Athletic Bilbao - Barça: Sunday 19th October Kick Off 7pm

wow nic, thats an amazing shot. Great find!

3-1

lol agreed I like the guy in the backround (which Im assuming is the Bilbao manager) looking pissed!! Its still way way too late to take advantage of travel/early flgith deals. I like the Premiership for thier 3 month in advance policy. Works great for everyone involved, why cant the bloody dohnuts who run La Liga work that out

i seriously hate international breaks, thankfully its only a week this time and liga is back soon. im looking forward to the match against a bilbao team that really isnt good, easily one of its worse in a while, and one we should continue our momentum with a win.

but in the mean time, may as well discuss a few transfer rumors.

the one, most scary, and most justified (sadly) is yaya toure being courted by juventus. its said he is only going to give pep another month to show his faith in him. frankly, ive liked pep very much so far but i can honestly say on this one issue he is a moron for not using yaya and an even bigger idiot if even dreams keita being better. i dont know anyone who thinks different.

otherwise the etoo rumor isnt nice to hear either. honestly we arent a poor club, far from as debt ridden as the EPL teams, and really there should be no reason not to give a striker of only 27 yrs old who has scored in nearly 2/3's of his games a top salary. the only way this would make sense is if pep doesnt belive etoo is the future of this teams attack, and he want to opt for a larger figure in the middle. ie benzema (seeing we bidded in the summer). but they could never be on the same team i dont rate, not with 4-3-3.

lastly, just an interesting idea to put across. if henry does leave in jan, which rumors are active again about (and if Citeh offer +/- 25 million, would be a GREAT deal for him, us, and them) then an interesting replacement that i wonder would be considered is Hernan Crespo. he is the ideal "new Larsson". he is unhappy at Inter, like 5th choice striker, wants to leave, will come CHEAP, then he is great in the air (something we lack upfront), a biggish figure, experienced and lets face it, that boy has scored goals everywhere he played (chelski not so much, but he wasnt given a fair shot), he simply finishes chances. could be an idea

blaugranaboy > I do agree with you about Yaya and Henry but I don't think crespo is the suitable replacement , in my opinion we need someone like torres in Liverpool or crew and agbanlahor in auston villa .

in my opionion its not the front line that we should care about as its in a very good form and we do have good players on the bench like pedro and bojan, its the very far back line and yes i mean Valdes , his perofrmances are simply very poor and we should consider an approach to another keeper very seriously and this time we need someone who can be at a high level unlike pinto with all respect

We are FINALLY starting to creat a good solid team where everyone knows their roles and uses in the team. We should NOT sell anyone and that includes Henry. He is happy at the moment appearing sparingly and helping to raise the other youngsters e.g. Bojan and from what Ive heard, Barca do not want to sell. He would never go to Man City. The guy is rich and if he wanted to drop a level he could go to USA where he could earn what he could earn at City easily. Besides some of you are a tad naive at times Im afriad naming Torres as a potential replacement, its just not going to happen.

Toure is another matter. He is definately quality and it shows in the pitch. Awareness, touch, tackling, attitude, he a top-class DM and I beleive that he is better then Keita in many ways. I think Pep needs to drop Busquets and the other youngsters as whilst they are good and learning, none are close to Yaya and Id rather have him protecting our back line then a youngster.

I agree with po0oker, there is nothing wrong with the attack. There wasnt last year either if anyone actually goes to the Barca site and looks at the statistics. We scored. We scored some more. But the defence let a goal in aswell. Then let in some more. That is what is costing us still.

To conclude, I think we shouldnt sell Henry, he is happy, the club is happy with him, we are all happy Pep is not afraid to drop him to let him be. Yaya definately is a priority over any youngster at the moment so keep him happy at all costs he's too much a quality player. Eto will get his contract if he plays well so dont worry too much.

Now lets hope the international break is injury free and Barca continue the march toward success!!

