Andres Iniesta

Messi983 said:

We have Busi, Raki, Cou and Paulinho. Arthur is coming, Alena will be promoted and you want Roberto to play in midfield. That's already 7 players. And then you also want Aouar and another workhorse. 9 players for 3 positions is just too much. Giving enough minutes to Alena and Arthur (even if he comes in summer) so they can develop properly will already be tough but integrating 3 or 4 new (young) midfielders in one season is almost impossible.

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Roberto will be an option. Hope he plays bit more in the midfield.

In the lineup we'll need 3 or 4 midfielders. Alena, Coutinho, Aouar (if he comes) won't be able to cover for Raki/Busq. Paulinho hasn't been good there either.

Arthur is coming in 2019. Don't know, doubt we'll go with Samper or Oriol. One not good enough, other still young.

If Gomes is sold, I feel we'll need someone to take his place.

I'm not like [MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION], I encourage the signing of young, talented players but if Iniesta is leaving then we had best go with some experience and forget about Aouar and De Jong for now because;

1. Coutinho is not a CM or at the very least not a typical CM.
2. Alena will be promoted and Arthur will be coming. Both too young to carry the midfield burden.
3. Young Barcelona midfielders need a lot of playing time, even those from La Masia, before making a mark and they only really breakout at the age of 23/24.

@BBZ

Fucking Alena is more experienced player than sgt. Decoy Meme. He plays, but he doesn't gain experience, because he's too scared.

I hope you were sarcastic.

FCBfan22 said:

@BBZ

Fucking Alena is more experienced player than sgt. Decoy Meme. He plays, but he doesn't gain experience, because he's too scared.

I hope you were sarcastic.

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I wasn't being sarcastic.

EV has won La Liga, we will probably win CDR.
And we have nice chances in a CL.

After this season where we'll win 2 or 3 trophies, EV surely won't sit and say:
"So, we have just won a double or treble with an insane defense and we lost only 0, 1 or 2 matches in the whole season.
So, since this was a terrible achievement and a terrible way to go, let's do some major tweaks in my approach:
1. we will kick out players aged 30 and play young kids, aged 20 or 22. Or even better, I'll play some 18 years old all the time.
2. we'll kick out players who played an important role in my setup like Paulinho and Gomes and we'll play some new guys whom I haven't played this season, or whom I don't know at all or who don't fit my setup at all. But, either way, I HAVE TO DO TONS of major changes. We can't continue this way because this season was absolutely horrible."

Anyway, no, I wasn't sarcastic.
If in the match Barca:Bilbao at 2:0, in the 85th minute, EV is subbing in Gomes as a 3rd sub, why on Earth do you believe that suddenly next season Alena (or Samper/Oriol, lol) will be even close to Paulinho and Gomes in the pecking order?

You need to breathe, relax and repeat:
1. Barcaforum is NOT Barca's manager. EV, a real coach, is our coach.
2. Barcaforum's favorites won't play just because Barcaforum users want to see them on a field. A real coach, EV, will pick his players, who are usually quite different to Barcaforum's (teen) favorites.
3. EV and a lot of coaches like experienced players or at least players who brought them titles in the previous season.

So, once more, why on Earth would EV sell guys like Paulinho and Gomes and play Arthur, Alena, Oriol, Samper (De Jong, Aouar, enter a random teen player here)?

Let's bet now:
1. if Gomes stays, he will play more minutes than: Alena, Oriol, Samper (and Arthur) combined in the next season.
2. if Paulinho stays, he will play more minutes than: Alena, Oriol, Samper (and Arthur) combined in the next season.
3. if Rakitic stays, he will play twice as much minutes as: Alena, Oriol, Samper (and Arthur) combined in the next season.

Grim news if true.

Still brings so much to our team. Was really hoping for one more season.

BBZ8800 said:

I wasn't being sarcastic.

EV has won La Liga, we will probably win CDR.
And we have nice chances in a CL.

