BCNDavid

Why Samper will not move to Arsenal (or anywhere else)

Sergi Samper has been at La Masia since he was 6 years old. He has played in every youth category and is now on the brink of the first team. He has come so far, and is so close to achieving his dream, why would he leave?

I see many people online saying that Luis Enrique doesn’t trust him and won’t involve him with the first team. In September, Lucho was quoted saying “Sergi Samper represents every single value in a football player” . He trusts and believes in him.

Arsenal would be the easy way out for Samper. A good pay, back with friends (it is well-known that Hector Bellerin and Samper are good friends), not as much competition and no need to adapt to a new position (there are rumours that Samper will be adapted to a centre midfielder so the dominance of Busquets doesn’t hinder his development).

But Sergi bleeds Barça, and he’s willing to work for his chance. Just 12 days ago, during a press conference at Nike Camp Andorra, Samper said: “It is difficult for me to stay with the first team but I will do my best and work hard” and he went on to say “I am looking forward, I have a lot to prove, I’ve got the best players in my position, but I’m ready”. The first quote from the press conference ends all rumours indefinitely, he said: “Barça is the club of my life, if I can I want to stay here forever.”

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A post shared by Sergi Samper (@sergisamper)

Samper has rejected Arsenal three times already, since he was fifteen years old. He rejected them when he had everything to gain from them, a better contract with a pay rise and a quicker route to the first team, but he stayed at the club he grew up with and continued to work hard for his dream. Now, 5 years on, Samper has just turned 20 and is in the transitional period from Barcelona B to the first team. Why would he leave now, when he’s this close?

Yeeees!! World Champions!! Visca el Barça!! 🔵🔴🏆 pic.twitter.com/qHAWaqkbCI

— Sergi Samper (@SergiSamper) December 20, 2015

I realise that all of this has stemmed from the front page of Mundo Deportivo, and is not a very credible story, but this has caused a mass media storm and people should realise that just because ‘a source in Spain’ has given a story, it doesn’t make it at all credible.

https://t.co/jbNtlgPADq

Més que un club…

Bartomeu has been elected as president for the next 6 years. 54.63% of the votes went to Bartomeu. 43.12% of members participated in the vote.

The slogan ‘Més que un club’…

“For many years, this commitment specifically referred to Catalan society, which for many decades of the 20th century lived under dictatorships that persecuted its language and culture. Under these circumstances, Barça always supported Catalan sentiments, and the defence of its own language and culture.” (fcbarcelona.com)

Bartomeu recently said “we want a club independent of political power…we are a Catalan club, we don’t do politics.”. So what the club’s elected president is saying, is he wants to try to remove the club from its actual slogan, a slogan that is one of the reasons why FC Barcelona have been respected by so many.

“Now in times of globalisation, Barça has extended its social commitment to the rest of the planet, with a specially significant event being the signing of an agreement with Unicef in 2006, which was a way of saying that a sports club should not be marginal to problems going on in society, in this case, the plight of children around the world.” (fcbarcelona.com)

During Laporta’s tenure as president of the club, he made an agreement with UNICEF in which they would feature on the front of the shirt, and that the club would pay them for that to be the case. Bartomeu has stripped UNICEF from the front of the shirt and slapped it on the rear instead, and now plastering Qatar over the front. Qatar Airways, a company with no respect for workers or women, a company that belongs to the state of Qatar, in which migrant workers a treated like slaves. From no corporate sponsorship, to blood money from Qatar…quite a jump.

Bartomeu has told everyone that there will be a potential new sponsor, and that members will have the opportunity to choose which sponsor is suitable. I doubt “No sponsor on the shirts, UNICEF on the front” will be an option.

Many are under the illusion that the club needs a sponsor to compete in the transfer market of today. I’m not convinced.

“He also took the chance to thank the other candidates for their hard work and sense of fair-play during the campaign and that any idea that was good for Barça would be worth considering.” (fcbarcelona.com)

Bartomeu thanked the other candidates for their sense of fair-play during the campaign. I’m glad he didn’t note his own sense of fair-play. The man who used FC Barcelona social media (twitter account) to retweet his tweets promoting his campaign at the beginning of the campaigning period, forced the interim board to sign Arda Turan as it is ‘what Luis Enrique wanted’ (couldn’t he wait a week?), and campaigned on the streets, giving out gifts to those who agreed to vote, on the day of elections, in which the campaigning period was officially over.

“The model of FC Barcelona is based on La Masia and that will continue. Most of the players will come from La Masia” (cadena ser)

La Masia seems important to the new president. With Barcelona B called a “team in which players train”, loyal Masia coach García Pimienta promised the Barcelona B job seemingly thrown out as Gerard Lopez will get the position instead. Promising youth players like Alex Corredera, Moha and Ayoub Abou have now left the club as they don’t feel valued, and I’m sure more will follow.

