FC Barcelona Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Jernal wrote: »

Or it indicates a corrupt series of draws in their favour. . .:rolleyes:

Sure how else could they have done it..:p It's not like they're any good..

miralize

Affelay is back training with the group

Turtwig

miralize wrote: »

Affelay is back training with the group

That's terrific to hear, wonder if he will return to the wing. The guy was pretty good in midfield for the dutch.

miralize

I'd say so. Barca are light on the wings much more so than they are in the centre of the field

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Thought ye might be interested to know too that Barca are setting the record for scoring in the most consecutive games, with 29 games (from matchday 5 of the CL against Inter to present). They beat Bayern's previous record of 22 consecutive games.

gimmick

I can honestly say I did not know that Maxwell had been let go.

miralize

Tello is bloody quick... such an exciting player to watch!

..and he scores!!! 4 - 2 Barça

The Floyd p

@Gimmick

Yeah he went to PSG

Edit: good man tello

CongoPowers

So no Alves or Adriano for trip to Mallorca. Montoya will play, I guess.

I hate transfer rubbish, but doesn't this Neymar stuff seem more and more serious?

Also the talk of a deal being done for Jordi Alba.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Jordi Alba would be a great buy for ye. I'd love to see Neymar go to Barca as well, I think he'd be more suited there than RvP would, plus he's a lot younger. And I do reckon it will happen unless Chelsea intervene, I don't think he'll want to go to Real with their strikers, same for City.

JPA

THFC wrote: »

Jordi Alba would be a great buy for ye. I'd love to see Neymar go to Barca as well, I think he'd be more suited there than RvP would, plus he's a lot younger. And I do reckon it will happen unless Chelsea intervene, I don't think he'll want to go to Real with their strikers, same for City.

He's staying in Brazil until 2014 or so he says.

RiseToTheTop

Do you guys think Barca can get the league still?

CongoPowers

Like Guardiola said, if it gets down to four or five points, we can talk.

Until then, nah. Eight points is a big gap.

Shanotheslayer

RiseToTheTop wrote: »

Do you guys think Barca can get the league still?

Yes, I've the paddypower docket to prove it

CongoPowers wrote: »

Like Guardiola said, if it gets down to four or five points, we can talk.

Until then, nah. Eight points is a big gap.

We're down to 6 points now lads with a El Classico at home. Caught the last 5-10 minutes of the Madrid match and was jumping up and down at the end. It really is game on for us. Assuming we beat Madrid at home then it's only 3 points and I don't think Madrid will win all their remaining fixtures, maybe get another draw or two.

I backed Barca on the 8/3/2012 and got odds of 9/1 put a 5er on it. Thinking of lashing a 10er on a CL win and League win now.

CongoPowers

Well I suppose we can at least hope now

Warper

Great night, tbh i think the gap is now effectively 3 pts as Barca will hammer Real at home as per usual. Real still have to go to El Calderon as well and their behaviour tonight was disgraceful btw.

gimmick

CongoPowers wrote: »

So no Alves or Adriano for trip to Mallorca. Montoya will play, I guess.

Montoya and/or Muniesa could start as the fulls, but in all likelihood, Puyol will start at LB.

Davaeo09

Happiest fans ever today us lot

Madrid showed the world their ugly side again last night as the lost the cool and did them selves no favours with some horrible indiscipline. Mou really has brought out the worst in some of these players. But to be fair, Ronaldo did just kind of get on with it even when everyone else was showing their claws.
I know it's not about Barcelona but I just don't want to get caught up in the la liga thread which is now looking as if it might turn into another Madrid rough, Barca diving debate.



Messi's goals the other night have taken him passed the clubs all time top scorer ever and he's still 24.. Frightening!

Glad to see Cuence playing well on Tueaday night too. I had started to think he was being over hyped but he put in a very good shift on the left wing before Tello eventually came on and scored as he does best!

Thiago and Sanchez both looked to be struggling, I know they were both sidelines for 2-3 weeks, but we need the two of them on form for the business end of the season.

Just thinking about the morale boost the last few days will have on the squad, it gives them a renewed sense of direction. Not that they ever stopped believing them selves.

Here's hoping we can pull off this come back in the league and have an all mighty laugh in the face of our rivals.

