Richard.H
Senior Member
Are you seriously expecting Samper to be a backup for Busquets/Roberto???????
Would you be happy with status quo?
- Thread starter DonAK
- Start date
Are you seriously expecting Samper to be a backup for Busquets/Roberto???????
Why else would he be coming back lol. It all depends on how his pre-season goes and he could very well be a backup for Busi and Sergi.
People seem to think he has no potential and is pretty much done based on his season with Granada lol. I can see him having a good season here and proving the doubters wrong. It would be funny to see the doubters starting to praise and hype him after that which happens all the time on this forum.
Richard.H
Senior Member
I like Samper, he's a good kid, but people in this forum and the Barca reddit have a cult-like obsession with La Masia.
All Barca fans would love our team to be composed of Canteranos. Let's keep it real though, the golden generation of Messi, Pique, Busquets, Pedro, etc. is NOT THE NORMAL STANDARD. Even being a decent backup for Barca is hard.
True, true. World class players like Busquets, Pique, Messi and Pedro don't come through La Masia every year but that doesn't mean we cant still produce similar world class players.
I still have hope for Samper. He's humble, calm and has worked real hard for years. The talent and potential is still there but we'll see what Valverde decides to do with him.
God Serena
New member
It looks like we won't have a choice but to keep the same squad. Our only signing so far has been Deulofeu and we've failed to sell any of our dead weight. I'd be surprised if we managed even a single midfield or RB signing at this rate.
Not even the slightest bit relevant to whether or not Samper himself could impress during pre-season as Joppe suggested. If the likes of Gomes are good enough to play here I see no reason why Samper shouldn't be able to as well, since the term "Barca quality" means fuck all at this point.
Not even the slightest bit relevant to whether or not Samper himself could impress during pre-season as Joppe suggested. If the likes of Gomes are good enough to play here I see no reason why Samper shouldn't be able to as well, since the term "Barca quality" means fuck all at this point.
Richard.H
Senior Member
If he couldn't do fuk all at Granada for a whole year, what makes you think he will impress during pre season? I love the kid as much as anyone else, but the chances of him making it here are low. Gomes is a weird case and we will see if Valverde is intent on giving him playing time. Don't use Gomes as some benchmark for what players can be backups for Barca.
God Serena
New member
Nobody could do anything at Granada. They had what, like 3 different managers last season? And how many loaned players? Not to mention they stopped playing him because they'd have to pay us if he reached a certain amount of appearances and they knew they were getting relegated no matter what. His season at Granada is hardly any indication of how well he could perform in an actually stable environment.
serghei
Senior Member
Yes. I believe we have a great squad. Madrid has a better squad, true, but we have a 2nd best squad and our first 11 has some genius players which can make a difference, much more than what Madrid has. I believe Valverde has all the tools to be a leader for this team from the bench.
Look at the positives from the last season. When the team felt they had to prove a point, we were up for it. The problems of this team were down to the erosion in the relationship between the manager and the players. Lucho imploded in the last season, and was the main reasons for why we didn't win La Liga. When you are the best against the strongest teams, and you lose the title because you show up not caring as much against the smaller teams, it is down to the manager every single time.
Think about it this way. In one of our worst recent season, with a manager who clearly made some huge mistakes and with some referee errors that were incredible (like not getting a goal after the ball has passed the goal line by 1 full meter, that sort of thing) we almost made a double. Think about that. How can you really say that we are doomed for failure. That's absolute rubbish.
That being said, we need to improve our squad to help Valverde as much as possible.
Look at the positives from the last season. When the team felt they had to prove a point, we were up for it. The problems of this team were down to the erosion in the relationship between the manager and the players. Lucho imploded in the last season, and was the main reasons for why we didn't win La Liga. When you are the best against the strongest teams, and you lose the title because you show up not caring as much against the smaller teams, it is down to the manager every single time.
Think about it this way. In one of our worst recent season, with a manager who clearly made some huge mistakes and with some referee errors that were incredible (like not getting a goal after the ball has passed the goal line by 1 full meter, that sort of thing) we almost made a double. Think about that. How can you really say that we are doomed for failure. That's absolute rubbish.
That being said, we need to improve our squad to help Valverde as much as possible.
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By this I assume you're referring to the 2nd leg comeback vs PSG and the second Clasico.
Hate to break it to you but we were nothing special in that 6-1 victory. The first two goals were complete flukes that went in after the ball bounced around in the box a couple times as a result of some sloppy defending by PSG, two were penalties, one was a moment of magic from Neymar (free-kick) and the winning goal was the result of a last minute hail mary that miraculously worked out as PSG played the offside trap. We did not create a single clear cut chance as a result of fluid build up play or passing, in fact PSG were better in this regard (Cavani shot saved by Stegen and Di Maria missed shot). Everything that had to go right did go right, it was a great night though and one none of us will ever forget.
