Riquelme gone back to Boca

Zapp Brannigan

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=446883&CPID=23&clid=449&lid=10&title=Boca+seal+Riquelme+return&channel=&

Can anyone tell me what happened? Riquelme was the star if Villareals CL crusade and Argentinas excellent showing at WC2006.

This just confuses me!

eirebhoy

That's a suprise. Nakamura has taken over from though as the on form attacking playmaker.

Nalz

^ Celtic mad!

Vokes

Aye, any chance to mention Celtic and eirebhoy will take it

Im suprised another Euro team didn't come in and grab Riquelme. On the other hand though he is a luxury player who you need to build the team around.

eirebhoy

I did make it sound sarcastic but I honestly doubt there's a similar player to Nakamura playing as well as he is atm. I watched Portugal v Brazil and he'd have done better than most of them. I love the guy. Hope he retires with Celtic. In saying that, there aren't many players similar to Naka.

KdjaCL

La Liga playmaker who stands out in the CL/WC vs a SPL player....LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Why not compare El vs PL now

Odd for Riquelme as Barca still own a bit of him, just a bit now


kdjac

eirebhoy

Doesn't matter what league he plays in in fairness. It's just as easy to judge Naka in the SPL. In fact, he'd probably be more suited to Spain. He got motm against Brazil before. He's without doubt world class and would do well in any team in the world.

I'm just trying to self promote a player that we'd be raving about if he was Irish. He's Andrea Pirlo with more skill.

Zapp Brannigan

Wow so what one other post mentioning Riquelme? eirebhoy KdjaCL is right you cant compare Nakamura with Riquelme and especially not Pirlo!!

el rabitos

riquelme is gone because playing him in a match is a drain on resources. for him to play well someone else has to do their job and 90% of riquelmes work.

he does zero denfending + no tracking back, great going foward and spreading the ball when he's in the mood though, pity about the other 80 or 90% of his game.

Pighead

el rabitos wrote:

riquelme is gone because playing him in a match is a drain on resources. for him to play well someone else has to do their job and 90% of riquelmes work.

he does zero denfending + no tracking back, great going foward and spreading the ball when he's in the mood though, pity about the other 80 or 90% of his game.

el rabitos: Graduated with distinction from the school of Johnny Giles.

el rabitos

Pighead wrote:

el rabitos: Graduated with distinction from the school of Johnny Giles.

and a phd in watching more than 5 matches a year in which the dude played in, but no he's a legend!!1!

but no, seriously i'm wrong. clearly he was just moved on from barca then villareal because he was too damn good.

Pighead

el rabitos wrote:

but no, seriously i'm wrong. clearly he was just moved on from barca then villareal because he was too damn good.

Moved from barca because Van Gaal hardly ever played him. He wasn't Van Gaals signing and big Louis was happy to play him in only cup games and B games.

As far as I understand the move to Boca is a loan move and came about after a row with the board.

eirebhoy

Slurms wrote:

Wow so what one other post mentioning Riquelme? eirebhoy KdjaCL is right you cant compare Nakamura with Riquelme and especially not Pirlo!!

Of course you can compare him to Riquelme. Posts like that annoy me. I've watched Naka play every single minute since he joined Celtic. You probably haven't seen a lot of him. He's Larsson and Moravcik standard. In fact he's better than Lubo imo, that is enormous praise. You and the rest should make it your duty to watch Celtic v Milan. The comparison with Pirlo was a joke but he's the only player that is very similar to Naka. They both play in different positions though. Pirlo hasn't been playing well for Milan all year.

On Riquelme, apparantly he's not getting on with the manager. I don't know if he was eligible to join a European team on loan?

el rabitos

riiight....well if thats what wikipedia tells you it must be true

he didnt play at barca because he requires too much of the other players around him. its the same reason he was good at villareal, they accomodated him, barca didnt.

for argentina he has/had mascherano doing all his work behind him in midfield, now he has gago to do it.

he's a great player, but he needs to be accomodated too much to get the best out of him. but what he does looks good so he's great and villareal and barca were nuts to let him go

PHB

I've watched Naka twice this year, havn't been that impressed with him to be honest. Riqueleme has never been as good as some people make out, but he is a top quality player, but the team needs to be totally built around him.

eirebhoy

The likes of Kaka don't do much of the dirty work either. The difference between those players is that Riquelme is a proper playmaker. He attracts the ball and everything goes through him. Kaka's more get the ball and try and create something. I don't think you can say one is harder to accomodate than the other.

