your team next season

I know Real Madrid fans have been musing, speculating and whizzing about next year's team since last September, but now must come the time for most of us to join them and look where you feel your team needs strengthening, what players should come (realistically) and leave and how you see next season at this moment, depending on those changes being possible.

For Barcelona I am very happy with this season, but we must ensure the hunger remains and we must therefore not fall into the trap of 2006 and make changes. I think Eto'o and Henry need to go, as well as Marquez, Sylvinho (because of age) and maybe Hleb or Gudjohnsen while we still can get some money for them.

Ribery and Villa would for me be dream buys and get Henrique from loan.
One more defender would be good and one I really really like is Fernandes from Valencia even if he is similar to Toure where we also have Busquets.

Keita has been somewhat disappointing this season but can be a decent squad player as long as not too many regular pieces are removed.

It will be difficult to emulate the season we have had so far, but with Iniesta and Messi still progressing as well as Pique, there are reasons to be optimistic. The main issue is to maintain the hunger and we need a more clinical striker, i.e. Villa.

-----------------Cech
Bosingwa--Carvalho--Terry--A Cole
-----------------Mikel
-------------Essien--Lampard
RWF------------Drogba-------LWF

Wouldn't change any of the defence. Playing Mikel would give Essien more freedom in midfield and Obi showed in the Nou Camp that he's ready for the big games now.

Only 2 changes would be a couple of new wingers/wing forwards. Kalou looks very promising but is still too inconsistent, while Malouda is not the answer at the highest level (though his form recently has been a lot better)

No idea who to buy though, unless we went for Ribery and Villa and went 4-4-2, but I can't see us getting either of them. Would take Messi but we need someone who can score against EPL defences plus Barca might get the hump. Is Silva likely to be available?

Silva would be a great buy for you, S4P. Him and Ribery (who half the continent is after) would complete your team.

I'd finally get shot of Drogba though...

Silva is up for sale, i think if chelsea get him and ribery, then they will be too good.

isn't mikel on his way to join jose at inter


for barca a left back, someone to replace guddy and ribery and we are set.

would love for henry to leave, but he isn't going to leave during a wc year

eto'o is just confusing me, he and the club needs to make up their minds.

Next season, will be gai's time to get some 1st time minutes, as well

i don't know what will happen with help.

You can get Silva, yes.

--------------?????--------------

?????--?????--?????--??????

?????--?????--?????--??????

---------?????--?????----------

toon h wrote:Silva would be a great buy for you, S4P. Him and Ribery (who half the continent is after) would complete your team.

I'd finally get shot of Drogba though...

If we sell Drogba, we'll be giving up our hopes of winning the CL in the short run. He missed 2 very good chances against you but he is a phenomenal outlet ball and he just worries (European) defenders because he can create something purely through sheer power.

Selling Drogba would mean changing the whole attitude of the team. I know a lot of people don't like the way we play, but it's got us to the semis of the CL 5 times in the last 6 seasons.

Why is this Barca team so prone to getting complacent and unmotivated.

Look at united this season, lack of motivation clearly hasnt been a problem.

What makes Barcelona so different ?

Rosicky wrote:Why is this Barca team so prone to getting complacent and unmotivated.

Look at united this season, lack of motivation clearly hasnt been a problem.

What makes Barcelona so different ?

mes que un club, is the usual answer.

toon h wrote:I know Real Madrid fans have been musing, speculating and whizzing about next year's team since last September, but now must come the time for most of us to join them and look where you feel your team needs strengthening, what players should come (realistically) and leave and how you see next season at this moment, depending on those changes being possible.

For Barcelona I am very happy with this season, but we must ensure the hunger remains and we must therefore not fall into the trap of 2006 and make changes. I think Eto'o and Henry need to go, as well as Marquez, Sylvinho (because of age) and maybe Hleb or Gudjohnsen while we still can get some money for them.

