Barça Player By Player Review Of The Season 2008/9

poor article, comments were based on single game performances in most cases, and ratings were nowhere near accurate. not 1 player gets over 8 in a perfect season, playing football never seen before. will never visit this site again due to its lack of quality

@Niall

are you kidding me? This is a great summary of a player by player contribution for the season. This is the best site on the net for Barca news and debate. It must be your first time here. You didn't even take the time to look at the archives to judge quality thoughout. You look at one article and done your mind is made up. You must be a Man U fan.

I think the objective of this article was not to give a minute by minute track of every player for the entire season in all 3 competitions.Rather a SUMMARY...look it up "dumbo"...summaries are short and sweet. Or maybe, you were expecting the author to tell you exactly what happened this year. Well, that's Easy...Barcelona won everything!!!

The ratings are rightfully not based on the final ressult (triplete) but the ups and downs each player had during the season...Jeez, you must be out of your mind to even suggest that they should all get 10s or 9s...that never happens because players have good games and bad games...ok, I will stop...you must be on drugs or something.

Good summary Nic!

nic dont listen to him....hes retarted

but i am surprised inis rating was better than messi well i guess its because ini had less games due to injuries ....

Perfection is expected in this club and as perfect we were this season, all true Blaugrana supporters remembers when each player could have been a little better.

Great article, yet again.

Dani Alves maybe deserves a 7 in my mind. But other than that I would say pretty acurate.

Iniesta only had 5 goals?!?! remarkable...especially fter seeing games like his against bilbao during the latter part of the league i believe, where it seemed like he could have scored 5 easily.

Come on Iniesta, 5 goals is pathetic...lolol

Also quickly, Ibrahimovic sounds like he could be close and I'm very nervous about him at Barca, he seems like he just wouldn't fit in to how beautifuly we play...he's a remakable talent but there is something that doesn't mesh with our club, his striking partner Ballotelli however I think has great promise and great touch....

we need to get some strong forward reserves because Kaka is almost certain and Ronaldo will follow...Real will spend 150 millon pounds this summer no doubt

@Mes-que

Maturity is what worries me with Ballotelli. Which Ronaldo are you talking about? fat Ronaldo? to Real Madrid? I am not sure about that one man!!!are you sure?

@Mes-que

haaa...Cronaldo or Cristiano Ronaldo...I see,sorry. He was so irrelevant in the CL final that I have already forgotten about him. Pretty funny hun, considering that he was just the World player of the year...

I agree on Iniesta, I think he can score a lot more. He doesn't shoot often and he needs to take them whenever he gets a chance. He can do better than 5 but keep in mind he was injured for part of the season.

I think nic is right to rate Andrés better than Messi. Messi is our player who plays spetecular. But without Iniesta and Xavi Barca would not have won the Treble !

These are the players Im really pleased with this season:
Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Pique, Puyol, Alves, Toure


Of Course Henry and Etoo shot many Goals. But my opinion is: Etoo had to score more than 40 gols en la Liga. And Henry more than 30 gols !!!!
The best two gols from Etoo were in Madrid and Rome. That was great! But over the season he had so many chances !!!! And I think Etoo knows that !
I dont want to talk about Etoo without respect. He has done a lot for us !! But I think now its time to concentrate to another striker. I think we should sign Benzeman or Agüero !!!! Now we would get > 40 Mio. for Samuel !

Talking about Bojan is not easy. Sure he is very young. But I dont know if he will become a world class striker ! I dont know. But I think we should not give him to loan.


Players I think we should sold:
Hleb + Guddy !!! Both are too bad !!!! Every youth player like Busquet, Pedro are better !!!


I hope we will sign 1 Striker + 1 Midfield Player!
And I hope we will not pay and Cent for Cesc! We should wait until his contract is over and then sign him. Because 40 Mio is to much! Maybe he can get our next Xavi !!! But i dont think he will get as good as Xavi! For me Xavi is the best playmaker ever !!!! Only Iniesta could get better!!