PHB - You watched him in 2 games against Man U. What were you expecting from him? He'll always cover for the full back and that is what he was doing against United for the most part. We were on the back foot in the 2 games against United. He's one of the most intelligient players in the world, probably the most intelligient to play for Celtic (maybe along with Larsson). Every option he takes is simply the right option. He has 20 assists this season.

KdjaCL

Moved from barca as he was on a stupid amount of money, since laporta took over barca have steadiuly made ground on man utd in the money league. Saviola is also on a stupid amount of money and hence why he was loaned out.

Riquelme is a player you afford , but arent the best playmakers in the world usually that as the great le Tiss once said "defending is for defenders"


kdjac

KdjaCL

Moved from barca as he was on a stupid amount of money, since laporta took over barca have steadiuly made ground on man utd in the money league. Saviola is also on a stupid amount of money and hence why he was loaned out.

Riquelme is a player you afford , but arent the best playmakers in the world usually that as the great le Tiss once said "defending is for defenders"

I dont think teams need to be built around him, just has to be surrounded with good players, he would fit into Utd very well playing off a main striker.

kdjac

Pighead

el rabitos wrote:

riiight....well if thats what wikipedia tells you it must be true

Nope thats what memory tells me. Are you trying to tell me he played loads with Barca and Van Gaal loved him? Oh and reply using that cool sarcasm thing you though. I love it when you do that.

PHB

PHB - You watched him in 2 games against Man U. What were you expecting from him?

Well

He's without doubt world class and would do well in any team in the world

I'd expect a world class player to impress me to be honest

KdjaCL

eirebhoy wrote:

T

PHB - You watched him in 2 games against Man U. What were you expecting from him? He'll always cover for the full back and that is what he was doing against United for the most part. We were on the back foot in the 2 games against United. He's one of the most intelligient players in the world, probably the most intelligient to play for Celtic (maybe along with Larsson). Every option he takes is simply the right option. He has 20 assists this season.

And you watch him play Inverfekkinness or Captain Kirk and hes good? Seriously like i would be good vs them.


kdjac

eirebhoy

PHB wrote:

I'd expect a world class player to impress me to be honest

I've seen Kaka play 4 full games since the New Year and I haven't been impressed with him in the slightest. He's still a world class player.

KdjaCL wrote:

And you watch him play Inverfekkinness or Captain Kirk and hes good? Seriously like i would be good vs them.


kdjac

I can't say I've ever in my life thought a player was class over a decent period of time in the SPL and he has failed to do it at a higher stage. It's just as easy to judge a playing for Celtic as it is for Real Madrid. Put it this way, Maloney will be great in the Premiership.

el rabitos

Pighead wrote:

Nope thats what memory tells me. Are you trying to tell me he played loads with Barca and Van Gaal loved him? Oh and reply using that cool sarcasm thing you though. I love it when you do that.

heres a plan, i'll do the sarcasm thing and u do the uber cool talking in the third person gimmick.

if you think louis van gaal, a respected and pretty successful manager didnt pick riquelme because he didnt buy him then your just grasping at straws

he was a barca player when rijkaard arrived and he was still dubbed surplus to requirements, money was also a catalyst to his departure as has been said, he and most of the squad were on stupid money.

also comparing him and kaka is crazy, kaka comes deep to receive the ball, riquelme doesnt, the ball is constantly just fed to him on the attack and he provides the killer pass. kaka is a far more complete player.

eirebhoy

el rabitos wrote:

also comparing him and kaka is crazy, kaka comes deep to receive the ball, riquelme doesnt, the ball is constantly just fed to him on the attack and he provides the killer pass. kaka is a far more complete player.

You could replace Kaka and Riquelme's name and you have my opinion on the 2. Riquelme plays a lot deaper than Kaka. He basically roams around the centre of the pitch, laying it off like as a playmaker does. Kaka plays in a much more advanced and direct role. That's just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong. It's a good debate though I must say.

Zapp Brannigan

el rabitos wrote:

for argentina he has/had mascherano doing all his work behind him in midfield, now he has gago to do it.

Gago's with Real is he not?

I'll admit to not seeing much of Riquelme play but like I said, what I saw impressed me.

Pighead

el rabitos wrote:

heres a plan, i'll do the sarcasm thing and u do the uber cool talking in the third person gimmick.

