Yaya Toure

[Cal-FCB]

Very well summed up zanela. Buying Mascherano would be expensive, uneccessary, and certainly not an upgrade IMO. If we just need a back up to Buscuits then fine (Yaya is more than that), sell Yaya and get someone who can do a job but doesn't need a lot of games. Mascherano would certainly not fill that role.

Gneg you're forgetting Ibra came in at great expense (financially and altering the team's play) and did an inferior job to Eto'o. That has nothing to do with Cules' affection for Samu.

 

[Gnegneri]

Refereeing in the EPL is much lenient. The perception of a foul is diff here than it is in the EPL. So accumulation of cards would be a valid concern for the Argie.



So basically you'd prefer another aggressive DM, only less technical, less skillful and useless in the air. wht diff does he bring from Busi? Will the mere energy and adrenalin tht Masch brings make up the loss from Yaya's departure. The whole idea of having 2 players for each position is having varied options. Yaya brings something diff and that has proven to be extremely useful on a lot of occasions. His versatility, distribution and strength on the ball, winning aerial battles(both open play+set pieces), physical presence in our midfield have proven to be invaluable. Its not aggression that makes a great DM, its intelligent positioning & reading of the game...and we already 've tht in Bus and he is our first choice DM. So how does bringing another highly priced, first choice who can't play the lone DM role be any useful to us?...Or busi all of a sudden be benched or Iniesta be moved to the wings to accomodate the Argie?..and if whether he'll be happy being rotated with Bus cause he is first choice at Liverpool.



I don't remember Yaya costing us 3 goals this season or his prev seasons..



08/09 was disappointing for others as well. And players will 've few subpar seasons in their careers but tht shouldn't alone be the cause for disposing off someone. Tom it 'll be Bus..then wht? The agent thing is getting annoying and personally want him to be move on for his own and club's sake. I'm certainly not advocating his stay but masch isn't his ideal replacement. Wht we need is a back-up who gives us a diff option and i think we 've tht in Oriol.

I'm going to reply to everything as one post, love.

Cards are a problem for me when you pick them up like Lassana has been doing this season: just pick them up. Stay under 10 yellow cards a season and there is no problem for me. I think Mascherano can do that.

Will Mascherano make up Yaya's departure? He can, for me at least. Sure, Mascherano won't dribble his way to goal or shield of the ball by his movement and power (that are some of Yaya's positives) but Mascherano also won't walk around on the pitch or tackle like a total schmug (which are some of Yaya's negatives). The only thing that really worries me is the height of the player but I'm not sure if it is THAT important.

I felt Yaya did stupid things throughout the season by not being fired up. Xerez was one of the things, I can't immediately recall anything else (I really can't recall anything of him last season to be honest, hence my disappointment and not caring that he would take off) but I'm sure there was. The three goals were more a figure of speech: I rather take yellow cards for fouling an opponent when you need to than a goal.

In the end the case is already closed. Team over player, end of. Yaya's agent has made things worse, criticise the coach and other players, that's not going to go down well. His performances on the pitch weren't good as well. So for me it is done and dusted: Pep picks the team instead of the player. Do I specifically want Mascherano? No. I was actually just saying that I can't be bothered to see Yaya leave cause he simply isn't that Great Yaya anymore, the situation has changed. And Mascherano would be a good replacement for me. But someone else can be equally as well. It just needs to be something that the coach wants and that doesn't bring damage to the team. That is NOT possible anymore with Yaya.

Gneg you're forgetting Ibra came in at great expense (financially and altering the team's play) and did an inferior job to Eto'o. That has nothing to do with Cules' affection for Samu.

Cal, you can't be different AND inferior. If it was different (which it was) than you can't compare with Eto'o cause he had another task (which he had).

 

[Metaphysical]

Gneg you're forgetting Ibra came in at great expense (financially and altering the team's play) and did an inferior job to Eto'o. That has nothing to do with Cules' affection for Samu.

he scored in more games than eto'o and scored more openers than eto'o. he also scored crucial away goals in the CL, something samu hasn't done since 2006.

like gneg says, he was different, which was the point of signing him.

 

[Aasim]

People saying that Yaya offers us something different but with Mascherano, Busquets would be the player who can offer us a different edge.

With Busquets playing slightly further up the pitch he can replace Keita eventually and become a box-box/secondary playmaker which would be a huge asset.

 

[Cal-FCB]

Yaya offers physicality and the ability to drive forward with the ball. He is an imposing figure. None of that can be reproduced by Busquets Aasim.

Of course you can be different and inferior Meta. They both played cf for us, one scored a shitload, the other didn't. One provided very few assists, the other provided some (link up play in 2010 was poor). At the end of the day we won less with Ibra, of course there are dozens of other variables, but I don't see the argument that he's been an improvement on Samu. Bare in mind I wanted to see Samu leave (on better terms) last summer anyway, so this isn't an argument to say we should have kept him.