TK

Grt statistics......
@niall u r so unlucky just missed a great blog.

just like Mes_que_un_fan i really wondered iniesta has only 5 score in his pocket. But to be honest i don know which number is perfect to multiply his goal against chelsea. in that case it can be 5 x any value(lol)

it seems like Kaka is to madrid and CR7 is on way to there....hope to enjoy defeating another galactico madrid.........

Excellent article. Look up the vid with all 38 Messi goals of the season. Among these 5 penalties, 5, 6 tip ins, a lot of goals where he gets the killer pass and beats the offside trap and almost passes the ball into the goal, and at least 14 brilliant individual goals, mostly after a dribble and sometimes with a 1-2 in between. Three of his most stunning saw him controlling with the chest, then running and finishing brillianty. Plus he scored in both Clasicos and both finals, he was top scorer in the Copa and the Champions League, and Barca topscorer overall. Also up there with the assist leaders. I know Xaxi and Iniesta have been massive but Messi was otherworldly this season. Give it up y'all

good article, nice comments, poor ratings
6, 7, 6, 7, 6, 7, 5, 6, 7, 6, 7. give me a break. xavi was max, should be a 10. iniesta and messi 9. henry should be higher too.

what is all this talk about my country man Eto'o.
Barca is mad. whay do they want to sell a player who is among the top 3 strikers of the club's history. is it becoz they don't want an African to break a Spanish club record? i hope not. he is 28 , Henry is 31+. instead of replacing Eto'o , i would instead replace Henry. he came to Barca to win his last medal, the champions league. he has accomplished every thing a European footballer would want: euro, world cup, confederations cup, etc buy ribery

Yeh I agree with those reveiws and lionel Messi is deinetly the best!

I like both Messi and Iniesta because they are great players and very entertaining to watch .

Messi had a great first half of the season then his form dipped a little . Perhaps due to fatigue ; too many games .

Iniesta was outstanding as well despite his interrupted season because of injury .

It is hard to choose between the two but I have to pick Messi over Iniesta as our player of the season .

The major difference that plays in Messi's favour is SCORING .

Messi has scored 38 goals while Iniesta has only scored 5 goals .

Iniesta is such an ultimate team player and so unselfish BUT he needs to take more shots and score more goals in order to dethrone the king .

I think there is little seperating the two players : both are creative , great dribblers and immensely entertaining . Messi is by far the better scorer !!

@ barcalakerfan4life u probably din notice that its not a one day rating or a rating made after the season taking into account that the best would get 10 2nd 9 or something......throughout the season every player had been rated in their every game. So this is just the average of all their game ratings(61 probably). So in that case how come u expect some one to get 10 or 9 as average. its almost impossible to do great in all 61 matches.they individually have got 10 or 9 in all their best matches. this is just average and to be honest a very good indication and truly a real indication of individual performance.

well FCB-Holland don get me wrong. I personally believe messi is by far best and better than iniesta in terms of whole season.But to be honest its difficult to judge two players only by scoring. Like Messi and yaya cant be compared because of their role difference. Same goes for messi and iniesta as Messi has played like a one of 3 front striker's role this seasom which gave him better opportunity to score. the way barca play offer better chances for their striker's to score rather than midfielders.If we just compare iniesta and xavi with henry,eto ,messi it is clear enough. rather than the chelsea where lampard has a good number of score. this is because of their style of play. But its true messi has scored quite a number of time from a deeper midfield role. But still i don want iniesta to try and make the tally at 20. Because his unselfishness is helping our all three strikers to make a almost similar goal tally which is rare in any other team and thus bringing our success. For this role he is getting his deserving praise and i believe still he can become one of the best performer without scoring much.

and ya i agree

"I think there is little seperating the two players : both are creative , great dribblers and immensely entertaining !!"

