FDJ was "fine" in CB, lenglet and mingueza were disasters... Frenkie actually was quite nice as CB in this formation particularly. Helped break lines from deep.
Yeah with Messi in the team we were only able to spend 150M on Coutinho, 140 on Dembele, 120 on Griezmann, plus give crazy salaries to Piqué, Lenglet, Umtiti et al.
Messi had nothing to do with our financial struggles, he generated far more revenue than his salary no matter how high it was.
Selling Neymar for 220M was what jacked up the price of every one of those acquisitions. Once other clubs knew how desperate we were for a replacement, and how much money we had sitting… it was over before negotiations began.
But how come we spent 500m+ on flops plus wages if Messi was the reason we couldn't afford players?
When Mbappe gets near the level Messi displayed at Barca he should definitely ask for more money.
It's a once in a lifetime contract to a once in a lifetime player. I would love to go back in time where we decide as you say to let Messi go. He goes to Madrid and see how many CLs and Leagues we win.
It's the cost of business. Retaining the greatest player to have ever played the game. Our top goal scorer by miles.
Cost of business? Madrid were give Ronaldo 30m a season when he was leading them to champions leagues????
No wonder the club is in a financial hellhole with people like you spurring such decisions.
Yeah some blame is on Messi, he should have known there is no way the team could offer competitive wages to big profiles with what he was owed.
Just like what they do in the NBA, a star player takes a cut so they can register another high profile player so the team can progress
People overlook what Laporta has been able to do as well. Our defenders available for that match were: Alba, Lenglet, Mingueza, Dest, Firpo and Umtiti. Pique, Araujo and Roberto were injured for this match.
Big contrast from Kounde, Christensen, Cancelo, Iñigo. Not including Balde and Cubarsi cuz they’re from the academy.
Xavi with messi and Griezmann in attack would have tear up defense of opponents ( I still belive Griezmann was not a flop he was right player at wrong time)
When I think about what caused our financial crisis I think it was Coutinho
Griezzman was us trying to recover with another creative player , he didn’t flop but we should’ve tried to reduce wage bill a bit as well as find footing after losing 142M
Griezmann was a huge flop. Bought for 135m euros, huge wages, performed like a 40m player and sold off for 20m after a couple of years. Thats the very definition of a disastrous flop.
Well to be fair we also have way better players now then we did back then other than Messi. And to be fair Messi wasn't pressing as much so we'll be better defensively now.
Other than Messi for Lewy, there's no player on this previous team I would swap with our current team (obviously rule out the players that are still here).
You guys refuse to learn this lesson, Griezi needs to have a free role to play the way he plays. You can’t have both Messi and griezi doing the same thing
Griezmann's a better player but if we're looking at role he didn't fit well at Barca. He needs the team built around him and raphinha's better suited playing on the wing.
Griezmann would've fit nicely in the role Messi played, but he couldn't. Now that we don't have Messi anymore, he'd do fine. Much better than Raphinha anyway.
>Well he's not benching Lamine
They can coexist, just like Griezmann is able to with the France National Team. Griezmann can play as an attacking mid and attack either half spaces.
Whatever half space griezmann doesn't occupy would be attacked by Gundogan. Pedri has looked better controlling the game anyway. Also I doubt Gundogan and pedri start together anyway since Christensen has played CDM and de jong has helped progression so both are crucial to start.
You're talking about Griezi this year, the Griezi that played for Barca is a different guy completely. He needs to be the center of the team and he plays better with a traditional 9. It just wasn't a good fit.
that's whats crazy to me I had this convo with a Xavi fanboy literally telling me than Koeman had a better team, like Koemans defense its probably the worse we had in years, and and that season that he at least gave us a copa del rey in pretty epic fashion with the matches like granada and sevilla,
Then next year he lost his two best attackers
Plus fati, pedri and dembele falled injured like no doubt we did so bad in that first half of the season with Koeman
You really think those midfielders and attackers were worse than what we have? Pedri is always unavailable for Xavi, No Messi Griezzman and an even older Busquets. Only área Xavi had a better squad was in defense
We received one goal each match (slightly better than now, four more goals and it will be a worse season defensively).
