The biggest thing is the midfield. If you can hog possession enough, like they used to, you can get away with playing midfielders in defence. They don't have enough control of games to pull that stuff now though. Also, the midfielders they have bought recently aren't the Xavi types they need to go back to Tiki Taka. They've got Rakitic when they need Modric.
FC Barcelona 2016/2017
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
The biggest thing is the midfield. If you can hog possession enough, like they used to, you can get away with playing midfielders in defence. They don't have enough control of games to pull that stuff now though. Also, the midfielders they have bought recently aren't the Xavi types they need to go back to Tiki Taka. They've got Rakitic when they need Modric.
TBF, the midfielders they've bought recently are a far cry from the quality required for one of the world's best teams, let alone comparable to Xavi. They need to properly invest in the squad, sign players who are good enough, not go looking for bargains and hope it works. Players of the Veratti mould. The problem is, with their wage structure, can they afford that calibre of player?
I think they need to sell one of MSN and invest the money into the gaping weaknesses in their squad, it will put them back, but a step back to take two steps forward. Neymar is just about locked on to be the best player in the world, if he isn't already, Messi is still capable of unbelievable things and probably will be for a while yet, Suarez?
I don't think it's possible with all the money in the world. They were extremely lucky to bring through the academy a group of extraordinary players all indoctrinated to one style of play. I don't see how you can replace that. They need to find a different style first and build a new team around that. They seem sort of stuck in the middle at the moment.
They need a bit more aggression and fight in midfield to complement the class. Someone like Nainggolan should be a target, they'll probably chase Coutinho all summer instead. Not taking anything away from Coutinho, he's a magnificent creative force on his day but I'm not sure that's what they need to get back to the elite of European football.
They need 2 central midfielders that are starters. A RB as well.
Messi needs to occupy the right side more. It's just too predictable when he comes towards the middle and gets stuffed out by sheer numbers.
Will be interesting to see who's their new manager.
Messi needs to occupy the right side more. It's just too predictable when he comes towards the middle and gets stuffed out by sheer numbers.
Will be interesting to see who's their new manager.
Our summer transfer window in 2016 has to be one of the worst I can remember from any big club ever. We spent €125 million and did not improve our team in any way. That is honestly astonishing.
We gave €65 million to Valencia for Alcacer and Gomes alone.
We gave €65 million to Valencia for Alcacer and Gomes alone.
Umtiti for 25 million (reportedly anyway) is great. The rest, not so much.Our summer transfer window in 2016 has to be one of the worst I can remember from any big club ever. We spent €125 million and did not improve our team in any way. That is honestly astonishing.
We gave €65 million to Valencia for Alcacer and Gomes alone.
Should we really be this critical of Barcelona considering we have our own issues to sort out? They are still one level above any English club at the moment, which is sad considering how much they've declined, and how much more money PL clubs have (I am referring only to the top bracket and that doesn't include Liverpool etc).
They still have 3 of the best forwards in the world and their 6-1 defeat of PSG was a legendary, historical comeback.
They still have 3 of the best forwards in the world and their 6-1 defeat of PSG was a legendary, historical comeback.
If any club is richer than us, it's marginal at best.
United is considerably wealthier than Barcelona. It's a fact. And in terms of revenue, PL television money exceeds La Liga money. Even for the lower ranked clubs.
This summer I do think that Barcelona will try to buy 3 or 4 players, but they absolutely need to buy three starters.
They need to buy a right back (Bellerin), probably two midfielders to partner Busquets (can try to lure Thiago Alcantara back ?)
And their issue is the bench. Except for Sergi Roberto, Arda and Paco, they've not enough quality to rotate the team.
Real played their second team and won last weekend, Isco, James, Kovacic etc, they're good enough to play in la Liga and win games.
So their summer might be interesting.
They need to buy a right back (Bellerin), probably two midfielders to partner Busquets (can try to lure Thiago Alcantara back ?)
And their issue is the bench. Except for Sergi Roberto, Arda and Paco, they've not enough quality to rotate the team.
Real played their second team and won last weekend, Isco, James, Kovacic etc, they're good enough to play in la Liga and win games.
So their summer might be interesting.
