Both Sanchez and Cesc were excellent signings and they've both largely performed. They should have signed a centre back and a centre forward though.

Sanchez was a good signing. Cesc sticks out like a sore thumb most teams I've seen Barca this season. He has no business in that team.

He would've been much better off joining a team based on power, like Real Madrid. But obviously that wasn't possible with his Barca DN-fucking-A. He's a power player. I get the feeling that Pep regrets signing him. He spoke early on about him having learn defensive awareness or something, and he has left him out of the starting line-up a fair bit. If David Villa wasn't injured, I wonder if they'd have found room for him.

Anyway, fuck him.

Patters wrote:

Sanchez was a good signing. Cesc sticks out like a sore thumb most teams I've seen Barca this season. He has no business in that team.

15 goals and 20 assist says different. I don't know what he's done to you but he's a world-class player by most standards. It's true he doesn't fit in at Barca, but is't not because he isn't good enough. It's because they play a traditional 4-3-3 with a fairly flat midfield whose main responsibility is to work the ball to the forward line where the creativity happens. Cesc is a creative player with perhaps the best final pass in the world so he's used as a forward. He doesn't really fit into their system, but it has nothing to do with imaginary limitations. You'd have a hard time convincing anybody that he's a power player.

Klaus wrote:

Patters wrote:

Sanchez was a good signing. Cesc sticks out like a sore thumb most teams I've seen Barca this season. He has no business in that team.

15 goals and 20 assist says different. I don't know what he's done to you but he's a world-class player by most standards.

based on his la liga season 9 goals and 8 assists isnt great, barca could have spent that money on a goalscorer and wouldnt have had to rely on messi to score a hatrick every game. One of the main reasons real are ahead of them in la liga is because not only do they have ronaldo scoring 40 odd goals but higuan and benzema chipping in with around 25 goals

He's got 9 goals and 10 assist in 26 league games. That's nearly a goal or assist per game. I'd say it's pretty good. Barca should definitely have spent their money on other players than Sanchez and Fabregas this summer but it doesn't detract anything from their individual qualities.

Klaus wrote:

15 goals and 20 assist says different.

If you played any good ACM in the role Fabregas has played, with the support Fabregas has had, they'd get similar figures. I'm not impressed. Barcelona are so good that they monopolise possession and create tons of chances in the league. If you play an attacking role for that club, you're bound to score goals. When it has mattered, Cesc has had no impact and that's what counts. If he puts his chances away against Chelsea in the first leg, the result wouldn't have been 'unjust', as he put it.

You'd have a hard time convincing anybody that he's a power player.

I know many people who share this view. And those not arrogant wouldn't assume a 'power player' is a bad thing. It's just different.

Messi is a bottler by the same standards. It's just some silly post-construction.

Patters wrote:

You'd have a hard time convincing anybody that he's a power player.

I know many people who share this view. And those not arrogant wouldn't assume a 'power player' is a bad thing. It's just different.

It's not really an opinion. It's a fact that he's a player whose game is centered around creative passing. He left Premier League when he was 23 years old and he's still ranked 5th in the all time assist chart.

Cesc

Cesc has had a good season, individually speaking. He's run out of steam recently though, along with the rest of their team including Messi. Fabreags was one of Barcelona's best players in the first half of the season.

Chamakh was our best player for the first half of last season along with nasri , doesnt mean he had a good season.

After his break from football Pep might fancy the task of replacing Wenger once his current contract is up?
Though I suspect he might end up replacing Fergie if he does return to management.

SamDaGooner wrote:

Chamakh was our best player for the first half of last season along with nasri , doesnt mean he had a good season.

No he wasn't, he was useful for a few months but that was it.

It's got fuck all to do with Cesc anyway.

I think he'll return to Barcelona when and if he makes a comeback. All he needs to do is to say the word and the job is his again.

Klaus wrote:

It's not really an opinion. It's a fact that he's a player whose game is centered around creative passing. He left Premier League when he was 23 years old and he's still ranked 5th in the all time assist chart.

He was a player whose game was centred around creative passing. Now he's very different. Particularly from 2009 onwards (particularly in the 2009/10 season where he was fantastic) his game was based on running power and being a driving force like a Gerrard or Lampard. He will continue to get assists because he is a very good passer but if you think being a 'power player' and 'no. of assists' should be mutually exclusive, then your logic is off.

I didn't say that. I said that he's a player whose trademark is, has been and always will be his creative passing. Theoretically he fits like a glove at Barcelona in that sense.

Timbo wrote:

It's got fuck all to do with Cesc anyway.

A is equal to B so therefore B must he equal to C. Didn't you get the memo?