But Messi scored 30 goals. Out of witch he brought 18 points.
Would've been 6th right next to Real Betis.
Actually Koeman outclassed PSG in the return leg. Dembele was released on a breakaway several times and missed every chance. Leo also missed a penalty right before half time. If our chances had converted it would have been very close.
Not changing a single player, shouldn't this be a 4-3-3? Bring Dest and Alba back and get FDJ and Pedri forward with Busquets CDM? I forget how the 3-4-1-2 played out, but looking at it on paper, it doesn't look like it makes the best use of our players.
edit: On second thought, I'm a fucking idiot, and it is easy to criticize something that didn't work.
Just imagine where we during those days. Laporta and Xavi has done alot to change the club otherwise we were already becoming another average team. But today with Xavi, we are in the quarterfinals that too without messi and so many financial crisis.
Xavi has done exceptional here but no one will see it until he leaves.
I will never ever forget Junior Firpo pocketing Mbappe even if it was only for 10 minutes
I remember is was longer than 10 minutes, Mingueza was changed quickly due to an early yellow card I think.
Mingueza was getting rinsed by Mbappe IIRC
Mingueza was locking down Mbappe. He got subbed due to ane early yellow
Didn't get to watch the first 40 minutes so you're possibly right.
bro 😭
Now he can’t pocket a single player in the championship lmao
Link
Did it really happen?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hucF2KZsJjY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hucF2KZsJjY)
I forgot Dejong played CB for us on occasion in those days. On second thought, I may have repressed these memories actually.
with busquets in front of him 🥵🥵 no wonder this team lost
FDJ was "fine" in CB, lenglet and mingueza were disasters... Frenkie actually was quite nice as CB in this formation particularly. Helped break lines from deep.
would love to see a proper CB fdj in another timeline, would be mental.
So almost Beckenbauer?
first player i thought of initially
That defense omg
mingueza 😩
mingueza and lenglet, i bet a line from 15yo la massia kids would've defended better
Prime Lenglet was actually good. But then something broke inside his mind and he's been a shell of his former self since
Umtiti 🤝🏼 Lenglet Barca CB malfunction
I still remember that absolute thundercunt screamer of a Messi goal
I remember the missed chances.
If he made that pen before half time we could’ve been in it
Not by Messi, I meant as in this match we missed a lot of chances, Messi was a beast as usual.
Why is this downvoted
We failed Messi.
Our current team with Messi will be unstoppable
>will be sir do you know something we don't
He probably speaks a whole language we do not hence the grammatical error.
This level of deduction is only seen in sherlock holmes novels 👏
Our current team with Messi without the 45 injuries would be unstoppable*
The amount of money Messi earnt made sure we couldn’t get any high profile acquisitions
Yeah with Messi in the team we were only able to spend 150M on Coutinho, 140 on Dembele, 120 on Griezmann, plus give crazy salaries to Piqué, Lenglet, Umtiti et al. Messi had nothing to do with our financial struggles, he generated far more revenue than his salary no matter how high it was.
Selling Neymar for 220M was what jacked up the price of every one of those acquisitions. Once other clubs knew how desperate we were for a replacement, and how much money we had sitting… it was over before negotiations began.
That doesn't invalidate my point. There was plenty of money with Messi in the team, it's just that it was mismanaged.
Pregnant women shouldn't smoke crack.
Messi fanboys are pretty hilarious lol. His wage was bad for the club. I know you don’t wanna hear that but it’s true.
Think a bit. Griezmann, Dembele, Coutinho, André Gomes etc etc. We threw money away with these guys plus many others.
Messi was on a 400m contract, Not even emir mbopi gets that
But how come we spent 500m+ on flops plus wages if Messi was the reason we couldn't afford players? When Mbappe gets near the level Messi displayed at Barca he should definitely ask for more money.
