The Fans Blog4

One of the most talented squads in Europe since decades, simply collapsed in a blink of an eye, after two years where they dominated all the fields and all the hearts, the destructive mechanism started to roar and roll like an evil beast ruining everything that once added pleasure for life and football, the downfall reached the bottom that moment when the squad made two rows to cheer for Real Madrid players getting crowned! It will take so long till Barcelona fans forget that moment, but it was a ring for change, so as in life, a cycle must be closed for another one to start, exactly what happened…

A new coach, new squad... and almost a new board!
Now after the transfer period ended, and based on the first slice of the season, how do things look like?

Do we need to make another big mess? Buying and selling? Is it going to be calm winter for Barcelona? Or will it be a busy January? What are the expectations for the summer? First let’s make a fast evaluation about our troops, to figure out where we stand. I will try to brief so I don’t repeat things we have mentioned before.


Goalkeepers:
Victor Valdes
Jose' Manuel Pinto
Albert Jorquera

Victor Valdes is the first option, no doubt about that, Barcelona fans always complain the board is making no attempt to sign a first class keeper, but to be fair we need to admit that Valdes improved greatly last season, he may still have his own dizzy moments, but he saved Barcelona in many games last season. This season things are going really good so far, he barely made a mistake, and I am satisfied, what about you?

Pinto seems to be the option two, he used to be on the highest standards with Celta, but I don’t know if he can seriously put more pressure on Valdes. Albert Jorquera is the third option, when it was certain that he will leave the club, the board extended his contract, the best thing about him is that he doesn’t mind to be benched forever.

If it was up to me, I would recommend that Barcelona keep either Pinto or Jorquera as a back up, and try to sign a younger keeper for the third option spot, a young keeper who may need polishing before starting to compete for a place, but on the long run that will prove being a good strategic approach.

But this is something that can wait till summer, unless if we can hunt a rare opportunity that needs fast responds. Goalkeeping hasn’t been the position to be proud of in Barcelona since a while, but it's not as weak as some may think; there is enough depth and certainly its long way over average.

Defense:
Four players were bought, one of them was loaned out - Henrique. It was a radical reengineering that if worked, will make a huge impact on the team not only on the short term, but for future.

Barcelona defense was a disaster last season, lot of ink described how bad the fantastic four performed (or three of them to be specific), how disappointing Deco was, but having a close look make it obvious that the backline was not better.
Based on the new acquisitions, the defense structure looks like this:



Daniel Alves: Needs more time to adapt, but he already made a huge impact on the team, he offered lot of options, giving Messi the chance to play as a second striker. He misses a Kanoute in the box to get advantage of his crosses but he is satisfying so far.

Puyol: He may not be the same horse we knew, age is starting to make an impact, but no doubt his presence is still crucial, his experience is a must, and his leadership will be the corner stone at least till the new guys mature enough to carry the flag. He is doing well as a central back, as a right backward he is a good cover as long as he doesn’t face wingers with pace. On the left, even though he performed well already, but I don’t think he will be an option when Caceres find his way.

Piqué: One of the best news for the season, a confident performance, and positioning, but still need to work on the ball clearance.

Marquez: A needed experience, and a threat on set pieces.

Caceres: Still finding his way, and adapting to the team style, but when he played he showed lot of potentials. With the new defense system, where sometimes Pep use three Central backwards, Caceres will have an important role rotating with Abidal on the left back because they both can play as central defender and on the left, which is the kind of players pep need.

Milito: We are waiting his return; will he be back to his best? That’s a big question, and based on his performance lot of things will be decided. He is our new signing in January.

Abidal: Our best defender this season so far, how lucky Barcelona are for keeping him! It was great to know that in Atletico Madrid game, the fans in the Camp Nou were singing his name, he needed that, and I believe he is the best option on the left back of Barcelona defense.

Sylvinho: his impact in the dressing room will be more important than his role on the field, but he will have his time when needed.

Based on that, do we really need to shake our cards this summer to make any changes?
In my opinion, I don’t think we need any changes in January, not even for next season, even though it’s still early to think of it. Next season Henrique will be our new transfer, and he will need a year in Barcelona to adapt, till then, Marquez and Milito will be under a magnifier, who will be the last man standing?


Midfield:
Barcelona fans have all the reasons to be optimistic regarding the club midfield.
Even Toure Yaya, one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, has no guaranteed place in the selection in the presence of the new promoted talent Sergi Busquets.

Xavi who was labeled as the best player in EURO 2008 is turning the world around, Hleb the new tireless midfielder, and Seydou Keita the man of tricky attributes who can make a deference when pep find the perfect role for him (I see him as the man of tactical missions, but we will see), and even Gudi is stamping his mark so far!

