Time For My Christmas Break

Merry xmas to you & your family Nic - enjoy your time off mate, great work with the blog, keep it up.

My dreams will be that Barca do the treble this season....one game at a time I know but it's hard not getting excited at the moment!

Have a great xmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone..

Merry Christmas everyone! And Nic, have a good vacation, but I have no idea why would you want to leave Barcelona for London.

S@#w u adam

Merry Xmas and happy new year to you nic and everybody here once more

Blaugrana Namibia, Adam should be saying that not you

@ blaugrana_namibia, That wasn't funny, but oh yeah

Layi and Blaugranaboy

No, you heard me right ... I want another centerback and I am not crazy!

1)You guys are nuts to believe that we will see the Milito we saw last year anytime soon. After one year of injury it is hard to think that we can just go back to where he was: not gonna happen, especially with a knee.

2) Marques is proned to injury as we saw last week. I do not need to comment any further on it. It is very obvious that his days as a top flight player are numbered.

3) Caceres is not really a center back. He really is a right/left back. He lacks size and is much more of a Franco Baresi wannabe than pure sang Roger Mendy. I have to admit I like the guy very much but I do not see him holding down Barca in the middle in a Champions´ league final (any takers?)

4) Pique has been great so far! besides a couple of mistakes I am very happy with his displays this season.

5) That only leaves me with Puyol...a beast through and through!!!

6) Enrique would have never been loaned out if he were that ¨fantastic¨ to start with.

The combination in the middle of the defense is i think our possible undoing. I am sure you will cite me the fact that so far we´ve had the best defense in te league, so on and so forth...I agree but I am being forward looking and as we move into the secong half of the season...i am honestly tempted to ¨doubt¨ our ability to be consistent in the middle of the defense.

diatus valid points i agree

hey adam thats a real looking knock off jersey, no pun intended

diatus:
your points are so so so so so so comical
-first of all , you lis t the worst case scenario: milito coming back and not being good enough, marquez getting injured henrique not up to it, caceres also not up to it. even the team with the best defence of all time can have worst case scenario, tell me anyteam in the world now who you think have good defensive depth and i can tell you their worst case scenario, this is not fantasy manager, if we buy another center back and milito comes back and becomes a rock and marquez also dosent get injured(i'll get to that later), then what, we have player managing issues

-then, u have invalid points also, caceres is really a center back and has only ever played left back a couple of times, his siza is exactly like puyol, so if piyol can cut it with that size, he too can.....henrique was loaned out because of????? answer- tooo toooo much center backs, no matter how good he was, there just isn't any space....and it would do you well to check henrique's performances for leverkusen, he has played all their matches and has been a rock, they just 3 points below the leaderz,
- pique has showed serious potential and will definitely be around,he's not even getting enough games yet
- what from last week shows that marquez is injury prone, am i missing something, any player can get injured, how many times has he gotten injured
-milito can definitely come back from the injury cos he has done it before
-hell, even abidal can play centerback if there's a total emergency

all in all, i dont understand your thinking path at all cos caceres and pique hustle for any game they can get(they could have serious potential that we've not had a chance to see), milito's about coming back and we also have a really excellent potential out on loan(i love also the fact that he's tall unlike milito, puyol n co) and you still want another defence signing....the only section that we are overloaded
i dont know anyteam that has more centerbacks than barca

@ layi
henrique was loaned out because of too much centerbacks???
BULLSHIT

Great teams of the past worldwide were either defensive-oriented or offensive-oriented . A perfect, well- balanced team that is strong both defensively and offensively is a myth. Even the great teams of the past had their shortcomings. Brazil's great WC team of 1970 may have been the greatest of all time offensively but defensively sucked. Italians excelled defensively but were clueless about offense. In defense of this Barça team, I have to admit that it is offensively very good especially with the return of Iniesta. It would be even better if we can sign a legitimate natural left winger. The defense is ok at best . It has its limitations. It is NOT great by any stretch of the imagination. The middle of the defense is not settled yet. Alves is more of a right winger than a right back.Abidal doe NOT belong . Valdes is Valdes. So realistically, we can not expect Barça to be an all-round solid club. When people think of Barça, they often think of offense. I think no matter how much the defense improves it will never be compared to the offense. Personally, I would rather watch anattractive , offensive minded club than a boring and defensive minded club. Barça will probably face one of the latter at some stage of the CL ties !!

good point raised there FCB-Holland. you can't have everything! i've been in love with barca for 10 yrs now and in those 10 yrs, barca never did have a defence line to boast. at best, it was just OK.

so after all these years i just thought, if barca ever had the best defence ever, it would not be barca because the club's football identity has been moulded by the way it plays beautiful attacking football.

we just defend by attacking. and i'd rather that than being an italy.

barçelonista,
Well put. Barça style = offense = attractive football . Unfortunately, some Euro giants wannabes prefer to play defensive, boring and unattravtive football !! I know what I would rather watch !!

blaug-namib:
i hardly ever argue witchu cos i knw we definitely on different pages

FCB-Holland:
you're right about your point but thats not the argument, i just disagreed with diatus who said we need another center back, i feel that position is the most overloaded in our team

@Layi,

So, you see I am not the only comical one on here. Remember, my friend, every single point I have made is based on observation and actual fact.

