Well, its interesting to read you guys about Barcelona...always missed an official thread of Barça in here
.
Now let me tell you some things which from my point of view are clear. I'll explain them in detail later.
a) Ronaldinho and Eto'o are staying for good. I understand there's interest in puttin them elsewhere, but they're staying.
b) Barcelona won't give up its "rijkaard-ish" traditional 4-3-3 .Also explained below.
c) Players to see the exit gate:
For sure: Saviona, Ezquerro, Giuly, Silvinho-
Possibly: Marquez, Beletti, Edmilson and Deco-
Unlikely: (so far) Motta, Gudjohsen, Thuram, Gio
I PRAY TO GOD: Oleguer
d) first team (as it looks now)
e) needs of the team.
I'll explain those three points now.
1-) Chairman has publicly said Eto'o and Ronaldinho are staying if they wish to do so. Ronaldinho and Eto'o have repeatedly said they want to stay at Barcelona.
2-) Performance problems with ronaldinho are aknowledged by the own player and technical staff to be due poor daily training by him. Barcelona's player own-management style, in force since Rijkaard entered the club, has failed in making the stars train enough, dinho being the worse case.
A new internal normative is entering into force and both Ronaldinho has agreed to fully comply it. Ronaldinho has single-handedly aknowledged his phisical problems are related to a lack of discipline and has promised to return to the "old" training scheme in force during the first 2 1/2 seasons of Rijkaard at Barcelona. This year he has missed almost 80 team training sessions. That's clearly not the way to go if you wan't to be fit in match days.
3-) Eto'o and Ronaldinho have repeatedly confirmed their close bonds of friendship even while they have some problems now and then. There's a lot of interest in the spanish media to magnify any possible difference between both (As most of the spanish media is clearly pro-real) but Eto'o, being the more vocal of the two has -just yesterday- repeated he's a close friend of the brazilian, that he wishes to stay and that he can't wait to play along Henry
4-) Henry was almost signed last year by barcelona, when Wenger convinced him, at the very last hour, to stay at Arsenal. Last year there was no plan in barcelona to get rid of either Eto'o or Ronaldinho. Neither is now: Henry coming never meant (by far) the exit of any of the upper three cracks in barcelona
5-) I recall Henry mentioning he would only join barcelona if Eto'o (mostly eto'o, as he is a good friend of him) and Ronaldinho (whom he knows from several meetings and has a good realation with) play there. So Eto'o or Ronaldinho moving out is ruled out by the signing of henry rather than the opposite.
6-) there are more but I don't want to make this longer.
b) The system: the 4-3-3 is staying for good.
AS much as I would love to see a team playing with those four jewels up front, Rijkaard plans seem to be the same as the last year's had Henry signed for Barça: three of them will play each match with one coming off the bench in the 2nd half. Given Henry phisical state and his injury prone-ness it's quite possible the least used will be him...until the Africa Cup starts and Eto'o leaves to play there. Team balance concerns are plentiful here too.
Barcelona has really lacked strenght in the midfield this year (deco has been very intermitent in his performance, Edmilson has been terrible, motta-as always- nonexistant, and Marquez has had a terrible season) and Rijkaard is well aware of that fact. Several times in this season, with the team struggling behind by 1 or 2 goals, he has retired one midfielder of the three (usually deco or iniesta) and put a player up high in (Gudjohnsen). Forgetting about Guddy not being a striker, all the times he tried something like this, barcelona totally collapsed after the swap (the match against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu comes to mind here) because Barcelona's midfield totally ceased to exist from that point onwards.
The 4-2-2-2 someone mentioned up there would only emphasize the problem, even with Yaya Touré playing as one of the two defensive midfielders. So the system won't change unless in matches we really need to bring the score up because we're losing.
c) Players going out for sure: Saviola (on a free, and good riddance, this vampire was draining our cash for nothing: he never wanted to be transferred to another team because he always knew he would get 1/3 of his wage at barcelona, if anything)
Ezquerro: bad luck for an otherwise decent player. He came to be giuly's substitute and then Messi exploded. He's irrelevant at Barcelona.
Giuly: With Messi's definitive confirmation as a star,Dos Santos yelling for a chance on the first team, and his age not being lower, Ludovic's time in Barcelona seem to have come to an end. If he stays I'd be surprised if he'd get any first team time at all. He has been great at Barcelona, has always given his best and he's a player loved by the supporters. I hope he goes somewhere where he can play a lot, for he deserves it Probably will be included in a player-swap operation in a future transfer, or directly sold.
Silvinho: a very low cost player that has given a lot to Barcelona for what he costed at the time of his signing. His age coming up and his team's appearances coming down,it's a given that he'll see the exit door this year. A decent and working player, hope he goes somewhere he can enjoy his last football years.
Players likely to go out:
-Marquez: Rafa's performance has gone to hell. After two years of excelling everywhere he played at (being it at midfield, or at the center back), a lot of personal problems, and lack of discipline have left him irrecognizable. Injuries didn't help either, but quite probably those injuries were related with his low morale becuase of the personal problems mentioned avobe. Being whatever it is, there are rumours that Barcelona is looking forward selling it for this season has really been abysmal. I wish he stays but only if he performs like last years. This season's Marquez isn't fit to play at barcelona...time will tell if he leaves or if he stays.
-Beletti: A player who should have never signed a contract extension, for he was given that contract just because the goal at Paris, not because his overall performances warranted it. Belletti is strong, dedicated, and skilled player going up to the attack, but is sorely lacking in defending tasks. When he plays Barça's right wing seems a highway, if he doesn't fall injured...and so, he has played very little this season. He's a worthy player for a team with a good defensive setup where another player can cover for the times he goes up in the pitch, but he's not a player for Barcelona. He also said he wants first team football, so probably he will be leaving this summer.
