Messi out for 3 months...

Cesar Delgago! Un otro boludo! Dale pues!

This sucks.

 

********in' Shit.

 

You ain't kiddin'

 

That is absolutely terrible news!!!
I hope he gets better soon

 

i'd say its a good time to bring giovanni dos santos to the first team. the werder bremen game is a big pending must when situation.

 

first eto'o now messi, these are probably the biggest injury blows this season throughout europe and both to barca, next thing u know ronaldinho will get injured when he's just getting back into form

 

hate to bring any bad vibes to the team, but something tells me this season is destined to be a bad one for us. we definitely need to hit the January sales

 

I like the look of bilboa's kid llorente, he's tall and agile and looks like FR's type of player, but some might say he is to similar to guddy. David Suazo is a good player too from what i have seen of him

 

come on messi, cut off your little toe! you don't even need that one.

 

This is bad news, but now is not the time to pull out the checkbooks unless it is intelligently calculated. Both Eto'o and Messi will be back in February, so signing someone in January for one month would be futile unless it is a signing done with long term intentions, like maybe a backup winger to eventually replace Giuly. Contrary to what some might believe though, we can't be spending massive amounts of money and get ourselves in debt on starting caliber players who will not accept being relegated to the bench when eto'o and messi return, that just creates instability in the squad.
Here's hoping Messi returns soon.

 

I dunno, is he ready? And how do the the NON-EU spots work for youth players? In any case Marquez is supposed to get his citizenship very soon so we'll have to see.

 

I gotta say man, we really don't see eye to eye on Football. I can't believe you're still making that argument given what we've seen this season. I do agree with your point about intelligent calculation, but the money should be spent if a viable option is available. I don't believe in star-studed "mercenary" teams but certainly don't like the idea of having only one starter-quality player for each position. At this point, I would actually oppose spending any money on a bench-quality player. We need either a young stud who's not yet expensive or a veteran striker who's not too expansive (guys like Crespo, RVN, Morientes). Problem is: there may not be any such guys around. I'm definitely in support of bringing Dos Santos up right now to groom him. He might just pan out later on in the season just like Messi did. This is definitely a testy season for the club. A test on the character of the club, the coach, Ronaldinho, and the other players. T'will be a very memorable season if we prevail.

 

I respect your point of view however, keep in mind we are just starting to get out of debt now. And the whole reason you have one starter-calibre player at each position is to keep the cost of operations from being inflated like it is at Chelsea. 15 mil for a Wright-phillips to sit on the bench, is that what we want at Barça? The only starting quality players that will accept the bench are up and coming youngsters who have something still to prove, but even then you risk destablizing the players already there and you do a huge disservice to La Masia. As for the veteran players you mentioned, you must recognize that the whole reason those players decided to move clubs this past summer in the first place was because they were not getting enough playing time at the clubs they were at. Especially in the case of RVN and Morientes. So how would you expect someone like that to move to the exact same situation at our club? It's unrealistic. Also, let's make a distinction between starter-calibre and starter-potential players, because the former are far less likely to accept a bench role unless you return to the old rotation policy which if I recall you were against. Again, we need to ride out the next three months and not start panicking in the last month and throwing out money when it isn't needed.

 

Why we always got so many wounded persons and they are key players?
Guily right now is the best backup.Also Dinho Saviola and Gud are new group for next La Liga

 

I don't understand the language much but I've gotten in the habit of syncing RAC1 radio to whatever video feed I'm watching when Barca plays.
During halftime, when Messi's status was pretty much well known, all the radio guys kept mentioning Dos Santos' name. I think someone conducting an interview with Txiki brought it up to him, but I couldn't understand his response.
I don't know. Maybe those radio guys think the youngster is ready or worth a try given the circumstances. (?)

 

Simple. The key players see more of the ball than anyone. When you have world class players on a team that out-possesses the opposition 60/40 it means you're getting tackled/fouled a lot more than usual. If Ronnie stays healthy the whole season it'll be a miracle.

 

Yep. And opposing teams now know that if they give any space at all, they're screwed, so they've learned to close ranks and play really tough and physical. Although sometimes it's, of course, a matter of luck-- Eto'o, for instance, wasn't being tackled at all. Ronnie's been lucky the last few years, and he also tends to move out of the way fast, but yeah, I can see him getting injured too now that a lot more possession's going to be coming his way. Let's see what Lady Luck has in store for Barca.

Messi is so injury-prone. I hope he finds a way to be more physically strong against defenders as he's coming back, because it doesn't bode well for his overall career to be getting injured every season.

But on a positive note, this might mean that Saviola AND Guddy get to stretch their capabilities. If they truly deserve to be in Barca's squad -- and I have at least a bit of faith in the people who bought them -- then they should step up when needed.

