The Importance of Being Ernesto - The 2017-2018 Season thread [R]

Speaking of this season, I think we are heading for another disappointing season.

The results have been good but the performance has not been better than last season. Valverde looks as clueless as Lucho was. He is trying to milk as much as possible from the once treble winning midfield that has been nothing more than ordinary the last couple of seasons(Iniesta-Busquets-Rakitic). To make matters worse, we are weaker in the attacking positions due to Neymar’s departure. I don’t get why D. Suarez is not getting more playing time in Iniesta’s position and why S. Roberto is not tried at RCM instead of sideways passer. Atleast try to make things better rather than hoping for a good result.

This team will get another thrashing from another big team in CL and I hope that team won’t be either of PSG or LPB.

 

Yeah I agree! I don't get the endless rotations of players in different positions. EV just picking up where Lucho left off. Roberto is the victim wanting to play and is mistakenly taken for a player who can play all over the field. It's nonsense he's not a total fotball player. Just stick him where imo he's best, central midfielder as a substitute.

I wonder if Barca are as solid as they look or if everything will crumble down as soon as they hit a speed bump. Funny, that'll probably happen as soon as the vote of no confidence fails. [emoji23]

 

Florentino Perez is a huge bully of a businessman and his character to do anything and everything to improve his team and destroy the rival. Laporte made a bid for Beckham knowing that Barca were not in champions league and that real Madrid will mess around.i would like to believe this is true because Ronaldinho signing was a no brainer as united would go for him after Madrid took Beckham.instead he came here and united got Cristiano. The scenario which Florentino wanted was Barca to get screwed in this triangular game but he ended up getting screwed in the process

 

Florentino knew what he was doing. He did not need Becks for the football. He already had R9, Zidane, Figo, R Carlos etc. He needed Becks for the marketing, esp. in the UK, Asia, N America etc. Laporta probably wanted the same. In the end, all three teams benefited (RM, Barca, ManU) eventually.

 

Only 5 days left for the vote of no confidence and it looks like it's going to fail. Barça good form, political madness in catalunya etc has cast a shadow over the whole thing. It's not a priority for anyone at the moment.. Most socios are nonchalant and lazy.

 

The beckham transfer killed RM and the galacticos era and ultimately florentino perez.Galacticos won one CL and two Ligas in 6 years from 2000-2006 and whatever they won it was before Beckham.

Ronaldinho's barca won 2 ligas and one CL in 3 years and it ended badly in 2008 but we still won.

ManUtd benefited from buying cristiano,i wonder how did Real Madrid benefit?

 

I grew up and still live in India,I can't of course talk for other Asian countries but real Madrid were always popular and the galacticos did get them a lot of fans like Ronaldinho and messi got Barca fans.beckham didn't add much,I can't imagine anyone Asia becoming a real Madrid fan merely because of Beckham and not Zidane or Figo

 

So Barca drew Real Murcia in the Copa del Rey. Third division team that almost got promoted to Segunda B last season.

I wouldn't be too heartbroken if Barca lost relatively early in the CdR this season. Not to Murcia, of course, but before the semis. Don't think we have the depth for a good La Liga title challenge if we're also going all the way in the Cup. Especially since the Cup final is in April this time.

 

Barca has to win la copa ,it our trophy

 

Calendario update...

OCTOBER 2017
weekend 30-1: J7 (H) Las Palmas
midweek 3-5: --
weekend 5-7: FIFA calendar
midweek 8-10: FIFA calendar
Sat 14: J8 (A) Atlético Madrid
Wed 18: UCL-M3 (H) Olympiakos
weekend 21-22: J9 (H) Málaga
midweek 24-26: Copa-4R1 (A) Real Murcia
Sat 28: J10 (A) Athletic Bilbao
Tue 31: UCL-M4 (A) Olympiakos

NOVEMBER 2017
weekend 4-5: J11 (H) Sevilla
midweek 7-9: --
weekend 9-11: FIFA calendar
midweek 12-14: FIFA calendar
Sat 18: J12 (A) Leganés
Wed 22: UCL-M5 (A) Juventus
weekend 25-26: J13 (A) Valencia
midweek 28-30: Copa-4R2 (H) Real Murcia

DECEMBER 2017
Sat 2: J14 (H) Celta Vigo
Tue 5: UCL-M6 (H) Sporting Lisbon
weekend 9-10: J15 (A) Villarreal
midweek 12-14: --
weekend 16-17: J16 (H) Deportivo
midweek 19-21: J17 (A) Real Madrid

 

I wrote a haiku about Iniestazo back in 2009 (posted on facebook back then so the lead in explained it to non-fans):
FC Barcelona is going to Rome (Champions League Final vs. Manchester United) haiku:

Essien's Smash Stuns;
Abidal Unfairly Tossed;
Pale One Saves The Day.

 

You are conflating passionate followers and casual fans. There are far more casual fans (watchers) than passionate ones. Sure, the passionate ones would follow Zidane, Figo etc. but the casual ones would go for the Beckham marketing hype. Beckham was huge in the Far East and the UK (obviously) and the most well known player in the US (because of his wife probably). So, Beckham suited RM financially. I think RM gained a lot of fans in the Far East, which was dominated by Man U (and EPL). Beckham did not cause RM's failure. Selling Makelele and R9's injury-related absences did. If R9 would have been fit throughout, I'm sure RM would have dominated even with Beckham in the team.

 

I know of the casual fans and yeah Beckham did get such fans for Real madrid but trust me the performances of Zidane in WC 1998 and Figo in euro 2000 made them extremely popular figures too.I dont agree with the theory that R9's absence alone caused the crash.

Yes,they didnt replace Makelele properly but that was just one season 200-304.Nobody stopped them from doing something in 2004-06.The team crumbled because the galacticos underperformed and that included Beckham.

 

vote of no confidence has failed

 

That sucks.
Dembele and the positive start to the season no doubt have many thinking positively.
The apparent lack of moción coverage by Sport and MD didn't help matters.

 

Exactly! That's why the first points dropped will come now against Las Palmas. Bart will enjoy Beneditos failure. But mostly to blame is the mañana mañana lazy and old conservative idiot socios. Barça is doomed until 2021!

 

I wonder how long must pass before another member can try for another vote of no-confidence? Because a trophyless season may have many re-thinking things, depending on how far the team goes in each competition.
Not that I'm hoping for a trophyless season, mind you.

 

Hey! Easy, now.

 

Detailed breakdown of how Barca forward line has lined up post Neymar, many changes, as we've seen:
http://www.sport-english.com/en/new...y-to-fill-the-neymar-gap-at-barcelona-6317127