Ribery and Villa would for me be dream buys and get Henrique from loan.
One more defender would be good and one I really really like is Fernandes from Valencia even if he is similar to Toure where we also have Busquets.

Keita has been somewhat disappointing this season but can be a decent squad player as long as not too many regular pieces are removed.

It will be difficult to emulate the season we have had so far, but with Iniesta and Messi still progressing as well as Pique, there are reasons to be optimistic. The main issue is to maintain the hunger and we need a more clinical striker, i.e. Villa.

How deluded are you lot? More clinical than Samuel f*cking Eto'o????? The man has scored 27 goals (25 from open play) in 32 league matches. He's just turned 28 and you want someone younger? Well, I hope you do get rid of him. Go for Keirrison. I hear he's "great".

i never fully understood the whole eto'o isn't clinical enough argument, though sometimes i my self, say the same thing.

he isn't a rvn type striker that will score almost every half chance

but he as out scored villa in every season since they both have been in la liga and he only started to take pk this season

Jaime wrote:

toon h wrote:I know Real Madrid fans have been musing, speculating and whizzing about next year's team since last September, but now must come the time for most of us to join them and look where you feel your team needs strengthening, what players should come (realistically) and leave and how you see next season at this moment, depending on those changes being possible.

For Barcelona I am very happy with this season, but we must ensure the hunger remains and we must therefore not fall into the trap of 2006 and make changes. I think Eto'o and Henry need to go, as well as Marquez, Sylvinho (because of age) and maybe Hleb or Gudjohnsen while we still can get some money for them.

Ribery and Villa would for me be dream buys and get Henrique from loan.
One more defender would be good and one I really really like is Fernandes from Valencia even if he is similar to Toure where we also have Busquets.

Keita has been somewhat disappointing this season but can be a decent squad player as long as not too many regular pieces are removed.

It will be difficult to emulate the season we have had so far, but with Iniesta and Messi still progressing as well as Pique, there are reasons to be optimistic. The main issue is to maintain the hunger and we need a more clinical striker, i.e. Villa.

How deluded are you lot? More clinical than Samuel f*cking Eto'o????? The man has scored 27 goals (25 from open play) in 32 league matches. He's just turned 28 and you want someone younger? Well, I hope you do get rid of him. Go for Keirrison. I hear he's "great".

have you seen entire matches of Barcelona this season? We could have scored 15 against you lot last week and this is the same in most games. We miss a clinical striker for the big games, and I think Villa is our man. I know Eto'o is a great striker and he does a lot for the team, but I think we have to make a few important changes.

Rosicky wrote:Why is this Barca team so prone to getting complacent and unmotivated.

Look at united this season, lack of motivation clearly hasnt been a problem.

What makes Barcelona so different ?

IMO it's not simply motivation...there's too much pressure. Much more than Manchester United, odd as it may sound. There are 2 daily newspapers practically dedicated to events regarding the club

After winning a lot, the expectations are set very high. Especially after the 2005-2006 season, where we signed the best fullback in the world, and everyone thought the squad was perfect. But one small mistake or one bad performance and it's picked up and magnified.

Everything is over-analysed, and eventually it all builds up and collapses on itself...refer to the "Decline of La Liga" thread, where some posters pointed out how fan and media pressure leads to short term thinking and structural instability at clubs. It's different to England, where the short term, fear-based decisions come mainly due to the money in the top division.

Also, having so much discussed about the club leads to complacency because of the hype and praise the players get. So they turn up for some games thinking they don't have to work hard.

But in the previous project, I think the lack of motivation permeated the squad due to 2 key performers just fading away completely - Deco and Ronaldinho. The current squad has players that are much more professional and a coach that's less laid-back.

There was also a key factor which makes the team look worse than it was - lack of fitness. The 4-3-3 system Rijkaard and Guardiola employ, requires a very high work rate from the whole team. When you consider the players had all had long seasons for both club and country, and that Rijkaard never focussed much on physical training anyway, it explains the collapse also.

