Serious Barca thread. No troll.

[ben_09]

Put your foot in and dive out
Yell and scream for the foul
Get up, tell the ref what to do now
Make sure Diaby cant breathe out
Hands up and choke him down
Get up, tell the ref what to do now
Keep cheatin, cheatin cheatin yeah

f**** lol, POTY contender.

 

[cannons]

2) Barca's president Sorrell's hypocritical and ill-informed comments regarding Arsenal's recruitment of Toral. Maybe he should have a look at where and what age most of Barca's players are taken from.

This point is particularly interesting.

Rosell goes on about Arsenal's actions being immoral when chasing Toral, but who is he kidding?

Barca tried to poach two of Arsenal's kids last season (Aneke and Afobe) who were the same age.

Rosell then went on to suggest that they invest in their academy whilst Arsenal fish all over Europe for youngsters.

More pathetic double standards, I'm afraid. Barca has pinched numerous youngsters from other clubs around Europe, including a 12 year-old from Besiktas and a 7 year-old from Lyon, and let's not forget the likes of Messi either. In fact, most of their academy players are foreigners. Moreover, most of their Spanish players didn't even start in the Barca youth system like they would have you believe, and that might be why they're so upset about Cesc, because he was one of the few who was actually a genuine product of their academy. Guys like Puyol, Pedro and Iniesta are not genuine Barca products and were instead poached from rival Spanish clubs.

I don't know why it is, perhaps they believe they are perfect, but for some reason Barca thinks they are beyond reproach and can act in any manner they see fit, whilst questioning all of those around them for doing the exact same things.

Pathetic, really.

 

[DB10]

the thing about Toral is that if it wasn't us, it would have been one of the other ones. the kid is as English as he is Spanish and he wanted to move to England regardless. the fact it was Arsenal is immaterial and they really just need to stop being such giant ****.

 

[Coledinho]

This point is particularly interesting.

Rosell goes on about Arsenal's actions being immoral when chasing Toral, but who is he kidding?

Barca tried to poach two of Arsenal's kids last season (Aneke and Afobe) who were the same age.

Rosell then went on to suggest that they invest in their academy whilst Arsenal fish all over Europe for youngsters.

More pathetic double standards, I'm afraid. Barca has pinched numerous youngsters from other clubs around Europe, including a 12 year-old from Besiktas and a 7 year-old from Lyon, and let's not forget the likes of Messi either. In fact, most of their academy players are foreigners. Moreover, most of their Spanish players didn't even start in the Barca youth system like they would have you believe, and that might be why they're so upset about Cesc, because he was one of the few who was actually a genuine product of their academy. Guys like Puyol, Pedro and Iniesta are not genuine Barca products and were instead poached from rival Spanish clubs.

I don't know why it is, perhaps they believe they are perfect, but for some reason Barca thinks they are beyond reproach and can act in any manner they see fit, whilst questioning all of those around them for doing the exact same things.

Pathetic, really.

Great post but what I have learned is while we are on the side arguing that the sky is blue, the Barcelona fans are trying to convince us its actually purple because of what 2 nomad Spanish twats in suits told us.

Barcelona isnt a football club, more a cult.

 

[Kompany]

This is Robin Van Persie. His right foot is geniunely that pathetic. The fact you think body language is a reason to send someone off but grabbing someone by the throat and choking them isnt only speaks to your bias really.

Where did I say Abidal didn't deserve a yellow? It was pretty obious, wasn't it? As for those calling for him to be sent off, I didn't see many Arsenal fans say van Persie should've been sent off in the first half already either.

And van Persie's shot, if you can't see that's not a player who believes he can decide the tie, you're either blind or hopelessly biased.

He takes it down brilliantly and steadies himself well, then he goes to kick it, and although it doesn't look as pretty as his left, do you really expect perfect technique on his opposite foot?

You can continue to try and justify it if you want, but let's be honest, it was a shit call and one that was made by a partial ref.

There's absolutely no conviction in his attempt. He turns away to the linesman as soon as he's shot, knowing the flag's gone up. He just knows.

More pathetic double standards, I'm afraid. Barca has pinched numerous youngsters from other clubs around Europe, including a 12 year-old from Besiktas and a 7 year-old from Lyon, and let's not forget the likes of Messi either. In fact, most of their academy players are foreigners. Moreover, most of their Spanish players didn't even start in the Barca youth system like they would have you believe, and that might be why they're so upset about Cesc, because he was one of the few who was actually a genuine product of their academy. Guys like Puyol, Pedro and Iniesta are not genuine Barca products and were instead poached from rival Spanish clubs.

There is quite a difference between pinching a child that has no guarantee of turning into a successful professional and pinching a 16 year old who is almost guaranteed of becoming one.