 

Im fvkin shocked , just heard the terrible news now. What is up with our team this season getting so many injuries at the same time. Messi was truly needed as a forward , and the team will look completely different without him. This just opens a chance for Rikjaaard to call on Giovanni Dos Santos from Barcelona B. I still wouldnt want our other future jewel Gio to get rushed in to the main team , as he is only 17 years old. This is a bummer for all Barca fans, and just to think I will miss seeing Messi and Eto in person in Nou camp in 2 weeks.

 

Dos Santos could be brought into the squad as an assimilated player, much the same way Messi was when he was introduced to the first team. In that case, he wouldn't count against the foreigner limit. He could have his Spanish citizenship by next season, so his situation could play out exactly like Messi's (though hopefully without all the drama).

Remi's my guy. We may not see eye to eye on Saviola right now, but he's dead on about the possibility of purchasing players. We're not in a position to be spending cavalierly. Until we get out of debt (and really, hopefully well after), we need to restrict ourselves to smart purchases. Going out and buying a player who is only going to get playing time for a month isn't very smart. Especially when we could find a player in house to fill that need. I'm not saying Dos Santos is that player (though part of me wants to see him given the chance), but we have a lot of talented players who could potentially fill that role in the short term.

Of course, if we can find someone willing to trade us a capable forward for Santi Ezquerro, by all means go for it.

 

Pippo Inzaghi? (just kidding although he wouldn't hurt, he knows how to finish).

I don't think Gio Jr. is really ready yet for the jump is he? Pushing young players too much too soon can hurt them (injuries, psychologically, etc.)

And this is the metatarsal thing of doom isn't it? Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney...seems to not heal so fast.

But I'm not so sure I agree with the non-purchase opinions. I wonder if they'll be lining up someone knowing full well that Saviola is leaving in the summer & maybe others too (Giuly?). So bring someone decent and flexible during the Jan. transfer period and then have them next year too. (just no overweight brazilians please?!) Weren't they looking at Palacio?

 

If the pre-season tour in the US is any indication (and I think it is) then dos Santos isn't even close to being ready for the big stage yet. Especially when you consider that the new standard tactic against Barça being used by every freaking team is foul foul foul foul foul foul foul...dos Santos would get man handled and intimidated out of games. I think we def should look to the transfer market for a new right winger/striker...Guddy has been pretty much totally ineffective and Giuly has seen better days. Neither of them is producing much and neither should really be starting for a team at Barça's level.

 

Crespo, RVN, Morientes all went to teams where they'd be competing with worldclass strikers. None were guarranteed to start. I can go on and on about players and teams who've done this with success (Milan, Madrid, etc.). In terms of debts and finances: that's why we spoke of intelligent purchases. Madrid went on their Galactico spending spree fiasco when they were in debt and it actually worked to REDUCE their debt (correct if I'm wrong) probably b/c of the revenues guys like zizu, becks, ronny, maybe even figo brought. Just for example (don't mean to reintroduce the old argument): the revenue a player like Henry brings would likely exceed his cost by far. Now, Barca is much smarter than Madrid. We shouldn't go out there getting big names just for business reasons but we should have an insurance policy. Quality strikers compete for spots at big clubs all the time (crespo, drogba, michael owen, inzaghi, just to name a few). A club like Barca should absolutely have at least two reliable outright scorers on the squad. To be fair, I don't think money was an issue for this. We certainly went after Henry, and then we were hoping Guddy would be that reliable scorer, which would've ben another genius steal by Barca. I think that was the goal. That was a risk since he'd never proven to be a 17-23 goal scorer as far as I know.
As for January transfer, I can't really think of anyone. The guys I would want (Pauletta, Oliveira, that german kid Podolski, etc.) are either too expensive or not likely available. On a short term I wouldn't mind Trezeget on loan if not too costly. Otherwise, I'd rather ride this out till next summer when I would strongly suggest adding a serious back-up striker for Etoo and/or for Deco/Ronnie.

Basically, I feel that we have chance to cement our place in history; Really establish a dynasty for the next few years. As a big club, we're kind of underachievers and should have more European silverware to our name.

BTW: As for the Messi injury, I actually think Saviola can fill that roll. I just hope FR goes to that formation instead of going with his loverboy Giuly. The season is very much in play, we CAN win but we really have to dig in, especially in the CL. The entire team has to pick it up, FR must tighten up the defence, and Ronnie better come up BIG.

 

Who would you suggest? I can't think of any CL eligible player who can make an immediate impact. Maybe Tevez on loan for the rest of the year? I just don't wanna buy someone for the sake of it. Anybody we know with some comfortable certainty would be better than Guddy and Saviola. Any ideas?