1-Caceres is not a natural centerback (get your facts right). He played right back in many games at Huelva.

2-I am sure Milito will recover to a certain extend but it is not going to happen overnight. A torn lateral minicus is no joke (fact). Fluid build up ALWAYS occurs and the pain after every game will, at best, make him an irregular.

3-I am just DAMN right about henrique...not even going to push it any further.

4-You still haven´t told me which part of my observation about Marquez is not accurate...(the injuries or the age!!!?)

5- I am left with one solid centerback (Puyol) and Pique...and I am happy with Pique as I said.

Weither you like it or NOT, we are thin in the middle and to compete in the Liga, Champions league and the Copa Del Rey, we need another centerback. There´s absolutely nothing comical about that! Please step back and consider my points with objectivity. This is not a worst case scenario I have outlined here. This is reality and we MUST acquire a new centerback.

On ¨Unrelated¨David Villa News,

It was stupid to even make that offer to Valencia. It was simple politics to push Etoó to sign a new contract and I find it to be absolute rubbish. David Villa is no Samuel Etoo and David Villa will never be a Samuel Etoo sorry to break it to Txikki (or however the hell you spell his name). It is ridiculous to think that strickers are just interchangeable...it pisses me off and speaks loudly about what might be going on behind the scenes. If the offer to buy was made, then Pep must have agreed to it. Well, here it was rejected, in a rather humiliating fashion and Etoo is still here. has he stopped counting on him? or maybe it is Henry?

i don't even know what to say again, we just-so-so-not-think alike in that aspect which is possible ......i still dont agree with any of your points
but we can only wait and see(which i feel barca wont buy another center back in another 2 yrs apart from maybe a hot prospect)

about villa, i really doubt that story so i'm not commenting

@layi

oh 1 more thing how do you watch la liga in nigeria heard supersport doesn't cover it there??

diatus: please give it a proper read as i did yours, its a proper rebutall

seriously man, i cannot agree with you at all. i really do not see how ur brain even told u to worry about our number of center backs. please name ANY other top flight team with anywhere close to the number of natural center backs at their disposal? united (rio, vidic, evans, brown), liverpool (agger, skrtel, carra, hypiia), chelsea (terry, carvalho, alex, ivanovic), arsenal (gallas, kolo, silvestre, djorou (note the useless last two and the fact they loaned out senderos), ac milan (maldini, nesta, kaladze, senderos), juventus (chiellini, andrade, melburg), inter (cordoba, chivu, samuel, materazzi, and some other makeshifts like burdisso).

so besides inter (who have a super exaggerated squad), every other top team in europe has about 4 central defenders for 2 spots, and the majority have a pairing that play almost exclusively: terry-carvalho, rio-vidic, gallas-kolo, chiellini-melburg. now barca:

1. marquez
2. puyol
3. pique
4. caceres
5. milito
6. (henrique). (with an h)

any one of the top 5 would start at most clubs in europe. next year we may have 6 players competing for 2 spots. thats just plain poor squad management, poor salary distribution, and just totally unrealistic.

puyol has about 2 years more in that spot, marquez being injury prone is so irrational (how can u site one injury as proof) to my memory he has been no woodgate, ledley king, or metzelder, and he has been for sure the best with puyol so he has 2 more good yrs if his body holds (which many defenders do manage to have late careers), and caceres has said in an interview his favorite position is center back (FACT), source: LINK quote:
You're as good with both legs?
"I'm right footed but I don't have problems to use my left foot. The latter is not fabulous but I can use it properly. I can play everywhere but I'm feeling most comfortable as central defender."

to continue:

henrique was NOT loaned as he was thought to be a poor player. guardiola BOUGHT him, it was a personal signing, the last one if i remember. and have we not all acknowledged guardiola knows what he is doing and just doesnt sign recklessly, right? (like a certain merengue club) he didnt sign this guy, then say, oh he is actually really bad, and let him go. pep is now notoriously maticulous, he must have watched lots of tape and know what he was signing. hebrique was surplus to requirement this season, is young, and the club said he was loaned to give him european experience. and layibi is right, his size is a real plus. if u believe otherwise then u dont believe in pep's wisdom and judgement.

and milito, really he is only 25 or so, and u cannot say u know he is not going to recover. he has been out a LONG time recovering and u dont know, as i dont know, as he doesnt know, or the doctors dont know how WITH CERTAINTY if his injury will plague him later in life. he may be fine, maybe not, but that does not mean we have to sign another center back just in case his injury comes out again in another 10 months.

pique, agreed, he has been great, young, strong, no issues.