Are most of our academy youngsters foreigners? Really?

It's quite obvious most of our Spaniards have come from somewhere. How many players do you know who've been at the same club since they were 6 years old? That's just a completely unrealistic expectation. You may be the wrong person to advocate this here, but remember Man Utd's group of homegrown kids (Beckham, Scholes, Butt...)? From memory, they all joined Utd at about the same age the likes of Messi and Iniesta joined Barcelona. Ever heard the English media go on about Utd stealing those players from other clubs and those players not being Utd's homegrown talents?

As for Toral, I reckon it's understandable Barcelona and its fans are upset, it's understandable Toral himself wanted to move and it's understandable Arsenal wanted to sign him. But Arsenal fans who find signing Toral is acceptable shouldn't whinge about us trying to sign the likes of Fabregas and Henry in the past, with the excuse of us having to put in an official transfer bid first. It hasn't worked like this in football anymore for 2 decades - clearly football's become a business run by agents.

 

[cannons]

Great post but what I have learned is while we are on the side arguing that the sky is blue, the Barcelona fans are trying to convince us its actually purple because of what 2 nomad Spanish twats in suits told us.

Barcelona isnt a football club, more a cult.

Have to agree with you, the fact that their fans talk this rubbish with such conviction is just staggering.

There's absolutely no conviction in his attempt. He turns away to the linesman as soon as he's shot, knowing the flag's gone up. He just knows.

'He just knows' isn't an overly strong argument.

Further to that, it's an opposite foot shot, do you really expect it to be hit with conviction? None of my non-preferred side shots are hit with conviction, simply because I do not have the same level of confidence in it as I do my left.

I mean, he does everything right prior to taking the shot, he hits it hard, what more do you want from an opposite foot shot?

There is quite a difference between pinching a child that has no guarantee of turning into a successful professional and pinching a 16 year old who is almost guaranteed of becoming one.

Are most of our academy youngsters foreigners? Really?

It's quite obvious most of our Spaniards have come from somewhere. How many players do you know who've been at the same club since they were 6 years old? That's just a completely unrealistic expectation. You may be the wrong person to advocate this here, but remember Man Utd's group of homegrown kids (Beckham, Scholes, Butt...)? From memory, they all joined Utd at about the same age the likes of Messi and Iniesta joined Barcelona. Ever heard the English media go on about Utd stealing those players from other clubs and those players not being Utd's homegrown talents?

As for Toral, I reckon it's understandable Barcelona and its fans are upset, it's understandable Toral himself wanted to move and it's understandable Arsenal wanted to sign him. But Arsenal fans who find signing Toral is acceptable shouldn't whinge about us trying to sign the likes of Fabregas and Henry in the past, with the excuse of us having to put in an official transfer bid first. It hasn't worked like this in football anymore for 2 decades - clearly football's become a business run by agents.

Where to start?

1. As I've previously mentioned, you tried to pinch Arsenal's 16/17 year olds last season, and guys like Puyol and Pedro joined around that age as well, so you really can't use that argument about how pinching children is somehow okay.

English clubs also have tighter restrictions in relation to age, so they can only really start poaching youth in a more unregulated fashion once they hit 16.

Toral also wanted to leave Barca for an English club, so you can't really say we poached him either.

2. Most of your academy players are foreigners, look it up. I can't remember the exact figures, but you have something like 7 non-EU players in your best academy side, and there are probably other non-Spanish Europeans in the team as well.

3. I have no issue with poaching quality youth from the nation of origin as it makes sense to give guys better opportunities in some instances, but I have an issue with Barca making out they don't and that all of these guys have come through the academy. They just lie and then have a dig at Arsenal poaching talented youth, when the reality is that they do the same thing.

4. Comparing the signing of a youth player to that of an established senior player is ridiculous, as they aren't tied to a professional contract, aren't proven and they really have no worth at that point in time.

That's just a nonsensical connection to make in relation to this issue.

 

[BlowJobe]

8 pages later Barca fans stay failing.

 

[Godzke]

8 pages later you pricks keep crying. I'm ****ing loving this!

 

[Kompany]

'He just knows' isn't an overly strong argument.

Further to that, it's an opposite foot shot, do you really expect it to be hit with conviction? None of my non-preferred side shots are hit with conviction, simply because I do not have the same level of confidence in it as I do my left.

I mean, he does everything right prior to taking the shot, he hits it hard, what more do you want from an opposite foot shot?

We'll never know of course, but it definitely doesn't look like a full on attempt from a world class player. He could've put the ball in front of his left as well, at least try something. It's not just the shot, his whole body language is just not right. Keep looking. He's by himself in front of goal and all he does is this lame loosely aimed shot? It really looked like he knew. Anyway, I won't convince you but there are Arsenal fans admitting they too believe he knew.