The 3-2 win at Madrid was nothing all that awe inspiring either. It was a one man show for the most part, with Messi going into god mode for the better part of that match. Stegen also was great and Rakitic chipped in with a screamer. The midfield was AWOL yet again for that match and the other two strikers (Suarez and Paco) were absolute shit.
Our problems start and end with our midfield. Valverde is not going to come in and give Iniesta some potion of youth, nor can revitalize an aging Rakitic. He maybe able to add a bit more fluidity to our play but without drastic personnel changes nothing will change.
It was not Lucho's fault that midfield couldn't pass between the lines but rather deferred back to the CBs or opted to pass it sideways. This also forced Messi to abandon his post on the RW and move to the middle to create some semblance of an attacking play.
MSN can still get it done, the defence is alright apart from RB, but our midfield as of right now will be the death of us.
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serghei
Senior Member
We were very special in the 6-1 victory. We won almost every duel. We were first on the ball. We made PSG know that they will suffer to get through, and boy did they suffer in the end. Just because we scored some weird goals doesn't mean we were not special.
We were special, and the Camp Nou knew from the start that that night had the chances of being a really big big night.
Against Madrid on Bernabeu I did not expect us to dominate the game. Madrid, with all their so called superiority played against Barca as if they respected us too much. Yes, they won two CLs in a row, and La Liga. But I still don't feel they are in any way superior when we play them. Carvajal seemed like a freak of nature against Bayern, but when we play them, Neymar and Messi make him look like a bum.
Tell me, did it seem in the two clasicos we played against Madrid that they controlled the midfield in any way? Hell no. That Madrid midfield which people call so much better than ours didn't dominate shit. It was an even game in midfield, precisely because in Clasicos the motivation is the same all around. All players play close to their best level. Busi, Rakitic, Iniesta, when at their best, can match any midfield in the world still.
The problem, I keeep saying, is that we need to be closer to our best more often, and we must make sure that in the biggest occasions we always show the best version of ourselves. The problem last season was that we didn't do that.
We were special, and the Camp Nou knew from the start that that night had the chances of being a really big big night.
Against Madrid on Bernabeu I did not expect us to dominate the game. Madrid, with all their so called superiority played against Barca as if they respected us too much. Yes, they won two CLs in a row, and La Liga. But I still don't feel they are in any way superior when we play them. Carvajal seemed like a freak of nature against Bayern, but when we play them, Neymar and Messi make him look like a bum.
Tell me, did it seem in the two clasicos we played against Madrid that they controlled the midfield in any way? Hell no. That Madrid midfield which people call so much better than ours didn't dominate shit. It was an even game in midfield, precisely because in Clasicos the motivation is the same all around. All players play close to their best level. Busi, Rakitic, Iniesta, when at their best, can match any midfield in the world still.
The problem, I keeep saying, is that we need to be closer to our best more often, and we must make sure that in the biggest occasions we always show the best version of ourselves. The problem last season was that we didn't do that.
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I agree that we came out against PSG with lots of energy and set the tempo early on with our intense pressing, but the way we played did not warrant us winning 6-1 in anyway shape or form. We could play that match 100 more times and we wouldn't advance in a single replay, fortunately for us all the stars aligned on that fateful night at the Camp Nou.
I also agree that our midfield managed to hold their own against Madrid, but that wasn't their own doing but Madrid's. Our midfield played like it normally does these days (shit) and Madrid's midfield managed to shit the bed and stoop down to our level both times we played them, but hey that's why Clasicos are so entertaining, it's a shitshow where anything can happen on the night.
Madrid is one of the only teams that play somewhat open against us and when you do that you're just inviting MSN to feat on your defence. Since these Clasicos are usually very open compared to the defensive structures we and Madrid usually face, the match turns into a battle between the forward lines, a department in which we clearly reign supreme.
I also agree that our midfield managed to hold their own against Madrid, but that wasn't their own doing but Madrid's. Our midfield played like it normally does these days (shit) and Madrid's midfield managed to shit the bed and stoop down to our level both times we played them, but hey that's why Clasicos are so entertaining, it's a shitshow where anything can happen on the night.
Madrid is one of the only teams that play somewhat open against us and when you do that you're just inviting MSN to feat on your defence. Since these Clasicos are usually very open compared to the defensive structures we and Madrid usually face, the match turns into a battle between the forward lines, a department in which we clearly reign supreme.
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