Double your Treble, Double Your Fun: The 2015-16 Season Thread, Part One

strange that Grimaldo isn't getting a look in. considering the performances of Mathieu and Adriano lately. but i guess the need is greater in midfield and attack at this moment.

 

i also really want to Samper given a chance so we can see a midfield of: Sergi-Sergio-Sergi

 

Decent article leads to some speculation about new lineups:
We only have 15 healthy first teamers other than goalies. Two of whom are the greenest (Munir and Sandro), and one of whom is a man named Douglas. Beyond those 3 I count 2 forwards (Suarez, Neymar), 3 midfielders (Roberto, Busi, Rakitic), 4 CBs (Masch, Pique, Mathieu, Bartra), and 3 fullbacks (Alba, Alves, Adriano). So the only depth of experienced players is defensive and the trick then is to get a fifth defender on the pitch if we don't want to rely or Munir or Sandro, or if we want to ever rest one of the 5 healthy and experienced forwards or midfielders. The 3-5-2 is one way to that, getting a 3 CB backline with 2 fullbacks higher up. Another way to do that is Masch to midfield as DM, and Busquets as AM/Interior.

here's the link: http://www.sport-english.com/en/new...king-tinkering-his-system-for-sevilla-4553572

 

In other words, we have good players, but not enough of them to play a sensible first part of the season, as we have to A) regularly play players out of best position, B) not rotate enough, and C) ask too much from many players. Also, it's not guaranteed that more injuries won't come: injuries in attack or midfield are starting to be really hurtful now. But as long as we can keep grinding results, who knows how high we will end the season.

 

When I think of Barca B players who could help out Grimaldo is certainly up there and would allow Alba to either rest or to play as a winger. However, we have best depth in defense (only Verm still injured, should be back in 2 weeks I read) so we can also do 3 (of our 4 healthy) CBs across the backline and similarly get Alba higher up. And even if you don't trust Adriano or Mathieu they are more known to Lucho than a B teamer.

 

Well thought out piece, touches on Grimaldo,
http://www.totalbarca.com/2015/opinion/hes-not-good-enough-opportunity-growth-success/#more-183331

Using Adriano in low-stakes games and refusing to sell him is a half-measure that hurts the team, just as training Mathieu at both centre-back and left-back likely makes him less effective at both.

Train extensively with Mathieu at left-back, or not at all. Call up Grimaldo for trainings and matches against weak opponents. Call up Sergi Samper. Train with Dani Alves as an interior. It doesn’t matter if the player ultimately ends up being “good enough”; what’s important is doing the work to position the team and the individual for the best chance of success. From there, we leave our gambles in the hands of chance and the unknowable, wonderful surprises of football.

 

Good points. I feel, though, that a team benefits from having squad players who can do decent-if-not-brilliant job in multiple position. A big thing in first team matches is pressure - you are expected to get the best out of you in front of huge audiences, playing against teams and players that give you huge challenge - in this, experience from playing in the first team and training with them regularly helps, and it is this familiarity with teammates, pressure, and the task that makes Adriano or Mathieu valuable. I'm not saying we shouldn't give lots of chances to B teamers though, just saying that multiple position squad players are fine to have around, imo. One can also argue that for squad players, it is especially important to be versatile, as getting minutes is a huge factor in how well you play, and it is possible to get those minutes better if you can play two spots, whereas if you're a starter-like player, it's fine to play just in one position, as that alone gives you enough minutes to make you feel confident and so play well. All of our players are capable of playing in the Barca level, if their confidence/focus is right I think, but this is a challenge for the lesser playing guys as if you always are benched, how can you not get a little doubtful of your quality...

I kinda disagree with Samper, as well. That is, I think we don't have room for multiple B players in DM, and if Gumbau is Lucho's choice, so be it. If Samper was Lucho's choice, fine as well, but doesn't seem to be the case. There are only so many minutes to deal around. I'd take a good look at Samper in the summer when we put together the first team for 2016-2017, though, and if he shines in B, who knows where he plays in a year. But Busq (still only 27) is some tough competition for minutes.

 

Well he is always injured but he did travel with the team / was named in the 18 person squad at least once or twice in the past 3 weeks or so, so I figured he was available.

"A man named Douglas" is a thing I'm trying to start though, sort of a reference to how we don't really know him, never see him play, not sure why we bought him - it is all a big mystery.

 

Maybe there isn't so much mystery about those three after all, they all come from Traffic Sports if I'm not wrong, so there must be some kind of deal between the club and them..

