24 responses so far ↓

• blaugranafan // May 16, 2008 at 12:19

  Nic–Do you know the particulars surrounding Pique’s original departure for Man Utd? My understanding is that it had something to do with club politics and the ouster of certain individuals close to him who were part of the club hierarchy. Because of these circumstances, Txiki does not view Pique’s prior decision to leave as a betrayal like Cesc’s decision and is willing to invite him back. Do you have any more info?

  Thanks.

• Joe Henry // May 16, 2008 at 12:50

  I prefer Kaka !!!! We need a star to fill the gap of the 2 HUGE stars that are leaving

• Nic // May 16, 2008 at 13:07

  Blaugranafan - As far as I know Pique went to United because Ferguson came for him and sweet-talked him into it. Pique’s grandfather is Amador Bernabeu who was a director under Nuñez and Gaspart but was not part of Laporta’s team when he arrived in 2003, Bernabeu complained that Barça hadn’t taken enough care of Pique, but it could just have been a dig at Laporta. If anyone knows anymore on why Pique left please send a comment.

  Joe Henry - anyone would prefer Kaka, unfortunately we cannot just wave a magic wand and get whoever we want, otherwise we would have signed Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka ages ago.

• fcbarcelona-ks.com // May 16, 2008 at 13:12

  great !

  we need Fabregas and Kameni

• Titi186 // May 16, 2008 at 13:45

  To be honest Im not sure if Pique fits the bill in defence.

  Like Arsenal, Barca have Puyol and Militio (compared to Toure and Gallas) but none of the pair are no-nonsense 6ft’ 10′ dominating old-school defenders. Look at the best defences around Europe and especially England where you have Terry-Carvalho of Chelsea and Man United with Ferdinand-Vidic. Barca have got a brilliant technical strong defender in Puyol and I rate him as one of the best in the world but Barca need a Vidic/Terry to help out with things like corners and airial threats.

  Barca DIDNT win the league because they cant score they lost it because they can defend. AND NO ONE TELL ME DIFFERENT PLEASE!! We scored two at Betis, we lost, two at Valencia, we lost, two against Athletico, we lost, two at Almeria, we drew, two at Recreativo, we drew, not to mention the coutless other times we have drawn games away from home. If we had a proper defencive unit who didnt give away so many goals then say we picked up wins from the games we lost and drew away from home despite scoring TWO goals only huh? We would have 13 more points and be only 5 points behind Madrid and add in one El Classico win and we are top of the league (-3 points from them add 3 for us and were top by 1 point).

  I am so surprised by everyone moaning at Eto’o whinging, Henry not playing well, Ronnie not being fit, Bojan being too young… We ARE scoring goals we just arnt stopping them. These are facts mentioned above. You cannot score 2 goals away from home and lose the game and expect to win the league it just doesnt happen.

  I dont watch too much La Liga other then Barca games so does anybody know of any no nonsense defenders in La Liga? I hear Raul Abidol of Valancia was one but other than that I only know of ones from England and Pique doesnt completely fit the bill for me.

• Hilal // May 16, 2008 at 13:46

  I think Keita would be a good backup midfield player, i wouldnt use him as a direct replacement for Deco though. We need a very creative attacking mid to take up that position. Van Der Vaart or Diego would be perfect but both will be expensive. Alves is an amazing player and if we can lock him down as our first signing then it would be a very good start our rebuilding scheme. Not sure about Pique, I have heard mixed things about him, but i suppose he is still young and certainly has the potential to grow into a great defender. €5mill would be a resonable price to pay for him.

• Hilal // May 16, 2008 at 14:10

  Titi…..Fabricio Coloccini

• Shahenshah // May 16, 2008 at 14:31

  Alves doesnt really need any praise because he is too good. His crosses are very accurate and deadly. He also has a playmaking ability and loves to play 1-2s with jesus navas. Imagine him and Messi playing off each other? Damn

  Keita is amazing. He runs like a madman on speed. His passing is decent and his long shots are drop dead rockets. Remember the scorchers he scored against madrid and arsenal this year?

  Dont know much about Pique but I do remember him doing well against Messi when Barcelona faced Zaragoza in the league.