No you aren't. There's almost nothing to split the 3 biggest teams.
This statement is completely delusional.
The only Premier League team that is anywhere near as rich as Barcelona is United. No other PL team is even close.
We are more than rich enough and prestigious enough as a club to buy the best team in Europe.
It's incompetent management that's caused us to regress over he past few seasons. Terrible buys from Lucho like Arda Turan, Alcacer, Gomes, etc.. have hurt this club. Also, we are too loyal to our roots. We can't expect every kid from La Masia to be the next Xavi or Iniesta. Our generation from 2008-2012 was exceptional and will probably not be repeated in decades. Guys like Denis Suarez aren't good enough, and just because he played for La Masia won't change that.
This is what football has come to. This is what Real Madrid and Manchester United do nowadays. They buy the best players.
For this summer, I want Cancelo/Semedo (a proper RB), and a world class midfielder. Verratti will do nicely.
Neymar - Suarez - Messi
Rakitic - Busquets - Verratti
Alba - Pique - Umtiti - Cancelo
Mats
Sell Mascherano, Turan and Gomes. Sergi Roberto should be rotated regularly with Rakitic in midfield. Andres is a club legend but he should be a squad player at best nowadays.
Also, both Mascherano and Iniesta are on massive wages. Combined they are on €350,000 a week. Those wages need to be freed up for players who will actually contribute to the club in the foreseeable future.
But more importantly than all of this, we need to get a coach who actually knows how to fecking coach. Lucho is absolutely clueless tactically, and I doubt he's even a good motivator like Zidane (appears) to be.
It's incompetent management that's caused us to regress over he past few seasons. Terrible buys from Lucho like Arda Turan, Alcacer, Gomes, etc.. have hurt this club. Also, we are too loyal to our roots. We can't expect every kid from La Masia to be the next Xavi or Iniesta. Our generation from 2008-2012 was exceptional and will probably not be repeated in decades. Guys like Denis Suarez aren't good enough, and just because he played for La Masia won't change that.
This is what football has come to. This is what Real Madrid and Manchester United do nowadays. They buy the best players.
For this summer, I want Cancelo/Semedo (a proper RB), and a world class midfielder. Verratti will do nicely.
Neymar - Suarez - Messi
Rakitic - Busquets - Verratti
Alba - Pique - Umtiti - Cancelo
Mats
Sell Mascherano, Turan and Gomes. Sergi Roberto should be rotated regularly with Rakitic in midfield. Andres is a club legend but he should be a squad player at best nowadays.
Also, both Mascherano and Iniesta are on massive wages. Combined they are on €350,000 a week. Those wages need to be freed up for players who will actually contribute to the club in the foreseeable future.
But more importantly than all of this, we need to get a coach who actually knows how to fecking coach. Lucho is absolutely clueless tactically, and I doubt he's even a good motivator like Zidane (appears) to be.
No you buy the best players. Suarez, Neymar. You already had the best player in the world then bought two of the four. If you look at history you've probably had half of the top two players each decade.
Figo, Rivaldo, Romario, Ronaldo, Klivert, and that's not even naming half of them. Maradona.
So happy we've got ourselves Pogba last summer. Think he would have been a player Barca would go for this summer as they could do with a strong world class midfielder with attacking qualities. They have Rakitic and Busquets to cover but need a player who can set up attacks and has a good passing range driving the ball forward.
You could be right. Although, Pogba is not exactly the profile of a player Barca need atm imo. They need a ball playing midfielder with good workrate and who is able to handle playing under pressure and in short spaces.
We buy attacking talent, because unplayable attacking players like the ones you mentioned above are very hard to come by.
I agree.
I genuinely thought Arda Turan would be a good player for them but he seems to be underwhelming?
I think Pogba would suit Madrid better. He holds on to the ball too much to be a Barcelona midfielder IMO, not that I'd have any objections if someone offered him to us right now.
Having watched Barca vs Juve yesterday, I think that Pjanic would have been quite useful to our midfield.
Isco joining Madrid hurt too.
Football goes in cycles and all that. They're still the best club side ever. Unlike the last premature thread it does this time look to be the beginning of the end.
This is what Real Madrid and Manchester United do nowadays. They buy the best players. So do you.