-Edmilson: an excellent player that between injuries and lord-knows-what-reasons, has failed to succeed at barcelona this year. Each time he played the defensive midfielder looked like a big empty space for Barcelona. Seeing his low fitness Rijkaard has given him few first team chances, and in those he has never been good. He wants first team football too, and so it seemed he would be sold. however his injury will be a problem, between 4-to-6 months of recovery, remains to be seen if someone wants him. If he stays he can be a very worthy player. I just hope he recovers his fitness and concentration.
-and Deco...with this player the in-match performances aren't really the problem (tho this year has been quite worse than the last two seasons, he still has delivered very good matches)...the problem is his character. in several stances he has faced Rijkaard asking for softer training sessions. Reportedly, once, he directy said the team won't do what the technical staff asked them to do (a christmas concentration for an intense phisical training). This, it seems, happened in november '05, just after Ronaldinho and Barcelona had sent Madrid to hell at Santiago bernabeu (0-3) and easily qualifying in the CL first round after overwhelming all the opposition in the group. Deco argued that the team was so easily steamrolling over any opposition (1st in CL group, 10 points advantage over the 2nd in spanish Liga) that they (he) saw no need in that christmas stage, and that the group refused to do it. Rijkaard accepted his reasons and since then the phisical readiness of the team has gone to hell because each one does what he thinks its enough. And Rijkaard, being his philosophy to leave the group self-manage itself, has allowed it to happen.
Barcelona's problems in the pitch since (roughly) March' 06 come from a terrific bad phisical form of some if it's stars, Ronaldinho miserable form since Februarly'06 is directly rooted from that moment, for instance. There's a lot to critize to Rijkaard in allowing this downwards spiral to happen, but Deco was the root because he did something who no football player should NEVER do: to put his own training schemes on place instead of the technical staff's.
The terrible phisical state of Barcelona has been a constant this year. Where in early 2006 we could bring a match up against Chelsea at their own home, losing 1-0 to finish 2-1, just by sheer will and phisical force, in 2007 we were toys in liverpool's mouth simply because certain players couldn't give more than what they gave -and they gave all they could in the pitch. the problem was out of it, and the root has a name: Deco.
for all this reasons, probably Deco will be sold this season. He's seen as a disruptive influence within the dress room and as the responsible for many problems in existance within that dress room.
Unlikely to go: (so far)
Motta: has always failed to deliver what was expected from him, but he's still a strong player not lacking quality, and having Barcelona the strenght problems in the midfield it has (and seeing DEco as a likely sale) ,he will probably stay.
Gudjohsen: Terrible season for him because he has been used as what he is not. A great midfielder wasted as a striker. There were rumours of a proposer player swap with Manchester Utd, Guddy for Piqué (a decent deal, BTW), but if this comes to nothing, or if a good offer for him (12M € or more) doesn't come for him ,he'll probably stay.
Thuram: He has underperformed this year, has been dissapointing to say the best. He's unlikely to leave, tho, as he will be a great asset in Henry's integration into Barcelona
Gio: A player who has always given straight performances and good results, but he's aging and so he won't see much action next year, for barcelona is actively looking for a left back (Abidal being the biggest name for now). However, and seeing that Silvinho almost certainly will leave the club, he'll probably stay as a back-up player. He can leave if a good offer is received, tho.
I PRAY TO GOD:
Oleguer: a cancer for Barcelona. Seems we always have at least one player like this who ,noone knows why, ends playing a lot each season. Until last year we had Gabri (another cancer). Before him, Bogarde. Now is Oleguer.
This guy is the worse defender ever to wear the blaugrana colors. He would struggle to get first team action in a third division team. Still ,lord knows why, he still gets minutes from Rikjaad. I pray to god this cancer leaves barcelona for good. His "performances" at the CL final last year and this year massive mistakes and downright stupid actions -like getting self-banned from the match in the Barcelona-real Madrid day) are the joy of Madrid supporters and the desperation of BArcelona's.
I won't say anything more. A guy worth burning in a stake.
NEEDS OF THE TEAM:
with the signings of Toure and Henry, and the possible joining of Chivu and Abidal aswell, there are still spots to cover. We would need yet another midfielder if Deco leaves.
And we would need a right back of good quality. Zambrotta is good there but there will be no back up (Belletti probably leaving and -god helps us- Oleguer being the next option there).
I would muster all the money left for transfer left and go for Alves...but he's terribly expensive atm. anyway it's clear the team has a big weak spot in this position.
VALDES:
People have a short memory or a really weird agenda. Valdes gave us a champions league saving two 1 on 1s versus the best Henry in the final: that alone says everything about him. He also put a couple of miracle hands in yet another shot by Thierry and an amazing one in a shot full of poison by Ljundberg. Not only that ,he has saved countless of points in the spanish league with impressive saves.
He has a problem and that is that when the blews it, he blews it BIG TIME. Like against Liverpool this year in the CL. But taken as a whole he's saved WAY MORE for barcelona than what he has blewed.
He's the 2nd or 3rd best spanish keeper of the moment (I rate him as equal to Reina, and slightly worse than casillas), and one of the 8 or 9 best at europe right now. We could sign another good keeper? sure. But he's good enough for Barcelona.
Finally ,the (for now), likely Barcelona first team for next year if Abidal and Chivu also come (both seem really near signing for Barcelona ATM).
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">------------------ValdesZambrotta---Puyol-----Chivu----Abidal-----------------Toure---------Xavi----------IniestaMessi---------------------------Ronaldinho---------------Eto'o</pre>
Henry will be the fourth man up high because of his phisical problems and injury proweness, but there will be regular rotations with Messi and (quite likely) with Eto'o too.
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