• Valo // May 16, 2008 at 14:42

  AC Milan offered 20 Million for Eto’o ( Half of his worth from last year)

  http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/379429/0/etoo/milan/barcelona/

• Treet // May 16, 2008 at 15:30

  This comment is for Joe Henry about signing Kaka….come on let’s be realistic Milan will NOT! sell Kaka anytime soon…anytime i hear his name come up in the transfer market i never pay any attention to it…..for to me there is a club around that suits Kaka better than Milan…..also about the point of bringing in big stars i disagree…we all know the results of this….we saw it with Real Madrid and now with Barca…I think the players they are targeting are just right……Barca needs players who can come and make a name for themselves within the club…..and of the three Dani Alves is the best signing….if they get him

• Liam // May 16, 2008 at 15:45

  Van der Vaart or Diego cant replace Deco, they lack his defensive skills and passion. Theres this guy from Sporting, Joao Moutinho, he reminds me of Deco, could be a decent signing and im sure he wouldnt be that expensive.

  Anyway, those 3 sound good, but, why on earth would a club pay 14 million for someone who is gonna be sitting on the bench (Keita)? imho the starters would be Yaya, Iniesta and Xavi… why not bringing in some youngster that looks good and pay half the price?

  Pique aint half bad and the price is reasonable, he did very well when he played in Zaragoza.

• BARCA 4 LYF // May 16, 2008 at 16:13

  Pique is not good enough we should sign Coloccini and Chivu to cover for Milito and Amorabieta, Garay and Caceres to be back up defenders! Dani Alves would be a great signing! I think we need a better player to replace Deco not Keita maybe Fabregas!! Keita is good but nowhere near Deco’s ability!!! And I hope the mega Kaka offer goes through!!!

• Biggz // May 16, 2008 at 16:51

  Titi186- I agree with you 100% with our defence( or non existant defence). You cannot have a attack, despite with all our injuries this season, that scores at least 2 goals a game. And still complain as for why we don’t win the league.
  In all those games you mentioned, remember how many we were ACTUALLY winning. With our defence this season, it really didn’t matter how many goals WE scored or how many we were winning by because when our defence started to let them in, they never stopped until we were finally behind. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE GAMES WE THREW AWAY WE CONTROLLED. We always had 60-70% pocession, more shots on goal. It was ALWAYS 10 min spell where no matter score, OUR DEFENCE DIDN’T STOP TILL WE WERE BEHIND. At least if we knew we concede 2 goals a game then fine, we now know we need to score 3 every game. But when its one week we give 3 goals, the following its 5 the next its 4. If it wasn’t for the strikeforce and midfield we would be fighting relegation. Especially with the BULLSHIT ronnie and henry has been on this season. Remember teams ALWAYS raise their game and come to defend against Barca, look at man u. They are meant to be a so-called attacking footballing, when for 2legs “they parked the bus in front of their goal”. And again it was one of our defenders who played the decisive pass, not a united player.
  The team ACTUALLY did well, when you remember all the obsticles: ronnie, henry, the defence, rijkaard, the injuries, laporta. Nothing changed from last season we just added more bullshit behind the scenes.Our defence last season threw away the league as well, only strikeforce dragged the league to the last game. Deco and Sami showed they were never part of the problem, because things were only better when they weren’t injured.
  With the exception of Marques, the whole defence and keeper should be scrapped. ALONG WITH RONNIE, HENRY, GIO AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO CARES MORE ABOUT THEIR MARKETING THEN ACTUAL SILVERWHERE

• morzzan // May 16, 2008 at 20:40

  Why do people hate Henry so much? Its not like he can score 30 goals in his first season, no player in the world can do that unless he moves to a league not as good as his previous one (torres from La Liga to EPL). I personally felt Henry was great, considering his first season at La Liga. The reason why we didn’t see an Henry from the Arsenal ages is because Wenger made that team to revolve around Henry. He was the striker who would net most number of goals considering the number of opportunites they make. I mean, if Henry was still at Arsenal in place of that retard Adebayor, Arsenal would have been champions. I mean, look at Shevchenko. What has he achieved? Nothing. He is nowhere as good a player as Henry, but Im sure, Henry will go ballistic again next season.
  Another thing that Iv noticed is that the fans just have basically no kind of patience or tolerance level with their players. One day, they idolize them, another day, when things aren’t going exactly their way, they jeer and throw white handkerchiefs at them. People just whine and whine and whine, but somehow, winning and losing is part of the game. Like someone else said in another post, why would you want to play at home if you are going to get jeered at there too? Which player would want that, his team fans jeering and whistling at him? Look at Eto’o, seriously, why would he purposely want to get a card to miss Madrid? Why would Deco want to get a card to miss Madrid? Its ridiculous, i felt for Deco that day, He gave his heart and soul for the club and that is why, because of this mentality, he will remain an unsung hero.
  I don’t know how many of the players mentioned above are fit to wear a Blaugrana shirt? Pique? Keita? 2 not so good, (as Titi mentioned) players who will face enormous pressure to wear a shirt with such a lot of history. He plays bad for 2 games and out come the jeers. Rather than go for these lot, Barca should once again look up the players from the netherlands. Dutch footballers have always, always shined in the La liga. I dont thing I have to exaggerate on that considering that many Barca legends are Dutch. Present age, Madrid took Sneijder and what a player they have in him. First season and scored so many goals and the work level is astonishing. That is what Barca need, hard working players. Get Huntelaar before he is snatched by Madrid too, he is amazing. Im surprised he is still at Ajax.
  Btw, Alves, thumbs up. Awesome player.

