DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Right now there seem to be no one.
We better sign a class CM and they already should have the plans ready after the mess and failure last summer chasing Verratti like clowns.
Barca Transfers and Rumors
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
Right now there seem to be no one.
We better sign a class CM and they already should have the plans ready after the mess and failure last summer chasing Verratti like clowns.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Seri will be 27 in July and he is dead tired after one sprint.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
I have said it already, this "controlling midfielder" thing has became a no1 obsession on this forum.
Busi will still be slow, even if we buy a controlling midfielder.
Coutinho will still be short, weak, slowish, bad in defence and not a true Cm.
Messi will still disrupt every single formation.
Our attackers still won't be able to head the ball after some crosses.
We will still play mostly shortpasses around the box, which ia easy to neutralize on a CL level with 2 buses around the box.
We still won't have a Rb, more or less.
We will still have too many schoolboys without courage.
So, we have 5-6 different problems in our team.
One, savior, controlling midfielder, surely won't change too much in a team that is flawed in too many areas for a CL level.
For example, just imagine a controlling midfielder in a match against Roma.
Instead of whom would he have played?
Iniesta? No way.
Rakitic? The only guy who can defend? No way.
Busi? No way.
Roberto? EV wanted two players on our flanks to prevent crosses.
In general, I am not buying this story how a controlling midfielder is a sudden Barca's savior.
Even worse, I don't see where a controlling midfielder will play in Ev's somewhat defensive system.
Cou-Raki-Busi will play next season.
And then you have Messi, Griezz, Suarez, Dembele for other 3 spots.
So, a controlling mid could enter only instead of Raki.
And if a controlling mid will be some shorter, technical guy then we will lose even the last piece of muscles and defending in our team (Rakitic).
Anyway, I think that guys here are just losing their minds again and are trying to copy Pep's system again and again.
Unsuccessfully, of course.
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How would Busi play in CM position, with someone behind him as a "cleaner"? He has the technical skill....
I think you are way over pesimistic. Goals with headers make up for a small % of the overall goals scored. Even strikers like Lukaku don t score more than 6-7 headers per season and even Messi scores a couple per season.
If you put towering type of striker in the attack, you lose something in build up. Although there are few excepcions to this, like Ronaldo, Zlatan, Kane,..
Also, crosses have much smaller "connect rate" as do normal passes. I don t think that orienting on the pass game is a problem.
The mayor problem, we all know we have, is that we don t have solid creative build up from midfield and at the same time we think the only solution is to copy xavi-iniesta template.
Obviosly that won t happen, since there are no new xavi-iniestas and there is no new Pep.
The question is, what to do. There is a lot of moaning on the forum, but very litlle sugestions.
I think you are way over pesimistic. Goals with headers make up for a small % of the overall goals scored. Even strikers like Lukaku don t score more than 6-7 headers per season and even Messi scores a couple per season.
If you put towering type of striker in the attack, you lose something in build up. Although there are few excepcions to this, like Ronaldo, Zlatan, Kane,..
Also, crosses have much smaller "connect rate" as do normal passes. I don t think that orienting on the pass game is a problem.
The mayor problem, we all know we have, is that we don t have solid creative build up from midfield and at the same time we think the only solution is to copy xavi-iniesta template.
Obviosly that won t happen, since there are no new xavi-iniestas and there is no new Pep.
The question is, what to do. There is a lot of moaning on the forum, but very litlle sugestions.
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Just watch how iniesta plays for spain when he has thiago, isco and busquets next to him vs how he plays with us.
yes he'e getting older but the difference is quite remarkable. 1) Completely FUCKING BIN 4-4-2, cruyff taught extensively on 4-3-3, 3-4-3, diamonds and triangles. but IMO 442 was a stop gap for aging players and our lack of wingers as dembouz was mostly injured. as much as 442 made us "solid" it literally killed our creativity, movement and made us slow and predictable. there are other factors but that's where i'd start. btw Valverde is a coward but that's for another discussion
Giginho75
New member
I don't say names...for that there is the board and the coach.
But I think it's clear that this team needs to refesh and to renove.
This season we totally dominated La Liga, but RM slept for too much time and, most important think, Barca went out CL again in the quarters-final, showing problems.
No revolution, absolutely...
but at least two new great players...
it will depends by position of Coutinho, but for sure the board has to buy mostly in the middle!!!
I love Iniesta, but by now the aging goes on...
same speech for Rakitic.
But I think it's clear that this team needs to refesh and to renove.
This season we totally dominated La Liga, but RM slept for too much time and, most important think, Barca went out CL again in the quarters-final, showing problems.
No revolution, absolutely...
but at least two new great players...
it will depends by position of Coutinho, but for sure the board has to buy mostly in the middle!!!