Bartomeu has gone against 116 years of tradition by introducing horizontal stripes to the home shirt. In 1899, the 3rd paragraph of meeting notes from the second ever FC Barcelona foundational meeting read, “It was decided that the colours that this society will use will be the dark blue and scarlet with perpendicular stripes and on the chest Barcelona’s crest.”.

There are many other things that Bartomeu has done…

Promising to renew Abidal and then letting him go. (and then just yesterday saying, “We will sweat blood & tears like Xavi, Puyol, Abidal & Messi.”)
The Neymar case
Being charged with Tax Fraud and Corruption
The transfer ban
Stalled the contract renewal of the best player in the world
Started a poll asking socios if they would sell Messi and for what price

I’m sure there is even more, but you can easily find that for yourself.

Next season will be interesting. Looking like UE Llagostera, La Masia players leaving, big name/money signings, and a president who is an alleged criminal.

‘Més que un club’, but not as we know it.

Luis Enrique’s love for left footed left centre backs

Over the season, a lot of people (including myself) have been wondering one thing. Why is Bartra being left out in the cold by Luis Enrique?

Recently, I have looked into Luis Enrique’s style of management in terms of team selections at Roma (11/12) and at Celta Vigo (13/14). When looking at his preferred selections, I noticed one thing; he is obsessed with left footed left centre backs.

In Lucho’s time at Roma, he used Simon Kjær and Gabriel Heinze as his centre backs. Kjær, playing on the right side, is right footed. Heinze, playing on the left side, is left footed.

A typical AS Roma line-up from the 11/12 season under Luis Enrique

At Celta Vigo, he usually used Gustavo Cabral and former Barcelona player Andreu Fontás in the two centre back positions. Cabral, playing on the right side, is right footed. Fontás, playing on the left side, is left footed. Celta also had back up in Jon Aurtenetxe (left footed) and Jonny (right footed), amongst others.

Celta Vigo’s line-up vs Barcelona in the 13/14 season at Balaídos

Now, I have nothing wrong with Luis Enrique wanting to use left footed players at left centre back, I can understand why he wants to do this. They can cover the left back when attacking, possibly better than a right footed player and they can open up on their left side to play out of defence.

Under this system, Bartra is in a bad situation. Piqué and Mascherano both seem above him in the pecking order, meaning that if Bartra were to play, he’d be put in at LCB. As we’ve gathered, Luis Enrique prefers his LCB to have a left foot. During the summer, Mathieu and Vermaelen were purchased and I’m quite confident that Lucho asked the board to sign some left footed centre backs.

This leaves Bartra down the bottom of the list. Lucho prefers LCBs to be left footed, so when he can have that, he will use that. Bartra has to fight for his place in the team over players that are already ahead in the pecking order their stronger foot is their left. Not because they are better, more talented, more committed, just because their preferred foot is what Lucho wants. As well as this, Mascherano is preferred at LCB over Bartra as well.

As much as I can understand why Luis Enrique wants this, I really think Bartra deserves the chance to play for us. He is such a talented player but is no longer young, he’s 24. He should be starting the big games.

I also see many people claiming that Bartra can’t be trusted to start, as he doesn’t have the experience. How do you gain experience if you aren’t given experience?

Marc Bartra should be given a chance to play in that left centre back spot next to Piqué, but I don’t know if that will happen under the stubborn Luis Enrique, especially with his obsession with those left footers.

Munir’s situation at Barcelona

Munir El Haddadi has already had a roller-coaster ride with Barcelona despite only being 19. Munir signed for Barça from Atlético Madrid in 2011. Since then he has played for Juvenil A, Barça B, Barcelona first team, Spain U19, Spain U21 and the Spain first team. The Moroccan, along with Adama Traoré, guided Barça’s U19 side to UEFA Youth League glory last year, Munir scoring two goals, including a ridiculous strike from the half way line.

Munir scoring in the 2013/14 UEFA Youth League final

It is understandable that after all this fame and all these achievements that Munir has gained a lot of attention in the media, and most notably, on Twitter.

At the start of the season, Munir started the opener against Elche CF, and scored. This caused a media/social media storm. Many saying Munir is the next big thing and I even saw some people calling him the next Messi, which is just stupid no matter who the player is.

A few months later, Munir has played some more games for the first team, being largely ineffective. This caused some of our fans to go crazy and call for Munir to be dropped from the first team and many calling him ‘shit’ amongst other things, saying he has no talent and isn’t good enough.

