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Great job getting rid of players. Every player that needed to leave left. This should help morale a lot, along with going with only 19 players. All 19 should get their chances. Not all will pan out, but least at the get go you can't tell who will fail. I am excited about the quality of...

That's a good bench.

I'm confident he will do better at Barca. However, being better for him could still be not great. I think Barca got him quite cheap, so not that big deal if he does not do much.

After all the personnel changes, including those to be completed today, the team has successfully filled a gapping hole, and has added quality depth at most positions. The best depth is among the midfielders. De Jong, Pedri, Gund, Romeu, Gavi, all should be in the first 11. Gavi solves some...

Gavi starts at forward on the left side. Lamine and Raphina will share the job on right side, if Raphina can show enough form to justify not playing the child way too much.

I've seen some bad defending by Barca players. But Roberto at RB today, that is right up there with the worst defensive games I've ever seen, from any top-flight player. Must never again play RB.

De Jong as sweeper. 8 man attack.

Well, this defensive back 4 certainly will not win La Liga. The need for a bone fide right back has not gone away.

Looks like the current plan is to staff RB with Kounde, Araujo and Dest.

4-4-2. Lots of offense from this midfield, they should be spectacular. We'll just have to see how the defense holds up without Busquets, likely to ship more goals next season. Since all remaining funds will go to a RB, no more defensive help will be coming to the midfield.

Will start for Barca for the next decade or two, he is the heart of this team. But, he's clearly been overplayed this season, overdue to be rotated out. He has faded, needs to re-charge. I expect Balde, Pedri and Gavi to all improve a lot over the next couple of years.

Yes, but we must expect the same result again. Not the ideal pairing on the sides of Lewa. Both seem at their best on the right. I like Raphinha, especially with Dembele being available only half or 3/4 of the time. Having both next year might be too much of a luxury given the spending...

Coming into his own with Dembele out. It remains to be seen if he can play this well when Dembele is on the field with him. If any case, when your second-best forward is Dembele, you have to have someone capable of stepping up when Dembele is injured, so Raphinha fits quite well with this...

I think Ferran will prove to be a pretty good player. Not great, but pretty good, 10 goals a year. It won't be while he is playing for Barca. He will do better elsewhere, needs a fresh start ASAP.

We don't "need" a win. We don't even need a draw, a six point lead at this stage of the season will be enough. Barca will win La Liga this year regardless of the result of this game. RM will not win out, and Barca will only get less than six points off a perfect record if RM falters. Barca...

The mid-week off should help. So glad Barca is out of the Europa League, given how short the roster is.

Sport has an article on Laporta's acquisition priorities.

Laporta says no new midfielders. He will buy a CB and a fullback. Any further buys need payroll reduction first. The word is that all except 5 Barca players are available for transfer. I'm thinking the 5 are Gavi, Pedri, Araujo, Kunde and Balde. As usual, moving out Barca players is tough...

Man U are quite q good team now, I expect them to win the Premier League. Xavi outcouched he hhhimself in the first game, scrambling the back line. It is clear that this Barca team lacks depth. Minus Gavi, Pedri and Dembele, not enough offensive impetus was left, outside of Balde. With the...

He's now beating out Fati for a spot in next season's roster. Loan or sell Fati, as a kindness to the young man. He can still hope for some type of career if he gets a chance soon to start for a lessor team.