Current squad depth issues

We have a very good starting 11, but that's it. Our current substitutes are not good enough, and this places a heavy burden on the starters.
Also makes rotation problematic. But what changed so much from last season? Is it just tiredness?

Adriano, Douglas, Roberto, Rafinha, Bartra and Vermalaen are not good enough to be starters now. If some of them will improve in the future is a different point.
The last windows brought in great players in Suarez, Rakitic, Bravo, MAtS. But failed big time incorporating players like Douglas and Vermaelen. 2 signings that, if had been done properly, the current problem wouldn't exist. So many possitions overlooked. Adriano stopped being a good sub for Alba a while ago, but he's still here. Meanwhile, Grimaldo is ignored, and Adriano gets renewed.
Mathieu can be a good squad player, but he also isn't starter material.

There are currently 5 Cb's in the squad, but only 2 can really be trusted. Midfield is the same problem. I wish Samper could get a chance to see if he can do it, or if he's Roberto 2.0. If Bob gets chances, why not him too?

Iniesta has been irregular the past 2 seasons. He's still great, especially in big matches, but quite inconsistent through out the season. Rakitic also has some stamina problems. Until January, when Arda is available, I think this will be a big problem. I really can't see Rafinha or Roberto stepping up.

Busquets also doesn't have an adequate substitute, nor does Pique. Looking at the depth of other big clubs squads, I can't help but feel there wasn't an adequate planning for the ban.

/rant over.

The depth compared to other teams is certainly lacking, especially at the LB and CB positions.

I think this squad can still do the job, but we'll need to look at the LB and CB positions as soon as we're able to buy again.

The problem is not new, but the teams´ success made us all forget about that until now.

The differences between last season and this one are only that Xavi and Montoya left.

Considering that S Roberto has so far been as good or better RB than Montoya ever was for us, the only player we should miss is Xavi.

There is a bit of panic about our lack of depth, but as I said, not much has changed with that regard. What has changed is that we have a tougher schedule, and that we look rather unfit.


Xavi is the tough loss. We'll have to figure a way of dealing with that. (If Pedro leaves, it can also bite us.)

This problem was clear last year tbh
We had top notch starting 11 .with MATS,Pedro & Xavi are the only proper back ups with Mathieu a decent back up too
Losing Xavi will be felt and the age of the squad too
Lucho will probably stick to his philosophy in rotation and rightfully so .we need the starting eleven not fatigued in the more important part of the year

Our biggest hope is that the youth player step up and we can squeeze the best possible results in the 1st half of the season until January
We need Sandro/Munir to be adequate subs ,I've bigger hopes in Sandro than Munir tbh
Rafinha need to provide some good playing time .and be more consistent ,Roberto need to show what he showed us last year as DM
We might need a couple of new signings in January with Arda & Vidal .a back up LB is a must and may be even a back up CB
next summer there will be a need to clean the house a little bit .too many dead weight in the team tbh .Masip,Douglas,may be Vermaelen and who ever don't step up from Rafinha/Roberto/Bartra will need to go

TBH, before the start of last season, I thought it pretty insane to invest that much in Suarez and more or less neglect most of the other positions as well as general team depth, as a severe injury of any of the front three would have most certainly resulted in huge problems, especially in the latter stages of the CL. I still find it pretty miraculous that Barca's team suffered barely any injuries at all last season, let alone of the front three.

If we get Denis Suarez back, we would have a good AM spot competition. Iniesta, Turan, D. Suarez and Rafinha. (We won't be getting any more high profile AMs with Iniesta and Turan theren and two exciting youngsters fit there well.)
Now, as the Xavi spot, or now, the Rakitic spot, we only have the main man and Sergi Roberto and that's where we lack the most. We need a good CM, someone like Rakitic or Xavi, a player who either has great work rate and knows how to position himself, or a midfield dictator.
The pivot is where we have Busquets, and he's a massive, massive player but he also needs someone to "fill in" when needed. For that we have Mascherano, yes, but in reality, Masche as a Barca DM/pivot is just not good. Bonus is that Sergi Roberto seems to fit here quite well, or well, atleast he used to.

