Mole_Toonfan

Sometimes i think Pardew wants to sell these players, all this touting out in public does no good at all ffs. He did the same with Tiote and Cabaye etc etc in the summer.

Well without him this season we would be like watching soft shit on the pavement go hard so it's kinda understandable tbh.

Don't mean we can't hope they will drop points.

I'd take 2 draws tbh, obviously Spurs losing would be great but i can't see it and a win for us would cut the deficet to the teams in the top 6 to 1 or 2 points lets hope we can do it

Liverpool pissing away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 would be perfect.

from a West Brom forum. Really? Quite frankly based on this season and their respective performance i can understand why they feel that way. Yacob has been outstanding, while Tiote has been awful.

Is 4-4-2 really 4-5-1 out of posession? Sure Ba drops deep on occasion but not often and in any case there's always 3 in midfield at least in 4-3-3 and that's the key to it all tbh. Having 3 in middle means we have more passing options and we are not overrun, that's been the problem more than anything this season not being able to control the midfield battle because basically every team has outnumbered us. In fact i'm not that bothered about 4-3-3 anymore i just want to see 3 midfielders so we are not overrun whether that means 4-3-3 or some other formation i don't care i'm just tired of watching us struggle to string two passes together due to teams outnumbering us.

It should also be mentioned our expectations are higher now than when Enrique was at the club be it the promotion season or the first season in the prem the expectations were a lot lower. If we brought this Enrique into this team now i bet we would find more things to nitpick about his game because we expect more now after that wonderful season. We may not mean it but it's only human i don't think Enrique would seem as good now as we expected nothing back then and anything was a bonus. For example all this talk about end product i don't remember it come up about Enrique despite sore lacking in it, we was just happy to have a left back who was solid defensively. Now we want more, we want a fullback who is solid defensively but also good going forward and a threat to opposition defences. After that fantastic season it's not enough that any player is simply solid anymore, with Simpson being a prime example.

The problem is Cisse is the one who thrives on the whole front line to himself so he can use his movement and predatory instincts to it's full potential so he thrives on 4-3-3. Ba is the one who thrives mostly when he plays behind the main striker and feeds off those around him and thus thrives more on 4-4-2. Neither work in 4-4-2 because they both like to do similar things and don't really compliment each others strengths and in 4-3-3 only really Cisse truly thrives while Ba's goalscoring is limited. If there was a way we could play Ba on the left and introduce swapping of positions and real interchanging of movement then that would be the best for everyone but i don't think Ba likes the role. not really that easy as it was a nominal 4-3-3 with ben arfa and ba both dropping in a lot and cabaye often being the most forward defensive player with cisse.....the formation wasn't so much the thing as the freedom to move and not to stick rigidly to their positions. that's the thing that pisses me off the most well apart from the hoofing it's the obvious lack of movement. are they seperate or exclusive though...chicken or egg type of thing....the pardew imponderable....is it the formation or is it the rigidity ? It is the formation a bit because 4-3-3 allows more options for a pass and more attacking fluidity due to greater numbers while not risking defensive balance. While in 4-4-2 the players have to be deep to stop defensive inbalance but in the process this causes the 3 portions of the team to be split up so we cannot really pass through teams and almost forces us to be direct. I don't think the players are naturally rigid more the system forces them to be because of the players we have so we cannot be expansive in 4-4-2 and remain defensively solid at the same time.

In a sense it was Messi's fault although he didn't mean it..... First half of the season Ibra was ripping the league apart when he was main central focal point but Messi wanted to be the central and that limited Ibra's creative freedom and thus made his performances go down. Ibra and Messi in the middle was never going to work in a million years as they both like to drop into midfield and be the false 9 both are more effective in that role. I still believe to this day that if Messi stayed out wide then Ibra at Barca would have worked the main reason it fell flat on it's face was because Ibra's role was limited by Messi's desire to be the focal point of the team. On the other hand if Messi was never moved to the centre he would never have become the player he is today so you can't have it both ways i suppose.

not really that easy as it was a nominal 4-3-3 with ben arfa and ba both dropping in a lot and cabaye often being the most forward defensive player with cisse.....the formation wasn't so much the thing as the freedom to move and not to stick rigidly to their positions. that's the thing that pisses me off the most well apart from the hoofing it's the obvious lack of movement.

Yeah that's true although tbf you have normally always had one attacking fullback and solid fullback at least in recent years.

Agree with that, on Alba he's like a left sided Alves

Honestly i just think Sanchez is one of those players who excel in a counter attack system and struggle in a system like Barca's where there's a lot of tight spaces and not much room to move. Think his overall skill set is limited in such a set up, think if Barca do buy Neymar then Alexis should go back to Italy to a team like Inter or Napoli or even Milan if they can rebuild to a good standard.

I thought about that but where would you play Cesc, Iniesta and Busquets

Watching Barca tonight and it seems in last few weeks Cesc has come into his own. His role seems to have changed and playing a lot more like he did at Arsenal instead of backing up the play and being behind the ball all the time ( ala Xavi) he seems to be playing beyond the ball and playing the final pass rather than actual playmaking. I would still have great concerns when Xavi eventually goes because neither Cesc or Iniesta can actually playmake and both are better higher up the pitch be it the final pass AM style of Cesc or the dribbling brilliance of Iniesta to create spaces for others. Unless the team is altered completely and Busquets becomes the playmaker from his deep position ala Guardiola. Be interesting to see how they evolve as it's clear they will have to change in some way to make up for the loss of Xavi as no one can actually do what he does as good as they are.

Neymar seems to be a Villa replacement as most signs seem to think a signing of Neymar in 2014 so it probably works out quite well. I do think Neymar and Messi can co-exist there's some stars who just don't work together but i think they could. As for the CB issue, what sort of CB do Barca want? as quite frankly you could argue they need both a Puyol type and a Pique type. Puyol is very close to the end and Pique has been poor for over a year now how long they have gone without a proper CB is ridiculous. So really what would you prefer buy a playing CB like Hummels or a quick, aggressive CB like Mbiwa to replace a bit of what Puyol brought to the team? I could understand both sides.

You say that but he looked uncomfortable at best on the right the other night and actually looked better when he switched back. I don't think Santon's potential has anything to do with playing on the right or left he will be great for us whether he plays left or right but i think he feels more comfortable on the left.

From all me dad's world cup tapes Passarella looked a class act mind.

I know the circumstances are massively different and the period of time huge but Saylor was nowhere as good as a defender a few years ago as he is now.

Both Enrique and Santon struggled in the same area.... end product. Both had great link up although Santon is a superior dribbler and strong defensively ( santon is now IMO) maybe i'm being unfair but i wonder if Enrique looked so solid defensively because of Jonas covering his arse at everything as he has not looked half the player since going to Liverpool.

And facial features

Considering what i saw week in week out i believe that story. He's one of the greatest players i have ever seen ( biased) was not just talented but hard working and consistent too. Messi actually reminds me a lot of him in style, the mere fact Heskey has more England caps them him is a joke. Incredibly underrated outside of England too, while Shearer will always be my favourite Pedro is still to this day by far the best player i have seen play for us and it will take one special player to surpass him. Also sod England he would walk into the majority of national teams, was a treat watching him growing up and quite frankly he is what football meant to me as a kid.