The 2011 - 2012 Season Thread | "Return of the moc!"

If it's a torn Acl it's 6. Xavi was the last Barca player to have this injury, right? Or possibly Eto'o, I forget what his was.

 

That's what I thought. But Affelay himself says "a month or two" in that quote above; so I'm hoping like hell he's got it right.

 

ACL is season ending anyway you look at it.

 

If/when Puyol and Pique are fully fit, what do you guys think our primary lineup/formation is going to be--or will it just keep changing every game?

To me, it looks like Cesc as an "anarchic" enganche is going to be a permanent feature of the team (or, if not permanent, it's going to be more common than our classic 4-3-3). So the question is whether we stick with 3 at the back as we have been or take off one of the attackers?

Also, Pep seems to love Masch. Do you think he gets the nod over Puyol when the latter is fully fit?

 

He is pretty much out for the season. Knee ligament injuries take long time to heal.

 

Given how long the seasons are he may well come back and help us this year. This is what Pep said:

Questions arose if he’d look to sign a player in the winter transfer window to cover the long absence of Afellay who is out for at least six months because of a knee injury. Said Guardiola, “We have B Team players who can do very well,” said Guardiola. Showcasing faith in the Dutch midfielder and appearing optimistic of his recovery, he added, ”We understand that from February or March he’ll be back with us.”

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/guardiola-we-played-at-a-very-high-level/#ixzz1Z6Wi3wJM

I think that Xavi was the last Barca player to tear his ACL and he played again that same season though sparingly. This was 2006 and is the reason he did not start against Arsenal in the CL final. Xavi tore his ACL in early December 2005 and was playing again 5 months later in April 2006. Despite coming back from the injury he still was selected to play with La Furia Roja in Germany at the world cup where he played in all 4 games and started 3.

Ibri will definitely want to come back just as quickly and in time to participate in Poland/Ukraine European Championships.

 

The True Weight of "Dri-Fit" Nike jerseys

I always thought that for the past two seasons our Barca jerseys looked almost like shiny plastic when they get wet with sweat. It looked aesthetically ugly and a bit uncomfortable, it also made them seem to cling more. Turns out the problem is far worse - the jerseys which are supposed to wick the sweat away from the player - are actually carrying over 10 oz. of sweat (300 grams). Here's the article for Total Barca - sounds like Nike has promised a solution within a couple weeks:

http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/the-barca-jerserys-true-weight/

 

A lot of conjecture, but worrisome nonetheless. I don't put any real stock in the last few paragraphs about the threat to Messi because there's just too many "maybe"s to get there. But I can see disagreement with Rosell being another reason for Pep to decide to go. Which would be bad.

 

My greatest fear is that Man City will come in for Pep, offering him an open checkbook and complete control over transfers. My second greatest fear is that some of our players would follow him.

 

Great now Fab is out for 3 weeks as well.

 

I wouldn't worry about that. Too much of a sense of place with the career Barca guys. It's way more likely to be Mourinho and some of the Madrid players going to City.

 

when pep does eventually leave it will not be because of a big money offer elsewhere. it will be a decision based solely on what is happening in the camp nou.

 

It's not so much that they would offer him a big salary. It's that they would offer him a chance to build the club from the ground up in the way he wants. I think it would be an attractive challenge to him to try to build a
Barcelona in England, where no one believes it's possible. But I do agree that there would have to be problems here first. . .

 

Cugat says 6 months before Afellay will be ready.

 

I think Iniesta is actually a week early - 3 weeks instead of 4. Hopefully Alexis and Affelay are too.

Iniesta has not been called up to join Spain (Pique and Puyol have, plus Valdes, Busquets, Xavi, Thiago, Villa and Pedro). No call up for Montoya this time, nor for Botia. Jordi Alba is the big new name called up (Valencia defender).

However, Abidal has been called up for France and a war of words is going on in the media about this. Barca medicos wanted him to stay home and rest for 7-10 days but French medicos said he may be ready for the 2nd game.

Goalkeepers:

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdés (Barcelona)

Defenders:

Álvaro Arbeloa, Raul Albiol, Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Valencia)

Midfielders:

Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fábregas, Xavi, Thiago (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Javi Martínez (Athletic Bilbao), Juan Mata (Chelsea), David Silva (Man City)

Attackers:

Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Álvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Pedro Rodriguez, David Villa (Barcelona), Fernando Torres (Chelsea)

 

According to twitter, Villa apparently just withdrew as an injury precaution...

 

OOPs just responded to a post on the last match thread that surely belongs here.

Good news - Mourinho finally suspended for super copa incident from over a month and a half ago.

Bad news - I cannot believe they gave him a 2 game suspension for unprovoked eye gouging from behind, and Tito a 1 game suspension (for reacting with a push), and the same 600 Euro chump change fine.

What Mou did (and instigated) was so far beyond Tito's response. But I suppose this is better than the nothing that they planned to do till the uproar was too great.

 

And apparently the two games for which he's suspended are SuperCopa games (finals)? Which might as well be no punishment at all.