• Davor // May 17, 2008 at 5:19

  we need dani alves, van der vaart and huntelaar
  as for defence id prefer ezequiel garay

• Jmo para Barca // May 17, 2008 at 8:24

  should be starting XI

  eto’o, henry, messi, iniesta, xavi, keita, puyol, milito or pique, alves

  i don’t see how that wouldn’t work out right now, with bojan in the back. Alves is the PERFECT type of defender, he has the movement of sylvinho but has potential to pass him in every way, maybe he already has. His play is too free flowing to go to England, and he hates Real Madrid, he wants to stick it to them

  except he will cost about 30 mill, no less

• Jmo para Barca // May 17, 2008 at 8:27

  i also want to see marquez play some more, he has the free flowing potential style of defense barca likes, if he’s healthy, he’s getting old too

• Joe Henry // May 17, 2008 at 15:50

  Well Nic. I fear Madrid would sign Kaka that is all, When money is involved Madrid’s money doesn’t have an end. I’m saying if he is leaving, I would just want him. Keep in mind you guys now we can’t say who is staying and who is leaving. Ronnie is a HUGE star. If He returns ( and stays ) to his performance he is better than a 10 Kakas.

• Barca 4 lyf // May 17, 2008 at 17:35

  http://www.goalvideoz.com/player/Ronaldinho/video/261-barcelona-ronaldinho-video-clip/ Joe henry this is the Ronnie we need!!!

• bobby // May 18, 2008 at 0:28

  dont u guy s think we should keep rafa as defending coach in the future he could creat some defenders like his style long passing good headers and very good speed……..but hes not that old hes 28 turning 29

• andrew // May 18, 2008 at 12:07

  starting from the back- valdes’ time is up, he makes too many mistakes. Cech would be ideal but im not sure he’d join, if not Kameni is good enough. Alves is a perfect signing. Sadly Abidal IS in guardiolas plans, he is so mistake prone its untrue, i see him as a virus to the barca team. Puyol is the king. He needs a better partner, not necessarily a top name as we all saw how ell he played alongside marquez in the past who is anything but.

  The midfield is the only part that doesnt need fixing, unless they play with more conventional wingers eg hleb and lucho unlike past wingers like giuly and ronnie. Upfront Villa or Berbatov would be my choice to replace Eto’o

• Maise // May 19, 2008 at 6:36

  I totally agree, our defense has been shit, but it has been Valdes who sealed our fate this season. I dont even know where to start with him. He has the wrong tactical position(remember Edu’s goal where he was caught the header but was standing behind the line) . He has the focus and concentration of a 2 year old ( every time our defenders pass it to him he does stupid things, against man c, where he ran out like a mad man to clear the ball and almost missed it). The only way a defense can be great is if they can trust the man behind them. No wonder he dint even make 3rd choice goalie for the Spanish team. He definately needs to be changed. And if any one says oh hes been great before, i’ll tell them the guys infront of him were scoring so much that other teams were too busy defending they dint have the time to score!

• Maise // May 19, 2008 at 6:43

  Also Alves and Keita will be amazing buys for us. Alves crosses exellently, and is a dead ball specialist. He will be a great buy! hard working and exactly what Barca needs

  Keita will be great as well for us. If Toure gets injured we have no back up, this season we saw Edmilson taking that postion, and we all saw what that was like. How the hell is deco better than Keita? Keita is better, stronger taller faster, and although hes not creative and have an eye like Deco, he doesnt make the mistakes deco does. So trust me we got the better end of the deal with him

• eri // May 20, 2008 at 1:03

  personally i am a great fan of dany alves becouse he is the most powerfull winger of the moment and he will be a decisive leader in the team. i hope the chairman can arrange things to have alves in barca team.

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