Classic el rabitos sarcasm, Pigheads creaming himself reading your wonderful way with words.

el rabitos wrote:

if you think louis van gaal, a respected and pretty successful manager didnt pick riquelme because he didnt buy him then your just grasping at straws

but, but Louis only lasted that one season at Barca. Using your logic that would make him a failure!

el rabitos wrote:

he was a barca player when rijkaard arrived and he was still dubbed surplus to requirements, money was also a catalyst to his departure as has been said, he and most of the squad were on stupid money.

They got rid of him because Ronaldinho was coming in. No shame in making way for the great man.

On your way el rabitos.

el rabitos

Slurms wrote:

Gago's with Real is he not?

I'll admit to not seeing much of Riquelme play but like I said, what I saw impressed me.

Originally Posted by el rabitos
for argentina he has/had mascherano doing all his work behind him in midfield, now he has gago to do it.

i agree that he's entertaining to watch, probably why so many people like him. i just wouldnt wanna be on the same team as him, doing most of the work while he doesnt comparitively little and takes all the headlines.

KdjaCL

Cambiasso is the DMF for argentina, Gago and Mascherano only recently becmae 1st choice for Argentina.

kaka vs riquelme ....

Kaka will score goals in a 1-0, drift out of games for long periods but still either create or score the 1-0 playing for Milan may help him in that role, so far this season just too much rpessure on him.

Riquelme on the other hand plays deeper and controls the play, like Scholes hes always open for a pass and rarely loses the ball excellent ball carrier and his passing and vision make the team play more rather than Kaka who is a match winner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Rom%C3%A1n_Riquelme a good wiki page about his time at barca.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kak%C3%A1


kdjac

eirebhoy

el rabitos wrote:

i agree that he's entertaining to watch, probably why so many people like him. i just wouldnt wanna be on the same team as him, doing most of the work while he doesnt comparitively little and takes all the headlines.

So would the same go for Kaka?

KdjaCL's comparison between Kaka and Riquelme is exactly how I see it.

el rabitos

Pighead wrote:

Classic el rabitos sarcasm, Pigheads creaming himself reading your wonderful way with words.

i please to aim

Pighead wrote:

but, but Louis only lasted that one season at Barca. Using your logic that would make him a failure!

read my words yo, "louis van gaal, a respected and pretty successful manager" - i didnt say he's the best manager in the world and was awesome at barca, i suggested he was a good manager with common sence. you dont win what he's won by being as petty as you suggested with his squad selections.

Pighead wrote:

They got rid of him because Ronaldinho was coming in. No shame in making way for the great man.

On your way el rabitos.

ronaldinho more often than not, plays on the left-hand side of 3 advanced midfielders supporting 1 striker, why would riquelme who plays directly behind the striker (therefore NOT on the left) be sacrificed for the arrival of ronaldinho?...because he wasnt. granted they have similar attacking styles but there was no *need* to swap one for the other.

KdjaCL

el rabitos wrote:

ronaldinho more often than not, plays on the left-hand side of 3 advanced midfielders supporting 1 striker, why would riquelme who plays directly behind the striker (therefore NOT on the left) be sacrificed for the arrival of ronaldinho?...because he wasnt. granted they have similar attacking styles but there was no *need* to swap one for the other.

I think there about 120,000 reasons why he was sacrificed along with Saviola Sorin and someone else whose name escapes me. It was also laportes 1st season that guy is a budget freak and took over a club in an unhealthy financial position.


edit /odd all the argies were sacrificed by a dutch coach who had some racism issues before........


kdjac

Pighead

el rabitos wrote:

ronaldinho more often than not, plays on the left-hand side of 3 advanced midfielders supporting 1 striker, why would riquelme who plays directly behind the striker (therefore NOT on the left) be sacrificed for the arrival of ronaldinho?...because he wasnt. granted they have similar attacking styles but there was no *need* to swap one for the other.

Ok one question. And try answering honestly ya wee rascal.

Would you play Riquelme and Ronaldinho in the same team?

eirebhoy

el rabitos wrote:

i agree that he's entertaining to watch, probably why so many people like him. i just wouldnt wanna be on the same team as him, doing most of the work while he doesnt comparitively little and takes all the headlines.

Actually, this is a time to bring in the one and only Gordon Strachan on Naka last week (apologies for bringing him back up again, he's just very similar to Riquelme):
"We were watching a genius at work today. We all hear about his limitations. It's said he doesn't tackle. So what?"