so we have marquez and puyol who have another 2 yrs at least physically of about 30 games a year, pique, caceres, who prefers center back (and where pep has used him more, even so when he moved puyol to RB and put caceres in CB for one game), milito (youngish and maybe healthy), henrique (a promising defender with 1 yr top flight experience). thats 6 potentially top flight defenders looking to get into 2 spots, 2 spots that need and almost always have LITTLE rotation. not to mention abidal can be called there if needed.

so really, another center back is just ludicrous. not this year, maybe in 2 years or so or if caceres or henrique dont work out. barca should really concentrate in any other area, in particular the one we all know, that left sided forward role.

layibiyi ,
I was NOT arguing with you at all, I was simply making an entirely different point regarding offense and defense in general . Nevertheless, I am NOT really convinced that we have a good defense at all . It is ok but not great !!

blaugranaboy ,
I am sure you are joking about using Abidal as CD . He will be exposed there even more. He will definitely screw up somehow then try to recover by making a bonehead decision as fouling or hacking somebody down inside the penalty area. If a player sucks in his natural position he will suck even more if moved to another position . I still think that the best position for Abidal is on the bench !!

so caceres is not a left back but a center back so that makes it
4 out and out CB puyol,marquez,pique,caceres,

that makes a huge width problem RB is JUST alves and LB is just abidal (if you consider sylvinho a left back take a nap and get back to me) wecant keep putting puyol in wide positions, we need a left back and that is belhadj from portsmouth,

@Layi and Blau,

Ok guys, we usuallyagree but I think that we will simply agree to disagree on this one. I have provided arguments to which you have counterclaimed. I will not further push this issue and I have noted this exchange and to my knowledge will shall ALL see this season to its end.

My ´´brain´´ told me to worry about this after carefully observing our squad. My hope is that I am dead wrong but maybe you are. My only hope is that we win everything we can with what we have. I, however, seriously doubt that we have the two spots fully covered.

Blau, Thanks for the ¨H¨ in Henrique´s name. but to ´´cite´´ something is spelled with a ´´c´´ not an ´´s´´...I hate it when people get hang up on spelling. Afterall, who on here holds a PHD in English or spelling for that matter.

fcb holland:
thanks for the useless comment. i was saying that if all our 6 center backs are injured then abidal can be put there if we are desperate, very desperate. and u obviously havent been getting the online links to work because abidal has been amazing his last few games since back from injury, and has been pretty good this season.

diatus:
poor response bud. i gave u a real proper counter to ur claim and u came up with nothing. how can u not admit that european top clubs have at most 4 players in the CB slots. u gave no proper counter claim at all. i think ur just not giving in stubborness more than anything. u really dont think that this yr or next year having marque-puyol to start, or milito-puyol, then if one is injured pique, and if 2 are injured caceres, and if 3 are injured henrique, that really isnt sufficient cover? if u dont think so then wow, u really want an indepth squad and i dont care to hear anymore. anyhow man, i was not giving u shit about henrique. its just that enrique is a name, and henrique is his name. they are two seperate things.

and site man? come on, really padantic. misspelling when typign something fast is not the same as not knowning the proper spelling or a player. maybe u did know and made a mistake i dont know, was just pointing it out, not trying to patronize u.

blaugranaboy:
Instead of attacking anyone who dares to disagree with you , why don't you try to have an open mind and accept others' opinions out of courtesy and respect instead of refering to them as "useless" ? You obviously think very highly of Abidal but I don't . I'm sure most of the people are of the opinion that he is NOT a Barça despite his form as of late .

I meant to say " Barça quality " !!

Guys, lets keep it kinda cool here. Discussion is great but lets not go personal with some stuff. We all have different opinions, that's what makes the world so interesting. Debate is good but lets keep it cool, calm, and collected.

Enjoy the festive season

@blaugrana namibia:
hitv shows almost all the laliga matches in nigeria
u have a problem with the depth of full-backs which i also have but we arguin about the center defence

@blaugranaboy:
it should be noted that everybody can never have the same views so there is no need to force the issue....like diatus said, 3 of us agree a lot on issues but its still possible we go south on this and diatus goes north, no hard feelings.
though sometimes, i feel guys here need to read the whole comments and reply appropriately and directly to the issue not just a fraction of it but thats still understandable..... so all in all, just cool off(heck, its xmas period)
also, milito is 28 (which by no means implies that i disagree witchu)

@fcb-holland:
i know u were talking about another topic
i also possibly think that why u aint impressed with the defence is because of the quality but the argument is more about quantity, besides like u agreed in one of ur previous comments, we cant hav all d people we want
and i'm sure blaugranaboy dosent think highly of abidal but he's been aight as a fullback. d argument is abt center backs and abidal would only be drafted if there are 5 center-backs injured

@diatus
good you noted the exchange
just another link for you: LINK
an expert thinkin we need to loan one of our center-backs out
but let me ask u something
is your argument about quality or quantity?