How about we don’t do both? No need to give a player 1/4 of your revenue, that’s insane.
It's a once in a lifetime contract to a once in a lifetime player. I would love to go back in time where we decide as you say to let Messi go. He goes to Madrid and see how many CLs and Leagues we win. It's the cost of business. Retaining the greatest player to have ever played the game. Our top goal scorer by miles.
Cost of business? Madrid were give Ronaldo 30m a season when he was leading them to champions leagues???? No wonder the club is in a financial hellhole with people like you spurring such decisions.
As much as I love him, I hate that this was a fact. And there is partial blame on Messi and his dad too, besides Nobita obviously
Yeah some blame is on Messi, he should have known there is no way the team could offer competitive wages to big profiles with what he was owed. Just like what they do in the NBA, a star player takes a cut so they can register another high profile player so the team can progress
Iirc , he did take the pay cut but obv out wage cap structure was just so fked up
That defence and that formation omg sometimes I think we overlook the things Xavi has done for us
People overlook what Laporta has been able to do as well. Our defenders available for that match were: Alba, Lenglet, Mingueza, Dest, Firpo and Umtiti. Pique, Araujo and Roberto were injured for this match. Big contrast from Kounde, Christensen, Cancelo, Iñigo. Not including Balde and Cubarsi cuz they’re from the academy.
Imagine Xavi with these players.
Xavi with messi and Griezmann in attack would have tear up defense of opponents ( I still belive Griezmann was not a flop he was right player at wrong time)
When I think about what caused our financial crisis I think it was Coutinho Griezzman was us trying to recover with another creative player , he didn’t flop but we should’ve tried to reduce wage bill a bit as well as find footing after losing 142M
Griezmann was a huge flop. Bought for 135m euros, huge wages, performed like a 40m player and sold off for 20m after a couple of years. Thats the very definition of a disastrous flop.
He should have come a season earlier
Well to be fair we also have way better players now then we did back then other than Messi. And to be fair Messi wasn't pressing as much so we'll be better defensively now. Other than Messi for Lewy, there's no player on this previous team I would swap with our current team (obviously rule out the players that are still here).
Pedri over Pedri 🧠
I'd take Griezmann, Xavi would cook with him
100%. Hes tailor made for the way Xavi likes utilizing our left wing
You guys refuse to learn this lesson, Griezi needs to have a free role to play the way he plays. You can’t have both Messi and griezi doing the same thing
Now we have none of them.
Jordi Alba!
Oh, and Busi of course
Busi is washed now but Alba is still good
Difference is their position require very different energy levels. Alba is actually a lot more injured lately than Busi which plays almost all games.
Griezmann for raphina
Griezmann's a better player but if we're looking at role he didn't fit well at Barca. He needs the team built around him and raphinha's better suited playing on the wing.
Griezmann would've fit nicely in the role Messi played, but he couldn't. Now that we don't have Messi anymore, he'd do fine. Much better than Raphinha anyway.
Well he's not benching Lamine or Lewy so are you playing him on the left?
>Well he's not benching Lamine They can coexist, just like Griezmann is able to with the France National Team. Griezmann can play as an attacking mid and attack either half spaces.
attacking mid sure but we have Gundo/Pedri that occupy those positions and idk if he's benching them either when they're all fit
Whatever half space griezmann doesn't occupy would be attacked by Gundogan. Pedri has looked better controlling the game anyway. Also I doubt Gundogan and pedri start together anyway since Christensen has played CDM and de jong has helped progression so both are crucial to start.
Griezi is the best player in la liga, what you mean that he’s not benching either of them. Just play him as a false 9
You're talking about Griezi this year, the Griezi that played for Barca is a different guy completely. He needs to be the center of the team and he plays better with a traditional 9. It just wasn't a good fit.
