Barcelona, I love you but…
By: Iggy | August 21st, 2009In the interest of entertainment (as in not news/analysis) lets take a step back and look at our team/coaching staff/administration. Odds are, with that many people together there’s bound to be someone/something that you don’t like…and that’s OK. So how about we all take a cathartic moment and just let it out, what do you not like about our team? (EE fans this is not an invitation to spray insults, but you are more than welcome to participate in civil discussion).
I’ll go first: Barcelona, I love you but…I don’t understand why Marquez is still here. I understand he’s a decent CB but he makes too many mistakes with the ball at his feet. For Christ’s sake the only reason Valdes was a hero against Chelsea was because Marquez screwed up royally (and that’s not the first time he’s done it).
well, I feel better after letting that out. What do you think? Who should be on the way out but has magically stayed?
please be civil, no racist/religionist insults will be permitted
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I’ll second what ifotbol.com said about becoming a soci. I loved the club before joining, but something extra clicked after. I learned even more about the history (and yes, politics), and (shamelessly) wept when I sang along with my first Himno as a card-carrying member. This lady who didn’t speak a word of English (or French, my other language) gave me a comforting hug.
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United States
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Gotta back Kxevin up on this one… If you feel a certain way about a player, you should defend your stance. Just because you differ opinions, does not mean that he is wrong and you are right.
Discussing and analyzing subjects/players is what we come to these Barca blogs to do… We are not here to bash people for their opinions. If someone felt a certain way about a player they knew they could come here and put their reason’s out there for everyone to see. OK… rants over.
Oh and I like Marquez. He is probably the second most offensive minded CB that we have behind Alves (Maxwell is right up there too, but untested in our sysyem). He has an accurate long ball, and a calm demeanor that spreads to our other CB’s. He maybe going downhill, but I think he has 1-2 years left.
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United States -
UAI & Kxevin, both of you are definitely right about Marquez having an excellent long pass that can skip the mids when the game is clogged, the problem for me is that for every 2 or 3 good passes like that he’ll make a mistake at the back because he holds on to the ball for too long. but as far as him being there for squad depth…that seems like a perfectly reasonable answer
As for Puyol…him and Iniesta were the two players who originally made me follow barcelona and it hurts so much to say but Kxevin is probably right when he says that this is Puyol’s last season as a guaranteed starter.
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United States -
I’m going to follow the cathartic theme with this post.
Since no one’s supposed to talk about this anymore, but I’m still thinking about it: how crazy is it to trade one of the best, PROVEN, La Liga strikers at a huge loss for… well, anyone? Yeah, his contract was about to run out blah, blah, OFFER HIM A NEW ONE! Yeah he was an egomaniac diva etc. but to replace him with, um, IBRAHIMOVIC? Craziness.
My guess is that Pep just plain didn’t like him. Not didn’t-like-him in the tactical sense, but didn’t-like-him in the piss in his gas tank sense. Maybe because he’d had the audacity at one point in his career to where white.
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United States -
And any “beating a dead horse” comments be damned.
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United States -
Marquez…
-Terrific free kick taker
-A long pass to die for
-Can play as defensive midfielder
-Very dangerous during corner kicksThat’s why he’s at Barca, and why Guardiola finds him so important.
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United States -
I love you Barca, but….
I really think we are in trouble if Ibra goes down with a niggle. Bojan can’t match up against the big boys yet. I really think Henry stepping up in the middle will occur if Ibra goes down. Then we’ll have Pedro start on the left and Messi on the right. We’ll see. I dunno, it makes me nervous for sure.
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United States -
Well, john (you pot-stirrer, you) Txiki B. is on record as saying just this week that they wanted to keep Eto’o, and that the decision to sell him was entirely Guardiola’s, based on it being “easier to manage” the club. I have no idea what that means.
Remember that we tried to talk contract with Eto’o during the season, and he said that he wanted to wait until season’s end, so that he could fully focus on the job at hand. At season’s end nothing happened. He went on vacation, and the mess began. Both sides could have made the whole thing easy, before it got personal. But as has been hashed out, over and over and over and over again in this very space, it didn’t happen. Both sides screwed the pooch.
Guardiola’s reasons to sell Eto’o were probably personal, but also dream-related, in that he has this vision of the kind of football that he wants to play. And he used “What Pep wants, Pep gets,” coming off the treble, to get his wish.
I support Guardiola’s wishes because they are ultimately the club’s wishes. Had we re-signed Eto’o, I would have been all for that, as well. Whatever the club needs, is my worldview.
Rest assured that if Ibrahimovic fizzles, we’ll all be there to let Guardiola have it. But what if it works? Would we have gotten more than 30 goals from Eto’o again this season? You bet. He’s a machine. But where’s the improvement? And yes, improvement will be necessary to even win the Liga, never mind the triplete. Where does the improvement come, and what is the deficiency(ies) of our offense?
–Set pieces
–A back-to-goal striker
–In the Guardiola vision, a striker who can bring the ball up, and even play in the midfield at times
–A striker who is also a legitimate wing threatThe short list of guys like that is about one name long: Ibrahimovic. Now let’s see how the experiment works out.
I don’t blame other clubs for wanting us to keep Eto’o. The devil you know is easy to defend. It’s the devil you don’t that is unsettling.
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Kxevin handled the criticism like a real pro I have to say.
I like Henry and Eto’o. Actually, love the whole team. The issue for me was why Eto’o defeciencies were over magnified and criticized soo much, while Henry’s were dismissed and defended soo strongly.
I think the striker we need is one who puts balls past the posts. Anything else is being picky, which you can afford to be, when you dont have a striker already. If you have a striker who gives you 25 goals a season and is proven in the big games, I say you milk it to the end.
