[Archived] Champions League 2012/13

[K-Hod]

I hate the play-acting, soft-lad diving and cheating that a few of their players perpetuate.

Busquets is the worst, he's such a joke, I can only assume he's in the team as he's the one player with some height. He's no better than Song, and certainly not as good as Mascherano IMO.

Saying that, they are a great side, no question, but they aren't as great to watch as some make out.....(for me anyway).

[T4E]

If you don't think Sergio Busquets is a great player then you're absolutely off your head. When he doesn't play Barça are far less effective, he links everything and is the second best passer on the team. Mascherano isn't even close, neither is Song.

He's 24 and has won 16 trophies, including every major trophy available to him in his career. He's by far the Worlds best player in his position.

[K-Hod]

If you don't think Sergio Busquets is a great player then you're absolutely off your head. When he doesn't play Barça are far less effective, he links everything and is the second best passer on the team. Mascherano isn't even close, neither is Song.

He's 24 and has won 16 trophies, including every major trophy available to him in his career. He's by far the Worlds best player in his position.

What is his position? If you mean defensive midfield, I don't think even he remembers the last time he had to do any defending....

It's different playing that position for Barca than anywhere else, put him in a different team and see how he does.....

[T4E]

Like the Spanish team where he anchored the midfield to the World Cup when he was 22?

No, he's not a defensive midfielder. He's a deep lying playmaker like the Pirlo's of the World. Honestly - what next time he doesn't play for them and see how the team plays. No where near as fluid without him as he's the starting point for everything.

[Guest Norbert]

It's the sycophancy, fawning and general bum licking by 3rd rate commentators and glory supporters that gets on my tits. That and the play acting, which a team with that much talent does not need to do. They're a brilliant team, great to watch, have players who are amongst the best ever etc. but Messi has not found a cure for AIDS or explained dark energy, so let's not build golden statues of him or declare him a living God.

[K-Hod]

Like the Spanish team where he anchored the midfield to the World Cup when he was 22?

No, he's not a defensive midfielder. He's a deep lying playmaker like the Pirlo's of the World. Honestly - what next time he doesn't play for them and see how the team plays. No where near as fluid without him as he's the starting point for everything.

The same Spanish team that's 2/3 Barca and 1/3 Real?

Not saying he's not a good player, but they've certainly better!!

[T4E]

You said you assume he's only in the team because he's the only one with height, yet now you're not saying he's not a good player?

Some expert opinions -

"Look at [sergio] Busquets the best midfielder there is playing one-touch. He doesn't need more. He controls, looks and passes in one touch. Some need two or three and, given how fast the game is, that's too slow."

- Xavi

"He's tactically very strong and will only become more important for Barca in the future. He can follow in the footsteps of Carles Puyol and Xavi. He's very humble and calm, but doesn't mind speaking up when he sees fit either.

If I was reincarnated as a player, I'd like to be Sergio Busquets."

- Pep Guardiola

"Positionally, he seems like a veteran with or without the ball. With the ball he makes what is difficult look easy: he disposes of the ball with one or two touches. Without the ball, he gives us a lesson: that of being in the right place to intercept and running just to recover the ball."

- Johan Cruyff

I'm sorry but you're miles off. This is the player that saw off Yaya Toure and forced Javier Mascherano to become a centre back. He's a wonderful player and more important to the Barça style and success than anyone bar Messi.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

I was pretty drunk at the time but I'm fairly sure Busquets marked Sneijder out of the World Cup Final.....he is a class player, his composure and passing ability is top notch....Song is a bombscare, a fair few Arsenal fans weren't sad to see him go as he was positionally poor and he will leave Barca in the summer.....Mascherano plays CB because they don't think he's good enough at passing to play in midfield.

Someone once told me in training Barca play a one-touch-only passing game with Xavi and Iniesta as the two captains......the first two players who they pick are always Messi and Busquets.

[T4E]

If I was Busquets I'd be pretty hacked off that Iniesta was a captain of that before me. He's that good.

