The backline a problem?

[Plip]

You know, now that we have proper defenders back, I'm starting to change my mind: Bartra looks solid enough, nothing like what Fontàs did last season, and it kinda looks like Tito will play him regularly once he's back, maybe even surpassing Mascherano in the pecking order. Also, there's Muniesa waiting on the wings and I do believe he's the real deal. Less worried.

I'm really hoping for young Marc to get his chances. He has always impressed me on every level he has played and he has that "X-factor" in him. He's a leader and a through and through culé - you want that type of players to succeed at the club.

Muniesa, though, is a lost cause. He showed promise 4-5 years back, but ever since he has been hit with injuries and hard. His development has stalled due to the aforesaid injuries and it really looks like he'll never have his chance. He could've potentially been a new "Puyol" due to his style of play and passion for the club, but alas, that's apparently not meant to be.

I must say, however, that he still has time on his side as he's a relatively young chap. Hopefully the medical would be able to figure out how to avoid and / or minimize the injuries.

 

[89Norcal]

I'm really hoping for young Marc to get his chances. He has always impressed me on every level he has played and he has that "X-factor" in him. He's a leader and a through and through culé - you want that type of players to succeed at the club.

Muniesa, though, is in a lost cause. He showed promise 4-5 years back, but ever since he has been hit with injuries and hard. His development has stalled due to the aforesaid injuries and it really looks like he'll never have his chance. He could've potentially been a new "Puyol" due to his style of play and passion for the club, but alas, that's apparently not meant to be.

I must say, however, that he still has time on his side as he's a relatively young chap. Hopefully the medical would be able to figure out how to avoid and / or minimize the injuries.

Nice to see a good young defender rise through the ranks amid our surplus of great midfielders and forwards.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I'm really hoping for young Marc to get his chances. He has always impressed me on every level he has played and he has that "X-factor" in him. He's a leader and a through and through culé - you want that type of players to succeed at the club.

Muniesa, though, is a lost cause. He showed promise 4-5 years back, but ever since he has been hit with injuries and hard. His development has stalled due to the aforesaid injuries and it really looks like he'll never have his chance. He could've potentially been a new "Puyol" due to his style of play and passion for the club, but alas, that's apparently not meant to be.

I must say, however, that he still has time on his side as he's a relatively young chap. Hopefully the medical would be able to figure out how to avoid and / or minimize the injuries.

Yup,Munisia was supposed to be the best defender our academy produced since Pique or even Puyol
I don't know if he is a lost case ,he is still young ,Puyol didn't get promoted until he was 21 ,Marc is 20
Also Messi was injury prone until he was 21 ,but since that he took care of himself very well ,so who knows ,may be we will have a gr8 CB that we aren't counting on
but as far as I know ,he moved to LB when he was in Barca B

PS: we can't count on Marc being health ,or Barta being very good ,we still need to sign a new CB ,Puyol will be 35 by the end of the season ,he will need to get more rest

 

[ceefoo]

I didn't rewatch the game but my first impression is that our backline got killed with simple long balls. If I remember correctly Pepe randomly hoofed the ball up and got himself an assist.

We had Adriano, Alba and Mascherano out there. The tallest of them is Mascherano: 174 cm. Real Madrid's attackers on the other hand: Ronaldo: 186 cm. Higuain: 184 cm. Özil: 183 cm, Di Maria: 180 cm. Pique is the only one taller than them but he can only cover 1 out of those 4 and Busquets sucks in the air ... Every random long ball Alonso, Ramos and Pepe pulled ended at a Real Madrid attacker's feet. They completely avoided the midfield battle and targeted our backline. Which is small and weak. We are missing not only the height of Puyol and Abidal but also the steel they used to provide at the back. Alba looks great for Spain because he has cover. Alonso, Ramos, Arbeloa, Pique. At Barcelona he only has Pique. This is a huge problem in my opinion, unless Song quickly turns into a world class centreback.

Your opinions?

Almost a season on, and sadly.... How relevant this post still is.

"Who needs proper defenders? When we have Song".