Heres to hoping Pep knew what he was doing, not just a rookie mistake. Experienced coaches know how to handle stars and big personalities.
-Valdez is the guy that worries me the most. Marquez and Puyols problem is that they are not particularly fast, so they defend well by proper fielding. With Pique, Abidal and Alvez, we have three speedy defenders, backed up by Yaya, to cover Puyol and Marquez. Injuries to Ibra will be a worrysome issue. They may have to bring Keirrison back faster than thought
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Kxevin, other clubs defended against Ibra very well. He is spectacular against small clubs/bad defenders, ordinary against big clubs. Hopefully it was because of lack of good players around him. Let’s hope the experiment goes well. Eto’o’s speed was hard to defend, if you believe Casillas.
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Thanks, Eto’opologist. And I’m not sure if we have an early return clause in Keirrison’s contract. Have to check into that.
Pertinent to your last point, here’s an analysis of the Citeh goal by Hector. It really speaks well to the pace/decision making issues that some have been raising with Puyol who, as the last line of defense, could have just stepped up and played Petrov off side.
http://www.barcelonafootballblog.com/274/anatomy-of-a-goal-tactics-barcelona-manchester-cit/
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I do believe Casillas. He’s right. There’s no question that Eto’o was a beast. Constant motion, quick shot, poacher, etc, etc. I’m nervous as hell about the big Swede experiment. If it fails, we’re screwed, and there will be a loooong conga line to let Guardiola have it.
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United States -
I love you Barca but I hate the way some fans treat you. We lose a couple of games and you see white hankys allover the place…
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Philippines -
I Love Barcelona but…
..because a player is Catalan doesn’t mean you own them.
..because you won the treble doesn’t mean we want to hear Valdes et al. talking about the chances of winning it again.
..if Guardiola doesn’t have a spectacular season I know you are going to give him unceasing crap. Forgetting it is his 3rd year as a professional coach because he has won titles in his first 2 years.
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to extend my second point…
We know you won it and you want to talk about it but you haven’t played a game in La Liga, CL or CdR for THIS season. I don’t wanna hear about a treble again unless we are in la liga pole position and at least in the semis of CdR & CL.
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Canada -
I love you Barcelon, but i Hate the new pink/salmon whateveryouwannacallit away jersey…
I also hate that Barcelona is a great city and hence always gonna be out of the budget for a vacation.
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United States -
I love you Barcelona UNCONDITIONALLY..
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United States -
You’d be surprised, JC. Iberia always has great prices, particularly from the New York region, and lodging is fairly priced, as well. We nabbed a spectacular place on the Passeig de Gracia for a kilobuck for the week.
Very reasonable, and a bargain compared to say, Paris.
And you have to see the away shirt on. I have one, and it’s seriously cool-looking. But I agree, it doesn’t photograph well.
I second Vj’s emotion.
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Great topic, I’m glad to finally hear this come up.
Pros first. Marquez is the portrait of an experienced CB, for a time definitely one of the best in the world. He made his career out of being a rock but also a fantastic passer (I will get to this). He is good for Barca because he knows the system as well as anyone, and because he is a real ROCK that stays back, unlike Puyol definitely, arguably Pique, and our cantera CBs, lookin’ like.
Cons. I think this year, Pique has decisively replaced The Kaiser. At the beginning of last season we all knew Marquez was our best passing defender. At the end, it was Pique’s passes that were blowing everyone, me included, out of this world. Pique isn’t exactly a rock, because he does like to go forward with the ball, but he’s more of one than Puyol, and I would argue that his runs forward with the ball look more confident than El Capitan himself. I don’t see anything Marquez can do these days that Pique(nbauer) can’t do, and Pique does it more consistently. Further, if anyone reads my comments they know I’m very suspect of players who keep popping up with injuries, and Marquez has had some very troubling ones lately.
I would bet that Marquez will have about 20 appearances this year, give or take. Pique is definitely the man alongside Puyol. But that will be his role: the depth man. I think this year he is not expendable. When you don’t consider the canteranos (who apparently will not be promoted), Marquez is our only sub at CB. Then consider we probably will not have Henrique (a hasty mistake?), and we lose a CB/RB two-in-one. Again, Puyol will spend significant time on the right, and so Marquez will be in the middle about that often, and Pique, well, he’ll have to play every game.
That’s why I’m still expecting one of the following: 1) a promotion of Fontas, Muniesa, or perhaps Botia, despite the “official” announcements; 2) Chygrynskiy; 3) or the retention of Henrique.
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thanks 4d advice Kxevin.
I don’t get this promotion business. Suppose Fontas or Jeffren don’t get promoted, but Pep somehow needs to use one of them for a game, can’t he just play them? I mean, do they need to be promoted to play for the A team?Roonie played well for Milan 2day, he’s no more playing on the wings, but in the middle just behind the 2 strikers. he had 1 assist and was involved in another.
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the promotion system really only covers the contract that they have. Pep can still call up anyone from the B team if he feels like it.
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thanks for that Iggy.
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United Arab Emirates -
I agree with you. I don’t know why but it’s a question of, like Pep said of Eto’o, “feeling.” I think it has to do with Marquez being part of another F.C.B. The one of Deco, Ronaldinho, etc. Now if he can make a top-form comeback I’m more than willing to swallow my words bc well, dude, we really f$%^&^ing need a wizard in his position.
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Canada -
titi henry aka the bitch!!
visca el barça
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United States -
Thank you Iggy for saying this. I could not agree more. Marquez is the biggest liability we have had in recent memory. He absolutely must leave because it is foolish to have him play as a CB where a player with such mental attitude needs to be 100% all the time, no excuses.
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United States
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