FC Barcelona B

FCBarca

Mike the Knife
There were really only a few highlight moments against Numancia, for me, from the B team...Numancia were more mature in their buildups whereas the B team seemed to be relying on counters & individual brilliance - both Alberto & Deulofeu

It's depressing watching this B team, in all honesty...Even Grimaldo looks subpar despite flashes here & there of what he can produce...Alejandro was skinned several times which was still better than Balliu - who was responsible for all 3 goals, IMO

They look terrible in defense (Especially central defense), terrible in midfield, have no holding mid of quality (Sorry Ilie) and rely on the brilliance of their forwards...Hard to believe it's a Barcelona team, tbh

And Rafinha?...I'm not sure who is to blame, if anyone...Perhaps Rafinha simply isn't quite good enough but even Roberto looked average when he came on late...Rafinha kept trying to dribble (Unsuccessfully) players or suffered from a number of heavy touches...Espinosa looked better but I'm not convinced he's smart enough to play in this system - often looking to do it all on his own...Oier can't even launch a freekick and keep it in fair play late in the match and they needed an equalizer

The good is that Deulofeu and perhaps Alberto too are studs...the bad is that Dongou is going to have a hard time developing in this tactically inept side and simply wasted...Eusebio is garbage
 

Theconomist

New member
With the ammount of talent on that team they should be dominating the segunda.
Eusebio is a really bad coach, I think he is hindering the progress of our future first teamers.
While I wouldn't normally call for a departure of a coach who hasn't been given at least a few seasons, this isn't a first team, the b team is a transition to the first time. The A and B team don't look anything alike so it's defeating the purpose of having a B team in the first place.
 

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
There were really only a few highlight moments against Numancia, for me, from the B team...Numancia were more mature in their buildups whereas the B team seemed to be relying on counters & individual brilliance - both Alberto & Deulofeu

It's depressing watching this B team, in all honesty...Even Grimaldo looks subpar despite flashes here & there of what he can produce...Alejandro was skinned several times which was still better than Balliu - who was responsible for all 3 goals, IMO

They look terrible in defense (Especially central defense), terrible in midfield, have no holding mid of quality (Sorry Ilie) and rely on the brilliance of their forwards...Hard to believe it's a Barcelona team, tbh

And Rafinha?...I'm not sure who is to blame, if anyone...Perhaps Rafinha simply isn't quite good enough but even Roberto looked average when he came on late...Rafinha kept trying to dribble (Unsuccessfully) players or suffered from a number of heavy touches...Espinosa looked better but I'm not convinced he's smart enough to play in this system - often looking to do it all on his own...Oier can't even launch a freekick and keep it in fair play late in the match and they needed an equalizer

The good is that Deulofeu and perhaps Alberto too are studs...the bad is that Dongou is going to have a hard time developing in this tactically inept side and simply wasted...Eusebio is garbage

Your recap is spot on. And yeah, I was rationalizing too but in the end it really does boil down to your last 3 words.
 

Ursegor

World Champion
Barca B is just 6 points away from Villarreal (which is a Primera quality team) while being the youngest team in the whole league by quite some distance (avg. age 20.5, the rest of the teams are between 25 and 29). Compared to Lucho's team they've also lost a lot of quality. No Tello, no Cuenca, no Thiago, no Bartra, no Muniesa, no Fontas, no Montoya, no JdS, no Nolito, no Soriano. So, yes. They're not dominating games like the first team and it's Eusebio's fault.

And by the way. Rafa is extremely overrated. Someone said it in the other thread. All he does is run with the ball towards goal. No awareness of his surroundings and no playmaking ability at all. He'll probably end up at Arsenal and play as a second striker. While Ilie simply sucks. As does the defense since the whole backline has been promoted. Again. Eusebio's fault. Derp.
 

