11 - Thiago Alcantara

[Metaphysical]

while credit should go to thiago, I think a lot of it should go to mazinho too.

kids at that age don't tend to make the decision without tremendous parental influence. and this is the benefit of having an ex-player for a parent. mazinho knows that learning your trade as well as possible is more important than gaining money which is why he advised thiago to stay at barca.

but let's not think of him as a messi/iniesta type yet! there's a hint in there ("to play at whatever team") that mazinho is willing to move the kid along if he feels the offer's not right. so we should definitely get on it asap coz the boy is the real deal. hopefully he falls in love with the club as messi and iniesta did.

[FCB_Titi_LB]

Hopefully he will be a Xaviesta. A hybrid!

hopefully a XaviTitiesta !

[Metaphysical]

Hopefully he will be a Xaviesta. A hybrid!

you mean a deco.

[Quash]

Really looking forward to seeing him play tonight. He'll prolly be a sub, I think Pep will play a few of the big guns.

[il pepe]

as far as i know he wasn't called up for training, so i actually don't really expect him in the selection. although i could be wrongly informed....

[Quash]

Can't see why, he and Pedro were the youngsters most deserving of a place after the Mallorca game.

[beef-supreme]

you mean a deco.

Well in my opinion Deco can't quite be called a Xavi and Iniesta hybrid, I think he's quite unlike Iniesta. He's close to Xavi in terms of vision and passing ability, possession retention and just the general pace at which he plays the game. He never had the little-player type touches though - not at all saying that he wasn't skilled - but he didn't have the acceleration or the swift turns, the Iniesta-esque cutbacks etc.
He was however much more of a battling player, backtracking and putting in important tackles. He gave away lots of yellow cards, but won many too. I would say that if we're really talking about playing style and traits, he's more of a Xavi and Busquets hybrid. But obviously with a hint of Brazilian skill and creativity.

[Quash]

And a fucker of a long-range shot as well. It's a shame we don't score more screamers, Iniesta and Xavi have shown they're more than capable when they want to... remember the 4-0 Sevilla game?

[beef-supreme]

And a fucker of a long-range shot as well. It's a shame we don't score more screamers, Iniesta and Xavi have shown they're more than capable when they want to... remember the 4-0 Sevilla game?

Yeah definitely. But Yaya's one was fantastic for me. Love that guy :toure:
Still the best Barca screamer has to be Ronaldinho's... coincidentally against Sevilla!

[beef-supreme]

Crap just to quote Warik from the match thread:

Valdés, Pinto, Puyol, Piqué, Botía, Muniesa, Cáceres, Abidal, Sylvinho, Xavi, Víctor Sánchez, Abraham, Xavi Torres, Touré, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Jeffren, Eto'o, Bojan, Hleb, Pedro.

That's the initial 23 man squad.

So no Thiago. Let's just hope that he's injured, out for personal reasons, or that Pep has a very good reason not to play him.

[il pepe]

what's all the buzz about Thiago.
Okay he's a good player, probably one of the best we have in our cantera.
Pep just uses these games to give the younger talents to taste first team football, for me at least, it is not really a signal about how Pep thinks about these players.

These talents all have had great season, and playing with the first team, or being on the bench, is just a way of telling these guys that they had a great season.

If Thiago is really good enough and ready (as only the technical staff can judge, we don't see these players day in day out), then he'll get promoted to the first team next year, or at least do the pre-season with the first team.

He'll get his chances on time, i'm sure of it.

[Quash]

Boooo, no Thiago. Ah well. Pedro and Bojan to impress! And Eto'o to get his fucking act together! Wooo!

[barcacataluny]

guys pep didnt call thiago not because he doesnt want
no thiago is currently playing the under-19 euro qulification games with the spanish team and he scored a goal against estonia on saturday and has a game tonight against germany
hope i maked it clear why he is not called by pep

[beautifulgame]

Thanks Barcacata.

[barcacataluny]

^^^^^^^^
your welcome man