 

[10Rivaldo]

People that say Mascherano will collect cards is basing that solely on the fact that he looks like someone that will eat your babies. He made the most number of successful tackles in 2006 World Cup and picked up only one yellow card along the way. That was when he was only 22 years old and I can say that he has only improved so far from what I've seen of him.

Having said that though, his passing is rather atrocious and I'm not sure if he'll fit our style of play.

 

[Valon]

Ibrahimovic has 6 yellows and a red (which wasn't a red), Eto'o had 9 yellows last season. Did anyone ever complain about Eto'o's cards? No, but they weren't so obvious as Zlatan his cards. Perception. Just as you say that Mascherano collects them as a hobby, while he has a quite moderate record of cards in the EPL. But he looks like a nutcase, so you will pick on him.

Not to mention the reason why you pick on him. Cause of those cards? Of course not. But because he might replace your beloved Yaya, so everything negative has to be brought up about those players. This has been going on for quite some time now, Busquets, Mascherano, ... whoever comes to replace Yaya will always be the subject of some crap in here for that reason only. It happened with Zlatan this season, cause he replaced Eto'o and because the club broke the bank for him. That was enough reason for some to TORCH THE MOTHERFUCKER! I WANT MY FAVOURITE BACK!

And then finally the logic:
Is Mascherano more aggresive than Yaya? Definitely. That's the bitching reason Pep wants someone like him at Barcelona. So we actually have a player at that position that goes for it every game, like Busquets does. So we have a player that injects energy and adrenaline into the squad (same role for Alves, he pumps up everyone just by his energy and nutcaseness) ... Pep would welcome those yellow cards. And so would I. I rather have someone picking up some cards than costing us three goals on a season.

Yaya is a favourite of mine but I can't be bothered to see him in Blaugrana next season. 09/10 was very disappointing for me, on as well off the pitch, and it doesn't seem to get better. Nor will his agent leave the team alone. And I choose the team over my favourites. So Yaya can leave and Mascherano can come for me.

 

[barca96]

People saying that Yaya offers us something different but with Mascherano, Busquets would be the player who can offer us a different edge.

With Busquets playing slightly further up the pitch he can replace Keita eventually and become a box-box/secondary playmaker which would be a huge asset.

nah..
busi is damn good at dm atm. he is a hustler. run around tackling and intercepting passes.
yaya should take over the cm spot that is if he wants to stay.

 

[Gnegneri]

Of course you can be different and inferior Meta. They both played cf for us, one scored a shitload, the other didn't. One provided very few assists, the other provided some (link up play in 2010 was poor). At the end of the day we won less with Ibra, of course there are dozens of other variables, but I don't see the argument that he's been an improvement on Samu. Bare in mind I wanted to see Samu leave (on better terms) last summer anyway, so this isn't an argument to say we should have kept him.

Not inferior doesn't have to mean an improvement. As a team, I think we did make improvement, but the players individually were grosso modo better in 08/09. The improvement itself was the difference.

You now as well as me that it was the tad of luck that gave us those three trophies which we handt' this year. We were on the verge of getting eliminated in the copa and CL but last year everything went well (stop penalty/score in the dying seconds) and this year it didn't (Palop saved everything + wrong penalty call/goal in the dying seconds disallowed) so we ended up with the prize that involves the least luck. Or as Raed would say it: the table doesn't lie.

 

[Barcaman]

If Sergi is Pep's favourite then what's the use of splashing on Mascherano. We should simply look to sign a solid and cheap backup for Sergi. I see Txiki being Poulsen fanboy for couple of seasons now so why not..
It would be a waste of money and quality to have Mascherano on the bench.

 

[Barcaman]

Simple:

 

[mobster_1930]

Yaya is the power in the midfield, I still remember that game against ManU in semis back in '08 with Rijkaard. He dominated the whole match, definetly his best game i can recall. For some reason, Pep prefers Busquets, I don't know why, but it would be a big mistake selling him. Yes, his form was not really good this season, but it was simply becuase he didn't have playing time, that was also the case last season, but as Pep gave him more and more playing time he became one of the key ingredients in our last years treble success. Buying Mascherano for anything more than 25mil. would be a terrible signing policy for me.

 

[barca96]

Simple:

compare that poll to the one regarding zlatan....
total opposite!
from my observation, the camp nou crowd seems to be in love with yaya.
they clap for the simplest of passes that yaya makes. he looks like a fan favorite.

 

[beef-supreme]

Imo it would be stupid to sell Yaya and be left with a gaping hole in the DM, but at the same time i think that Cesc is a necessity. We can sell Caceres, Hleb and Henrqiue - SURELY that will bring in the supposed 20m necessary from selling Toure?!

I'm saying this assuming that we wouldn't be able to bring Mascherano in because of lack of funds...

Also, I haven't really had time to read the posts about Mascherano, but already during hte winter window we settled the debate that accusing Mascherano for his cards is stupid - at the time of the winter window, Mascherano had something like 2 red cards in his whole career and perhaps that has increased to 3 or 4 since then.
Seriously

 

[barca96]

and if we add chiggy and marquez to that list it will at least add 25mil.