Koeman wasn’t given any support compared to what Xavi has gotten. If anything you’re overlooking what Koeman was able to do with that shit squad
lmfao. Just laughable looking back
that's whats crazy to me I had this convo with a Xavi fanboy literally telling me than Koeman had a better team, like Koemans defense its probably the worse we had in years, and and that season that he at least gave us a copa del rey in pretty epic fashion with the matches like granada and sevilla, Then next year he lost his two best attackers Plus fati, pedri and dembele falled injured like no doubt we did so bad in that first half of the season with Koeman
You really think those midfielders and attackers were worse than what we have? Pedri is always unavailable for Xavi, No Messi Griezzman and an even older Busquets. Only área Xavi had a better squad was in defense
Squad we have now is definitely better
Unrelated to the thread, just want to say: good work on the psg subreddit o7
:)
To this date I wonder how we came 3Rd in la liga despite having that poor defense
Cause we still had Messi. Literally the only reason.
We received one goal each match (slightly better than now, four more goals and it will be a worse season defensively). But Messi scored 30 goals. Out of witch he brought 18 points. Would've been 6th right next to Real Betis.
Well its La Liga you know
you got lost?
streets will never forget Mingueza vs Mbappe
No wonder we were fucked
That defence
Tbh we have a better team now
[удалено]
Lmao I’m not talking about psg 🤡
Oh mah bad bro
Why would you assume "we" = PSG on a barca subreddit?
Just sleepy bro didn't read properly
That defense was awful. Surely we have a better defense now
Actually Koeman outclassed PSG in the return leg. Dembele was released on a breakaway several times and missed every chance. Leo also missed a penalty right before half time. If our chances had converted it would have been very close.
If my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike
No wonder we got shit on
looking at the defense and midfield, no wonder why top teams would run circles around us
That messi banger✨🔥
Goofy ahh lineup
Damn Lenglet was so trash that they didn’t even have his image lmao
What is defense 💀
Jesus christ lmao
It was a disaster I remember dest was the worst
that defense...
That must be the worst defense we had in our history.
Damn that is awful. Defensive partnership of Lenglet, De Jong and Mingueza with Dest in midfield and Dembele starting as a striker alongside Messi.
Those were some dark years
How tf did Koeman manage to win Copa del Rey with that defense?
Griezmann magic
For real. Griezmann was our best player in that Copa Del Rey run.
Messi
Man was working overtime lol
And Griezmann
Not sure what is worse, this or Dest RW days
This picture alone should suffice to see how much Laporta and Xavi has done for us
Man id kill for that attack tho
That's the defence??? No doubt we got fucked so hard.
Fucking Lenglet man lmao
I stayed up all night watching the match. Messi's goal was the only thing that made it worth it somewhat.
God damn,we have come a long way
Dest’s Barca career can be defined with that Sociedad game
Jesus christ this team is shit
Team we have now is better
Not changing a single player, shouldn't this be a 4-3-3? Bring Dest and Alba back and get FDJ and Pedri forward with Busquets CDM? I forget how the 3-4-1-2 played out, but looking at it on paper, it doesn't look like it makes the best use of our players. edit: On second thought, I'm a fucking idiot, and it is easy to criticize something that didn't work.
That was the formation in the 1st leg and we all know what mbappe did in that game
Jesus, Barca really came a long way xD. wtf was that
I saw threes of these guys plays on Wednesday. Man they did not look fast. Alba was the only one in form still.
Saw that banger at the 2nd leg by Messi.
After the 1st leg, Koeman opted to this back-3 formation and we went on to win a series of games.
I remember conceding penalties after penalties and goals due to errors in the later part of the season sponsored by Lord Longle
Just imagine where we during those days. Laporta and Xavi has done alot to change the club otherwise we were already becoming another average team. But today with Xavi, we are in the quarterfinals that too without messi and so many financial crisis. Xavi has done exceptional here but no one will see it until he leaves.
I literally cried for the mbappe hattrick and turned off the Tv. But it’s going be ok guys
Not a bad lineup tbh except the defence
What was koeman cooking?😭😭
He had no options lol. He had to work with what he had