[roverandout]

well if you say so, i dont particually rate xavi to be honest, a sideways passer, never does anything spectacular, i can bet if busquets was english people would slag him to hell and if gerrard was spanish then people would be fawning over him

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Do you still think John Terry is better than Thiago Silva (despite him being Chelsea's 4th choice CB).

FYI, the Engish overrate most of their own players, not the other way round. And people do fawn over Gerrard, top class European players/managers speak of him very highly.

Xavi's job is to keep possession. Which he does better than anyone I've ever seen. It's their culture to do it, so some passes will be sideways.

180 assists in 697 matches, sometimes the most in a La Liga or Champions League season, 120 caps for Spain, Player of the Tournament at Euro 2008, 5 Ballon d'Or nominations, 5 times in the UEFA Team of the Year

5 times in the World 11, Team of the Tournament at Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012, La Liga Player of the Year 2005, Champions League Final Man of the Match 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym_Qh4hb3fc

Watch that on youtube as you can't watch it on here for some reason, then try and tell me you don't particularly rate him.

Barca fans consider Xavi to be the main man in the team, not Messi (and yes, Messi or better than Rooney or Welbeck or whoever else you think).

[Audax]

Capello yes, was a Terry fan, now Russia with Capello are going to stroll most likely into the World Cup while England could miss it.

[T4E]

well if you say so, i dont particually rate xavi to be honest, a sideways passer, never does anything spectacular

That's when I decided not to listen to you any more.

[thenodrog]

Part I don't like? It does seem Champions League referees have given breaks to clubs and Barcelona more than anyone. That said, a few years ago, it was Barcelona who had a man sent off at Samford Bridge.

Has anybody heard of him since?

As for Barca it's difficult to argue against their quality except to say that but for the brilliant Lionel Messi if Barca were playing in my back garden I'd draw the bloody curtains! They put me to sleep faster than either a Grand Prix or a live Test match.

They have perfected this ticka taka football to perfection. Superb one touch triangles and a work rate second to none BUT there is not a red blood corpuscle in sight! It's completely bloody boring and they are also the biggest cheats on the planet. If they lose the ball they drop to the floor with a high pitched scream and soppy refs almost automatically give them a free kick.

If I could have full use of a tardis I'd bloody love to take them back to the early 70's and drop em into the Elland Road slutch to see how those little midfielders with their little brown pampered legs cope with a bit of the old ultraV as served up by Hunter, Giles, Bremner and big Jack!

It's the sycophancy, fawning and general bum licking by 3rd rate commentators and glory supporters that gets on my tits. That and the play acting, which a team with that much talent does not need to do. They're a brilliant team, great to watch, have players who are amongst the best ever etc. but Messi has not found a cure for AIDS or explained dark energy, so let's not build golden statues of him or declare him a living God.

It's the same every time Brazil come to town. Bloody Coleman started it I think.

[K-Hod]

Like the Spanish team where he anchored the midfield to the World Cup when he was 22?

No, he's not a defensive midfielder. He's a deep lying playmaker like the Pirlo's of the World. Honestly - what next time he doesn't play for them and see how the team plays. No where near as fluid without him as he's the starting point for everything.

I always viewed Xavi as the deep-lying playmaker myself, with his style of play, free-kicks etc etc, and Busquets as the 'getter and giver' if you will.

Not discounting the possibility of being wrong, just the way I saw it.

[T4E]

Barça don't have a getter and giver as such as they harry the opposition as a unit, they work to a 6 second rule that they have to win the ball back in, usually panicking the opposition in to giving it back using high tempo pressure and 2 or 3 players around the ball. It's one of the reasons they sometimes surrender too much space against the better teams and can be hit on the counter.

Xavi plays in front of Busquets and is charged with playing the more incisive passes, other than that their role is fairly similar. Busquets has more legs than Xavi at his age so tends to chase more, but it's his ability to keep possession in enclosed spaces that is the cornerstone for the way Barça play. Having Busquets allows Xavi to go forward more, as evidenced by his improved goal scoring record in the last couple of seasons.