Winning the treble again is a long way off, but what better way for Pep to prove it was no fluke, and that Barcelona is, the best team in the world once again.

gimmick

The way I see it, is that the pressure is completely on Jose now. Barca have nothing to lose, Madrid have it all to blow.

Tough away game against Mallorca Saturday though!

Shanotheslayer

Messi now has 155 goals in 154 games ;o

Davaeo09

For those of you interested in Barca's up and coming talent you will have no doubt heard of Dongou who played for Juvenil A until recently. Well he's made the step up to the B team at a very tender age of just 16. None the less, with his first touch of the ball, on his first appearance for the B team, he scores the winning goal against Alcoyano...

Massive talent, he's got strength and pace similar to a hybrid of Ibra/Drogba/Eto'o and can score with both feet, and does, consistently brilliant.
I expect big things from this guy, in 3 or 4 years he may be breaking through to the Barca first team, or sooner who knows?

P.S just remembered an excerpt from a Graham Hunter interview before he basically admitted Dongo is equally if not more talented than Messi was at that age.

miralize

Read about that last night. Eto'o actually brought him to the attention of Barca back in the day.. Hunter also says that he should have his debut in the first team within a year.

One concern I'd have is where he'd play if involved in the current lineup. Has he played wide much or just in the centre like Eto'o?

gimmick

Davaeo09 wrote: »

P.S just remembered an excerpt from a Graham Hunter interview before he basically admitted Dongo is equally if not more talented than Messi was at that age.

These comparisons are a bit silly. They said the same about Bojan in 2007, that he was a s good as Messi on the ball, but he scored lots more goals.

But ya, big things are expected of this Doungou chap. And Delofeu as well. I think he is only 17. The conveyor belt goes on....

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Phenomenol all the talent coming through. Not surprising some players (e.g. Tello) are stalling on signing a long term contract. Very competitive for places.

MD1990

i wonder will the goal against Mallorca still be Messi's goal
Sanchez got a slight touch

Dolph Starbeam

Affelay included in squad to face Milan, great news, hope he can get back to his best soon.

Glico Man

MD1990 wrote: »

i wonder will the goal against Mallorca still be Messi's goal
Sanchez got a slight touch

Everywhere I've looked has that down as a Sanchez goal. No site that I've stumbled across has Messi listed as goalscorer in the game.

MD1990

aaronh007 wrote: »

Everywhere I've looked has that down as a Sanchez goal. No site that I've stumbled across has Messi listed as goalscorer in the game.

the referee called it Messi's goal in his report
so it his goal

Glico Man

MD1990 wrote: »

the referee called it Messi's goal in his report
so it his goal

Fair enough, but it seems you answered the question you asked in the first place

Unless it was a seriously dubious goal (it wasn't tbh) then it won't be brought before the dubious goal committee.

CongoPowers

Dongou is great, but not as good as Messi was (my opinion anyway).

Great to see Ibi back, heard he won't be in the squad though, just travelling. Still brilliant news!

Think even Marca gave Messi the goal so it's his officially, though I was hoping it would be given to Alexis because he obviously can't score as often etc.

The Floyd p

Big game tonight, thank **** Silva is injured!

MD1990

Line up: Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Puyol, Sergio, Xavi, Keita, Alexis, Messi, Iniesta. Out: Cuenca, Oier and Afellay #FCBlive

Milan's line up: Abbiati, Mexes, Nesta, Bonera, Antonini, Seedorf, Nocerino, Ambrosini, Boateng, Ibrahimovic, Robinho # MilanFCB #FCBlive

Turtwig

MD1990 wrote: »

Line up: Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Puyol, Sergio, Xavi, Keita, Alexis, Messi, Iniesta. Out: Cuenca, Oier and Afellay #FCBlive

Milan's line up: Abbiati, Mexes, Nesta, Bonera, Antonini, Seedorf, Nocerino, Ambrosini, Boateng, Ibrahimovic, Robinho # MilanFCB #FCBlive

Thrilled to see Keita in a starting role. He'll definitely shore up the defensive sides of things.

Paco Rodriguez

"We'lll play with courage, serenity"

When a manager starts getting poetic you know hes scared. But thank god the coreography is at the start...at least im going to enjoy that. Forza Milan!!

ohhh and good luck btw

Turtwig

Very best of luck to both teams..

