.
If he wasn't from La Masia, and if he was bought from a random French or Brasilian club at the age 22 or 23 for a small fee (to give us some depth, like Douglas currently), and if he would play equally as he is playing now, I doubt that the whole forum would asking: "Give him a chance, we need to play him no matter what. We just need to give him a chance to become a world-class defender with giving him a playing time in the first time. Even if we lose a lot of important points and matches because of him. We need to see how he will develop."
People would say that he is "meh, ok, or good" and nothing more.
If he plays, fine. If he doesn't play, fine again. People wouldn't care too much.

Again, if he wasn't from La Masia, people wouldn't act in this way.

Further, it seems that nobody is mentioning anymore a problem from the past when the papers were saying that he had huge problems with confidence.
At the end of the Season 2012/2013 under Tito, there were some stories that during a few matches he didn't want to play, that he was scared to enter the field, or how he asked to be subbed in the halftime even though we had no other available defenders and similar "mental" problems.

My point is: coaches know a lot more than we do.
We can only see a young, good guy, who is a La Masia product and he is everybody's favorite.
But it is hard to say if his skills are really that good and we don't know about his mental strength.

And playing won't solve all the mental problems.
Playing can solve some of his problems, but if he really has some problems, he will never be a naturally brave guy like Luis Enrique, Stoichkov, Puyol and other players.

Maybe there are some strong reasons (which we don't know) why he is always a 4th or 5th choice in our team, no matter who is on our rooster.

 

[darthvader7888]

He's fairly impressive whenever he's on the pitch, at least in comparison to how he gets treated by coaches. Maybe he sucks in training? Which would be weird. Tata and Tito made a LOT of mistakes, so it's not far-fetched to think they were both wrong about him, but if even Lucho, who has faith in youngsters has him as 4th/5th choice, something's probably up.

Maybe Lucho's wrong as well, but I'm more willing to trust his judgment on the matter than Tata's or Tito's.