KdjaCL

eirebhoy wrote:

on Naka[/i]

Have you been drinking tonight?

Do you have nakamura bedsheets, wallpaper and are you wearing a celtic jersey now with his name on it ? :d


kdjac

eirebhoy

KdjaCL wrote:

Have you been drinking tonight?

Do you have nakamura bedsheets, wallpaper and are you wearing a celtic jersey now with his name on it ? :d


kdjac

He's actually on my desktop. In fairness, this time I think I had a reason to bring him up.

el rabitos

Pighead wrote:

Ok one question. And try answering honestly ya wee rascal.

Would you play Riquelme and Ronaldinho in the same team?

would i play the riquelme that i see on tv on the same team and in the current barca formation? of course not. they would be completely unbalanced. but some managers would, george graham wouldnt, ossie ardiles would :P

but i would play the player that everyone else seems to be seeing thats being described similiar to deco in that he's coming deep and working for the team, is a great attacker and has good distribution. - but thats just not what i see when i watch him, and i've seen him play quite a good bit over the years tbh

his strengths are there for everyone to see, i just dont think many people are seeing the poorer side to his game, dont mean to sound so johnny giles about it, maybe i was the only one agreeing with him about that one.

eirebhoy

el rabitos wrote:

but i would play the player that everyone else seems to be seeing thats being described similiar to deco in that he's coming deep and working for the team

Not at all. Just because he plays most of his football in the middle of the park doesn't mean he's getting stuck in when they haven't got the ball. He's just not the player you're describing (someone that plays behind the strikers trying to feed them). He's a typical playmaker, most of the play goes through him. He doesn't do the dirty work but he's not the only player in the world. That's the point basically. If you're going to slag off Riquelme for not defending you'll have to do the same with a load of players. If he moved to Britain maybe he'd be forced to work off the ball but then again, British football isn't the most attractive.

Zapp Brannigan

el rabitos wrote:

Originally Posted by el rabitos
for argentina he has/had mascherano doing all his work behind him in midfield, now he has gago to do it.

Oh right, didnt know that Gago was in the national squad.

KdjaCL

Slurms wrote:

Oh right, didnt know that Gago was in the national squad.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=50961&cc=5739

He is and as El Rabitos pointed out he carries Roman for Argentina

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/gamelog?id=19082&cc=5739


kdjac

Pighead

KdjaCL wrote:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=50961&cc=5739

He is and as El Rabitos pointed out he carries Roman for Argentina

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/gamelog?id=19082&cc=5739


kdjac

Hey cut it out, el rabitos is the Sultan of Sarcasm around here.
(Cracking post all the same)

Zapp Brannigan

Wait.. didnt Riquelme retire from international football due to his sick mother? Or it was something along them lines if it was something at all?

KdjaCL

He was getting abuse from press and critics, but thats irrelevant


kdjac

evad_lhorg

Pighead wrote:

As far as I understand

eh am I the only one who noticed pighead not speaking in the third person?!?!:eek:


EDIT: twice actually

Pighead wrote:

I love it when you do that.

Dempsey

Eirebhoy we've been hearing all these put downs towards Celtic players before because its the SPL they play in.

"Larsson aint proven till his in the EPL". Heard the same about several Celtic players over the years but they went onto be very good players indeed.

There are several Celtic players that would be quality in the EPL or any top league.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

eirebhoy

ziggy, to be perfectly honest I couldn't give a sh*te if you find it embarassing. I trust in my own ability to judge a player. I've been saying Naka is the best player in the SPL since his debut. Most people (mainly in the media) are only really coming around to that fact now.

Lubo was a proper number 10 playing in that position. Lubo scored goals. and set goals up. Naka is a playmaker. He gets more of the ball than anyone else in the team. He's an incredibly intelligient player (if you can't see how intelligient he is you'll never appreciate him). Every option he takes is usually the right option. His range of passing is fantastic. His creativity is fantastic. His positional sense is fantastic. His technique and skill is fantastic.

Naka has absolutely everything you could want in a playmaker except tough mental attributes, strength and tackling ability. He still will always cover for the right full.

Put it this way, if Naka matched Lubo on goals and assists he's already much more effective than him. That was Lubo's job and I seriosuly doubt Lubo got anywhere near 8 goals and 19 assists by February. Naka is much more than that. If he plays well the team plays well. Every time we put together 20 passes who's at the heart of it? Only one player for that. Skip this video to 2.10:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYaYia-nys

Naka is the player dictating the play at the start, this is why he should be playing in a central role.