If you have watching Munir in the youth league and for the B team, you would know that Munir has bags of natural talent and has the potential to be a great player for Barça. But not yet. He is 19 years old, has been rushed through the ranks, nationally and at club level and is nowhere near the level expected of some fans. He is also being played out of position, and rightly so, as he is a striker who drops deep. That position is for Messi and only Messi.

Munir is yet to gain much experience from playing for Barça B. Barcelona’s full team is a whole different situation all together. Playing in big stadiums every game, with fans watching from all over the world, all expecting a great performance because they saw videos on YouTube titled ‘Munir El Haddadi – the next Messi’ or because someone told them that he is the best youth talent at Barcelona.

In reality, like any other player, Munir needs time to develop and gain experience. He needs to play some games with the B team and a few cup games for the first team and I’m sure by next season he will be much more ready to play a bit of a bigger role in the first team.

Another thing I don’t understand is why Luis Enrique is calling Munir up for most first team matches, for him to be sitting on the bench for the whole game. I can understand Lucho calling him up when Suárez was banned but now I don’t think there is any need, with Pedro on the bench and also Rafinha who can play in a more advanced role too. Young players need playing time, and if that’s in the Liga Adelante for Barça B, then so be it.

I’m sure Munir has also been effected by the pressure and stress of playing for one of Europe’s top clubs and that is sure to be effecting his performance’s in the first team as well.

One thing I haven’t mentioned in this article is the fact that Eusebio is the manager of Barça B, which doesn’t help Munir’s, or anyone else’s, situation in the slightest. The fact of the matter is, Eusebio needs to go as soon as possible for our B players to benefit and become what they can become. I’m not sure whether the current board will get rid of Eusebio or if we will have to wait until the new board come in at the end of the season for him to be sacked, but either way it needs to happen this season. But that is another topic for another day.

Thanks for reading and be sure to give me feedback on twitter 🙂

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Barça’s Attacking Trio – Neymar, Messi, Suárez – 3/3

I will be writing three blog posts about the positions/roles of our front three and how they can work together to benefit the whole team. This is the final post. Thank God for that because typing about them is starting to get boring.

I will go through their roles in their respective positions and also what they like to do as a player and how this fits into the formation. These are just thoughts I have had during and after our matches and what I have taken from watching the players play in different roles and since Suárez became a Barça player.

Formation 3
Suárez and Neymar up front playing as somewhat roaming strikers and Messi playing at number 10.

Here, Messi is at number 10. This is a normal position for Leo and he can play there without a doubt, unlike on the right-wing. Messi is basically playing the exact same role that he does whilst in the false 9 position, but instead of having to drop deep, he starts deep.

This could be a good thing or a bad thing. The pros are that he doesn’t have to waste time and energy dropping deep. The cons are that he can be easily marked up by defensive midfielders, especially if the opposition are using a double pivot, and also it won’t give the opposition the unpredictability that the false 9 does, where Leo can run onto either wing, drop deep and even make runs through the defense.

I like this position for Messi much more than the right-wing position. This position still give him freedom to do what he wants and he is much less likely to get isolated.

This goal shows Messi drifting from a deep positions to play a one-two with Neymar and then place a first time shot into the bottom corner. He was not necessarily playing the number 10 role during this game but this shows that he can do the things that a number 10 should be doing.

Messi goal during PSG UCL game — Messi goal during the game vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Next is Neymar, playing as a left-sided striker.

This is similar to his role as a left winger but it means that he can contribute to the attack more and take more of a direct role by having more shots and being able to play short, quick passes.

We all know that Neymar is a decent enough finisher and can do well in this role. This position also allows him to make runs through the defense, with or without the ball, and take a shot across the goalkeeper on his favoured right foot.

Finally we come to Suárez playing as the right-sided striker.

Suárez would be good in this role as it gives him a chance to play up-front and a chance for him to score goals. It is needless to say that Suárez should be finishing his chances 99% of the time, but we are yet to see this consistency during his time at Barça, he needs to adapt quickly before even more fans lose patience with him, after all he has been a very expensive signing that everyone was expecting a lot from, even more so after his Premier League and WC campaigns.

This formation, like every formation, is adaptable during use. For example, Neymar and Suárez could swap thus confusing the opposition and opening up space for Messi and co. Also by swapping, they can open opportunites for a turn and a strike on goal, like Suárez did vs. APOEL.