I don't fear Madrid. In there finest hour with all the stars ( Ronlado, Reberto Carolos, Zidan, Bechkam.....) They won nothing ! Madrid Can't play as team. If CR7 Goes to Madrid Also I still don't fear them. The problem is I use to love Kaka. He was such a saint I can't believe he went after the money & Betray his team like this its so wired !

LINK


What the hell is going on? Can someone tell me why Barca will not improve the contract of one our best players this season?

He is the wall of Barca don't let him leave you will not find a better replacement!

I got my cousin who is a Madrid supporter boasting about Kaka, Villa, C Ronaldo etc and from what I have read these past days Guardiola is looking to oust are best players and bring in some mediocre players to replace them I.e Mascerano, Luca Toni for Toure and Eto'o.

What the hell are they thinking!

Damn I'm I the only one who recognizes Toure is head and shoulders above Keita and Biscuits and any other DM in the world.

He is one of the biggest reasons why all season long we win the midfield.

He is the one that allows both Iniesta and Xavi to roam around and create their magic.

Another thing that goes unnoticed is his passing and ball control which is exceptional.

What's wrong with Guardiola and Laporta, sh!t is crazy!

@FCBHolland

Isn't it amazing how the ink is not even dry on what we wrote about Luca Toni just 2 days ago and here we are with new rumors that Pep said to him "why won't you come to Barcelona?"

I think this would be a good addition to the team. Luca Toni plays hard and that is what I like about this guy. Never mind his good touch and poacher mentality. He could more than cover for Eto'o dduring the African cup or even Henry and Messi in case of injury. I hope this goes through well. Bayern just brought in Mario Gomez, which opens the doors for him since there will be 3 forwards competing for 2 spots.

@The evil than man do

I think they will renegociate with Toure and all this talk of Mascherano is just that talk. I also, think that they will renew Eto'o's contract because I sense that Laporta has started feeling the fury and outrage of the fans on that issue. He is starting to backtrack on the prior announcements. I don't think that there will be an agreement on Ibrahimovic in light of his recent performance against Denmark. Laporta and Txiki are smarter than that and he is way overpriced at $65 million.

I think that Guddy, Sylvinho, Hleb and maybe Bojan are the departures can see on a sale basis or a loan basis but I really have a hard time seeing any more players.Even Bojan's might be a stretch.

The idea is to reinforce and foster loyalty not replace proven winners with new trials:that would simply be suicide.

Oh Lord with Peace,Barca of all world and know far from anyone till death.



Lord of Jah.

IM SO SICK OF THESE TRANSFER RUMORS.

they are pissing me off so much. ive decided to stop reading them. honestly, acording to them we are selling half our team and buying half the world. the ones with yaya erk me most, i would die to lose him. but i see no reason why the club wont give him what he wants and why he would want to leave.

stupid newspapers

niall, to me it seems you're the one who's speaking about single game performances. If you watched every game throughout the season you know that no player was perfect. Receiving an overall rating above 7 is fantastic. It shows an incredible consistency.

These ratings shows why the team did so well. It wasn't just one or two players who received good ratings, pretty much the whole team did. There has been many games where the team has been the MotM.

If I had to select one player for this season, it's no doubt Messi. He received a lower rating than Iniesta, but he also played more minutes. The way he lifts up the team and terrorize the opponents is invaluable. And his goal and assist stats speaks for itself.

Nic, good ratings. But maybe we should evaluate Guardiola's first year and rate him aswell.

great article nic..for me, the best player was def. Messi...Yea, he wasn't as good as Iniesta in the final portions of the season, but in the first half of the season, nobody can doubt that he was the best...he singlehandedly won several games...and we had difficulties winnin without Messi...so I'd def. go for Messi followed by Xavi, Iniesta, Toure, Dani and Etoo...