fcbholland:
look man, if u are also the rotterdam dude (which i suspect from ur commentary style) i have little time for u. but seriously, without getting upset try to understand my commment. ur comment was like "oh no, u cant put abidal at as a CB, he will be exposed there even more, blah blah, he sucks". I SAID NOTHING OF THE SORT. i said if one of our other SIX (count SIX SIX SIX SIX) center backs all happen to be injured simultaneously then abdial can be used there in dire circumstances. i didnt say i want abidal to be a CB. i am saying that he does know how to play there and can fill in the position if need be. he is still 7th choice center back. better to put him there if all our other CB are injured then to use a make shift CB from a midfielder or so.

im not talking about his quality in center back, just his knowledge to play there. understand? try and read the comments more slowly or something because ur missing the point. i only said ur comment was useless because u went on about his quality when all i said in my post was a BREIF comment that he can be used there if the situation of 5 or 6 others are all out injured.

and about abidal, he has been excellent his past few games when back from injury, with maybe a few poor moments vs madrid, but overall really impressive! i thought he was horrible last year too, but does not mean i have to stick to that, he has really improved and anyone who watches will confirm. and as i recall u dont watch that many live games as u are always asking for tvlinks that never work, so commenting on players because of previous years form or personal opinions is really very baseless.

and how can ANYONE comment on our defensive quality this year? conceeded 10 goals in 16 liga games. CL something as impressive. for once the barca defense is looking as good as the attack.

layibi: thanks bud, and i agree many people dont read the full comment and allow it to reflect on their opinions.

blaugranaboy:
I am NOT going to waste any more of my time arguing with you . Being paranoid and stubborn is counter-productive for any debate !!

@Layi

Finally, you ask the right question on the issue. I am talking about quality not quantity. I appreciate your cool headedness and FCB Holland´s. I just don´t think that anybody has ever convinced Blaugranaboy on this forum since he is always right it seems. I decided not to get into a long drawn out and never ending argument since we all have a right to our own views. Anyhow, I am glad we are reading the comments well before responding and it is okay to disagree without being disagreeable. But at the end of the day, I was simply talking about quality in those 2 spots not quantity and I am glad to suspect your insightfullness.

@FCB Holland

You´re right mate, we need to chill and be civil.

@Blaugranaboy

I am not mad at you...my man but I think that you should be less forceful in your manner of interacting with people. Sometimes you are right on some points, emphasis on some, but your belligerant tone makes you come across as the one with the deficient argument.

But when it´s all said and done, I am glad I was able to keep this flowing for a few days at least while Nic is throwing down some Thurron, Jamon and Langostinos!!!
Dude, we, as an audience, have decided to cut your vacation short or we will cut your pay. Hurry, Hurry come back mate. Give us a story about The David Villa offer, if you have one to give on that or the comic strip I saw yesterday in ´´sport´´ in which Messi is wishing everyone a Merry Xmas from the post he ´´fed´´ to Cannavaro. And where´s all this misplaced optimism coming from. RM and there mouthpieces (Marca and AS) have been putting a different player on the cover pretty much everyday with grandiose declarations like ¨RM will win the Liga this year¨ or Robben saying ¨RM will win every game in January¨. These people must be drinking too much Sangria.

@Layi

Finally, you ask the right question on the issue. I am talking about quality not quantity. I appreciate your cool headedness and FCB Holland´s. I just don´t think that anybody has ever convinced Blaugranaboy on this forum since he is always right it seems. I decided not to get into a long drawn out and never ending argument since we all have a right to our own views. Anyhow, I am glad we are reading the comments well before responding and it is okay to disagree without being disagreeable. But at the end of the day, I was simply talking about quality in those 2 spots not quantity and I am glad to suspect your insightfullness.

@FCB Holland

You´re right mate, we need to chill and be civil.

@Blaugranaboy

I am not mad at you...my man but I think that you should be less forceful in your manner of interacting with people. Sometimes you are right on some points, emphasis on some, but your belligerant tone makes you come across as the one with the deficient argument.

But when it´s all said and done, I am glad I was able to keep this flowing for a few days at least while Nic is throwing down some Thurron, Jamon and Langostinos!!!
Dude, we, as an audience, have decided to cut your vacation short or we will cut your pay. Hurry, Hurry come back mate. Give us a story about The David Villa offer, if you have one to give on that or the comic strip I saw yesterday in ´´sport´´ in which Messi is wishing everyone a Merry Xmas from the post he ´´fed´´ to Cannavaro. And where´s all this misplaced optimism coming from. RM and there mouthpieces (Marca and AS) have been putting a different player on the cover pretty much everyday with grandiose declarations like ¨RM will win the Liga this year¨ or Robben saying ¨RM will win every game in January¨. These people must be drinking too much Sangria.

Diatus /layibiy :
We are on the same side; an open-minded, constructive and civil debate is the way to go !!

Diatus;
I was also perplexed at the latest Madrid's bizarre campaign of empty promises . It seems to me that they are just trying to blow some smoke screen to distract from a major crisis !!