Suárez scoring after dropping from the left striker position

I prefer this formation a lot over the Messi right-wing option but still stand by my opinion that the best option is Neymar left-wing, Messi false 9 and Suárez right-wing. This is mainly because it is the formation that benefits the team the most, where-as the other two formations are only being talked about because of Suárez, who isn’t performing up to standard. Maybe if Suárez hits a good run of form, he can be used in a more central role, but I will always want Messi playing at number 10 or false 9.

This concludes my 3 piece blog on our attacking trio. Something I didn’t talk about during these posts is the use of rotation and using players like Pedro, Munir and Sandro but I may talk about them at some point in the future.

Be sure to give me feedback on twitter 🙂

Thanks for reading!

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Barça’s Attacking Trio – Neymar, Messi, Suárez – 2/3

I will be writing three blog posts about the positions/roles of our front three and how they can work together to benefit the whole team. This is the second post.

Formation 2
Suárez in the striker role, Messi on the RW and Neymar at his usual LW position.

Neymar, again, is shown on the left-wing.

This is the position he is used in most and is widely known to be most effective from this position. In the previous post, I talked about his ability to dribble and take on players. What I didn’t talk about was his shooting ability, which is very good for a winger. He has scored many long-range goals, the one vs Rayo last season for example, and when playing on the wing, it allows him to cut inside, maybe play a one-two with the striker, and then have a shot on goal.

Neymar’s role as a player don’t really change in this formation and he is still allowed to play the best he possibly can.

Neymar scoring from long range vs Paris Saint-Germain in the UCL group stages — Neymar scoring from long-range vs Paris Saint-Germain in the UCL group stages

Next up is Suárez.

In this formation, Suárez is the main striker. Luis, as everyone knows, is a lethal finisher and will usually finish off any half chance he is given. Usually. Obviously this may not be the case so far this season but he is still adapting to the style of play and I’m confident that he can start banging in goals on a regular basis.

At Liverpool, Suárez was given the freedom to roam across the attack, cutting in from the wings and taking on players and also being in and around the box to be played a killer through ball for him to run onto.

At Barça, the attack consists of a slow passing build-up until a space opens up and it is penetrated rapidly. Not very often will we see a quick attack where Suárez can make a darting run through the defense to be given a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. For me, this is where I can see Suárez trying to adapt his game.

Game after game you can see him making run after run in behind the defense, but he wont get played in because there isn’t enough space on the ground for a pass, whereas at Liverpool, chipped through balls were used a lot more, to overcome the possible lack of space.

Suárez can be used as a main striker, but I think that he can’t be given the freedom that he was given at Liverpool and therefore won’t be as effective. He can score goals, but he won’t be taking on players like he was in the Premier League, unless he comes wide/deep to collect a pass, like he did vs APOEL, for his first Barça goal.

Suárez scoring a typical strikers goal vs Córdoba, assist from Pedro. — Suárez scoring a typical strikers goal vs Córdoba, assist from Pedro

For me, the worst part of this formation is Messi playing on the right-wing.

Don’t get me wrong, I adored watching Messi run at players and score incredible goals from this position a few years ago, but he has changed as a player. Leo has been isolated a few times this season when playing on the right-wing and isolation is the last thing you want from the best player in the world.

Putting Messi on the right-wing can work and of course formations can be switched during a game but in my opinion, Messi is at his best, at this time in his career, playing in the false 9 position, dropping deep, taking on the heart of the opponents defense to give an incredible assist or to score a breathtaking goal.

Of course, Messi can be effective from the right-wing. He’s the best in the world. He could be effective from anywhere. But for a team that has been built around La Pulga, he needs to be in his best position to play to his full abilities, not shifted to the another position to accommodate another player.

Messi's wonderful assist for a Rakitić goal vs Granada — Messi’s wonderful assist for a Rakitić goal vs Granada

Overall, I think this is formation is okay. It is my least favourite but it can work. We saw the old days when Leo would play a one-two with Samuel Eto’o to then curl a long-range effort into the top corner. But we also saw over the last 5 years, Messi running at players through the middle to score incredible goals, a certain goal vs Real Madrid springs to mind…

Thank you for reading part 2 out of 3 of my blog posts about our attacking trio. Be sure to check out my twitter to see when the final part is published!

Part 2 of 3

Gifs made by myself
Line-up of front three made at lineupbuilder.com

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Barça’s Attacking Trio – Neymar, Messi, Suárez – 1/3

I will be writing three blog posts about the positions/roles of our front three and how they can work together to benefit the whole team. This is the first post.

I will go through their roles in their respective positions and also what they like to do as a player and how this fits into the formation. These are just thoughts I have had during and after our matches and what I have taken from the watching the players play in different roles and since Suárez became a Barça player.

Formation 1
Suárez shifted to RW, Messi in his usual False 9 position and Neymar on the LW.
.

