Mehdi Benatia

[DonAK]

Hopefully he sees this reaction and realizes the forum's perception of him. Not saying you have free reign to insult him but it's clear it wasn't just mods who were fed up with his behavior. He did this last summer too (except it was repetitive Tito jokes instead) and was banned multiple times for it, and didn't change.

And yeah, I'd love to know how many times he's actually seen Benatia play, and in a match, not youtube highlights.

Blame and the board for getting him banned.

 

[Ursegor]

One week without the forum Parrot?!!?

Hey, don't diss! When I'm not here for a few days and a thread has 20 new pages which I don't want to go through I just go to the latest dv post and I get a summary of what everyone has said in the last 20 pages.

 

[DonAndres]

Hey, don't diss! When I'm not here for a few days and a thread has 20 new pages which I don't want to go through I just go to the latest dv post and I get a summary of what everyone has said in the last 20 pages.

Valid point. The best part is that if for some reason one of his posts gets accidentally quarantined/deleted among a mass of other peoples' posts, you can always find 5 more replicas of it in the same thread or various other ones. Plus a complementary Zubi joke.

 

[Cule4life]

Just my 2 cents. Yeah he's not the second coming of Baresi. But if he's available we should get him as he's the best realistic option for us. We should try at least and put in a bid to see what happens. Same goes for Hummels. But we have chased Marquinhos and dont even seem to be trying for Hummels/Benatia. This is what irks me.

And yeah i saw him play before and i believe he is a good defender. Ursegor seems to imply that under Rudi Garcia my grandmother can play defense and still have the best defense in the country. A good defensive system brings out your strengths and hides weaknesses. You need to have some strengths in the first place.

Or should we sign Adil Rami now Ursegor?

 

[DonAndres]

Or should we sign Adil Rami now Ursegor?

He's tall, French, and looks like a tranny. Already got Josh's seal of approval.

 

[DonAK]

He's tall, French, and looks like a tranny. Already got Josh's seal of approval.

If he sucks then he ticks all the boxes as well.

 

[Chainsaw]

If he sucks then he ticks all the boxes as well.

And a big nose too.

 

[Ursegor]

Just my 2 cents. Yeah he's not the second coming of Baresi. But if he's available we should get him as he's the best realistic option for us. We should try at least and put in a bid to see what happens. Same goes for Hummels. But we have chased Marquinhos and dont even seem to be trying for Hummels/Benatia. This is what irks me.

And yeah i saw him play before and i believe he is a good defender. Ursegor seems to imply that under Rudi Garcia my grandmother can play defense and still have the best defense in the country. A good defensive system brings out your strengths and hides weaknesses. You need to have some strengths in the first place.

Or should we sign Adil Rami now Ursegor?

Well, I don't know about your granny. Maybe you're underestimating her. But you can surely see the influence a coach will have on his defense? 2 years ago Atletico were a joke. Regularly conceding 4 or 5 goals against Barca, lingering around somewhere in lower midtable. Fast forward 2 years and Miranda-Godin is the CB partnership in Europe with least goals conceded, winning La Liga and playing in a CL final. Similarly under Heynckes Dante looked like a beast. Now he looks like a clumsy oaf and Bayern are searching for a new CB. Rudi Garcia is known to have similar effects in organizing a defense. On top of that Benatia doesn't even have CL experience while Serie A is at its lowest ever point in terms of quality. They've dropped below Portugal in the coefficient rankings right now. A Juve side with Llorente leading the line, 35 year old Pirlo dictating the tempo and no wide players worth mentioning has steamrolled Serie A with 102 points but couldn't get past Galatasaray in the CL nor Benfica in the EL for the final on home soil. Barca hasn't even managed that feat in La Liga when Messi was scoring historic 91 goals in a year.

I'm not even saying Benatia is an amateur, I actually want him, but some people in this thread act like he's a sure bet to solve all of Barca's defensive problems and "just throw money at Roma" when in reality there are lots of question marks surrounding him. He could absolutely suck in a high line with 40 yards of space behind his back which is the way Barca plays. He already looked shaky against Juve last season when Juve played defensive on the counter and Roma played proactive. Roma ain't letting go of him for € 40M otherwise he'd be a City player now. If he comes for € 50M and doesn't prove to be the new messiah while relegating Bartra to the bench the faces will be out in full force.

 

[Cule4life]

Well, I don't know about your granny. Maybe you're underestimating her. But you can surely see the influence a coach will have on his defense? 2 years ago Atletico were a joke. Regularly conceding 4 or 5 goals against Barca, lingering around somewhere in lower midtable. Fast forward 2 years and Miranda-Godin is the CB partnership in Europe with least goals conceded, winning La Liga and playing in a CL final. Similarly under Heynckes Dante looked like a beast. Now he looks like a clumsy oaf and Bayern are searching for a new CB. Rudi Garcia is known to have similar effects in organizing a defense. On top of that Benatia doesn't even have CL experience while Serie A is at its lowest ever point in terms of quality. They've dropped below Portugal in the coefficient rankings right now. A Juve side with Llorente leading the line, 35 year old Pirlo dictating the tempo and no wide players worth mentioning has steamrolled Serie A with 102 points but couldn't get past Galatasaray in the CL nor Benfica in the EL for the final on home soil. Barca hasn't even managed that feat in La Liga when Messi was scoring historic 91 goals in a year.