After this season where we'll win 2 or 3 trophies, EV surely won't sit and say:
"So, we have just won a double or treble with an insane defense and we lost only 0, 1 or 2 matches in the whole season.
So, since this was a terrible achievement and a terrible way to go, let's do some major tweaks in my approach:
1. we will kick out players aged 30 and play young kids, aged 20 or 22. Or even better, I'll play some 18 years old all the time.
2. we'll kick out players who played an important role in my setup like Paulinho and Gomes and we'll play some new guys whom I haven't played this season, or whom I don't know at all or who don't fit my setup at all. But, either way, I HAVE TO DO TONS of major changes. We can't continue this way because this season was absolutely horrible."

Anyway, no, I wasn't sarcastic.
If in the match Barca:Bilbao at 2:0, in the 85th minute, EV is subbing in Gomes as a 3rd sub, why on Earth do you believe that suddenly next season Alena (or Samper/Oriol, lol) will be even close to Paulinho and Gomes in the pecking order?

You need to breathe, relax and repeat:
1. Barcaforum is NOT Barca's manager. EV, a real coach, is our coach.
2. Barcaforum's favorites won't play just because Barcaforum users want to see them on a field. A real coach, EV, will pick his players, who are usually quite different to Barcaforum's (teen) favorites.
3. EV and a lot of coaches like experienced players or at least players who brought them titles in the previous season.

So, once more, why on Earth would EV sell guys like Paulinho and Gomes and play Arthur, Alena, Oriol, Samper (De Jong, Aouar, enter a random teen player here)?

Let's bet now:
1. if Gomes stays, he will play more minutes than: Alena, Oriol, Samper (and Arthur) combined in the next season.
2. if Paulinho stays, he will play more minutes than: Alena, Oriol, Samper (and Arthur) combined in the next season.
3. if Rakitic stays, he will play twice as much minutes as: Alena, Oriol, Samper (and Arthur) combined in the next season.

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I'm not saying that we need to sell Paulinho. I'm actually against it as I stated before, I think Paulinho adds a different dimension to our game in specific matches, so we should keep him.

But I think we need to sell Vidal, Denis and Gomes, who bring absolutely nothing. Gomes had one or two good games this year. The rest was pathetic. Rakitić and Busquets are probably the best DM's we have, but they are both 30+ years old and going by your logic, we will need to pay cca 150 million in the next 3 years to buy 2 experienced world-class DM's to replace them.

Our midfielders next season should be: Busquets, Rakitić, Coutinho, Roberto, Paulinho, Alena, Aouar and Oriol Busquets being called up for a few games here and there and promoted in 2019 IMO.

FCBfan22 said:

I'm not saying that we need to sell Paulinho. I'm actually against it as I stated before, I think Paulinho adds a different dimension to our game in specific matches, so we should keep him.

But I think we need to sell Vidal, Denis and Gomes, who bring absolutely nothing. Gomes had one or two good games this year. The rest was pathetic. Rakitić and Busquets are probably the best DM's we have, but they are both 30+ years old and going by your logic, we will need to pay cca 150 million in the next 3 years to buy 2 experienced world-class DM's to replace them.

Our midfielders next season should be: Busquets, Rakitić, Coutinho, Roberto, Paulinho, Alena, Aouar and Oriol Busquets being called up for a few games here and there and promoted in 2019 IMO.

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Busi and Rakitic are 30.
Busi will probably play 4-5 more seasons as a starter and as a La Masia's and a club's legend.
Rakitic will be a starter for 2-3 more years.

Coutinho will be a starter for several years.

So, there is no urgent need currently for new midfielders.
In 2-3-4 years, we'll buy some 100M guy aged 25 and that's it.

Out of these kids Arthur, Alena, Oriol, if someone will turn into a starter=awesome.
If someone will turn into a squad level=very good.
If they will all fail=no big deal, we'll find new 3 guys each new season.

I am just repeating all the time that most of you are expecting too much from youngsters in the future.
3-4 years ago, people used to said: Rafinha-Samper will be our starters in 5 years from now.
Now we turned into: Alena-Arthur/Oriol will be starters in 5 years from now.
If they will fail, people will soon turn to: Xavi Simmons-enter a random new kid will be starters in 5 years.

Let me guess, you probably think that in 3-4 years:
Alena will be a starter, Arthur will be a starter and Oriol will be a squad level?
More likely, if in 4 years one of them will still be in a club=that will be a huge success.