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
There were really only a few highlight moments against Numancia, for me, from the B team...Numancia were more mature in their buildups whereas the B team seemed to be relying on counters & individual brilliance - both Alberto & Deulofeu

It's depressing watching this B team, in all honesty...Even Grimaldo looks subpar despite flashes here & there of what he can produce...Alejandro was skinned several times which was still better than Balliu - who was responsible for all 3 goals, IMO

They look terrible in defense (Especially central defense), terrible in midfield, have no holding mid of quality (Sorry Ilie) and rely on the brilliance of their forwards...Hard to believe it's a Barcelona team, tbh

And Rafinha?...I'm not sure who is to blame, if anyone...Perhaps Rafinha simply isn't quite good enough but even Roberto looked average when he came on late...Rafinha kept trying to dribble (Unsuccessfully) players or suffered from a number of heavy touches...Espinosa looked better but I'm not convinced he's smart enough to play in this system - often looking to do it all on his own...Oier can't even launch a freekick and keep it in fair play late in the match and they needed an equalizer

The good is that Deulofeu and perhaps Alberto too are studs...the bad is that Dongou is going to have a hard time developing in this tactically inept side and simply wasted...Eusebio is garbage
I didn't watch that game but watched few earlier this season
Grimaldo is very young,completing 17 around 2 months ago ,he is just a kid playing against men ,for a defender that is tough job tbh ,seeing him not being terrible or a clear point of weakness at this point is very positive,he needs to keep working on his game ,with the development of his body and experience I think he will be fine
And obviously ,the rest of the defense sucks
As for mid-field ,gotta disagree,we don't have a good DM which is huge weakness for that team,that said there is talents in that line
Rafinha is actually really good,but he is a more of attacking mid-field than a true CM ,would play some false 9 too
from what I've seen he is a big time talent ,not overrated at all,he also shows flashes of great passes
the one I don't like is Sergi Roberto,he is good,but not barca good tbh
The SMF are also good with Kiko and Gerard
that said that team needs improvement,the chemistry isn't there ,and while there are some talents,they are all in the offensive end of the pitch ,I didn't get all the strikers signing this year tbh
 
X

xaviniesta

Guest
Barca B is just 6 points away from Villarreal (which is a Primera quality team) while being the youngest team in the whole league by quite some distance (avg. age 20.5, the rest of the teams are between 25 and 29). Compared to Lucho's team they've also lost a lot of quality. No Tello, no Cuenca, no Thiago, no Bartra, no Muniesa, no Fontas, no Montoya, no JdS, no Nolito, no Soriano. So, yes. They're not dominating games like the first team and it's Eusebio's fault.

And by the way. Rafa is extremely overrated. Someone said it in the other thread. All he does is run with the ball towards goal. No awareness of his surroundings and no playmaking ability at all. He'll probably end up at Arsenal and play as a second striker. While Ilie simply sucks. As does the defense since the whole backline has been promoted. Again. Eusebio's fault. Derp.

i agree with everything you said. it's always easy to blame the coach but it's pretty obvious that he simply doesn not have the kind of material there was couple of years ago. perhaps in 3-4 years there will be another good generation. maybe later. or maybe never. who knows. what they did couple of years ago when they finished 3 or 4th was simply something they might never do again.


thiago always says that rafa was always the better of two of them. well i don't know if he's trying to be too humble or what but rafa hasnt really played up for his expectations. maybe he needs a better team around him. i remember once he played with first team, in 2010/11 i guess in champions league against one of the russian sides, together with other kids including thiago and he was really really good there. i still want to see him in first team or at least given a chance.



dongou is another one who gets a lot of hype, especially after graham hunter said he is better than messi in this age. i've never seen a good game from him. lot of potential obviosuly.
 

Xtroverto

Member
i agree with everything you said. it's always easy to blame the coach but it's pretty obvious that he simply doesn not have the kind of material there was couple of years ago. perhaps in 3-4 years there will be another good generation. maybe later. or maybe never. who knows. what they did couple of years ago when they finished 3 or 4th was simply something they might never do again.


thiago always says that rafa was always the better of two of them. well i don't know if he's trying to be too humble or what but rafa hasnt really played up for his expectations. maybe he needs a better team around him. i remember once he played with first team, in 2010/11 i guess in champions league against one of the russian sides, together with other kids including thiago and he was really really good there. i still want to see him in first team or at least given a chance.



dongou is another one who gets a lot of hype, especially after graham hunter said he is better than messi in this age. i've never seen a good game from him. lot of potential obviosuly.