BTW..kinda off topic but, los putos are really givin me some nightmares...Kaka is already there, and Villa is supposed to be the next...Apparently, they have agreed to a fee with Valencia...If Etoo is def. leavin like the reports suggest, then we should be the one gettin Villa...Havin said that, I prefer Etoo to stay any day...NOw, we gotta do somethin as well..We gotta sign Ribery now...

forgot to mention this before...TOure Yaya def. deserves a raise..He has earned it over the past 2 seasons...I doubt we woulda won everythin if Yaya wasn't there...Yaya is a rock in the midfield...If he is allowed to go, then it would be catastrophic on our quest 2 win everythin next season...Yaya should stay...He is a rock, he has amazing feet, and he has great vision to pass the ball...no defensive mid can come close to him right now...and finally, he is a true gentleman...I don't think he has ever complained in his 2 yrs at Barca...Even when he was askedto play as centerback, he didn't complain...he isa true professional...c'mon Laporta and Txiki, don't be cheap...

hey guys....been totally busy, very funny that i'm too busy to contribute after this lovely season....i still read all comments and posts though and missed u guys


had to come in to drop some word for yaya toure....

Very good and fair article Nic, well done on another great season of coverage and stimulating debate...

Regarding the player reviews, Iniesta will probably get higher as he did more in the less games he played then Messi, but for me there is absolutely NO CONTEST AT ALL. Lionel Messi is the better player 7 days of the week lol. The fact some of you even think otherwise is mind boggling, 51 games and 38 goals - that is incredible in a team which as Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto in. Dont get me wrong Iniesta is in the top 10 in the world, but for me Messi is still no1

Eto and Henry have interesting rating's, Eto scored more but Henry has higher rating. I think that is fair as Henry's influence has grown and he will always be a better player in terms of creativity and team work, but I say again, Eto SHOULD NOT LEAVE. His physical powers are immense, his team work is vital to giving Henry and Messi room to work, and he contributes goals goals goals.

Midfeild was great. Xavi's I thought would get higher simply because his assist ration was stunning but I suppose even he has had his bad games. Yaya's agent is kicking up a stink, to be honest I would just pay him more, he is the top DM in the world, a ball winner, a passer, dominant in the air in a very short Barca team (height wise), we need him its as simple as that.

Defense was good but still not complete for me. Alves - Pique - ? - Abidal will be decent enough, I feel we need another centre back as Marquez is not class enough for me, but Im sure Pep has seen what everyone can do and I think all Barca fans trust him to make his own decisions.

Lets see anyway what the summer brings, imo Barca dont need anyone, and another attacker would disrupt which is in my opinion the most balanced and lethal attack/midfeild in the world.

Very good article. However with all due respect to Nic i kindda felt that a rating of 6.55 only qualifies for a B- grade. And 7.4 is just a b+ therefore there4 disagree on the ratings given to Eto, Messi and Iniesta.
I would pass Eto for a 7.30, Messi for a 7.96 and Iniesta for a 7.85 and Henry at 7.33. Nevertheless big cheers to all fans. Hope that Eto and Toure won't be sold.

Good stuff. I like to see ratings that are not inflated. Averaging (Messi & Iniesta) over 7.5 is simply amazing.

And to continue on with the Eto'o debate. I think he was probably around the eighth best player on the squad this year. That is not a dig at Samu, simply the man didnt have one of his best years. A very solid year for a great player. 6.55 is still a good score, it just happened that some of the other players were immense.

1. Iniesta 2. Messi 3. Xavi- I think Messi is the better player and hope he gets the Balon, but I give the 08-09 season so slightly to Andres. All three had possibly the best seasons anyone could have ever.

Madrid bought Kaka. God I hope Barca doesnt get carried away buying names. One utility defender and maybe a utility attacker, thats all i want.

I want to see Hleb here again next year. But he simply cannot play on the wings. Train him in the Iniesta slot, the attacking center mid. We need another player who can play in the middle there. Without BOTH Xavi and Iniesta, are mid is lacking some bite. I think Hleb could ultimately play there.

anyway, my $.02

LINK

A Big Big mistake, we'll suffer just like Real did when they lost Makelele.