Where the hell this Busquets came from?!
We always thought it will be a Yaya vs Seydou, but this young Catalan is making things more complicated, Yaya's lack of preparation in preseason, added to the fact that pep was the coach of Barcelona B, as it was called last season, offered this guy a chance, and it seems as if he was waiting all his life to hunt that moment! He shut up all the whispers about the impact of his father on his promotion to the first team; I can imagine how good this guy will become after gaining muscles and experience, what an asset!

Does that mean “Bye bye yaya!”?
I still feel its too early to get too concerned about it, regardless of the typical papers/ agents games, and I know the majority are concerned now, but I don’t think what we read about him now is more serious than what we read before about Henry, or C. Ronaldo, or Ade or…or…..there will always be a new star in the news and he will keep his place there as long as people are carried away by what they read.

Toure’ started his preparation for the season late, and he played two games already, and both were recently, so I think its still too early to figure out how things will go and its too early for him to start complaining, but what’s almost certain is that nothing will happen in January. I believe he can seal his place again, not permanently, but he will have an essential role this season, or that’s what I wish, but till this moment I am not worried.

Maybe later it may be more clear if there is a problem or not, but at the moment there is only a case of no case, the agent has to say what he said or else he has to find himself another job, the media need a hot topic and this is an easy one to attract people to read and believe, and NO its not Yaya role to respond to each and every thing said to the news even if it is said by his agent, he do his talking in the dressing room to the coach, or else the players will have no time to play because they will keep being busy with interviews. If he responded and denied now, and another rumor started about him or other player and they didn’t respond then the rumor is Auto confirmed, where will we reach if this cycle start?

I think till this moment the team is catching the momentum so the players who are doing well will keep their positions and the rest need to challenge for a place and take the opportunity to prove their quality when they get the chance. The club can't sell Yaya, specially that Keita role is not a DM, so they need Yaya. Busquets can't play a full season, so I don’t think this is something the team is thinking about, or at least there are no signs about that till the moment so I prefer to wait before I jump to conclusions then analyze conclusions then feel bad about the whole thing.

Beside, why will Yaya be in a hurry to leave in January and squeeze himself to play only in domestic league, while if he wait four months more he may end the season with a Champions league on his shelf? Let’s say I wish I am right, but who knows?

Keita: I think he is becoming the new target of the critical fans, after Valdes, Henry, Abidal, and Gudi, now its Keita turn. But as a new signing I can’t complain about his performance, he deserves no songs yet, but he is doing his job to a good limit.

Hleb: To be objective, its too early to judge him, he hasn’t played enough, but since Barcelona bought him, I am dreaming of the moment when we see Xavi and Hleb dancing together in the midfield, Hleb is the perfect complement for Xavi with his tireless runs and direct style, the fruitless possession of last season is history. His injuries record is the only concern I have.

Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen: yea that’s the full name, after his performance this season, he deserve to be addressed this way, typing the long full name again and again. I know some of those who read this will think he doesn’t deserve all that praise, but a guy with this level of dedication and patience deserve it, no doubt.

The thing is that when we love a player we always analyze even the typical moves like sitting on the bench to praise him, and when we hate a player we always find a way to under estimate everything he do, this guy scored three times already and earned points for the team, he scored because he position himself well in the box, not for any other reason, he has been one of the best strikers in his UK days before “the special one” era, and he still have the positioning and finishing instinct.

He played the role pep want in a midfielder and gave headache for Keita. We can talk as much as we want about our style/his style and that he doesn’t click in the Liga, but that will not change the fact that he proved being a good card for a long season. He has my vote, at least till the end of the season, then we evaluate based on the new role the coach is giving him, if he will be useful on the long term or not.

Xavi: Do I really need to talk about his performance? I think its enough to repeat what I said before, this guy either put a great performance or a perfect one! Enough said!

I am aware also that some youth may have the opportunity to test themselves in the cup. Keeping in mind that we have a talent in Scotland whom we may get back when he is ready, and based on the drawing below, do you think we really need sign any midfielders? And hey! Barcelona is the club where every sunshine a new midfielder catches the world with surprise.

For the midfielders photo, even though the best options for midfield are Xavi and Hleb playing together, but I think Hleb is the only player who can be used to bench Xavi to have some rest, so in order to keep them both fit, Pep may decide to rotate them assisted by either Gudi or Keita, but of course he will have them both when he needs them. But that rotation must only start after January when the two players get used to play beside each other.

And I am aware that Iniesta is also an option but I prefer to keep him focused on the role he is playing on the left wing so he doesn’t get confused by playing a deferent role every week.

Conclusion: If Barcelona will have no complains about the defense structure, I believe they can be proud of the midfield combination of talents and potentials, techniques and muscles they have. I don’t think any transfer is needed for midfield, not in January at least. We neither need to buy, nor to sell.







This was the second part of this analysis. You can read the first part here. The third and last part will follow later this week.