In all seriousness how one can call Abidal "horrible" this season is crazy to me I can only come to the conclusion that you have not been watching the majority of games this season.

Sure the second half of last season Abidal was extremely poor and looked like he did not belong and maybe you have a case in the first few games of this season but you are either straight ignorant or blind if you are not willing to admit Abidal has improved for the better.

Before his injury occurred this season he was playing at a high level and there was significant improvement.

I feared when he got injured that is might have an effect on him but he proved me wrong on his return game to Valencia I also want to point out Puyol did an excellent job of replacing him who we all know is not a natural LB.

It just seems hating on Abidal is the popular thing to do.
Sure in the attacking department he is no Maicon and Dani Alves but do we really need that with our offense?

Just revisit some of the games like Valencia where he had Jaquin in his pocket and made him look very average there have been plenty of games where he has shone.

I just can't understand how one can say he has been awful maybe we are not watching the same team play?
It just does not make sense to me.

Also regarding the lack of defenders:
Really I'm I reading that correctly? That's not even worth a response.

boys...we are doing great as a whole...this forum seems to be suceeding as much as the team we ALL follow TOGETHER!

ahha blaugranaboy...mate although you have some decent points, you are mental...chillout alright! DISCUSSION...not 'my opinion is the only one'...

nic, hope the holidays are treatin ya well...get us a post when you can...seems cabin-fever is affecting some more than others!

hope you are all taking advantage of the silly season as much as i am!

x

boys...we are doing great as a whole...this forum seems to be suceeding as much as the team we ALL follow TOGETHER!

ahha blaugranaboy...mate although you have some decent points, you are mental...chillout alright! DISCUSSION...not 'my opinion is the only one'...

nic, hope the holidays are treatin ya well...get us a post when you can...seems cabin-fever is affecting some more than others!

hope you are all taking advantage of the silly season as much as i am!

x

u guys are so sensitive. honestly, i was hardly rude or foreceful, not with u diatus. that other dude is a totally different story. it annoys me when people make comments in the totally wrong direction. i was talking about apples and got a commentary on oranges. that just irritates me.

and i dont always think im right, but i only can appreciate and consider logical and reasonable claims. if some people think henry is good, fine, ill accept their view and personally disagree. but come on diatus, u saying there are too little center backs is pure madness. but i see now ur discussion was more based on quality. if thats true, it really did not sound like that at first as both i and layibi didnt catch that. but ok. if u really also think we lack quality in our 6 center backs (aside from henrique who i cant comment on fairly), id have to disagree with u too. puyol is worldclass, marquez showing similar form, pique a great and exciting prospect performing already well, milito isnt my favorite but he is strong and tough like a real argie, and caceres has looked promising in glimpses. anyhow, if u really think those guys arent great options any manager would dream off in center back, then thats ur opinion to have, but i would disgree with it.

but really, u cannot say i was out of line disagreeing with the NUMBER of center backs, be honest man?

btw: thanks "the evil men do" for backing up both my abidal claims and defenders argument. guess at least one person agrees with me.

Wow....way to get into the Christmas spirit guys!!

Im not sure why everybody is arguing.....i mean really there is absolutely no reason to argue. We are 10 points clear at the top and we just beat the top four teams in a row. I mean really lets all just be happy.

As for the argument that our defense lacks either quantity or quality well we have the best defense in the league and the second best defense in Europe. We just played the 4 best teams in the league and we only conceded a single goal. How is this even an issue?? If anything we need a left back as backup for Abidal (I would suggest Belhadj) and a left winger. We certainly do not need anymore central defenders.

Oh and why do ppl still hate on Abidal? Surely he has proven himself worthy to wear the shirt. Prior to his injury he was rock solid and even after his injury he looked very good. Against Villareal when we went down to 10 he was our most solid player at the back. Sure he makes mistakes here and there but so does every defender in the world. He doesnt make enough of them that he is a liability.

Now to a more serious issue.....Blaugranaboy.....tell me Henry has started to grow on you a little? Just a little

@diatus
ok, u should have made your point clearer when we were off-topic...this makes more sense as it is a question of objectivity(how you feel about each player), this can well vary from person to person
i agree we might not have the best defenders in the world but some of them are top class, the best defenders are about a handful and we cant always have everybody we want. so from the performances of our defenders this season, i'm very very happy and proud of this set so i'm still with blaugranaboy on this one though i understand perfectly u hav a different view
thinkin u were arguin about quantity was really funny

hilal:
even if we won everything available, there still always be arguments, thats d way it is

dont mind the shallow-minded madrid players, it show increasing levels of desperacy on their parts, presently out of champions league slots and everyday one player comes out to shout we gonna win the league, sounds like a comic soap.

by the way, why do the yaya toure rumours to that barca-wannabe-club keep coming up, only a player out of his mind would make that switch in these conditions, he can go play with his brother after he has hopefully won all the trophies possible

heard the players are resuming training on tuesday or so, i so cant wait

Before the season started during talk of Ronaldinho, Deco etc leaving I said to my boy: the biggest mistake Barca could do is to to let Eto'o and Toure leave who I believe are are both the best in their positions.

