Martin Montoya

[DavidVillano1]

CB

Should Abidal come back to full fitness(we all hope he does) I think he will beome third choice CB and cover for Alba on occasion.

In order:

Alves/Adriano/Montoya for RB
Alba/Abidal/Adriano/Montoya for LB
Puyol/Pique/Abidal/Mascherano/Busquets/Song/Bartra for CB

Reason I added in Busquets/Song to CB, is because I believe Tito would use them in a crucial match before Barta.

 

[Stric]

I agree absolutely with that order. We could surely use Abidal as a CB whenever Puyol or Pique are not playing for some reason, and I rate him higher as a CB than Mascherano, let alone Song or Busquets. And Bartra, of course. And if Abi does come back to fitness, he probably wouldn't compete for a starting spot, so being a rotating CB would suit him perfectly.

 

[DavidVillano1]

Without doubt Stric, as never a massive fan of Abidal as a full-back although he did impress me more at Barcelona in that position when Pep took over. However I thought he went up a level or so when playing CB and really impressed me. Given the circumstances and age that should be the position he plays in more often for the rest of his career.

 

[Cule4life]

CB

People seem to to forget this so easily

 

[marcelo]

Montoya needs more minutes

 

[FCBarca]

Whomever doesn't play needs more minutes

 

[Stric]

For someone who's been as reliable and surprisingly good as Montoya this season, he's really being given too little playing time.

 

[barcanuck]

For someone who's been as reliable and surprisingly good as Montoya this season, he's really being given too little playing time.

Dood he is a young cantera who is solid, Dos Santos is solid too is he getting playing time? He is not a top prospect like Thiago or even Tello. He won't get many minutes since Adriano, Alba, Alves deserve their spots ahead of him. Will only play at the end of the season in Liga games after we wrap up la liga. Until then only injuries will get him playing time.

 

[Cule4life]

Dood he is a young cantera who is solid, Dos Santos is solid too is he getting playing time? He is not a top prospect like Thiago or even Tello. He won't get many minutes since Adriano, Alba, Alves deserve their spots ahead of him. Will only play at the end of the season in Liga games after we wrap up la liga. Until then only injuries will get him playing time.

Pardon me but Montoya is easily our best "current" prospect from La Masia and deserves more playing time to be developed. He does well in whatever little playing time he gets.And i fail to see how Alves deserves his spot against him. Alves is poor at defending. With two attacking fullbacks that is suicide.

 

[Garrus]

Pardon me but Montoya is easily our best "current" prospect from La Masia and deserves more playing time to be developed. He does well in whatever little playing time he gets.And i fail to see how Alves deserves his spot against him. Alves is poor at defending. With two attacking fullbacks that is suicide.

Alves has been preforming tremendously for the past 2-3 weeks, He deserves his spot, Montoya has to compete for his just like every one else, No one is getting oppressed, Don't create troubles when there aren't any,

 

[khaled_a_d]

I would say Alves deserve his spot as starting RB ,but Adriano should never play at RB whenever Montoya is available ,Tito done that several times in the season specially early ,I think tthat is a mistake ,I see the rotation as Alves starting at RB and Monoya is his back yup,Alba is starting LB and Adriano is the back up ,no need to move players from left to right or vice verse

 

[DonAndres]

Alves is doing great but Montoya is definitely the more preferable option due to his defensive strengths. And he is no pushover on attack either but he only bombs up when needed whereas Alves only tracks back to defend when needed (and that's only if he really feels like it). Montoya might not be a "wowing" right back but that's not his duty. He is first and foremost a defender which is what we really need. He's the defensive fullback of the pairing and does his duties extremely well.

 

[Cule4life]

^This

 

[darthvader7888]

Alves is doing great but Montoya is definitely the more preferable option due to his defensive strengths. And he is no pushover on attack either but he only bombs up when needed whereas Alves only tracks back to defend when needed (and that's only if he really feels like it). Montoya might not be a "wowing" right back but that's not his duty. He is first and foremost a defender which is what we really need. He's the defensive fullback of the pairing and does his duties extremely well.

I definitely say we should drop Alves OR Alba (keep whichever one is on-form or drop whichever one needs rest I suppose) for someone more defensive (Montoya/Abidal) whenever we use Mascherano to rest Puyol (2 attacking FBs + CDM at CB = problems). Alves-Puyol-Pique-Alba can definitely work though. It's worked pretty well so far.

 

[DonAndres]

I definitely say we should drop Alves OR Alba (keep whichever one is on-form or drop whichever one needs rest I suppose) for someone more defensive (Montoya/Abidal) whenever we use Mascherano to rest Puyol (2 attacking FBs + CDM at CB = problems). Alves-Puyol-Pique-Alba can definitely work though. It's worked pretty well so far.

I don't think we've kept a clean sheet when both Alves and Alba were on the pitch. Just because we end up winning doesn't mean that it works. It's just that the opposition attackers aren't always capable of taking advantage of it. Imagine if we play Bayern with them. Alba+Montoya works for a left sided attack and Alves+Adriano works for a right sided attack. The fact is we are one of the only teams with a CHOICE as to which side we can pick. Although playing with both is somewhat redundant and it hurts us defensively.