Anyhow...as far as Real Madrid are concerned (for those who can be bothered to go back through and read about 100 pages in the RM thread concerning to this matter), this is what we know:

-------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Pepe-----?????-----?????

------------L. Diarra----?????

?????--------------?????----------Robben

--------------------?????

Part of it is hard because we don't know what tactics the new manager is going to bring but in short we need the following (listed in order of importance): Centre midfielder (organizer), Right winger, Left back, Centre back, Centre forward.

toon h wrote:

Jaime wrote:

toon h wrote:I know Real Madrid fans have been musing, speculating and whizzing about next year's team since last September, but now must come the time for most of us to join them and look where you feel your team needs strengthening, what players should come (realistically) and leave and how you see next season at this moment, depending on those changes being possible.

For Barcelona I am very happy with this season, but we must ensure the hunger remains and we must therefore not fall into the trap of 2006 and make changes. I think Eto'o and Henry need to go, as well as Marquez, Sylvinho (because of age) and maybe Hleb or Gudjohnsen while we still can get some money for them.

Ribery and Villa would for me be dream buys and get Henrique from loan.
One more defender would be good and one I really really like is Fernandes from Valencia even if he is similar to Toure where we also have Busquets.

Keita has been somewhat disappointing this season but can be a decent squad player as long as not too many regular pieces are removed.

It will be difficult to emulate the season we have had so far, but with Iniesta and Messi still progressing as well as Pique, there are reasons to be optimistic. The main issue is to maintain the hunger and we need a more clinical striker, i.e. Villa.

How deluded are you lot? More clinical than Samuel f*cking Eto'o????? The man has scored 27 goals (25 from open play) in 32 league matches. He's just turned 28 and you want someone younger? Well, I hope you do get rid of him. Go for Keirrison. I hear he's "great".

have you seen entire matches of Barcelona this season? We could have scored 15 against you lot last week and this is the same in most games. We miss a clinical striker for the big games, and I think Villa is our man. I know Eto'o is a great striker and he does a lot for the team, but I think we have to make a few important changes.

When I can stomach it, yes, I do watch entire matches and I stand by this fact: 27 goals in 32 matches. I love Villa but he's only scored 18 from play this season. I don't see how you are going to find someone more clinical than Eto'o. No wonder he considers Mallorca his favourite club. He's a c*nt but I think you are being a bit ridiculous.

Jaime wrote:Anyhow...as far as Real Madrid are concerned (for those who can be bothered to go back through and read about 100 pages in the RM thread concerning to this matter), this is what we know:

-------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Pepe-----?????-----?????

------------L. Diarra----?????

?????--------------Raul----------Robben

--------------------?????

Part of it is hard because we don't know what tactics the new manager is going to bring but in short we need the following (listed in order of importance): Centre midfielder (organizer), Right winger, Left back, Centre back, Centre forward.

Fixed for you Jamie

Rosicky wrote:

Jaime wrote:Anyhow...as far as Real Madrid are concerned (for those who can be bothered to go back through and read about 100 pages in the RM thread concerning to this matter), this is what we know:

-------------------Casillas

S. Ramos-----Pepe-----?????-----?????

------------L. Diarra----?????

?????--------------Raul----------Robben

--------------------?????

Part of it is hard because we don't know what tactics the new manager is going to bring but in short we need the following (listed in order of importance): Centre midfielder (organizer), Right winger, Left back, Centre back, Centre forward.

Fixed for you Jamie

Haven't you heard? City are buying Raul this summer!

Here we go again. Every year the same crap. Both Silva and Villa want to stay and yes the financial mess is a different consideration, but it is not definite that Valencia has to sell. Wait and see, but quite frankly if Valencia has to sell, especially Villa, it will be terrible for La Liga, as if they sell in Spain the board should be carted off to face an auto da fe and that includes the ones that started the mess. A weakened Valencia is a bad thing for La Liga, so stop circling you vultures. At least have the decency to wait until we are deceased before picking our carcass clean.