*Grabs neutral's popcorn.*:D

CongoPowers

I always thought you followed Barça!

Was Keita worth it? I can understand Guardiola's thinking, especially with Milan's home form. It's just a matter of whether his aggression was worth leaving a creative player like Cesc out. A big minus is the effect it had on Iniesta.

Anyway, all things considered, it's not a bad result. Obviously would have preferred an away goal, but Barça will beat these at the Camp Nou.

gimmick

Happy enough with the draw last night considering how poor Barca played as a whole.

To be fair to Milan, they had a tactic and they stuck to it. Maybe a little too rigidly as I think Barca were there for the taking last night.

That said, Barca should have had 2 penalties, one for Sanchez, the other for Puyol in what was the most blatant shirt pull you are likely to see, and right under the nose of the ref..

With regard to Sanchez, sorry lads, I just do not see it. If Pedro and Villa were fully fit, I would have them starting ahead of him every single time.

dfx-

Happy to take the draw given the away form this season. Watching bits of the game whilst playing pool...very entertaining game I thought.

Sanchez wasn't great I agree, I would also have Villa and previously Eto'o ahead of him. He had a great chance similar to that at the Bernabeu in the first half that was blocked.

gimmick

dfx- wrote: »

l...very entertaining game I thought.

First half was great. Second half was very flat and dull imo.

CongoPowers

gimmick wrote: »

With regard to Sanchez, sorry lads, I just do not see it. If Pedro and Villa were fully fit, I would have them starting ahead of him every single time.

I thought he had a good first half.

and come on, there's no case for Pedro playing now!

Both Barça and Athletic (who have just scored) won't get back until tomorrow because of the strike in Spain. Could effect the Saturday game. Fancy a Barça win.

MD1990

David Villa was in shocking form for 4 or 5 months before he is injury
Alexis Sanchez has done very well
his role is to run in behind defenders & play on the shoulder which leaves more space for Messi,Iniesta & Xavi

Vyse

I agree with Gimmick. Don't rate Sanchez that highly. He's been okay but he is playing with possibly the greatest team of all time.

MD1990

very petty from Barca lodging a complaint about the pitch

SeantheMan

Vyse wrote: »

I agree with Gimmick. Don't rate Sanchez that highly. He's been okay but he is playing with possibly the greatest team of all time.

Agree, he's a very good player. Maybe was a big fish @ Udinese though, so he doesn't seem that great when playing for Barca.

I feel Pedro has been sidelined, and don't know why, always gives 100% , like a hyperactive squirrel, should start ahead of Sanchez for me.

kmart6

Looks like he really had no idea about the banner by the look of happiness on his face!

gimmick

Happy with the result tonight, but felt the performance was somewhat sluggish.

Milan set themselves out in a certain way again, but their constant fouling just caught up on them.

The semi V Chelsea will be tough. They will want revenge for 2009 and if Barca do not snap out of the malaise of the last few weeks, it could be the end of the road.

With that said, I have no doubt in Peps motivational qualities, and look forward to seeing Messi make Terry cry.

miralize

Great result tonight. I thought the performance was quite good apart from one or two mistakes (especially at the back). Hopefully Pique doesnt have any major issues. Iniesta was just unplayable tonight. Absolutely excellent he was!

Anyone here read Graham Hunters book yet? Really interesting stuff, nothing too exclusive but its a nice summary of Barcelona's recent history

The Floyd p

miralize wrote: »

Great result tonight. I thought the performance was quite good apart from one or two mistakes (especially at the back). Hopefully Pique doesnt have any major issues. Iniesta was just unplayable tonight. Absolutely excellent he was!

Anyone here read Graham Hunters book yet? Really interesting stuff, nothing too exclusive but its a nice summary of Barcelona's recent history

I'm about 80 pages into it. It's good so far

Great result tonight.

CongoPowers

Will probably get it soon.

I thought Barça did well again considering Milan's cynical fouling.

Alves on Ibra's comments: Barca is a bulldozer so sometimes one doesn't know what to say. I guess it hurts.

Hero.

Turtwig

CongoPowers wrote: »

Will probably get it soon.

I thought Barça did well again considering Milan's cynical fouling.

Alves on Ibra's comments: Barca is a bulldozer so sometimes one doesn't know what to say. I guess it hurts.

Hero.

What did Ibra say?