The most consistent players last season were Iniesta, Toure and Messi (whenever he played i.e not injured)

Guadiola when appointed had to obviously watch last seasons games to see the stand out players so why did he favor Busquets and Keita over Toure in the beginning of this season?

I'm glad he's a regular now but Guadiola needs to stop repeating the mistake of choosing Busquets over Toure.

thats guardiola's style and it has certainly worked
even though i love toure and would like to see him in every game, guardiola understands the various reasons for the rotations

lol. It's been a while since there last was a proper mix-it-up on this blog. Hilal's right: everyone should be smiling. MADRID IS BLEEDING.

And, The evil that men do makes a return! I thought you had gone MIA, like Winterhunt. Good to see you're still around.

Belated Feliz Navidad to everyone. Enjoy New Year's!

Guys,

I thought my point was very clear from the start. If one just looks at the way I went down the list player by player then one can obviously see that I am not counting (quantity) but arguing for or against each (quality). You´ve got to be kiddng me. Anyone, who actually took the time to think about what I am staying can see my point. That is the reason why I was a bit perplexed by Blaugrana´s response since he based his whole counterclaim on numbers.

Look, we have good players in the spot but one can´t deny that from a quality stand point we are a bit lacking in the back. I see our performance so far as being one of pure genuis that we have not allowed more goals (granted, Valdes has been fantastic so far). Our defensive deficiencies are masked by the fact that we probably have the best midfield in the world and play has been centered there the first half of the season. The fundamental question I am asking is the followng: can our centerbacks hold their ground throughout the rest of all campaigns should we ever be on the receiving end of another team´s ofensive run? That is a fair question!

Abidal has had a good run of form and I think that we should all cut him a slack and to come to Blaugrana´s defense, he was not suggesting that the lad is a centerback but simply offering a solution should a worst case scenario present itself. And Blaugrana, you are my ¨evil¨ twin so don´t worry about it bro, no matter how crazy you get, you´re still family at the end of the day. Finally both you and Layi are still wrong on the quality of our centerbacks and time will tell.
On caceres, he is a left/right back not a centerback. There´s a saying that goes ¨all donkeys dream of being horses¨. Just because he says that his favorite position to play is the centerback spot does not make him one and Pep knows that.

@everyone

Regarding the CB situation. Do I think we need another CB? Personally, no. I think like blaugranaboy and others suggested we have 5 CB's who I would rate as either 8 or 9 out of ten. There are very few CB's that I would say would IMPROVE our defendive line. Would for example Rio Ferdinand be one? Of course. Would William Gallas be one? No. As Gallas is a Puyol type who is a great all rounder and would do nothing to improve the team. Therefore I think I know where Diatus is coming from, I just think there are hardly any DC's to buy that would improve our team, and no top team in the world would let their CB's go to be honest.

As for Abidal, BEFORE he got injured he was improving. He, like Henry and Alves and Marques, was droped for a few games. And ever since all three have been excellent and Abidal is no exception. Everyone has their opinion of course but I think Abidal has been very good since his return and long may it continue to be honest.

And one last thing, its christmas holidays!! Even if you dont celebrate it, enjoy the holiday and spread some good will not argue on here

Hope you all have a great holidays anyway (yes even that Rotterdam dude who talks nonsense !

Titi186

Titi186:
You were doing great until the end . Why take a cheap shot at someone just because you disagree with him? What kind of a Christmas spirit is this?

@FCB Holland

That´s hilarious! yeah Titi is hating on that one!

@Titi186

I think your response regarding the CB issues, however short it might be, has been the best one I have read so far. You managed to make me see another side of the argument in just a few lines. I respect the point you made about availability but to follow your logic would imply that ALL great CB in today´s football are unavailable. The intrinsic argument in your assertion being that this new signing has to be a big name defender like Ferdinand. This is the part where I disagree with you. I am convinced that there are many a great CB out there who would gladly play for Barcelona for dirt cheap. again, I remain convinced that we should look for this type of player during this winter transfer window.

Diatus:
I agree with you that quality players can be found without paying too much for them. They may not be big names but they are there. There is room for improvement on several positions on the club especially on defence . With the exception of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Toure, Eto'o and Alves EVERYBODY ELSE on the team can be replaced with a better player !! This is a long year and with Barça still a factor in three different competitions , we have to be sure that we have enough " quality " players to step in in case of injuries to key players.

Anyway, I think you are right FCB-Holland.Although, we have to recognize that the other side of this argument has also made strong cases but we shall see.

Hey Can anyone tell me why were Etoo´ and Messi allowed to return to traning only the day before te Mallorca game. Maybe they will be rested for Atletico Madrid the following Tuesday.Interesting!