Now the defence - we don't have anyone to fill in the LB for Alba. Adriano is quite clearly lacking in the defending department and well Mathieu just... just no. He's a good attacker, but under pressure, he is quite bad.
At the RB, Dani hasn't really been a RB for a while and IMO the right side defensiveley was really bad against Sevilla and Athletic.
At the CB, the only player who seems to have some kind of form this season is Pique. Masche hasn't been at his best but Mathieu, Vermaelen and Bartra have been worse.

The attack needs Pedro. MSN, is MSN.

I don't think many teams have better depth than us, probably only Bayern, Real and maybe PSG. If you look at the forwards of each top European club then we are at the top with 3 world class forwards. If we do let Pedro leave then Nolito would be a good option as 4th choice with Sandro and Munir until January. I think we are fine in this area.

The midfield is a problem as we only really have the 3 main starters who can be trusted, Rafina has potential but has yet to prove he can play well in important games and Roberto is not good enough. When Arda starts in January we will have 4 very strong players and if we sign Pogba then we will have 5 next season and hopefully by then Samper can move up. We have to hope that we have no major injuries this year to the main 3 midfielders, the chances of that happening for 2 straight seasons is not high.

Defensively I think we are fine if our first choice back 4 can stay relatively injury free, Vermaelen is good if he plays alongside other strong players so I think he will do fine in place of Masch even in important games. Bartra is 25 in a few months so he has no excuses anymore, this should be his last chance to prove himself a starter and he has to improve enormously to stay. That said he is still good enough for squad rotation and if he is happy with that then he is useful. Mathieu is not good enough either, I do like him though and he did score a couple of important goals but he is not good enough even for a backup nor is Adriano.

I think we need to replace Pedro if he leaves and sign another defender then I think we will be fine from January, but only if we avoid serious injuries until then.

Not every signing will pan out. Most Masia prospects will never be able to rise to the level of big-time Barca players.

Maybe some of the subs who were so deficient yesterday will improve enough to allow limited rotation. Can't say that seems likely. Need to clear out several formerly useful or promising bench players starting in January, bring in new blood.

First team:

Bravo
Alves-Pique-Masche-Alba
Raki-Busi-Don
Leo-Suarez-Ney

2nd team:

MaTS
Adriano-Bartra-Vermaelen-Mathieu
Rafa-Masche-S.Roberto
Munir-Sandro-Pedro

When we compare these 2 teams, it's like Barca and Aston Villa.

The club need to look for a CB and a decent LB in this January or the next summer. I say we try for one between Hummels or Laporte.

For the LB position I have no one particular in mind, because there is a strange drought of world class FBs in the world right now.

Egert said:

First team:

Bravo
Alves-Pique-Masche-Alba
Raki-Busi-Don
Leo-Suarez-Ney

2nd team:

MaTS
Adriano-Bartra-Vermaelen-Mathieu
Rafa-Masche-S.Roberto
Munir-Sandro-Pedro

When we compare these 2 teams, it's like Barca and Aston Villa.

Click to expand...

____________MAtS___________
Vidal __NewCB__Mathieu__Grimaldo
________Samper____________
______Arda_____Raf__________
Pedro___Sandro______Munir

Now that team becomes a whole lot better, and competitive.

For CB I think we should consider one of Hummels, Abdennour or Laporte. We maybe even need 2, Mathieu is getting older and Bartra can't handle the pressure to take over Mathieu's spot.

We should take a look at young LBs, maybe Grimaldo if he can show something awesome and if not then maybe Amavi, Kurzawa, Gaya or Wendell.

I think we also would need a CM, S.Roberto won't cut it and Arda and Rafa will need someone to cover for them aswell. Samper can do the job for covering for Busi.

And how many of the players you mentioned would be happy to be back ups here or how many of our starting 11 would be happy bench warming for them

frog-fcb said:

And how many of the players you mentioned would be happy to be back ups here or how many of our starting 11 would be happy bench warming for them

Click to expand...

Considering the depth teams like RM/Bayern having without a problem.I would say many