 

Love it. I think Chyggy, Beefpoop, Ibrihim Affelay, Eidur and the eaten laptop, and Hleb could feature too. Jeffren, Fontas, Muniesa and Jonathan, or are Barca B/La Masia products exempt? Not sure who plays goalie, Jorquera I guess, or (if La Masia is fair game then that man named Masip last seen leading Barca B to greatness and then never heard from again)?

 

Jorquera
Douglas-Henrique-Chyggy-Maxwell
Hleb-Song-Van Bommel
Keirrison-Maxi Lopez-Bojan

Bench-Rustu, Caceres, Zambrotta, Milito, Thuram, Affelay, Eidur, Saviola, Zlatan(?)

Only Bojan from La Masia as expectations were high with that young man, not least after his debut season. Muniesa would be another good high expectation La Masia guy but this squad already has 4 center backs.

 

What's with Van Bommel? I think he did fine. But long-term regular minutes in midfield were not possible.

 

Well Van Bommel was a great bit of business for us as he came for free on a Bosman and then we managed to sell him to Bayern for about 6M or so. I think that the issue with him was he was not of Barca quality as an interior/AM but we rarely played him as a DM as we had the two headed Brazilian monster known as Ed-motta or was it Mot-milson. So even with Xavi out with an ACL tear playing Van Bommel meant we had Iniesta on the bench as Deco was the other interior/AM. So he certainly wasn't bad, gave us more size and steel in the middle, but generally played at the expense of Iniesta and admitted that the ball moved too fast for him in Barca's midfield. We did win a CL with him of course in his only year here but only turned the game around when Iniesta came on for Edmilson and Larrson came on for Van Bommel plus Belletti for Olegeur.

 

van Bommel will always have a place in Culé's hearts for 'giving the elbow' after scoring a crucial Champions League away goal for Bayern in the Bernabeu six months after leaving Barça.

 

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I remember some weeks ago (or so) there were rumours about a very traditional home kit for the next season, with pics, something resembling the pic above. I think it's good work from the club (and from Nike as well) to mix traditional with very modern.

It's basically the Dream Team kit, only with Qatar logo, and some modernizing ways of execution. Great work.

 

putting this here given recent Grimaldo talk, sounds like he may leave on a Bosman, darn: Barcelona had 1M deal with Levante on Grimaldo this summer, but player rejected it. As he wasn't promoted, contract expires in June. [rac1]

Confirmed contract currently set to expire at season's end.

This one's harder to understand if it did not happen when Roma was flirting why do it now:

Barcelona offered Adriano (30) a 2018 renewal in August. No reply yet. Current deal until 2017, but Barcelona can end it in 2016. [l'esp]

 

Yesterday (Friday) the draw for the 4th Round (Round of 32) of that third piece of the Treble, the "La Liga's Cup", was made.
We're talking Copa del Rey here, folks.
Barcelona are paired with CF Villanovense, a Segunda B club from the Extremadura region.
Because of the FIFA Club World Cup, Barcelona will play their 4th Round ties before the other set of matches.

Calendario update...

OCTOBER 2015
Sat 17: Liga J8 (H) Rayo Vallecano
Tue 20: UCL-M3 (A) BATE Borisov
Sun 25: Liga J9 (A) Eibar
Wed 28: Copa-4R1 (A) Villanovense
Sat 31: Liga J10 (H) Getafe

NOVEMBER 2015
Wed 4: UCL-M4 (H) BATE Borisov
Sun 8: Liga J11 (A) Villarreal
weekend 12-14: FIFA calendar
midweek 15-18: FIFA calendar
Sat 21: Liga J12 (A) Real Madrid
Tue 24: UCL-M5 (H) AS Roma
weekend 28-29: Liga J13 (H) Real Sociedad

DECEMBER 2015
Wed 2: Copa-4R2 (H) Villanovense [Copa-4R1 for other ties]
Sat 5: Liga J14 (A) Valencia
Wed 9: UCL-6 (A) Bayer Leverkusen
weekend 12-13: Liga J15 (H) Deportivo
Mon 14: UCL-2R draw
Thur 17: FCWC-Sf (Japan) Club America/AFC [Wed 16: Copa-4R2]
Sun 20: FCWC-3P/F (Japan) [J16 - Barça to play J16 in February]
midweek 22-24:
weekend 26-27: Catalunya unofficial friendly?
midweek 29-31: Liga J17 (H) Betis

 

Barcelona have conceded 22* goals in their first 13 games of the season, 14 more than at same stage last season (8* in 13) [via l'esportiu]

Thank goodness no more allowed today, 22 in 14 real games is bad enough.

Luis Enrique: "We're conceding too many goals. It's not a problem of the defense, but of the whole team. We keep on looking for solutions."