I am in madrid but the wife won´t let me stay to see Atletico get another beating. I am coming home on the 1st unfortunately.

i wonder which defenders you can find for cheap that are surely better than our guys....that will surely be a gamble and i dont see any difference btw that and what we did for caceres and henrique

if we are complaining about our defence quality, i wonder what the teams with the so-called better defenders are feeling because we are certainly the most on-form team

Good point!

barca news:

- heard we are interested i gervinho, i also love that guy but we cant just have everybody they should allow us to have 2 teams cos other teams can just be so boring

- what xavi had to say about messi
"It is clear that Messi is on a level above all others. Those who do not see that are blind."

- also, marquez is to sign a new contract extension till 2014 in the coming days, so guess he's here for the long term, i was thinkin he'll just be around for 2/3 years, anyways it keeps him happy and committed to the cause

Thanks "blaugranafan" for the shout out I don't post often but I always head over here after the games to hear y'all thoughts.

yaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

screw this iam creating my own blog, no writing expertise or any experience

nice to see the discuss carried on a while further. nice to see my boy hilal back and being on the same page as me, and for the record, i back abidal now and thought he has been almost perfect for quite a few games. short of getting evra or clichy to replace him, im happy. and on the henry issue, im really not hilal, lol. slightly but overall i still dont see him anywhere near good enough despite his effort. effort only gets u so far. anyhow, dont want to get into that now

i still totally disagree about the quality of CB issue, we really cannot do any better than now. i dont want to be a chelsea and waste great players like alex just for the sake of depth. it makes me sick.

otherwise, titi, i love that jab u took, it was so needed.

Dude, the Jab was needed to do what?....you are fucking retarded Blaugranaboy!!!! Now you are really starting tick me off...you are such a fucking fool to think that yours is the only one that matters. Laud those who agree with you and berrrate others...fuck off dude!!!!

Diatus you looking real emotional right now, are you on you're period?

and in the blue corner..........

there so many coaches here, i am not even worried about the future of futball

am i missing something.....why the sudden explosion

how ironic its when we are on fire, that we have some major disagreements here , thats really dulling my festive mood, 2 of my buddies on collision course, u guys should try not to get frustrated and angry on the internet especially this barca blog,

y'all just cool it off

He is a piece of shit and I don´t really care for any of it right now...neither do I care what anyone thinks of it.I am sick and tired of ONE person trying to dictate to the rest of the world. I have created and encouraged civil debate with sound, reasonable and respectful ideas. This guy is a piece of shit and contributes nothing but idioties and uses every occasion to insult others...Enough IS ENOUGH!!! fucck him and if I am out of line well, it is just too damn bad!!!

@ Hilal

lol dude, I think Henry will grow on blaugranaboy dont worry. He has played as good as anyone lately, he will get there. I think next christmas we will buy him a Henry 14 shirt!! But shhhh! Dont tell him

Regarding the CB issue. Im not saying that there isnt QUALITY CB's outhere for cheap, but we are half way through the season. If we were going to improve on our CB's we would need someone who is (1) proven in the Champions League which would make them cup tied since 95% of world class CB's play in champions league clubs. (2) They would need to be ready made to be better then Puyol and Marques/Pique. If Barca was do pluck someone from say eastern europe, they need time to settle etc, which I dont think Barca can afford at the minute.

To be honest, short of spending 25m+ on a CB such as Ferdinand, Terry, etc, then its too gid a sum of money to spend on a position which the team doesnt seem to need at the minute. Barca's defence is never going to be 10/10 or even 9/10, however Barca have in my opininon one of the top 5 DM's in the world in Toure Yaya so he makes the centre secure. Thanks to Pep and his work eithic, Henry runs his ass back now, Messi will always track back and Xavi has natural defensive attributes, so I think as a team Barca are very balanced for the minute.

Lets see what the new year brings!! And you guys calm down lol we are only talking about Barca's defense, hardly something to argue about

Peace

hahahahahahahahahahah my kinda blog naw

wow, diatus. that really came out of nowhere. what u getting so upset about? u probably dont even know what jab i was talking about? i doubt if anyone knew for sure. i was just referring to when he said "merry xmas to all (even fcb holland, who talks a lot of nonsense". look, i genuinely found that funny and laughed out loud. it was just a really funny and subtle way of putting out an opinion. seriously, i hope that wasnt what got u to lose it. cuase we really cannot be so sensitive and i wont apologise for it. becaues im sorry i really do think he talks a load of nonsene. u even came to my aid with the abidal thing becaues u know he was totally off topic. its not like my "useless" comment thing was so harsh, honestly, give me a break. that was the first time ive ever been hostile (if u can call it that) to mr holland aka rotterdam.

so really, that was quite rash and immature of u then man. i dont see what u go to upset about. my last comment was not preachy at all, i barely said anything at all, and u fly off the handle. hopefully u just took something in the wrong sense. honestly man i dont need a virtual friend or so, but i thought we were having a normal debate and then u just went crazy on it. maybe u are upset ur central defender theory didnt go down as well as ud like, but that isnt any reason to go from calling me ur "family" to that ridiculous outburst. anyhow, do what u will with that.

titi, thanks for the early xmas present suprise, but i suggest u keep the price tag on the shirt when u sent it over.

i didnt mean to put that smiley face at the beginning, computer glitch. not making light of anything.