Neymar is shown as a left winger/left forward. I believe that this is his best position as it gives him the space and time to make runs from the wing towards the box, much like the runs we saw from Messi a few years ago at Barça, but also allows him to engage in 1-vs-1 battles with the opponents right full-back, and we all know that Neymar loves to try and humiliate the opposition.

Neymar showing off his 1-vs-1 abilities during the UCL quarter final 2nd leg vs Atléti last season

I’ve shown Messi up front in the False 9. This allows him to drop deep to collect the ball from the midfield and run at players like everyone knows he can. This position allows Leo to have the freedom to try and create opportunities for himself and for his teammates. Messi has thrived in this positions for many, many years and has create some incredible memories for Barça fans whilst playing there.

Finally, Suárez is shown on the right wing/right forward position. Many of you, including me, have probably thought to yourselves or even tweeted saying something like, ‘why have we paid €81 million to play one of the best out-and-out strikers in the world on the right wing?’ this sometimes translates to: ‘fuck off Lucho’.

Suárez may not be scoring from this position, but he works immensely hard there, as I have shown by using the backwards blue arrow. He tracks back very well and usually makes good tackles/interceptions. He also makes good runs, making sure the oppositions defense is always occupied and also can provide many goalscoring opportunities.

Suárez working well from the right wing to assist Neymar during the game vs Almeria

Obviously, we didn’t pay €81M for him to work hard and track back, we paid for him to be the striker we needed to help Messi and to add more threat to our attacking trio. If you read my previous post, you’ll know my opinions of his signing. It is not a bad signing.

This is probably the formation I prefer as it gets the best out of both Neymar and Messi and although Suárez isn’t in his best position, he can still be very effective from the right wing.

Be sure to watch out on my twitter for when I post part 2 and 3.

Like I said on my last post, I’m relatively new to this so any advice/constructive criticism is appreciated, I’m not claiming to be an amazing writer 🙂

Happy new year 🙂

Part 1 of 3.

Gifs found on Google images, credit is shown on the watermarks.
Line-up of front three made at lineupbuilder.com

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FC Barcelona’s big signings, bad signings and youth players

For years, Barcelona have been famed for the amount of home-grown players that feature in their starting team and have gone on to become incredible players and, of course, be part of an incredible team. The picture below shows an eleven from the game vs Levante in November 2012 of only La Masia graduates. All La Masia Eleven These players are no pushovers and the majority of them have played a vital role in winning La Liga titles, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. Fast forward to now. There is an ongoing case questioning the price of Neymar and who the money went to, 81.25 million euros spent on a soon to be 28-year-old Luis Suárez and to top it off the ridiculous 4 million euro signing of Douglas Pereira.

The reality is, whether you think these are smart signings or not, they are hindering the development of youth team players. Gerard Deulofeu, who had seemed to be part of the first team plans when he came back from a loan spell with Everton, posing in photos with Rafinha as if he was a new signing, is now spending most of his time sitting on the Sevilla bench whilst multi-million pound signings Neymar and Suárez are guaranteed starters back in Barcelona. In my opinion, most of these signings were necessary, but when you look at the way Pedro is playing, now he is over his start of the season slump, you can’t help but wonder if the signing of Luis Suárez and the sale of Alexis Sánchez was the correct choice.

Barça B stars Sandro Ramírez, Adama Traoré, Sergi Samper, Alejandro Grimaldo and Munir El Haddadi all look more than ready to be fully promoted to the first team in the 15/16 or 16/17 season, but with rumours suggesting that loans away are possible, it seems that developing youth players is no longer the number one priority in Barcelona.

I am not claiming that every signing we made last summer was wrong or that the signings or Neymar and Luis Suárez were bad, Ivan Rakitić was a great signing considering his qualities and price. Others such as Marc-André ter Stegen, who will no doubt be a major part of the Barça squad in the next 10-15 years, and Jérémy Mathieu have proven to been good buys.

Needless amounts of money thrown at big names is what annoys me most about the current transfer policy. I have no doubt in the abilities of Suárez or Neymar and like them a lot as players, but I feel that La Masia players also have a lot to offer to the first team and have the chance to follow the footsteps of Xavi, Pedro and Busquets, to name a couple, in the coming years if they’re given the right opportunities. Of course there are other factors that could hinder the development of our youth, like Eusebio, the undoubtedly questionable coach of Barça B (bare in mind the 7-0 humiliation vs Valladolid last weekend, that’s all you need to know.) and of course the players themselves could not reach their full potential for whatever reason.

These are just my opinions, sorry for any bad grammar or typos and maybe wrong transfer fees, thanks for reading 🙂