1. As I've previously mentioned, you tried to pinch Arsenal's 16/17 year olds last season, and guys like Puyol and Pedro joined around that age as well, so you really can't use that argument about how pinching children is somehow okay.

English clubs also have tighter restrictions in relation to age, so they can only really start poaching youth in a more unregulated fashion once they hit 16.

Toral also wanted to leave Barca for an English club, so you can't really say we poached him either.

I didn't know about those Arsenal players. Puyol came from a Catalan amateur side from a town with 3,000 population and Pedro came late indeed. But there still is a difference between that and attracting kids at a much younger age. I played for the youth of a professional club as well, and the older I got the more kids joined from smaller clubs in the neighbourhood. That's just the normal way of football. It's different when you get an almost finished product who's not far from first team football.

Of course I don't like you signing Toral. What did you expect? Maybe we lost a great player for close to nothing. But I understand Toral and I understand Arsenal, so nothing to see here really.

2. Most of your academy players are foreigners, look it up. I can't remember the exact figures, but you have something like 7 non-EU players in your best academy side, and there are probably other non-Spanish Europeans in the team as well.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/fc-barcelona-juvenil-a/kader/verein_2470.html --> A Portuguese and 3 guys from Cameroon. The rest seem pretty Spanish at first sight.

Our reserves have 1 non-Spaniard. There's also Thiago, who's Brazilian/Italian. Maybe there are others - feel free to check. But yeah, not sure how you get to that majority coz last time I had a decent look at our youth (2 years or so ago) only a small minority were foreign.

3. I have no issue with poaching quality youth from the nation of origin as it makes sense to give guys better opportunities in some instances, but I have an issue with Barca making out they don't and that all of these guys have come through the academy. They just lie and then have a dig at Arsenal poaching talented youth, when the reality is that they do the same thing.

They're obviously bitter about losing guys Fabregas, Merida, Pique... for close to nothing. You'd be too. I don't think we sign many 16 year olds from competitors -> I honestly didn't know about the 2 Arsenal players, hadn't even heard of them. If we do, then obviously they're talking crap. But Wenger's no better, bitching about us poaching Fabregas and Henry while he very well knows he has a big influence on players himself and uses that to lure them to Arsenal, for example staying stuff about Eden Hazard in a French newspaper which could only be translated as "I want you".

4. Comparing the signing of a youth player to that of an established senior player is ridiculous, as they aren't tied to a professional contract, aren't proven and they really have no worth at that point in time.

That's just a nonsensical connection to make in relation to this issue.

So the 16 year old Fabregas had no worth? Come on

 

[Borgsta]

1. To give a 2nd yellow for that is a disgrace.
2. RVP saw the linesman with his flag up.
3. RVP heard the whistle - hence the rushed shot with his wrong foot when he had plenty of time.

End thread.

 

[Benno_900]

Pfft, he wasn't even offside.

 

[Jessica Watson]

I just wanted to point out how bad of a tackle that actually was from Koscielny.

 

[Godzke]

Wasn't a penalty. Pedro dived. Messi in fact missed the penalty 3 times but went back in time with his poxy timewatch and eventually hit the back of the net.

 

[SebastianVettel]

I just wanted to point out how bad of a tackle that actually was from Koscielny.

Shock horror that was. No surprise that his name is similar to Konchesky. They're both of a similar quality.

 

[cannons]

We'll never know of course, but it definitely doesn't look like a full on attempt from a world class player. He could've put the ball in front of his left as well, at least try something. It's not just the shot, his whole body language is just not right. Keep looking. He's by himself in front of goal and all he does is this lame loosely aimed shot? It really looked like he knew. Anyway, I won't convince you but there are Arsenal fans admitting they too believe he knew.

You're right, we'll never know.

He may have thought that he was under pressure and that's why he didn't swing on to his left, he may have thought that Arsenal hadn't had many chances so he should take one while it was there etc.

I suppose you can argue it either way, but it shouldn't have been a red card, that much is certain, especially after half of the Barca team had been grabbing throats minutes earlier.

I didn't know about those Arsenal players. Puyol came from a Catalan amateur side from a town with 3,000 population and Pedro came late indeed. But there still is a difference between that and attracting kids at a much younger age. I played for the youth of a professional club as well, and the older I got the more kids joined from smaller clubs in the neighbourhood. That's just the normal way of football. It's different when you get an almost finished product who's not far from first team football.

Yeah, Barca invited both to have a look at their academy with a view to signing them. Aneke flat-out rejected their advances, but Afobe went along and enjoyed the trip, but ultimately decided to stay with Arsenal.