Also, an interesting thing is: 99% of people here don't give any chances that Gomes will, for example, improve and turn into a better player (even though coaches already love him).
On the other hand, Sergi Roberto was a way bigger joke than a current Gomes (who actually plays for Barca in big matches, lol) and look how Roberto improved later.

People use a revisionism all the time, but forum posts from the past don't lie.
Try to read 3-4 pages of comments and jokes about Roberto and his "horrible footballing skills" in a summer of 2014, when he was already 22 and a half years old. And when he already had 27 matches for Barca a year before and 12 matches in previous years:
http://www.barcaforum.com/showthread.php/2610-20-Sergi-Roberto/page85

So, my question is:
Why was Roberto able to turn from a guy who should be playing for Valerenga, into a guy whom people here want to see as a starter as a right midfielder.
BUT, Gomes, who is already a starter or a squad player under 2 different Barca's coaches, has NO CHANCE to turn into even better player for a current coach, who obviously like him?

Interesting double standards, as always, isn't it?

You go out of the way to say things like Dembele is not very inteligent.

I go out of my way and state that Gomes is too scared to be Barca CM and that was proved with his interview that was a masterpiece of marketing from Mendes.

You have double standards too, just noone is stupid enough to write essays about them, like you do about other people.

Everybody can be wrong with their opinion and accept it, just not you. If Gomes ever turns out to be a good CM, I will put my hands in the air and say that I'm wrong. But as things stand, he is a meme.

Roberto was young and shite at midfield position. Then, Enrique puts him on th right back and he showed something. He has pace, control and nice passing skils. HE'S SUITED FOR BARCA!

Gomes isn't. How many games in 2 YEARS did Gomes played great?

I wish him best of luck, he seems to be great lad, but on the pitch you can see it, it's not there. Alena is just 21, Arthur 22 or something, they'll get chance. Gomes is going to be 25 in the July, he's not going to sit on the bench in his prime, that's crazy. He wants to leave and Barca wants to sell him. Best for both.

It's not like Gomes makes a difference if we are gonna win the league, Copa or CL. He's just a fuckin sub. He's not going to be first team player at this club, ever. Alena and Arthur are young, promising players. Give them a chance instead, if they show skils great, like Roberto, if not, they'll leave the club.

But, most important thing, Gomes had 2 years man, 2 fuckin years, and he was shite on the pitch for most of the time. He's gonna be better player in another club. It doesn't mean EV likes him, he just doesn't have many options on the bench so it's Gomes who fill that 15-20 minutes as a sub.

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION] you did well with your first post and then went off your rocker again.

If any of those youngsters come in and perform at a higher level than Rakitic, Gomes and Paulinho then they will start regardless of the incumbents playing a hand in winning trophies the year before. If Valverde doesn’t take the performances into account and still starts the incumbents then it would be stupidity if the highest order.

Personally, I have high hopes that Arthur will quickly establish himself here. I believe him to be that good.

Practically any footballer with 2 legs walks into this team above this 24 year old Gomes. 80, that’s right 80, appearances and still nothing... Yet you’re audacious enough to talk crap about the 40 or so appearances of Roberto at the age of 22.

Gomes will be sold in any event.

Are you prepared to bet your left nut that he'll be sold?

Messi983 said:

Are you prepared to bet your left nut that he'll be sold?

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Lol, yes. I’ll tell you why too...

Because watching him is as excruciatingly painful as sliding down a razor blade while using your balls as brakes.

MessiCam said:

Lol, yes. I’ll tell you why too...

Because watching him is as excruciatingly painful as sliding down a razor blade while using your balls as brakes.

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The more I think about Iniesta the more I believe this is the perfect time for him to go. He is for me one of the best midfielders of all time but I doubt he has physical capabilities to endure one more season on highest level. When you are a true legend it's for sure better to go when you are still on top than to prolong your career to the point where everybody wants you out. If I was in his boots I would probably leave after this season.

I mean for selfish reasons he should stay as we only benefit him coming in for coutinho or whatever.. but more importantly IF iniesta goes it means gomes is much more likely to stay