FC Barcelona - Mundial de Clubes Campeones!

Good to see you're alive toon h

christmasborocooper wrote:Good to see you're alive toon h

thanks boro. hope you're well too!

I assumed you were dead.

INIESTA

good game tonight, and of course it was greatly conditioned by the quality of the opposition, it was good to see everyone focused.
Of course against quality opposition the lapses/dis-organisation in defence will still cost us dearly.

Good come back by Neymar. Will he start against Man City?

After half a season in Europe, I can tell you only now he's beginning to feel at home. You could see he was often trying to serve his mates even when the best option was to do it alone, being more an assister than a goal scorer. But he's a goal scorer. He was still warming up. Let the show begin.   

no he will not start against city, too early.

he will have a hard time getting back in the XI given how well pedro and sanchez has been playing, that being said he is the star signing so he will start as soon as he is fully fit.

he is settling nicely indeed though.

messiah wrote:no he will not start against city, too early.

he will have a hard time getting back in the XI given how well pedro and sanchez has been playing, that being said he is the star signing so he will start as soon as he is fully fit.

he is settling nicely indeed though.

as soon as he is (match-)fit he will surely be back in the first XI. We need his contribution and I sorely missed him. The good thing about his injury was that he wasn't getting any rest and at least he has had some. We need him top fit for the important games coming up, and more so in the return at the Camp Nou, as long as there is still some chance, as I can see us losing by 3 goals this Tuesday.

i dont think he really needed much rest given how slowly he was worked into the team and that he needed those minutes to get use to his team mates which he was doing wonderfully.

iniesta's return to form was needed much more than his/messi's return, has iniesta is the one that brings synergy to the team.

as for the city game, i think if we can reduce the amount of corners and fouls around the area we give away, like we did under pep to compensate for our lack of height we should be competitive, but if they get a lot of set pieces or get in a lot of crosses we will be fucked, as they are a team of giants.

but i don't think their defense is anything special so we should get goals even if we lose and i doubt we will lose.

toon h wrote:

messiah wrote:no he will not start against city, too early.

he will have a hard time getting back in the XI given how well pedro and sanchez has been playing, that being said he is the star signing so he will start as soon as he is fully fit.

he is settling nicely indeed though.

as soon as he is (match-)fit he will surely be back in the first XI. We need his contribution and I sorely missed him. The good thing about his injury was that he wasn't getting any rest and at least he has had some. We need him top fit for the important games coming up, and more so in the return at the Camp Nou, as long as there is still some chance, as I can see us losing by 3 goals this Tuesday.

I agree on both points in the last paragraph. I really don't know why Mascherano has been favoured over Bartra, but that is the reality. I won't go into what lineup I would like to see, because with the exception of Cesc/Pedro/Alexis it's obvious who is going to play, merited or not.

I'm not really a fan of shoehorning Cesc into the side, and in particular in the front line but he has been playing well. The same is true of Alexis and Pedro. An interesting dilemma for Tata.

every barca fan has been asking the same question regarding bartra vs mascherano. but to be fair mascherano has been playing okish for the past couple of games.

messiah wrote:every barca fan has been asking the same question regarding bartra vs mascherano. but to be fair mascherano has been playing okish for the past couple of games.

He gets caught out against physical strikers, and is short of quality against top quality strikers, which is City have. He almost always has a big mistake or two in him. Might get away with it against Getafe or Granada, but City however.

I think he's a very good player, but he should only be used as a DM or in a pivot.

Calidad wrote:

messiah wrote:every barca fan has been asking the same question regarding bartra vs mascherano. but to be fair mascherano has been playing okish for the past couple of games.

He gets caught out against physical strikers, and is short of quality against top quality strikers, which is City have. He almost always has a big mistake or two in him. Might get away with it against Getafe or Granada, but City however.

I think he's a very good player, but he should only be used as a DM or in a pivot.

I agree with all of that, but bartra also gets caught out against physical strikers, that's the one area of his game that needs a big improvement, he needs to put on some muscle over the summer.

On other forums, i have been saying we would be playing masch at DM and busquets in midfield to give us that physical advantage in midfield and the driving forward we need to play the type of football Tata wants to, but we cant play it with xavi-busquets-iniesta.

not that i want to.

Im going to the game tommorow. Cant Wait!!!

Sitting with the city fans i dont think i'l be able to control my emotions if we win.

You're actually going to a game!????

Always wanted to. Just didnt get a chance.

MightyBarca wrote:Sitting with the city fans i dont think i'l be able to control my emotions if we win.

No worries there, mate.

messiah wrote:no he will not start against city, too early.

he will have a hard time getting back in the XI given how well pedro and sanchez has been playing, that being said he is the star signing so he will start as soon as he is fully fit.

he is settling nicely indeed though.

This is a joke, right?

mongrel hawk wrote:

messiah wrote:no he will not start against city, too early.

he will have a hard time getting back in the XI given how well pedro and sanchez has been playing, that being said he is the star signing so he will start as soon as he is fully fit.

he is settling nicely indeed though.

This is a joke, right?

nope, but note the last bit.

pedro and alexis have been playing wonderfully in his and messi's absence and if it were a case where about merit he would have to work his way back in the team but he is neymar so once fit he will get to start.

no issues though he is a top player, hope he benches sanchez and not pedro though

Reports in Croatia today suggest that Barca officials will arrive in Zagreb tomorrow to finalise a deal for the player - winning the battle for one of Europe’s most coveted talents in the process.

This has also been confirmed by the clubs executive director Zdravko Mamic - who stated:

“Representatives of Barcelona are in touch with Zoran (Mamic, Dinamo manager and sporting director). Barca already sent a private jet for him this winter, when we trained in Turkey, we stopped the deal. But I'm afraid we're helpless.”

heard this kid is pretty good, we are getting him on the cheap as well, because he ran down his contract.

he will do a denis saurez and play one season with the b team first

messiah wrote:Reports in Croatia today suggest that Barca officials will arrive in Zagreb tomorrow to finalise a deal for the player - winning the battle for one of Europe’s most coveted talents in the process.

This has also been confirmed by the clubs executive director Zdravko Mamic - who stated:

“Representatives of Barcelona are in touch with Zoran (Mamic, Dinamo manager and sporting director). Barca already sent a private jet for him this winter, when we trained in Turkey, we stopped the deal. But I'm afraid we're helpless.”

heard this kid is pretty good, we are getting him on the cheap as well, because he ran down his contract.

he will do a denis saurez and play one season with the b team first

does the player have a name?

Who Halilovic? Man, sad days for la Masia when they have to import players from Celta Vigo and Croatia. What happened to the conveyor belt of Koreans?????

yeah Halilovic

Juvinel A is kinda shit now so we need these players to fill the gap until the korean is ready, because next season we will ship out our entire front 3 on loan from barca B

messiah wrote:Juvinel A is kinda shit now so we need these players to fill the gap until the korean is ready, because next season we will ship out our entire front 3 on loan from barca B

Never to return....

I guess going more defensively solid with Song + Busquets in midfield isn't working for Barcelona. Especially with Song having a horrific game (not only because of own goal scored).

Great performance by Sociedad so far, 3:1 after 60 minutes. Zurutuza goal was just a top team work.

Btw, Canales is looking good.

So Tata's lost the plot eh?

The bottom line for the Neymar transfer keeps growing and growing.

Oh and...

deleted post. Didn't spot initially it's a cover from August.

"Crack Song"     

That toolbox is pretty awesome though.