Mehdi Benatia

[darthvader7888]

For those of you saying "we won the CL with Mascherano", we had guys like prime Xavi and prime Alves back then. I'm not saying it's impossible to win the CL with our current defense, but Benatia would have significantly raised our chances of winning the CL.

 

[Hamzah]

We have won a CL with Oleguer too. Does that mean our full backs don't have to be better than Oleguer. Winning a CL doesn't make your team perfect.

obviously getting benatia is preferrable nobody is denying that. but people are refusing to see the positives for our defence from this window, it's not IDEAL but it is good enough, when it clearly wasn't good enough before. i'm confident about next season.

 

[spark]

Mathieu and Vermaelen are temporary solutions to our defensive problems. They will act as stopgaps, and the club will be able to pursue somebody like Laporte or whoever the new big name talent is at a later date. And this also allows a chance for our own defensive talents to enter the squad and have a realistic chance of fighting for a spot in the team.

I think you're over thinking it and we'll buy Koscielny when he's about to turn 30. Just in time for the Transfer ban to end. All the better if he gets a longterm injury this year so his price can increase.

 

[Icarium]

Probably. We should have bought Benatia instead of wasting our time with Marquinhos. Or instead of buying Vermaelen. Benatia + Mathieu would have been really good. But I'd even have taken him instead of Mathieu.

What's the consensus on the fee?

The plan should be Benatia+Marquinhos as every one wanted. But both combined would have cost nearly 80M and we needed that money for Suarez.

 

[Cule4life]

Mathieu and Vermaelen are temporary solutions to our defensive problems. They will act as stopgaps, and the club will be able to pursue somebody like Laporte or whoever the new big name talent is at a later date. And this also allows a chance for our own defensive talents to enter the squad and have a realistic chance of fighting for a spot in the team.

You cant be this naive. You are talking about a board who didnt sign a CB for 5 years and said "Puyol is our new signing". Only a trophyless season forced them to do so. We didnt pay 36m for Laporte. I really doubt we will pay 50m which he will undoubtedly cost in 2 years

don't you get his point? with proper pressing and tactics our defence was solid and won the champions league even with masch back there. now imagine how we'd get on with mathieu who is an actual cb and very good (assuming lucho sorts out everything else). we will also have better depth in those positions than in 2011. so the defence is good enough after this window's signings.

Yeah then why did we get Mathieu and Vermalean then if with the right tactics we can win the CL with Masch? Why cant Douglas fit in the with the right tactics? Surely you are contradicting your own statement? If we needed an upgrade over Masch why didnt we get a good defender like Benatia who would provide us a longer solution especially with the transfer ban looming?

 

[linetty]

We have won a CL with Oleguer too. Does that mean our full backs don't have to be better than Oleguer. Winning a CL doesn't make your team perfect.

No team is perfect. A backline of Alves-Pique-Mathieu-Alba looks solid enough to achieve big things. The key is to get best out of your players and I believe Lucho will.

 

[KingMessi]

You cant be this naive. You are talking about a board who didnt sign a CB for 5 years and said "Puyol is our new signing". Only a trophyless season forced them to do so. We didnt pay 36m for Laporte. I really doubt we will pay 50m which he will undoubtedly cost in 2 years

You underestimate the fact that this board will be out of a job in two years.

And if Laporte doesn't renew, then his buyout will be the same 42M euros it is now. And we won't have Zubi anymore as a sporting director so signing players from Athletic Bilbao by paying their buyout will be a viable option.

 

[darthvader7888]

obviously getting benatia is preferrable nobody is denying that. but people are refusing to see the positives for our defence from this window, it's not IDEAL but it is good enough, when it clearly wasn't good enough before. i'm confident about next season.

Is it good enough? It is quantity/depth wise, but quality wise I'm not sure. A lot of teams have more quality at the back than we do. Our only WC CB is Pique when he's on form.

