Gaudi
Senior Member
So tired of this "Barca DNA" players, slow, weak with some skill no one cares about. Mingueza and Araujo would be my duo. They at least look like athletes.
Eric García (loaned to Girona)
- Thread starter messi1995
- Start date
So tired of this "Barca DNA" players, slow, weak with some skill no one cares about. Mingueza and Araujo would be my duo. They at least look like athletes.
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
I think the whole Barcaforum should consider that. Basically, 1 million € salary yearly and play golf with Laporta. Not bad life!
Literally nobody compares him to the likes of Neymar, Suarez, Messi etc..
You can't just make up a narrative in your head and start acting as if it's a reality.
When you don't make it as a CB in Pep Guardiola's team, you might as well quit football
Christ, even Pep has moved away from the midget and slow CBs. Look at his defense: Aymeric, Dias, and Stones are all 1.85m+.
Mateka
New member
When you don't make it as a CB in Pep Guardiola's team, you might as well quit football
Garcia believed he was better than he was. As if Pep was holding him back and he knew best. He was 5 th or 6th in line at City. But Pep wanted to keep him.
There are not many things worse than being promoted before you are ready.
behindbrowneyes
Well-known member
Physique isn't everything, especially in youth.
No one expects Garcia to win a direct duel against Lukaku, but when you are playing at an elite level your body should be on an elite level too. Garcia has limits due to his height, but he doesn't look like he is at his personal best at all. He rarely played for a year and had enough time to hit the gym and bulk up. Compare him and Dest, who is at the same age. Not that Garcia is the only one. Lenglet is weak af too.
Football has evolved a lot in the last 15 years. Having a good technique and vision isn't enough anymore. Being at your physical best is a basic today. There'll always be physical monsters like Ibra, Messi, VVD with individual, extraordinary physical qualities that are way above the average, but if you aren't at your personal best you'll get bullied in Copa by part-time footballers.
No one expects Garcia to win a direct duel against Lukaku, but when you are playing at an elite level your body should be on an elite level too. Garcia has limits due to his height, but he doesn't look like he is at his personal best at all. He rarely played for a year and had enough time to hit the gym and bulk up. Compare him and Dest, who is at the same age. Not that Garcia is the only one. Lenglet is weak af too.
Football has evolved a lot in the last 15 years. Having a good technique and vision isn't enough anymore. Being at your physical best is a basic today. There'll always be physical monsters like Ibra, Messi, VVD with individual, extraordinary physical qualities that are way above the average, but if you aren't at your personal best you'll get bullied in Copa by part-time footballers.
Redbuck
Member
Good post.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
There is a room in football for those who aren't elite in both technique and physique, actually those who are elite in both aspects are usually the very very best, the top 5-10 players in their position
Eric is actually same height as Umtiti and is one kg heavier, and no one ever has accused Umtiti of being weak.
He is 20 years old player, it is normal he won't be a bully yet, and there is enough room for him to grow there.
People keep talking about Bayern and Groetzke, but truth is we always helped our players to reach their best shape as long as they were willing to work in it (so, guys like Dembele were hopeless case). Players like Neymar & Messi werehelped tremendously by the club.
I remember when Neymar 1st arrived we made a program for him to add few KGs and his doctors in Brazil were mad and thought we will slow him down, but at the end we were right.
Back to Eric, I think he can be relatively strong and dependable in couple of years tnh. He will never be the most athletic but teams can survive with one of those. You don't need the best player for each position to win, sometimes you can just count on some players who are closer to average (for big club standards) than elite.
He is a 20 year old who had the faith of Pep, Lucho & Koeman beside every youth coach in Spain, the opposite of Puig for example.
He is a young free agent signing that who is still a project, whom we will have to rely on more than we should because we are broke, even if he turned into a good 3rd CB it is a win
Eric is actually same height as Umtiti and is one kg heavier, and no one ever has accused Umtiti of being weak.
He is 20 years old player, it is normal he won't be a bully yet, and there is enough room for him to grow there.
People keep talking about Bayern and Groetzke, but truth is we always helped our players to reach their best shape as long as they were willing to work in it (so, guys like Dembele were hopeless case). Players like Neymar & Messi werehelped tremendously by the club.
I remember when Neymar 1st arrived we made a program for him to add few KGs and his doctors in Brazil were mad and thought we will slow him down, but at the end we were right.
Back to Eric, I think he can be relatively strong and dependable in couple of years tnh. He will never be the most athletic but teams can survive with one of those. You don't need the best player for each position to win, sometimes you can just count on some players who are closer to average (for big club standards) than elite.
He is a 20 year old who had the faith of Pep, Lucho & Koeman beside every youth coach in Spain, the opposite of Puig for example.
He is a young free agent signing that who is still a project, whom we will have to rely on more than we should because we are broke, even if he turned into a good 3rd CB it is a win
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Richard.H
Senior Member
Most sensible post I've read on this forum in a while. I completely agree, there are valid criticisms to be made about Garcia and his most recent performance but all these couch sports analysts acting like they can tell with one look that Garcia doesn't have the ''physique'' or ''talent'' to ever be a top level CB (despite several high-level coaches clearly thinking otherwise) is absolutely laughable.
Really good post but a critical difference between prime Umtiti and Garcia, the main reason why people never larped about Umtiti's physique, was Umtiti's acceleration. Umtiti may not be as tall as other elite CBs, but his speed and agility were the main reason he was elite. Garcia doesn't have that and never will, as speed is something that's determined very early in your physical development regardless of how much muscle mass you have.
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