You're view on Naka was a typical opinion by plenty of Celtic fans before recently. Now you're the only Celtic fan I know that doesn't appreciate Naka. Maybe you don't watch Celtic's home games where he is motm 80% of the time (the home games aren't televised)?

Anyway, it's all about his intelligience. That's why Strachan, Brady, Gullit, Redknapp, etc. call him a genius. The likes of my sister wouldn't recognise his intelligience, I don't know what that says about you.

iregk

eirebhoy wrote:

Anyway, it's all about his intelligience. That's why Strachan, Brady, Gullit, Redknapp, etc. call him a genius. The likes of my sister wouldn't recognise his intelligience, I don't know what that says about you.

Kind of strange then isn't it eirebhoy that rijkaard, ancelotti, cruijff all talk about Lampard as being one of the best players in the world however to you he is crap. I don't know what that says about you.

Regarding Nakamura, since you have hijacked this thread like only you can (its either nak or lamps) I think he is a nice very tidy player and potentially a class act. I say that as I would like to see more of him on a bigger tougher stage. Barry Ferguson was one of the best in Scotland but couldn't hack it at all in the prem nor europe so I'll wait to see more on a bigger stage before nailing my colours to the nak post.

Riquelme, I just don't know about him. I don't think he is as good as a lot make him out. I think he is the type of player you need to construct your team around as having him in the middle gives you one big great hole that needs covering. He is a pure luxury player, no pace, no work ethic, when he doesn't have the ball he is completely dis interested.

eirebhoy

I don't think he's crap. I think he's boring and a bottler.

eirebhoy

Villarreal fan on a Celtic forum:

Well, I'd like to know it. I know what radio and Tv and newspapers, and what the own fans think. All started when in the match against Osasuna at home, the last at home before the Xmas break, we lost 1-4, in a terrible match, and with Riquelme being one of the worse players that day. Three days later, we had to play away against Racing Santander, the last match before Xmas break. Riquelme was "injured" and so he went in holiday to Argentina. And the day to come back to Vila-real was the 29th December (if I'm not wrong). It seems Riquelme complained about this, saying he wanted 2 or 3 days more to celebrate the New Year with his family in Argentina. The answer from the club was that "the players that the 29th December aren't in the training, they'll stop being Vila-real players". Finally he came back that day. But people knew things between him and Pellegrini were wrong. And also with the chairman.

Match against Valencia at home. Our derby. Riquelme isn't even in the bench. We lose 0-1.
Match of Spanish Cup. 1st leg. Away against Valladolid, team from 2nd division. We lose 2-1. Riquelme, obviously, wasn't in the starting 11 nor in the bench.
Away against Athletic Bilbao. We won 0-1.
On Wednesday, at home against Valladolid, the 2nd leg. We lose 0-1, playing one of the most awful matches I've seen. After this, the chairman gives Riquelme a chance. If he arranges his things with Pellegrini and he shows a good performance in trainings, he may play again. Match against Sevilla at home. Is Riquelme in the starting 11? No. Is he in the bench? No. We drew 0-0.
Match at home against Madrid. We won 1-0, the 1st time we beat Madrid in league. There are rumours of Riquelme going to Qatar, Bayern Munich or Boca Juniors.
Last weekend, away against Recreativo Huelva, we lost 2-1.
On Wednesday, Boca said Riquelme signed the contract to go there on loan for 6 motnhs. But Vila-real says it's not 100% sure yet. Today, it is. He has gone without saying goodbye (in the Vila-real training center, the media asked him if he wanted to say something or say boodbye to the fans. His answer? Nothing. Silence.

I don't know how I feel after this. Riquelme is my favourite player. I've seen him doing great things. I have the walls of my room full of posters of him. But I am very dissapointed wih the way he's acted, and the attitude he's shown. I'm sad, sad because he's left, and sad with the way he's gone. I don't really think after the loan he'll player here again. But we'll see.
And let's see too how will Vila-real do without him. We have 1 month without Riquelme playing. We've won 2 matches, lost 4 and draw 1. We've scored 3 goals and conceded 6...

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

eirebhoy

ziggy67 wrote:

I mean if he is that good he should be tearing these teams apart, right?

That comment tells me all I need to know. You don't seem to understand what type of player Naka is. Would you expect Pirlo to tear teams apart. I don't know how you think he doesn't perform away from home either.

As for his assists. Most of them are from open play.