Sergio Ramos

[DonAK]

Piqué is certainly a better defender than Ramos and has been the leader of a good Barça defence the last couple of seasons.

Unlike Ramos who's been dicking around instead of usually doing his job.

 

[Beast]

Piqué is certainly a better defender than Ramos and has been the leader of a good Barça defence the last couple of seasons.

Unlike Ramos who's been dicking around instead of usually doing his job.

??? Pique last year had a good season but majority thanks to Mascherano... Pique has been fucking around for a good 4-5 years now bailed by Puyol influence & now Mascherano.. he can't lead a goat out of a farm house let alone a team ANY TEAM... ask his team mates why he is not one of the captains and that's for a very good reason.. he is an awful leader who lacks focus ALL THE TIME (Refer to Graham Hunter Barcelona book & Puyol /Pique comments on Pique's own performance )

 

[silvia]

Huh? They both appealed to the crowd to stop whistling at him.

Also good luck having Pique as the leader of the defence, lol.

and ramos can? pique is best cb in the world who just won treble. Pique is often saving his ass when ramos did a lot mistakes in nt matches.

 

[Beast]

Ramos definitely can ... not only he is the current RM captain .. he's been playing the role for 4 years now even with Iker available

 

[El Gato]

Pique hasn't been a leader to date. Remember Mascherano being the best player and almost uncontested MVP of the 2014 World Cup? Yea, that happened the season after it too, only difference being the team and the position. Pique isn't bad, he's good and had a very good season. Best CB in the world? Arguably. Not that the previous season spawned a great defensive performer. I'd take someone like Godin over Pique any day of the week.

Ramos is a great leader. There is a reason why Ramos-Varane was a better pairing and produced better overall team performance than Pepe-Varane despite obvious physical advantages of the latter. Not a Puyol level controller, but he knows what he's doing without being distracted by stupid bullshit like refs, fan reaction etc.

 

[raskolnikov]

Ramos definitely can ... not only he is the current RM captain .. he's been playing the role for 4 years now even with Iker available

Why? Because he is an agressive idiot who feels the need to get involved whenever something happens. He is not some great defensive level headed leader.
Unless more balls than brains is the criterium of course.
Not that Pique would be suited bye the way.

 

[Trickykid]

You think....

The midfield positions in general there is too much talents available... Busquets missing won't be a big deal
you look in all la liga teams & you will find abundance in his position.. even 2 CM's can do the trick.. Real played without a DM last year and were great if it wasn't for the injuries
Koke-Gabi-Isco-Cazorla-Cesc-Mario Suarez-Saul- Iturraspe-Javi Martinez-Thiago- Ander Herrera - Oliver Torres- Ceballos ... it's not like a position Spain can suffer any time soon from it ... far from it

..

Not a single one of those can do what Busi does for Spain and Barça - not even close. Claiming that replacing Busi is Not a big deal is silly at best.
Del Bosque knows this full well, which is why he barely ever rests him, and I bet he'd be shitting his pants by the very notion of Busi leaving the team.

 

[El Gato]

Not a single one of those can do what Busi does for Spain and Barça - not even close. Claiming that replacing Busi is Not a big deal is silly at best.
Del Bosque knows this full well, which is why he barely ever rests him, and I bet he'd be shitting his pants by the very notion of Busi leaving the team.

He's not implying Spain would play the same way should all Catalans be replaced. Busquets would be a good player for any team, but not on every team he'd be great or better than others. He's not Xavi.

 

[Trickykid]

He's not implying Spain would play the same way should all Catalans be replaced. Busquets would be a good player for any team, but not on every team he'd be great or better than others.

I get the whole notion that gets thrown around every so often, that som players fit various teams better or worse, but I honestly don't think there's a single team out there that wouldn't benefit from having Busi in there.

Aside from that, I still think you guys are heavily downplaying the importance of the Barça players in the NT. Sure, feel free to change up the system all together, but you'd still be looking at an overall worse team without our players.

 

[Stric]

Not gonna happen, but I'd really love to see the Catalan players walk away from the Spanish NT right now and let those losers try to win a C'Ship alone.

I get your point, but why would they want to do that? It's a two way street. The Spain NT wouldn't be nearly as good as it is without the Catalans, but the Catalans wouldn't have any shot of ever competing outside the Spain NT. They're both benefiting from working together.

Wasn't it Pique who started the whole thing anyway? Fuck him. These two aren't a good CB duo whether they get along or not, very similar defenders, so Pique can rot on the bench for all I care.

Funny thing - Ramos was easily Spain's worst player against Slovakia. Pique made him look like an amateur.

 

[El Gato]

I get the whole notion that gets thrown around every so often, that som players fit various teams better or worse, but I honestly don't think there's a single team out there that wouldn't benefit from having Busi in there.

Aside from that, I still think you guys are heavily downplaying the importance of the Barça players in the NT. Sure, feel free to change up the system all together, but you'd still be looking at an overall worse team without our players.

Maybe. But the core is gonna have to change sooner than later if they want to have a shot in 2018 ahead of the Germans. Both their defence and their midfield need improving, not to mention they still haven't got a reliable scorer. Who's easier to replace long term anyway? 3 core Catalans, 1 of which is ageing, another who can't lead and needs babysitting? Or the rest of the talented roster who will need to be on the pitch in the next 5 years if Spain wants to remain competitive? Unless of course Barca spawns another few system players.

Speaking of, why is Thiago not getting called up? Is he injured every international break or what? I wouldn't know.

In the end, I hope Spain gets their ass kicked again. There's a bunch of talented teams out there spearheaded by Iceland and Poland who right now can give a game to any top NT. A nice change for European football where we didn't see anyone in the championship discussion aside from Spain, Italy, Germany and maybe Portugal for a long time.

[MENTION=12202]Stric[/MENTION]
Ha, lol, even I managed to get a MOTM award in a top Sunday league game and I'm the worst dribbler on the pitch playing a left back

 

[Flavia]

Spain would not have won the 2010 wc or both euros without the catalan players. Very funny posts from madridistas here
And Barça's defense leader last season was Pique, not Masche. Pique was the outstanding cb.

 

[FCBarca]

A Catalan NT would mop the floor with La Roja

 

[FCBarca]

Even Del Bosque pointed this out years ago, no Barcelona, no World Cup, Euros etc...Barcelona & the influence of Cruyff & Pep defined an era of football and showed that big money can't buy that sort of dominance or revolutionary influence on the game

 

[Stric]

Spain NT would be a lot weaker without the Catalan players, but a Catalonia NT would surely not "mop the floor with La Roja". About half of the team would be top-level players, and half would be players that would never get called up to a strong NT.

Montoya - Bartra - Pique - Alba
--------------Busquets-----------
--------Fabregas--------?-------
----?------------?------------?----


Samper? Sergi Roberto?
Tello? Cuenca? Bojan? Deulofeu? Soriano? Sergio Garcia?