Even if it is good enough, it would have been a lot better if we did the smart thing and got Benatia for that bargain price instead of completely ignoring him. I'm fairly confident about the season if Lucho does his part, but I'm not that confident about the defense. I'd be a lot more confident if we had Benatia instead of either Mathieu or Vermaelen (preferably the latter). Even if we win a treble next season, not buying Benatia will still be a mistake in my eyes, and a dumb one at that, unless Mathieu actually outperforms him (highly unlikely IMO).

 

[linetty]

Yeah then why did we get Mathieu and Vermalean then if with the right tactics we can win the CL with Masch? Why cant Douglas fot in the with the right tactics? Surely you are contradicting your own statement? If we needed an upgrade over Masch why didnt we get a good defender like Benatia who would provide us a longer solution especially with the transfer ban looming?

Because Lucho wanted centre backs. And for depth.

Douglas can't fit in with the right tactics because he's a bad player and would not be able to repeat what the coach asks of him week in week out.

 

[JamDav1982]

Well, call me paranoid, but after the faus incident, to me it's not far fetched to imagine rosell wanting to make Messi unhappy on purpose, to get a good sum for the stadium or himself, and to make neymar the biggest star of the team. And I forgot to mention, but I don't think they'd ever say they'd sell Messi to fund the new stadium, the excuse would be something else. But after rosell resigned, and Barto took over, things changed in the following months. Also, Neymar injured and not really shining as they wanted, all the problems with his signing... It's somewhat a conspiracy theory, I know that. But rosell did want nike's neyney to be the star. That's why I think there's plenty substance to those rumors. Unlike you, I never trusted rosell for 1 second.
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Of course they never made Messi unhappy on purpose and Messi's father came out and praised the board for the support they gave him during his tax case etc.

That Faus comment was a mistake on his part in answering a question poorly thats all. It was no planned effort to upset him.

There is nothing to suggest anyone wanted Neymar to be the star of the team ahead of Messi. The reports were that they even got the green light from Messi to sign him.

If Messi left because the board upset him they wouldnt last another day and no stadium would save any legacy that Messi could provide. The board know that full well.

 

[Hamzah]

douglas would never be good enough while mathieu/verm are/can be. i already said that benatia was preferrable but have pointed out that we couldn't have got him for 30m early in the window. even if we went for him now he'd cost more because unlike bayern we are desperate and we'd get into a bid war with them. so in the end we got TWO cb's who fit the style and have the quality. that's good if you ask me.

also, i guess we could win the cl with masch again provided all the other factors were there, but i feel more secure with the current setup obviously. remember i have said benatia is preferrable but explained why that was unreasonable. i have also pointed out how we have upgraded and our defense is now good enough. something people don't seem to recognise because they are busy whining, as if we can only win a cl if we got benatia.

 

[Cule4life]

You underestimate the fact that this board will be out of a job in two years.

And if Laporte doesn't renew, then his buyout will be the same 42M euros it is now. And we won't have Zubi anymore as a sporting director so signing players from Athletic Bilbao by paying their buyout will be a viable option.

Dont have such high expectations. I have lost faith with the socios and wouldnt be surprised if this board is elected again

 

[SeloBarca]

don't you get his point? with proper pressing and tactics our defence was solid and won the champions league even with masch back there. now imagine how we'd get on with mathieu who is an actual cb and very good (assuming lucho sorts out everything else). we will also have better depth in those positions than in 2011. so the defence is good enough after this window's signings.

Yea..its not like other teams have evolved to counter our play by counterattacking...

With Benatia i coulda said "perfect signings this year" and be content with our defence.
Now we have to worry if our defence will manage this year aswell.

 

[KingMessi]

Dont have such high expectations. I have lost faith with the socios and wouldnt be surprised if this board is elected again

What can I say? I'm an optimistic person.

 

[Hamzah]

Yea..its not like other teams have evolved to counter our play by counterattacking...

Teams always did that against us. We were just better at dealing with it because stopped counters before they started with positioning and pressing.

Let's assume what I'm saying is bullshit for a second, even if tactics have no relevance then you think Benatia would single handedly stop all counter attacks even if nobody presses up front and he is left 1v1 with bale and 50m behind him? You make me laugh.