 

[Flavia]

Almost a season on, and sadly.... How relevant this post still is.

"Who needs proper defenders? When we have Song".

Indeed. Let's see if this will be fixed this window.

 

[Indignado]

The backline is a problem but not as big as some think. Barca never had a brilliant defence but our style of play covered for it.

 

[Barca8]

The backline is a problem but not as big as some think. Barca never had a brilliant defence but our style of play covered for it.

Fair enough... now we don't have defenders good enough to play our style of football.
Yes Tito doesn't have us playing with the same tenacity (6-Second rule etc) but even when we went on the tear at the start of the season we only won because we (Messi) outscored our opponents. We couldn't keep a clean sheet to save our lives and that's down to not having proper CBs in defense.

Any one of Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Botia, Juan Jesus, Inigo Martinez, Dede need to be picked up. Add Marquinhos as a future prospect and we'll be a lot better off next season.

 

[PhilS]

Barca never had a brilliant defence but our style of play covered for it.

Not brilliant would be a vital step up from the not good enough of this season. One new CB, get the defense back to the quality of 2011-12.

 

[Galning]

Barca never had a brilliant defence but our style of play covered for it.

Puyol, Marquez, Abidal, Alves, Milito, etc... beg to differ.

 

[Catorce]

Puyol, Marquez, Abidal, Alves, Milito, etc... beg to differ.

I'd like to scrap Milito off of that list. The rest; top stuff. Great defenders

 

[rivaldo10]

The backline is a problem but not as big as some think. Barca never had a brilliant defence but our style of play covered for it.

Stupid that our stiyle dosent work anymore so we should fix the problem

 

[Galning]

Milito was an awesome defender if he wasn't injured. He would easily be our first choice nowadays (Same can be said about Puyol in his prime though.)

 

[DonAK]

Last year, Barca had so many problems defending against good counter attacking teams, Adriano at CB was an attempt to add needed speed. Is any CB as fast as Adriano?

I think Adriano has more aptitude for CB than most of the other experiments. He could be the #5 or 6 choice at CB going forward. But the the first four CBs on this team must be reinforced, real talent and experience are needed.

Ramos and Pique are so good together on the national team, and Arbeloa is a better defender than any of the Barca fullbacks. Makes me jealous, Barca's defense was several steps down from that level last season.

Adriano may have the speed, but his positioning is horrendous.

Whats the use of pace when the positioning will make sure that he'll fail most of the times?

 

[Stric]

Last year, Barca had so many problems defending against good counter attacking teams, Adriano at CB was an attempt to add needed speed. Is any CB as fast as Adriano?

I think Adriano has more aptitude for CB than most of the other experiments. He could be the #5 or 6 choice at CB going forward. But the the first four CBs on this team must be reinforced, real talent and experience are needed.

Ramos and Pique are so good together on the national team, and Arbeloa is a better defender than any of the Barca fullbacks. Makes me jealous, Barca's defense was several steps down from that level last season.

I'm a big fan od Adriano and I'm not even claiming he sucked at CB. Maybe just on a few occasions during a given game. I was actually nicely surprised how well he played there most of the time, considering he's not a CB, and not really a defender even. He's an attacking fullback or winger. I'm not even claiming he's worse at CB than Bartra is, in general, I'm just saying there were plenty of opportunities to play Bartra and not Adriano (because the importance or the intensity of the game, the score, the entire situation was appropriate... for example, the games after La Liga was officially won).

 

[JamDav1982]

I'm a big fan od Adriano and I'm not even claiming he sucked at CB. Maybe just on a few occasions during a given game. I was actually nicely surprised how well he played there most of the time. I'm not even claiming he's worse there than Bartra is in general, I'm just saying there were plenty of opportunities to play Bartra and not Adriano (because the importance or the intensity of the game was appropriate).

What about the year before for Bartra though when Barca had many defence injuries but chose Busquets, Adriano etc ahead of him?

Why were the same things said about Pep not giving him enough time compared to Tito.

It just seems Tito is an easy target.