@ war of words:
This is NOT the first time (and it won't be the last time ) that "blaugranaboy" has rubbed somebody the wrong way. I find his views narrow minded and self-centered. He will not hesitate to resort to personal attacks if his bizarre and twisted logic fails to persuade you . I think posters should be grateful not to be debating that guy in person. I can visualize profanity- laden rants and pieces of furniture tossed in your direction. I'm with Diatus here. Somebody has to say something to stop this guy in his place. Perhaps he should learn to be courteous, civil and respectful to other people's opinions . In other words; stop being a dickhead !! I'm absolutely positive that the guy will be even more abrasive and will NOT admit to any wrongdoings . In that case, F@#$ him !!

@Balugranaboy
If a called you ¨family¨ and you think that it´s meant litteraly then there is my point. That is called sarcasm you fuckHEAD!!!
you were the one who requested that I´d be your friend on my profile you fool. Ok, I am done talking to you...you´re just socially challenged and I do not have time for your ridiculous behaviour. Most might have missed what got to me but I didn´t...and you know you´re childish for being this way!!!

Hey nic have a great holiday and best wishes for the new year!!!

wow diatus u gone totally crazy man. im honestly astounded and your level of childishness and stupidity right now. how can u be upset at me for telling titi i enjoyed his little comment? why not be upset at him for making it? u must have some physiological issues or something or otherwise something bad happened to u in ur personal life and ur acting irrationally now. u honestly are sounding like a fool and everyone can see it. u blew up for no reason what so ever. i never once insulted u at all and besides ur buddy there from rotterdam (whose comments i dont even read), everyone will attest to that. in fact i didnt directly insult anyone besides calling one comment "useless". ur the only one stooping to such low levels.

i have not in any way acted once childish or ridiculous. u really are just upset about the defender argument that u so utterly lost. u say i preach and think that only i am right, but all i did was put a counter argument to urs. first i thought u were talking quantity, and argued against fairly. fine, then u said it was quality, and i said i also didnt agree with that. its not like i said u were stupid or wrong for thinking the quality lacked. that is subjective enough for me to let u think what u please. basically i think u put forward a comment then changed the subject when u realized it didnt go down well. either way, if u meant quality or quantity of defenders, there has been not one other person here who agreed with u on either.

but really, im giving u a chance now to tell me why u have gone so mad? please cite me one decent reason, one comment or set of words i put against u that were in any way insulting or aggressive? i suspect ull just go, " blah blah blah im not even going to do that etc etc etc".

either way, really im just puzzled at ur behavior. and now u even start lying. i never requested ur friendship! i didnt even know u could request that sort of thing. just another puzzling comment u make.

i still cant believe a 'CB' argument escalated to this

whatever!

Layi,

it´s a shame it has come to this and you guys deserved better.It certainly is not hard to be civil and respectful.

I think we can all get along just fine. Just ignore anything posted by abrasive, narrow minded or logically challenged people . In other words: anything posted by " blaugranaboy " !!

I'll make sure to scroll down really fast when you 2 buffoons post anything in the future.

blaugranaboy;
Why don't you just give it up ? It is obvious that YOU and " The evil that men do " are one and the same . Not everybody is as dumb as you !!

happy new year y'all
chance to start afresh .............

@the evil that men do

I don´t have any beef with you. what´s your problem? tell us what makes us buffons. There...another, wacko who just just pops in once in a while to insult others.That makes you the buffon...!!!

Diatus:
I doubt very much if " The evil that men do " exist at all. I think it is just a name that " blaugranaboy " is hiding behind to attack others or drum up support for his opinions. I'm just as tired of the whole thing myself. Let's hope that guy comes to his senses and put an end to this !!

To expand:
From now on, I will NOT respond to anything posted by blaugranaboy or the Henry guy . The rest of the people are more open minded and civil about debate in general !!

@ FCB-Holland

I am more then good at presenting a good arguement, and I only added that bit at the end of my first statement as a way to lighten up the "discussion" that has turned into something a little heated! Of course you make some decent points, but how this has got to how it is beyond me

Come on guys why switch so easily, look at me and blaugranaboy, many many times I have disagreed with him and been pissed, but you have discussions all the same. Sometimes you win them, sometimes you lose them. No need to get too upset about it dude, its new years day, have a break and chil!!

Titi186

Titi186,
Despite my earlier promise, I have to admire your goodwell gesture. With the exception of our views on Henry, we never had any disagreement to speak of. However, in order for me not to step on any more toes, I will try to avoid any controversial , lose-lose battles . Happy holidays . No hard feelings !!