Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!

Had no idea they picked Bellerin. Even Arsenal binned him a while ago.

I think Barca's side project will now be picking up any and every Free transfer there is and then try and flog them a season later...
 
Raiden Shogun said:
I hate to say it, as he was and is one of my favourite players of all time but this is on Xavi imo and really shows great (even GOAT midfielder) players don't always make great managers.

His tactics and mismanagement have been exposed time and time again and we still see little sign of him learning from them. Alonso, an attacking LWB at CB, when Garcia is available? What? Busquets starting vs Bayern in 2022 is also a massive problem. Wingers isolated.. the guy has destroyed Raphinha and Lewa is feeding off scraps.

Sure the CB injury crisis screwed us, as did some of those referee decisions but I can't even be mad about that as I know we'd probably get pounded in the last 16. Every victory is papering over the glaring cracks. I agree with that one PSG poster here, the biggest problem is the outdated views and holier than thou attitude at the club. Football has and will continue to evolve and we have been left behind.

Xavi should go and a manager from outside Barca should be hired and given time and freedom away from the philosophy and club politics. Gone are the days we dictated the play and forced opponents to adapt, we don't have that GOAT team anymore and WE need to adapt. This team are way better than group stage CL exits. Some positions like RB and LB (although Balde is a gem) need to be fixed but a decent manager works around that.
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Mate, Barca are fecked. Xavi isn't the problem. Just look at Spanish performance this year in the CL. Barca are performing at their level, which is the second best team in Spain, then at a middling rate in Europe.

Your team is built around a lot of young players who may, or may not become great players and then old players who are either overpaid or past it.

Lewa is kind of the exception, but he can be argued to be classed in the overpaid older player class.

If you think Xavi is the problem, not sure you know what the problem/question is.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
I mean the Bundesliga is ~30-31% of the way through the season and you aren't in first. That's damning in and of itself.
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We're 1 point off the top, with a GD of 32-8 over 11 games. There's still hope for us.
 
2ndTouch said:
We're 1 point off the top, with a GD of 32-8 over 11 games. There's still hope for us.
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Oh of course. Didn't mean to imply anything even resembling defeatism. But I do think it's completely fair to say that you haven't hit the lofty standard you've established over the last decade or so.
 
cyberman said:
The vast, vast even more vast number of youngsters that show ridiculous ability never actually kick on. The level for elite footballers to compete against the worlds best is ridiculously high.
Look at all the articles of x country’s starting 11 in 8 years etc. they’re never even close to being accurate for a reason.
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Very true.
No guarantees at all that the youngsters go on to be incarnations of xavi, iniesta and busquets.
If even one of them do that would be a result.
Having said that pedri looks pretty nailed on to make it in my opinion.
 
The Purley King said:
Very true.
No guarantees at all that the youngsters go on to be incarnations of xavi, iniesta and busquets.
If even one of them do that would be a result.
Having said that pedri looks pretty nailed on to make it in my opinion.
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It’s not just that but football moves on, evolves over medium periods of time. Look at Dele as an example. His position became extinct in no time and he became a man without a country by his mid 20s. Jao Felix and Havertz have that same problem.
Pogba was a top youngster only for football to lean towards high press, grass covering midfields. It went against everything he was praised for to the point his best position is as a DM in a double pivot who gets criticism for doing everything he got praised for 8 years ago. That’s only for 5 games a year as well.
Football is ruthless.
 
cyberman said:
It’s not just that but football moves on, evolves over medium periods of time. Look at Dele as an example. His position became extinct in no time and he became a man without a country by his mid 20s. Jao Felix and Havertz have that same problem.
Pogba was a top youngster only for football to lean towards high press, grass covering midfields. It went against everything he was praised for to the point his best position is as a DM in a double pivot who gets criticism for doing everything he got praised for 8 years ago. That’s only for 5 games a year as well.
Football is ruthless.
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There is still a place for him in the right kind of set up and I’d argue he’d be exceptional with the right midfield structure and any team with him playing at full tilt would be pretty impressive.
My argument is more about desire, engagement and willpower and everything points towards that being a firm “no” - at least if he signed for us.
 