I'm not even saying Benatia is an amateur, I actually want him, but some people in this thread act like he's a sure bet to solve all of Barca's defensive problems and "just throw money at Roma" when in reality there are lots of question marks surrounding him. He could absolutely suck in a high line with 40 yards of space behind his back which is the way Barca plays. He already looked shaky against Juve last season when Juve played defensive on the counter and Roma played proactive. Roma ain't letting go of him for € 40M otherwise he'd be a City player now. If he comes for € 50M and doesn't prove to be the new messiah while relegating Bartra to the bench the faces will be out in full force.

Not even disagreeing with you but what about Suarez then? Without a proper attacking system he could be also be a flop(an 80m flop). Then why did we spent so much on him. Probably because the board thinks he suits our system and is worth that money. Then why arent they ready to spend 40m+ on a defender who is quality and suits our system?Because defenders dont do the glamorous work of scoring goals and selling shirts? And not buying a CB for 4 years will make clubs jack up prices. We have little bargaining power. If the board doesnt want to pay for defenders then have better scouting in the future. But presently we will have to pay up.

If the system is the be all of defense then why not have Pique-Bartra next season and promote Edgar Ie and focus all your planning on the system? Why not promote Dongou and focus on the system instead of blowing 80m on Suarez? Im not expecting even Thiago Silva to work miracles with nobody doing defensive work in our team apart from the CBs and Busi. But i sure want more quality

 

[Flavia]

Because defenders dont do the glamorous work of scoring goals and selling shirts?

Yep. The mentality they showed so far is this. It's either good and cheap, or nothing. They don't seem willing to make a cb marquee signing, though they should. The lack of a sporting project is the worse. And we can't blame only Zubi, he wanted Hummels at one point.

 

[KingMessi]

If the system is the be all of defense then why not have Pique-Bartra next season and promote Edgar Ie and focus all your planning on the system? Why not promote Dongou and focus on the system instead of blowing 80m on Suarez? Im not expecting even Thiago Silva to work miracles with nobody doing defensive work in our team apart from the CBs and Busi. But i sure want more quality

Suarez is world class. Dongou is meh, even for the B team. I know that a lot of supporters are getting restless. But you have to believe that defenders will come. This time, the members of the board know that their jobs depend on this. And if they go back on their word after promising 2-3 defenders, they know that the fans will have their heads.

Yep. The mentality they showed so far is this. It's either good and cheap, or nothing. They don't seem willing to make a cb marquee signing, though they should. The lack of a sporting project is the worse. And we can't blame only Zubi, he wanted Hummels at one point.

But Tito only wanted Thiago Silva.

 

[Tomchin]

Yep. The mentality they showed so far is this. It's either good and cheap, or nothing. They don't seem willing to make a cb marquee signing, though they should. The lack of a sporting project is the worse. And we can't blame only Zubi, he wanted Hummels at one point.

It makes me wonder though, if the board care about marketibility so much: Why would they want to spend 40M euro on an ugly kid like Marquinhos, and not the same amount of money on one of the most handsome and most marketable defenders on the market: Mats Hummels?

I think they don't want Hummels because he lacks pace, I don't think it's a money-issue. But this obsession with "finding a CB that fits the Barca-profile" surely is frustrating like hell.

 

[KingMessi]

I think they don't want Hummels because he lacks pace, I don't think it's a money-issue. But this obsession with "finding a CB that fits the Barca-profile" surely is frustrating like hell.

Or it could be the fact that Dortmund's board told them to fuck off.

 

[ivan_barca]

40m+ on a defender who is quality and suits our system?

Maybe because he doesn`t suits our system. He would be very good in Pique`s place,but not as his partner. Mathieu is the guy who suits our needs.Maybe Vertonghen also...
And yes,I prefer Benatia over Pique,but not both together,not at all. None of them has the quality to play wide left open when we have the ball..

-----Pique/Bartra---------Bussi-------------?----

Alves-------Rakitich----------Iniesta--------Alba

Left Foot, Versatility and Height. That`t what Lucho and Subi are looking for.

 

[Flavia]

It makes me wonder though, if the board care about marketibility so much: Why would they want to spend 40M euro on an ugly kid like Marquinhos, and not the same amount of money on one of the most handsome and most marketable defenders on the market: Mats Hummels?

I think they don't want Hummels because he lacks pace, I don't think it's a money-issue. But this obsession with "finding a CB that fits the Barca-profile" surely is frustrating like hell.

There were rumors about Hummels before the wc, and if they inquired about him, they were probably told "he's not for sale". Marquinhos is very young, so a huge bid for him might be seen as good investment, as he'd be here for years. I don't see them spending 40+ on Benatia though, as he is 27 and not really known or markeatable. They would have on Luiz, though.