This is the time Barca would show its tru colors, if they win this then their chances of actually winning the league is going to be more higher. Go Barca we want 5-0 this time!!! BARCA 4 LIFE!

very worried about yaya...he is not happy at all...no need for a public outburst...very unsettling!

henry is nly going to leave barca for france anywhere else he'll be a fool, and yeah i agree bout yaya too busquets is good but not eveng close to grandma toure, if he's gonna use busquets that much why did he buy keita???

Future of Gudjohnsen ? A good comeback. Gained confidence....

pooker: im not saying crespo is a suitable replacement if we sell henry, thats not my point. what im saying is simple, and more barca fans need to understand this. this club has space for ONE, only one top class center forward. so if (hypothetically) we sell henry, im saying crespo can do what larsson did so well before. basically: etoo plays all the time and when its time for a rest, sub, injury, pep can bring on a very experienced striker (like crespo) that has many attributes that our current strikers do not have, otherwise he can bring on bojan and even messi has been playing center forward. i just think bringin in crespo on a cheap deal could be intersting, but its really just an idea, i havent heard any rumor to back it. i just read crespo was unhappy and thought he could be a suprising useful squad member.

also, how can u suggest (like titi said) bringing torres, that is an impossible transfer right now plus makes no sense for the club. in fact id like to say to all people that just want aguero, benzema, huntelaar, etc etc (CM ideas). u cant just make these silly transfers without thinking about the consequences. what u going to do with etoo then???? bench him and cause another unhappy, fighitng lockerooom? it will be the same henry saga as last year. a barca with etoo is a barca that cannot accomodate another striker of a massive reputation. if barca ARE backing etoo, give him the role of goalscorer and have his teamates supporting him. thats who we won yrs before, thats when we were the best. etoo was number one striker, no contest, he had no striker of much stature taking his place. he was number one. the point is u cant have a happy etoo and happy "benzema" at the same time, at least i dont think so.

and about henry, honestly if i was laporta id sell him. this has nothing to do with my personal feeling towards him. i think its logical for all parties.

firstly, he isnt happy, no matter what u read, at least i reckon so. having read some of the stuff he has said, in particular "physically im here, but my life is in england" (come on, is that a happy camper?). he wants to be in england for his family issues. secondly, i dont think citeh is as bad a choice as many consider it. if anyone actually watches the EPL they have a pretty damn good team (GK excluded) and i wont be shocked if they get a top 4 finish. so for him, it could be quite a good choice. he will get 20-30,000 more a week, he isnt in london (so arsenal fans wont be so sour), he will be the STAR again, get his favored position, and i reckon he suits the english game much MUCH more and i believe he could actually be quite successful playing wise at man city. so for henry i think its a good option. sure, if he wants to win trophies this year and get a chance at his illusive CL then staying at barca makes sense. depends on how he feels personally and professionally.

and for barca, unless the MLS team has mentioned what they will be willing to pay, i dont forsee us getting any where close to the financial offer we could get from the richset club at the world that are desperate to boolster their team quicky in january. we can overcharge easily.

BUT HEY, this is ALL ALL speculation and opinion.

blaugranaboy : I do respect your point about bringing someone with experiance and I do share the same opionion and I think it became a common knowledge that only one center striker we could have on the team but I think bojan could be a very good replacement in case of injury or need to rest , I don't think the club need to spend more money on strikers . oh about torres I didn't mean bringing torres himself this is absolutely ridiculous and kinda impossible to happen , all i meant is that we need someone to do something to the team and be efficient just like torres .maybe bojan could become that someone when he get mature and develop

about Henry I honestly never understood why barca made an approach to him in the first place . I was one of the people who felt happy when he first toured us down , he just need to be in somewhere else but i don't think a return to Arsenal is possible.

if we get a beautiful offer for henry, we should definitely sell him so far we can definitely get another player that does what he does for us and even more...but if we cant, they i suggest we stay stuck with him till..... and let him do what he can do

I doubt if Barça get more than 10 M for Henry !!