PSG were the main factor in that game - they didn't show up at all, and Barcelona stumbled through. Anyone who watched that game could surely see how awful Barca were.
They need big investment.
How come Treble Winning was banned? Nothing too controversial in his last few posts.
wow surprised you would let Iniesta in particular go......350k a week for those two isn't expensive given what they bring to the table
How much debt are Barcelona actually in? Where does all that money go? They pull in more revenue than any other club bar Real, and yet they're fretting over a couple hundred thousand for two players.
Iniesta has been absolutely shocking recently. He has to take a large portion of the blame for our non-existent midfield in the away games against both PSG and Juve.
Given his age, I don't suddenly expect him to improve either.
He's a club legend and I don't want us to sell him, but he should really be a squad player at this point and on much lower wages than what he currently is.
Give him a similar role to Xavi in 2014/15.
Barcelona got lucky with a golden generation like we did in the 90s. In modern football you just can't wait for that to happen again by putting too much thrust in youth.
They have to open the cheque book in a big way now.
They have to open the cheque book in a big way now.
If they fail in this summer window and bring in overpriced dross, which they have the last few windows (Umtiti aside, very good buy), then they could have a rebuilding job on their hands akin to what we had.
Their fullbacks aren't good enough, busquets aside their MF isn't good enough. Their GK is still a massive question mark and they need someone to partner Umtiti (Pique is past his best).
Then they need squad players good enough to come in and rotate with MSN.
There's a lot they need to happen.
Their fullbacks aren't good enough, busquets aside their MF isn't good enough. Their GK is still a massive question mark and they need someone to partner Umtiti (Pique is past his best).
Then they need squad players good enough to come in and rotate with MSN.
There's a lot they need to happen.
Sooo who is going to be their next manager? I heard Valverde said that this is his last season at Bilbao, but I'm not sure that he is the right manager for them. They need a RB for sure. I think Herrera would be a great addition for them as a depth option instead of Turan and Gomes, but they also need someone to replace Iniesta. They ultimately need 2 starters and 2 bench options so they are not in such a difficult position as some claim.
Can you guys afford that expenditure? Both players will be approaching world record fee levels, so getting them both in the same season sounds extremely unlikely to me. I can see you going for one of the two though.
We will probably need to sell some of the dead weight in our squad and free up some wages, but we do have the money. Maybe not both in one transfer window though. Ideally Verratti this summer, and Silva in the next.
Our transfers over the past few years have been so, so dumb though. Mourinho could probably get us to buy Fellaini and Rooney for a combined price of €100 million if he convinced our board that they played for La Masia at one point in their life.
Funny thing is, even with the lousy season they had they're still close to the top of La liga with a chance to win it. Slim chance but still a chance.
That tells us that with a few additions, which they really need, they'll be up there again, both in La liga and CL.
Compared to their past teams besides MSN their team is really bad, especially midfield. All the buys except Umittiti and Rakitić maybe (even though they needed a different type of midfielder imo) haven't been good to say the least, not to mention they don't have even a decent backup for MSN.
That tells us that with a few additions, which they really need, they'll be up there again, both in La liga and CL.
Compared to their past teams besides MSN their team is really bad, especially midfield. All the buys except Umittiti and Rakitić maybe (even though they needed a different type of midfielder imo) haven't been good to say the least, not to mention they don't have even a decent backup for MSN.
Their net debt is more or less like ours.
Last season's revenue stading;
1. Manchester United - £515.3m
2. Barcelona - £463.8m
3. Real Madrid - 463.8m
4. Bayern Munich - £442.7m.
Barcelona 's problem is that they spend 75% of their revenue on wages which is very high. we spend 45% on wages.
Wtf did Enrique ever see in André Gomes ? The archetype of the passenger in games, such a generic player with no special skill whatsoever. A real con man.
Its all a bit dramatic. They remain one of the wealthiest in the world and have posted record profits. They spent over £100m last season transfer window so clearly they have loot. They also have players they can sell like, Andre Gomes, Turan, Suarez, Vidal, plus their sponsorship money. They will be fine, they just need to spend more wisely.
All of their money is tied up in player wages, they're a financial mess of a club.