------------------Casillas
Maicon/Ramos--Carvalho--Pepe---Lahm/Taiwo
------Toulalan/Lass---Xabi Alonso
-Diego/Robben---Ibra/Higuain---Ribery/Silva
-----------------Villa/RVN

I can dream! sorry EMP, you can't stop my dream.

Unflinching Frenchman wrote:------------------Casillas
Maicon/Ramos--Carvalho--Pepe---Lahm/Taiwo
------Toulalan/Lass---Xabi Alonso
-Diego/Robben---Ibra/Higuain---Ribery/Silva
-----------------Villa/RVN

I can dream! sorry EMP, you can't stop my dream.

As long as it remains just a dream, carry on.

EMP wrote:Here we go again. Every year the same crap. Both Silva and Villa want to stay and yes the financial mess is a different consideration, but it is not definite that Valencia has to sell. Wait and see, but quite frankly if Valencia has to sell, especially Villa, it will be terrible for La Liga, as if they sell in Spain the board should be carted off to face an auto da fe and that includes the ones that started the mess. A weakened Valencia is a bad thing for La Liga, so stop circling you vultures. At least have the decency to wait until we are deceased before picking our carcass clean.

look, I am not willing Villa to join Barcelona because of their financial situation. I want him to join because he is IMO the best centre forward in the world and think he would fit in very well with our team. You should be proud of having such a player. It's like having a beautiful girlfriend. One shouldn't get angry then if other men think she's hot.

I'm still very unsure on what I want the club to do, or what I would do if in charge.

Sure things that we know as of now: Jorquera to leave, Henrique to return, Gudjohnsen to be sold, Keita/Toure/Etoo (if he's there) to miss up to 6 weeks in Jan/Feb for the ACN

Possibilities: Etoo going, Bojan loaned, Hleb sold, Sylvinho released, Caceres loaned, Pedro loaned

So there are too many permutations to consider until some of those situations above are clarified.

If it was up to me, this is what I would do:

Release:
Jorquera, Sylvinho

Loan:
Pedro, Caceres (till December only at first)...and both to be loaned to La Liga clubs

Sell:
Hleb, Gudjohnsen
(Marquez too, but there's more chance of Wenger signing a 31 year old, so I won't bother dreaming)

Buy:
- Young attacking LB (those Dutch names sound interesting)

- Versatile wide forward, someone in the Kalou mould. ie. he can rotate with either Messi or Henry...Ribery would be great but a difficult signing, so I also wouldn't mind Luis Suarez or David Silva

- 2 central midfielders, one can be young if someone good is available...Hernanes, Moutinho, Manuel Fernandes...the tricky thing is each of these players would cost around 15m euros at least, and while we do need bodies to cover for the African Cup, possible Club World Cup, and the mark-my-words-it's-coming-burnout of Xavi and Iniesta, our transfer budget is not unlimited (30m plus sales is rumoured, but I'm sure Laporta will stretch it to ensure we sign at least one big name this summer)

But at roughly 7-8m for the LB, 20-22 for Silva/Suarez, 25-30m for the pair of midfielders, less the sales of Hleb and Gudjohnsen (around 10-12m), it's not too big a stretch of the budget.

Also, if only Tevez was 15m and not 30m, I think he'd be a great addition to our squad.

Squad:
Valdes, Pinto
Alves, Henrique
Pique, Marquez
Puyol, Milito
Abidal, LB
Toure, Busquets
Keita, CM 1
Xavi, CM 2
Messi, FW
Etoo, Bojan
Henry, Iniesta

I have left the Etoo situation out of the above buy/sell lists and budget calculations, because for me it's clearcut - he wants to leave on a free next summer. We can't allow that to happen, however great a player he is for us. If any club offers 25m euro or more (which is below his true value but will give the buyer the ability to meet his wage demands) we should instantly agree to sell, and buy Villa in his place. That's the only one I want as a replacement, Villa. Nobody else is good enough, unless Aguero decides to move to a different Liga club.