Being good when you are 14-15 or 16 means nothing when it comes to adapting to the reality of playing in a professional league like the Segunda, graham hunter knows that but he is a journalist and most of the time all they do is hype. Dongou like all African players has the advantage of early physical development, he was bigger, stronger and ran faster than his peers when he was 14-15-16, but now than he no longer has any advantage we see his true potential and for the time being it looks like he will not develop into a goal scoring machine.

Rafa really was great when playing for the youth teams and did play pretty well his first year with the B squad. Now it feels like he is stuck in his development, maybe a loan deal could help him. Eventually he will have to make a choice as he risks going down the path of Jonathan dos Santos and more or less ending up trowing away several of his most important years of development.
 
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Tonykross

New member
Dongou is not doing badly for a 17 year old playing in the Segunda, I didn't expect him to be a goal machine outright at 17, even the great Messi was not a goal machine at 17.I think he is shown some flashes of his brilliance. The general play of the team is so poor, and it has made it very difficult for Dongou to find himself in dangerous goal scoring positions.
 

Ursegor

World Champion
dongou is another one who gets a lot of hype, especially after graham hunter said he is better than messi in this age. i've never seen a good game from him. lot of potential obviosuly.

Agree. But he'll get the benefit of the doubt. It took Deulofeu more than half a season too until he started delivering in the Segunda. Let's see if Dongou can adapt.

From the current team the only players who I see making it to the first team are Grimaldo, Deulofeu and S. Roberto (he has some amazing raw talent, against Alaves he dribbled past 3 or 4 players like Iniesta, surprised no one mentioned that here). The rest not so much. Rafinha looks much more like a forward than a midfielder. I'm just not impressed. Definitely not more talented than Thiago. I remember Pep starting 19 year old Thiago away against Villarreal on a hostile ground in the run-in in 10 / 11 when we basically wrapped up the Liga title (the game where Valdes pulled some incredible saves too) and he totaly bossed it, pulling off stuff like this:


He was always impressive whenever he got chances with the first team. I just can't imagine Rafa coming into the first team and impressing like that in a game of such magnitude.
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
How is Xavi Quintilla doing? I know he's not on the b team but i heard he's a really good defender and leader. Plus he's only like 15-16 or something like that. Is he more of a left back or a center back? Cause i remember Puyol being able to play as both as well.
 

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
i agree with everything you said. it's always easy to blame the coach but it's pretty obvious that he simply doesn not have the kind of material there was couple of years ago. perhaps in 3-4 years there will be another good generation. maybe later. or maybe never. who knows. what they did couple of years ago when they finished 3 or 4th was simply something they might never do again.


thiago always says that rafa was always the better of two of them. well i don't know if he's trying to be too humble or what but rafa hasnt really played up for his expectations. maybe he needs a better team around him. i remember once he played with first team, in 2010/11 i guess in champions league against one of the russian sides, together with other kids including thiago and he was really really good there. i still want to see him in first team or at least given a chance.



dongou is another one who gets a lot of hype, especially after graham hunter said he is better than messi in this age. i've never seen a good game from him. lot of potential obviosuly.

The problem with Eusebio isn't the results,last season we finished 8th,that is really good for a youth team ,people need to remember that it happened only twice that a B team was top 3 in second division ,one of them was that Barca B in 2011
that said Eusebio isn't exactly playing Barca style or trying to get the players prepared for the next level with the first team
He also (or Zubizarreta )didn't bring the needed players to surround the homegrown talents to make a real team ,lack of any quality defenders or holding mid-field etc ,again this barca team is just some talents thrown out there, not a real team
 

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