Rafael Márquez

Nobody will buy an injured player.

Then we'll sell him to madrid..

I agree with meta, rafa isnt needed anymore. With piqué we need a rock at the back. Piquenbauer being piquenbauer means we need a defender that stays back while piqué roams forward at times. Rafa had a decent spell this season but hasnt been the 05/06 defender we all remember.

Very harsh. I seem to remember him being solid for the MAJORITY of our season. People tend to forget the incredible first half where it was him+Puyol or him+Pique. The least we can do is to renew his contract for another year. Could be good back-up. For God sake people are counting on milito knees more than Rafa now.

Thats what i said...he has had a decent spell this season. But his last two seasons he has been poor. Sevilla in the Supercup... ugh.

no one's counting on milito's knees, but when he was fit he was fit. he didn't go in and out like rafa. but even then he'll probably be fourth or fifth choice.

rafa did have a decent first half to the season, but he's been useless in the second half so it's kind of been nullified. and the big problem with rafa is he'll never be clear of injuries, and he's always rubbish when returning from a layoff and needs time to get into his stride. and the thing is he's not as good as pique so does he replace puyol? does he move puyol to LB? for how long? we can't keep moving el capitan around the back-line it's not doing his game any good.

what we need is a CB who can come in whenever and be reliable. could that be caceres? possibly. henrique as far as I can tell is just a brazilian pique. if someone has actually seem him play more than once has any more info, that'd be appreciated. is he quick? could be he our third CB?

tell you what, let's sign jarque!

Metaphysical said:

no one's counting on milito's knees, but when he was fit he was fit. he didn't go in and out like rafa. but even then he'll probably be fourth or fifth choice.

rafa did have a decent first half to the season, but he's been useless in the second half so it's kind of been nullified. and the big problem with rafa is he'll never be clear of injuries, and he's always rubbish when returning from a layoff and needs time to get into his stride. and the thing is he's not as good as pique so does he replace puyol? does he move puyol to LB? for how long? we can't keep moving el capitan around the back-line it's not doing his game any good.

what we need is a CB who can come in whenever and be reliable. could that be caceres? possibly. henrique as far as I can tell is just a brazilian pique. if someone has actually seem him play more than once has any more info, that'd be appreciated. is he quick? could be he our third CB?

tell you what, let's sign jarque!

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Rafa has been WAAAY better than Pique this season. It's only recently that Pique has started to play really well.

Pep saw something in Rafa, which is why he played him over Pique for the majority of the season. Rafa was a sure starter until this injury against Chelsea.

I agree, Marquez has had a great season overall. Only a couple of bad games but overall he has been very solid at the back, not to mention his 40+yard assists are things of beauty.

I agree, dunno where this criticism is springing from, Marquez has been good this season, sometimes brilliant. Like Divine says his long passes and through balls are spectacular.

[YOUTUBE]Hu1VlROALUA[/YOUTUBE]

Such short memories football fans have. Marquez is the king. He has been superb this season, the most important player in defense.

IC, your video is not available in my country/domain

a superb season?

he's been inconsistent pish since the new year (more bad than good, too) so at best he had a superb half-season.

and even before the xmas break he wasn't as good as all that.

the critical thing is he gets injured far too easily. and given the fact that when he returns from a layoff he's very poor, if he keeps getting these layoffs he'll keep making mistakes. one area where you DON'T rotate is CB. pique had a solid start to the season with a few mistakes peppered around but has grown to be the leader of our defence. marquez on the other hand started strong but just collapsed into an injured-mistake-making heap at the end of the season. that should tell you something about their standings in our squad. one is on the up, one is on the down.

not that this means we should get rid. although the necessity to keep him no longer exists I'd wager his presence in the locker room is a benefit because he's obviously a very experienced player.

what we need next season is a fast defender to partner pique. it would be great if caceres could kick on and perform, but if he doesn't then we need to look elsewhere. obviously there's puyol but for me he's gotten so rash it's best to play him at FB these days.

The problem with people like you is that all you see is: Defender defends and an attacker attacks. That is all there is to it. And that is why you are blind to why Marquez is so important to the team.

Snyde said:

The problem with people like you is that all you see is: Defender defends and an attacker attacks. That is all there is to it. And that is why you are blind to why Marquez is so important to the team.

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no.

but what I do see is a defender's primary job is to defend.

so I don't care if he can spray 40 yard passes with his eyes closed if he can't stop them going in the other end. in fact I'm fairly sure marquez played a fucking 80 yard pass against atleti for gudjohnsen. didn't stop him completely shitting his pants when aguero and forlan ran at him.

defenders who can play are invaluable. pique can play and set so many of our attacks in motion against real. but they have to be able to defend properly, as pique did in that game. that is their primary job. it's the same with forwards. eto'o's defensive work is as good as ever, but he's not doing his primary job of putting the ball in the net so he's rightly getting criticised.

we already have one defender who's better in attack than he is in defence. we don't need another. especially not one who cocks up so huge in big games (slip to allow drenthe in vs. real, pass to drogba vs. chelsea - marquez owes valdes BIG TIME).

Meta you do make some good points. But I think you're being a little brutal on Rafa, Puyol has made similar mistakes that have cost us but gets very little criticism. In fact, on this note, i'd like to say I thought Puyol is playing far better on the left than he does in the center.