The Purley King said:
There is still a place for him in the right kind of set up and I’d argue he’d be exceptional with the right midfield structure and any team with him playing at full tilt would be pretty impressive.
My argument is more about desire, engagement and willpower and everything points towards that being a firm “no” - at least if he signed for us.
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Replied to the wrong message buddy
 
Where are all of you barca apologists/mental gymnasts who contorted themselves into pretzels explaining away the way your club is run, in massive multi quote responses. Jokes on you. Pull the other one (lever)
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Oh of course. Didn't mean to imply anything even resembling defeatism. But I do think it's completely fair to say that you haven't hit the lofty standard you've established over the last decade or so.
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Aye, was all I was pointing out. Mane hasn’t quite got going yet either, their season will only get better I’m sure but so far they haven’t been the dominant Bayern we’re used to seeing.
 
I’m enjoying this.

-Appointed crazy President
-Fired the manager because President wanted to appoint home-grown manager
-Went on spending spree, asked players for more sacrifices and tried to sell Frenkie de Jong who wanted to stay
-Mortgaged the club heavily so they could assemble a CL winning quality squad
-Said squad and home-grown manager are not performing/doing worse than previous squad and manager

Now kicked out of CL, I think it is time to get rid of LaPorta and Xavi. Laporta is a fat goatfecker, reminiscent of a banana republic dictator and Xavi is out of his depth.

This club should be run with integrity, instead it is being destroyed.
 
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abundance said:
No wait, we were talking about former legends/darlings of a club who had winning debuts/early stints as coaches for the same clubs.
(btw, I forgot Carlos Bilardo, Ronald Koeman, Luis Enrique and Miguel Munoz in that list)

Very good players who became winning coaches somewhere else, there are some more - Rijkaard, Mancini, Tigana, Trapattoni, Bobby Robson, Liedholm....
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Simeone, Ancellotti, Guardiola.
 
Ghostrider318 said:
Had no idea they picked Bellerin. Even Arsenal binned him a while ago.

I think Barca's side project will now be picking up any and every Free transfer there is and then try and flog them a season later...
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E.g. the Juventus model? Yeah, cannot see the issue with that....
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
Aye, was all I was pointing out. Mane hasn’t quite got going yet either, their season will only get better I’m sure but so far they haven’t been the dominant Bayern we’re used to seeing.
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Yep we're on the same page mate. Was always likely to require an adjustment when you lose a player of the calibre of Lewandowski - as good as Mane is he's by no means a like-for-like replacement.
 
giorno said:
Their starting XI is supposed to be Kounde, Araujo, Balde, Pedri, Gavi, Ansu, Dembele. The oldest of those guys is like 25. Yeah they have Lewandowski and they need to replace Busquets and find a RB, but that's not exactly going to need a lot of money.

I hope they're fecked, but i'm used to being disappointed
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Tell me - who of them are the leaders?
Dembele, Pedri, Gavi or the new ones?

Lewy is not a team leader as he is too much an individualist. And he is new to the team, too. He might be a role model in his professionalism especially when it is about his physics etc.

A successful team has a leader structure on and off the field.
 
Blackwidow said:
Tell me - who of them are the leaders?
Dembele, Pedri, Gavi or the new ones?

Lewy is not a team leader as he is too much an individualist. And he is new to the team, too. He might be a role model in his professionalism especially when it is about his physics etc.

A successful team has a leader structure on and off the field.
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Agree Lewy isn't a leader but he's probably the only one in the team right now with experience/winning mentality (see that 3-3 vs Inter) who isn't totally washed up or a clown.

We haven't had a true leader since Puyol and we haven't had a world class coach since Pep* Quite telling really.

The future of the team: Balde, Pedri, Gavi, Kounde, Araujo and Ansu (providing he stays fit) is bright but among those names, only Araujo really looks like a potential leader type.

*some might say Lucho but MSN hard carried in 2015 at times.
 
crossy1686 said:
I preferred the Barcelona of Rivaldo and Kluivert days, then more recently the Ronaldinho days. Since Messi came along they became massive money grabbing hypocrites.
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Me too. Loved to watch them with Ronaldo and then Rivaldo and Kluivert. The Ronaldinho days were magic, watching Barcelona was a must not only for him but how the team played. I’ll die on the hill by saying that Barcelona side was more entertaining than Pep’s side.
 
Lay said:
Me too. Loved to watch them with Ronaldo and then Rivaldo and Kluivert. The Ronaldinho days were magic, watching Barcelona was a must not only for him but how the team played. I’ll die on the hill by saying that Barcelona side was more entertaining than Pep’s side.
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Yeah i'd say the same. Not sure its a controversial take.
 