[M-K]

Busquets has more legs than Xavi

The cheating sod.

[T4E]

That's why he keeps falling over.

[roverandout]

we all have opinions t4e, i dont rate xavi, you do, doesnt make me wrong not to rate him, i didnt rate roy keane at first but then i realised what a vital player he is to man utd, xavi is yet to convince me he is anything other than a glorified david batty!!!

[neekoy]

You can have an opinion and still be wrong....like you are in this circumstance with Xavi.

David Batty, now you are just trolling.

[T4E]

we all have opinions t4e, i dont rate xavi, you do, doesnt make me wrong not to rate him

Yes it does. It also makes you insane.

[CapeTownRover]

well if you say so, i dont particually rate xavi to be honest, a sideways passer, never does anything spectacular, i can bet if busquets was english people would slag him to hell and if gerrard was spanish then people would be fawning over him

what happened to the bang your head against the wall emoticon? Oh dear!

Some people just dont understand the game, and in particular the style of Barca. Its all about patience, hold the ball, wait for something to open up, and in the back of the net it goes. Sometimes teams just park the entire bus and hope it works(Chelsea), and yet people were all chuffed with the way a Chelase defended that night. A team who spent millions and millions on foreign players, who could not match a team where majority of their players came out of their academy.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Who also spent millions though yea? Including massive transfer fees? The Barca apologists of which there are many like to forget these things.

Barca - 30 on Fabregas, 30 on Sanchez, 18.5 on Mascherano, 56 on Ibrahimovich and 34 on Villa over the three seasons prior to the last one......170.5 million.

Chelsea - 23.5 on Mata, 20 on Lukaku, 12 on Meireles, 18.3 on Ramires, 50 on Torres, 26 on David Luiz, 18 on Zhirkov in that same period.......167.8 million.

[T4E]

Barça tend to make one or two big signings a summer, with the rest being home grown. The point is, they have not thrown millions and millions at a team to take them from also rans to contenders. They have become the best in the World by nurturing their own, never compromising their own style and adding small pieces when needed. The fact is they have to spend big money to get players from outside remotely capable of living with the home grown ones emphasises the strength of the system. If you look at what they've spent compared to Madrid there's no comparison.

Don't forget as well, the season Villa and Ibra signed, Eto'o, Toure and Chygrynskiy went out for a combined £64m. The season Mascherano was signed Ibra left for £24m. When Sanchez and Cesc signed, Bojan, Caceres and Romeu left for £18m. The net spend is nowhere near as great as the half story posted above makes out.

As far as "apologists" goes, I'm not sure that's the best choice of word. We're all supposed to be fans of football, and Barça have been consistently producing the best brand of football for the past few years. It's actually very odd the amount of football fans who go out of their way to hate them.

[jim mk2]

what happened to the bang your head against the wall emoticon? Oh dear!

Some people just dont understand the game, and in particular the style of Barca. Its all about patience, hold the ball, wait for something to open up, and in the back of the net it goes. Sometimes teams just park the entire bus and hope it works(Chelsea), and yet people were all chuffed with the way a Chelase defended that night. A team who spent millions and millions on foreign players, who could not match a team where majority of their players came out of their academy.

You have to understand some people find Barcelona extremely dull to watch - if they are on TV I usually switch channels and watch something interesting such as Emmerdale for instance. If depends how you like to see the game played and I personally find their constant passing style an interminable bore. I'm not saying I don't appreciate that is technically very good and requires alot of skill and practice but I prefer teams such as United who can play a possession game when required but can also break at extreme pace and play wingers who risk losing the ball by taking on their opposing full backs. The Rovers championship winning team of 1995 was also a much more exciting team to watch than Barcelona because it had two fast running wingers and of course a top-class old-fashioned English centre forward to bang the goals in. Each to their own.