I love Iniesta, but by now the aging goes on...
same speech for Rakitic.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Why going into extremes with "towering forwards"?
Currently we have Messi, and we will have Griezmann in attack.
Forget about any crosses or headers.
On the other hand, remember the days when we had Ronaldinho/Etoo/Larsson in attack.
If we couldn't score through the ground ground, you could always try a cross or two.
Henry, Ibra, Kluivert, Rivaldo.
Those are not towering forwards, those are just players who can score in more ways than one-dimensional Barca's attackers.
Benzema and Lewa from current players, for example.
About crosses, they are in general less effective than shortpasses, but...
Look at this:
When Barca plays in a CL, ALL teams park 2 buses around their box with 4+4 or 5+5 players.
They crowd the middle around the box and they leave flanks semi-vulnerable.
We try to play through the middle and we usually can't do anything through the middle against big CL teams.
When we try to play through flanks: our players won't cross since nobody in the middle can win an arial duel.
So, our only attacking options are:
1. pass around the box till death, which usually doesn't work after 2011' (AM, AM, Juve, Psg, Roma, Bayern).
2. try a 1 vs 1 dribble on wings and then make a low cross or a pass to Messi. Or just pass the ball back to midfielders
Basically, this is our gameplan in a CL:
1. through the middle
2. or a solo action (without a cross) on wings
Now, let's see what Real is doing:
1. they can play shortpasses the same as we do, with their midfield players
2. if they can't break through the middle, do you know what they will do?
They will cross.
Do you know why?
Because teams are defending against them in the same way as against us. They park 2 buses around the box and they leave flanks semi-vulnerable.
And then, RM's players actually DO CROSS and they are creating a mess in the middle.
Why?
1. because all defenders are around the box
2. their flanks are vulnerable
And do you know what happens also then?
= when RM tries a few crosses, then the opponents can't park buses ONLY around the box, because RM will kill them on crosses for CR7, Benzema and Bale.
And then, the opponents need to spread their defense and the opponents are forced to "send" more players to flanks to prevent deadly crosses.
And do you know what happens then?
= the opponent's defenders are spread both at flanks and in the middle and then there is LESS defenders in the middle around the box.
And what happens then?
= Modric, Isco, Kroos and other guys have way more free space in the middle (compared to Barca's midfield) and then Real can both:
1. kill you through the middle with shortpasses around the box and create a deadly 1 vs 1
2. or they can kill you with crosses for CR7 and Benz
So, since RM has a few DIFFERENT attacking options, they are FORCING the opponents to spread their defense and then there is more free space for RM's players in the middle (and less defenders).
And again, if their opponents will park the bus in the middle, RM will kill them with crosses.
So, whatever the opponent does, Real has the answer and a very lethal solution.
Now, let's go back to Barca in a CL against big physical teams:
1. we will pass around the box and hit the wall all the time
2. we won't do absolutely nothing on flanks and we won't force the opponents to spread their defense, which would actually leave more space for Messi in the middle
Remember how Lucho in 2015' FORCED the opponents to open with giving them possession?
So, he gave them possession and then killed them on counters (once when they have opened themselves do to having possession).
On the other hand, if YOU have a possession all the time (like Pep), you can't kill the opponent on counters since the opponent will park 2 buses around their box.
Real is doing a similar trick, only with wings.
This is the answer why are all teams in a CL having way bigger problems with RM and why RM is able to break any defense.
On the other hand, remember our last 6 CL defeats in knockout rounds, away games:
2012: Chelsea 0:1
2013: Bayern 0:4
2014: Atletico 0:1
2016: Atletico 0:2
2017: Juve 0:3
2018: Roma 0:3
You see, "a controlling midfielder" won't help too much if we'll just attack through the middle, like idiots and like a one trick pony.
Our tactics and the way how we are buying new players have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay deeper problems.
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Like i said, you are way to pesimistic.
You are describing Madrid as some sort of unvincible team. We all know how much luck they had in the past 3 wining campaigns and also
even in this period of last 4-5 years, when they had beter results in CL, we won most Primeras and most head 2 head matches. Even with our
1 man team with obvious and repeating weaknesess.
The thing i miss in your posts are concrete sugestions. Which player would you bring for our midfield/attack and why?
We could actually extend Busqs career by three or four years !!
I like the idea of moving Busqs slightly forward and be THE central point . Him and Coutinho with Kante behind them !!
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
Larsson is as tall as Paco (and Griezmann),R10 & as tall as Suarez and Dembele.
And we used defenders and midfielders mostly when we uses crosses, even since Rijkaard days
This is what i ve been pondering yes. Fast DM with uber work rate and he should not be technical liability. The question is, can Busi play cm?
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