Let's see what happens though. For once, this is a tricky market for Txiki where he'll have to keep his eyes and ears open and be able to react to what other top clubs are doing. Can't identify a fixed shortlist and make our moves early like in the past few seasons.

......................Reina

Arbeloa......Carra.....Agger....Aurelio

................Masch....Alonso
....Kuyt...............................No idea
......................Gerrard
.......................Torres


Subs : Skrtel, Barry, Babel, Yossi, Riera, Negredo

I have no idea who no idea will be. Let's hope it isn't Stuart Downing




Have to laugh at some of the barca fans wanting Henry and Eto out. We'll happily take henry if you don't want him. He is just about the perfect addition to our team for me

toon h wrote:

EMP wrote:Here we go again. Every year the same crap. Both Silva and Villa want to stay and yes the financial mess is a different consideration, but it is not definite that Valencia has to sell. Wait and see, but quite frankly if Valencia has to sell, especially Villa, it will be terrible for La Liga, as if they sell in Spain the board should be carted off to face an auto da fe and that includes the ones that started the mess. A weakened Valencia is a bad thing for La Liga, so stop circling you vultures. At least have the decency to wait until we are deceased before picking our carcass clean.

look, I am not willing Villa to join Barcelona because of their financial situation. I want him to join because he is IMO the best centre forward in the world and think he would fit in very well with our team. You should be proud of having such a player. It's like having a beautiful girlfriend. One shouldn't get angry then if other men think she's hot.

Admire from afar you trollop! To extend your analogy, when you have such a girlfriend you want others to admire her, but have her stay with you. And if you are a complete shallow git, trade her in for a younger, newer model when she begins to turn luke warm.

Also, when building that squad I've kept it at 22 players, which is the bare minimum for any top club, even with Guardiola's preference to have a squad as small as possible. I still worry that it won't be enough, but then we'll just have to trust our academy to continue providing 1 or 2 useful substitutes through the season...or who knows, another surprise like Busquets.

liked your earlier post, Kas, very much what I think. If Eto'o doesn't sign a new contract, we HAVE to sell him taking into account what you mentioned. And I do LOVE Fernandes, never mind what EMP says.

kas wrote:Also, when building that squad I've kept it at 22 players, which is the bare minimum for any top club, even with Guardiola's preference to have a squad as small as possible. I still worry that it won't be enough, but then we'll just have to trust our academy to continue providing 1 or 2 useful substitutes through the season...or who knows, another surprise like Busquets.

Seriously, I'd have thought of all the positions on the pitch CM is where you would have oodles of players coming from la Masia. I wouldn't buy two. I find it unlikely both Toure and Keita will be gone for the full six weeks anyhow.

---------------------Almunia--------------------------

------Sagna----------Toure-------------CB-------------Clichy

------------Song (New CM also)-----------Cesc

-----------RVP----------Nasri----------------Arshavin

---------------------Ade/Bendtner/Eduardo/Villa

COTR wrote:......................Reina

Arbeloa......Carra.....Agger....Aurelio

................Masch....Alonso
....Kuyt...............................No idea
......................Gerrard
.......................Torres


Subs : Skrtel, Barry, Babel, Yossi, Riera, Negredo

I have no idea who no idea will be. Let's hope it isn't Stuart Downing




Have to laugh at some of the barca fans wanting Henry and Eto out. We'll happily take henry if you don't want him. He is just about the perfect addition to our team for me

Agger
He better start getting more time. And do you still think you are going after Barry? Wouldn't that mean no Xabi Alonso?

I think Barca fans would love to keep Eto but they could end up with him going on a free transfer. Henry is for obvious reasons.

Suprised I'm not seein many Higuain's in the Madrid team. I'd have him at Arsenal in a heartbeat