BorisManUtd said:
They're only 3 points behind Real in La Liga, having won 9 games, drawing 1 and losing 1. Really poor CL campaign yet again but, though I'm not sure I watched even 1 of their games under Xavi, results wise they've improved since he came in. Had strong finish to last season as well if I remember correctly.
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Xavi has drastically improved their positional play in La Liga and I don't know why it hasn't translated to the CL yet ... maybe a mental thing. The speed at which Barca get the ball from defense to attack has also improved. He's done the right thing by basing the team around Pedri-Gavi-Lewa. It would be really short sighted of them to fire Xavi now. They should wait till the end of the season and make a decision on the basis of which direction the team is heading rather than trophies. Imagine if Barca had fired Rijkaard at the end of the 2003-04 season!
 
ilrm said:
Xavi has drastically improved their positional play in La Liga and I don't know why it hasn't translated to the CL yet ... maybe a mental thing. The speed at which Barca get the ball from defense to attack has also improved. He's done the right thing by basing the team around Pedri-Gavi-Lewa. It would be really short sighted of them to fire Xavi now. They should wait till the end of the season and make a decision on the basis of which direction the team is heading rather than trophies. Imagine if Barca had fired Rijkaard at the end of the 2003-04 season!
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Fire him now before if is too late. The squad is fine, but there is no team spirit and Xavi doesn’t know how to set up against good teams.
 
Sayros said:
Used to be a big fan of theirs, but now there aren't many clubs I despise more and I'm thoroughly enjoying their downfall. I just want to see more levers pulled.
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EASY to say when rules don't apply to you. But even if you can break the financial fair play you still don't win a champions league haha. I'd rather see Madrid winning 10 CL more than you winning one
Judas said:
Couldn't agree more. pre 2007 Barca were the Barca I was fond of.
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You don't even qualify to the Champions League group stage so I don't know what are you making fun of.
 
MexicanCowboy said:
You don't even qualify to the Champions League group stage so I don't know what are you making fun of.
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If UEFAlona played in England, at the level they had been showing the past two years, they wouldn’t make top five in EPL.

Barcelona’s entitled fans are something else. But your tears bring joy to my hearth. More cnutish team ever.

BTW.Have already Xavi came with his typical excuses? Did he say they deserved to win because they had “possession”? Did he blame the grass’ length?
 
I’m watching recaps: did they seriously start Alonso at CB??

I would have paid to seeMarcos expression when told the news.

Clever bit of business to wait until Bellerin wasn’t really fast anymore to scoop him up.

Barcelona’s level of of obtuse operation, entitlement, and general delusion is borderline weird.
 
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Bluelion7 said:
Clever bit of business to wait until Bellerin wasn’t really fast anymore to scoop him up.

Barcelona’s level of of obtuse operation, entitlement, and general delusion is borderline weird.
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Surprising how much pace he has lost since that injury a couple of years back.
 
It really is funny to see all the money they spent only to start Alonso and Bellerin in the cl. Embarrassment of a club.
 
P-Ro said:
Looking forward to skipping past all the dissertations in this thread by Barca fans tonight.
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Are there any reasonable Barca fans on here?

Seems like most of them jumped on the bandwagon circa 2009-11 and are ultra defensive about the club.
 
SinNombre said:
Are there any reasonable Barca fans on here?

Seems like most of them jumped on the bandwagon circa 2009-11 and are ultra defensive about the club.
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@Niemans is. I mean he quotes Laporta and friends so sounds crazy at times but he doesn't seem to buy everything they say
 
So their shitty, overleveraged situation just got worse? Well…. Lets offer 40m for Pedri or Gavi to help them
 
Where is the poster who told us they signed Lewa so they can reach later stages of CL?
 
BorisManUtd said:
They're only 3 points behind Real in La Liga, having won 9 games, drawing 1 and losing 1. Really poor CL campaign yet again but, though I'm not sure I watched even 1 of their games under Xavi, results wise they've improved since he came in. Had strong finish to last season as well if I remember correctly.
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3 of the 4 Spanish teams in the CL are out in the group stages.

It's a farmers league.
 
How come everyone is saying europa for Barca? Am I missing something? Inter need points at bayern dont they which isn't easy?
 
nickyboy1981 said:
How come everyone is saying europa for Barca? Am I missing something? Inter need points at bayern dont they which isn't easy?
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Yea, I don't get it either. Even though Inter are 6 points ahead of Barcelona at the moment with a better head-to-head record, people aren't taking into consideration that Barca would get 7 points for beating Plzen.
 
nickyboy1981 said:
How come everyone is saying europa for Barca? Am I missing something? Inter need points at bayern dont they which isn't easy?
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Inter are 6 points clear of Barca with one game remaining. Even if Barca did finish level on points they would've been out on H2H
 
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