I bet Hleb earns more than he does - which is absolutely not justified. Give the man what he is worth.

@Maverick

No need to worry about Madrid buying Kaka and all the super attacking players. Their problems are not in attack but in defence. Madrid didnt have a bad season (they came second) they had a good season it's just that we - Barca - were playing extraterrestrial football.

We dont need Ribery, he wont be happy with a bench role, same as Villa and everyone else. What Laporta and Txiki need to do is prioritise sorting out the current player's contracts (e.g. Eto'o and Toure) and then convince Hleb to stay for one more seasona and find a way to motivate him.

I still believe Eidur should stay, he is versatile and can cover in midfield and attack and contributes with goals when necessary, we need players like him, hardworking, do the basics right and get the job done.

What we urgently need is cover for the wing backs with Sylvinho already gone. Injuries in those positions could expose us badly.

Up front, Bojan and Eidur are good enough cover and are content playing from the bench, also we have Pedro. With the many games coming up this season, it would be great for Pep to prioritise 3 trophies. Champions League, World Club Cup and La Liga in that order. For a club our size we need to win as many International cup competitions to build a legacy and get closer to to overtaking AC Milan and Real Madrid as the "most" succesful teams.

Copa Del Rey should strictly be for Youth Players next season, to give them the experience of playing against La Liga teams.

LINK

@The-Evil-That-Men-Do

It's the silly season. I dont believe anything until I see it on the official Barca website.

Personally, he is the wrong choice. He has no heart, no passion. And a bit wasteful too. Dont get me wrong, he has exceptional technique and great skills but is not our man, he is not the No. 9 we need. Especially for that amount of money.

Regarding Ibra and Eto'o swap I think that's just paper talk, the only thing that has me a little uneasy are the rumors of Toure leaving.

Over two seasons, Toure has been spectacular in mid-field,. He is still learning and he could be the next Viera....with even better skills.

It's absurd that he is not getting recognition.

I do think that we need a player like ribery or silva. no, if they come to barca, they cant be subs. ribery is just too good to be a sub. i love henry but he is getting older now. what if he gets injured next season?? who will cover up for him?? iniesta did a GREAT job least season but he belongs in the midfield. and I certainly do not want hleb taking his position. henry's original position isnt even a left winger so we really need a good left winger. yes, henry should still stay in barca cuz he deserves it and hes a great player but we also need someone else.

@ FCBarca88 ,

Good points overall .

Reports say that Barça have the upper hand regarding a possible move on Ribbery but Bayern officials are holding fast and sometimes talking nonesense about the value of their player .

I doubt if Barça would spend 40+ to get him but he is a great player nevertheless .

Silva who is IMO a perfect fit for Barça could be the more reasonable option financially . However there is nothing to indicate any recent Barça interest in the player .

Silva is familiar with La Liga and more importantly has gelled well with some Barça players ( Xavi and Iniesta ) while playing for Spain .

I would NOT be disappointed at all if we can sign either Ribery or Silva but I would definitely be pissed as Hell if after all the speculations we end up with some crappy overrated nobdies !!

someone stole ma name!!

anyone forgot that eto has to play in the african cup next season? i say sell him and get villa... dun be mistaken, i will take eto over any forward in the world, but the african cup is a serious liability

So Real now have Kaka, and are really close on signing CR.

This is going to be an excellent season, as i am confident as we are, we are still better than them.

I hope eto stays, swapping him for Ibra and on top spending $10 million, what a waste. I think Villa would be the only player i would accept for Eto.

And please note the Toure Yaya to Inter sounds like a bogus deal, Why would they want another DM, they already have Veira, Cambiaso and someone else, and seriously maxwell for Toure, Goal.com has to come up with stuff like that to keep people comming back.

I think we need to buy sensibily, a left and right back, a central defender, a substitute goalie, a spare creative midfeilder and an attacker.