On the difference between attracting kids of 7-12 and 16-17, you have to remember that Arsenal can't do what Barca does in that respect, as the restrictions are much tighter. We can't sign kids from other countries when they're 7 years old, and unless their parents move within a certain distance of the club's facilities, we can't sign local kids from different parts of the country either.

Of course I don't like you signing Toral. What did you expect? Maybe we lost a great player for close to nothing. But I understand Toral and I understand Arsenal, so nothing to see here really.

Yeah, not much to say there.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/fc-barcelona-juvenil-a/kader/verein_2470.html --> A Portuguese and 3 guys from Cameroon. The rest seem pretty Spanish at first sight.

Our reserves have 1 non-Spaniard. There's also Thiago, who's Brazilian/Italian. Maybe there are others - feel free to check. But yeah, not sure how you get to that majority coz last time I had a decent look at our youth (2 years or so ago) only a small minority were foreign.

You're looking at the older 'Juvenil' side, and I'm assuming most of them have pro contracts as they're mainly between 17 and 19. I'm talking about the Cadet sides where the kids like Toral are playing. I had a look at an article just before, and apparently Barca has 7 non-EU players in the Cadet A side, and 9 non-EU players in the Cadet B side, so it's quite clear that there's a fair number of foreigners in those teams, which is backed up by the comments made by Wenger when talking about Toral.

They're obviously bitter about losing guys Fabregas, Merida, Pique... for close to nothing. You'd be too. I don't think we sign many 16 year olds from competitors -> I honestly didn't know about the 2 Arsenal players, hadn't even heard of them. If we do, then obviously they're talking crap. But Wenger's no better, bitching about us poaching Fabregas and Henry while he very well knows he has a big influence on players himself and uses that to lure them to Arsenal, for example staying stuff about Eden Hazard in a French newspaper which could only be translated as "I want you".

I would be very frustrated about losing players of that quality, but it really isn't an excuse for having a go at another club for engaging in a practice that your club also engages in. You might poach the kids younger most of the time, but you still poach them, just as Arsenal does. As I've said, we can't poach them at 7 years old and so forth due to restrictions in England.

On Eden, Arsene has talked about him once (that I can recall) publicly, and if you believe the reports, he's been given permission to talk to him by Lille. Conversely, Barca had almost every single member of the first team squad talking about Cesc, staff members talking about Cesc etc.

Barca have been far more public and overt in their pursuit, so it's understandable that Wenger wasn't too happy about it. I can't really say much about the Henry pursuit, as I don't remember it that well, so it isn't for me to question Arsene's stance on that issue.

Wenger definitely isn't perfect, though, he says the odd outrageous thing and perhaps the odd unwarranted thing, but compared to Barca's antics, I think he's pretty mild. You don't get him making statements like Pep's before this week's match about Wilshere and Arsenal.

So the 16 year old Fabregas had no worth? Come on

In terms of ability, of course he was valuable, but how much did Barca receive for him?

 

[ben_09]

Shock horror that was. No surprise that his name is similar to Konchesky. They're both of a similar quality.

pls go, he has been hit and miss this season but what do you expect from a 3rd choice cb that has been thrust straight into our starting XI.

 

[cannons]

pls go, he has been hit and miss this season but what do you expect from a 3rd choice cb that has been thrust straight into our starting XI.

In not only his first season in England, but also only his second ever season playing top flight football.

Did anyone see Djourou's comments about the ref?

I am Swiss and the referee was Swiss. I feel a sense of shame.

 

[SebastianVettel]

Did anyone see Djourou's comments about the ref?

You'd think he might have moved on.

Sure, Arsenal went out in dubious circumstances, argue 'dubious' however you want, but given there's still two major trophies on the line - both of them against a faltering, stumbling club on the brink of turmoil - I would have hoped the players (and the manager) would've stopped being so offended and put it behind them by now.

 

[ben_09]

You'd think he might have moved on.

Sure, Arsenal went out in dubious circumstances, argue 'dubious' however you want, but given there's still two major trophies on the line - both of them against a faltering, stumbling club on the brink of turmoil - I would have hoped the players (and the manager) would've stopped being so offended and put it behind them by now.

Agreed.

 

[The Nomad]

Barcelona defender Eric Abidal's surgery to remove a tumour on his liver, originally scheduled for Friday, will now take place on Thursday, the club has confirmed.

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2...rm-eric-abidals-liver-surgery-brought-forward

Hope he gets well

 

[bluejay]

1. To give a 2nd yellow for that is a disgrace.
2. RVP saw the linesman with his flag up.
3. RVP heard the whistle - hence the rushed shot with his wrong foot when he had plenty of time.

End thread.

Totally agree with all 3 affirmations. Yes, also the first one, and I'm a Barcelona fan.