Lots of positions to fill, but as we saw at the tail end of last season, we have a phenominal A team, but a rather ordinary B team

While Real Madrid are busy signing the likes of Kaka and Ronaldo we keep hearing rumours about mediocre/average/over the hill nobodies possibly coming to Barça and now this guy LINK

What happened to all the talk during the season about Barça's interest in some of the biggest names in European football : Villa , Ribery , Benzema , Silva, etc...etc. ?

That made me laugh out loud! Benayoun you can't be serious!?

Madrid are doing some serious business I hope the success of this season does not make Barca lazy.

We most definitely need to strengthen the squad I'm thinking cover for left back and Left wing.

I wish we can get Ribery.
I'm glad the news off Toure leaving has died down somewhat.

Oh , I almost forgot : Arshavin , Lahm , Zhirkof , Vidic, Czec , Ashley Cole , etc .

I just hope we don't throw away some serious money as we did with Caceres + Hleb + Milito (50M?) on some deadbeat unproven players who are highly regarded by nobody but us !!

these ratings are poor and seem to come as a direct mouthpiece to what the barca organization is trying to put forth in their summer agenda.

How Eto'o rates below Busquets and Henry is ridiculous.
How he rates equal to Valdes is an insult.

It seems all the players with a question mark to their Barca future were given lower ratings in order to self-justify their departure.

I am continuously amazed how Eto'o keeps getting disrespected for his value despite the massive amounts of goals and impact he has had on the club. just look at Barca's win-loss record with Eto'o on the field. Le'ts hope Barca is not foolish enough to let him go. you don't replace one of the worlds top 3 strikers who helped you win all 3 titles, while scoring many crucuial goals. Unlike Forlan, he didn't pat his goals tally by taking 10+ PK's

Alves' rating is another folly. He was too inconsistent all year long, took way too many free kicks with zero result, feigned injury waay too much and at times was a liability at the back. He had a solid season, but nothing outstanding.

The matter of iniesta vs messi is also seemingly based on one game. Messi's impact over the entire season was of a greater value than iniesta's.

I always thought that this website was a strong independent voice for all Barca fans and not a mere mouthpiece for the organizations propaganda.

@ Pete

"a mere mouthpiece for the organizations propaganda"
I'm sorry mate, but you are way off the mark. I am quite simply a fan of Barça who began this blog as a hobby.
As for the ratings: they are an average taken over the entire season. I give each player a mark after each game and whether you agree or not with what I decide, it is based on a purely objective decision. I have no agenda for any player (if I did I can assure you I would have Eto'o with a higher rating than Henry).
Is this blog "a strong independent voice for all Barca fans"? Well, I don't know, I write my articles and usually make very few comments in the comments section to allow a free and open debate. In my first year doing the blog I would occasionally delete or edit a comment if I felt it was offensive but I haven't needed to delete or edit anything - besides spammers - in the last few months.

Nic

I welcome your comments as have you mine. But I do find it strange that you would rate busquets higher than Eto'o who was the at the top of the scoring tables for most of the year until Forlan started scoring penalties.

The same Eto'o who knocked in the winning goal vs Real in the first meeting. The same Eto'o who scored the first goal in the CL final after just 10 minutes. The same player who managed to stay healthy all year long and was a constant threat in front of the goal.

To rate him with such a score seems more like a subconscious effort to minimize his impact and legitimize the absurdity of him being offloaded by the team.

From any rational perspective, Eto'o is a player Barca can ill afford to lose...but yet here we are. As I said, I can expect the organization to try and rationalize their reasons for shipping him off, But what I expected from this site was an honest assessment of player rankings, and when i see the teams leading scorer, and 2n'd in the league on the trading block with surprisingly lower ratings than the likes of busquets, valdes and henri, then I do question the reasoning behind the ratings.

After going through all the postings, i would like to point out few things which happens when a team wins all in one particular season and then they feel they shud offload few in the process they forget that they have left those players who gave 100%,lets not leave Toure,Eto.
All the best for Barca to do the treble again.