The 2012-13 Season Thread | The Tito Era begins!

I hate everything about Kappa kits. I even hate the Kappa logo. It reminds me of those reflective woman silhouettes you see on tractor-trailer mud flaps.

 

I don't mind the Kappa kits. For one, they had no sponsor in the chest. Second, they were Barca kits.

 

Gotta say I love the orange kappa away kit but the kappa silhouette gals do look like the mud flap chick.

Here's another nice "infographic"; like the salary one and the kits one I got this for barcastuff but he gets them from all over the web. This shows that even though we are not doing a preseason tour overseas we are still putting in a few too many miles and friendlies into a short period. I miss when Barca would hold a camp for a week or more somewhere like Scotland and play a couple friendlies but mostly train. Not enough money in that I guess:

 

I'm interested to hear of favourites here. I'm sure some favour is based on the trophies won, while wearing a particular shirt.

I recall taking great interest in the 98/99 jersey in a sports shop, as a youngster. Perhaps my first memory of a FCB shirt.

One of my favourites is missing....the 2002/03 home shirt. I remember Saviola strutting it in that, as well as Luis Garcia impressing me during one particular CL game.

I thought the 2009/10 shirt was very smart. I'd still like to get one if the opportunity arose.

Also, the new jersey has grown on me ALOT. I think it does a good job of making the Qatar sponsor fade away, or be less noticable.

 

http://www.barcaloco.com/kit-history/
basically a google search will get you other images of the barca jersey through the years but many are incomplete, not up to date, un-copyable for reposting here directly, watermarked, etc. Lots of good stuff out there. I like the ones pre-Nike, pre-Unicef, and especially pre Qatar best.

 

Having seen HD pics/video of new kits on real players, gotta say that Tito era starts with a good kit (both home and away). I think the wide red block in middle looks especially nice from wider camera angles, like, making the shirt look somewhere red somewhere blue rather than just a purple blur (like it was the past season).

 

I have the heart design on a tshirt I got at the Camp Nou last year.



It rocks!

 

another infographic, this time the sad news about injuries, we still have a bunch:

 

The pre-season started today with medical exams.

 

First practice of the Tito era:


Nice that Messi finally can do a whole pre-season. Great to see Dani Alves healthy too and that Villa is running.

 

It will be as if Pep never left

 

Who? Me?

Nice to know I was missed . . .

 

Some good stuff from Tito's first press conference (I added a bit in ALL CAPs):

Tito began by talking about Alexis Sànchez and Cesc Fàbregas, who are both recent acquisitions to the squad having joined last season, and the new coach hoped that they will have an even better second season with the team. “Alexis is a very important player for us, the Club really pushed hard for him a year ago. He had a series of injuries that stopped him from having continuity but I’m convinced that his performance this year, even though last year’s was very good, will be even better.” He also added that Alexis’ injury impeded him from naturally growing into his responsibility at Barcelona, and that Alexis has lots of room to grow as he is still young. ALEXIS WAS GREAT WHEN HEALTHY LAST YEAR, HOPE HE CAN BE HEALTHY THE ENTIRE YEAR.​

For Fàbregas, the coach reserved very kind words, clearly aimed at boosting the player’s self-confidence after his Euro win this year. “Winning always lifts morale. His second year will be even better than his first. We saw that he’s more comfortable playing in a 3-4-3 system, he can also play as a false 9. I’ve known him since he was a child and I know that he’s very self-demanding.” Tito also hinted at the possibility of playing a 3-4-3 system, which the Barcelona team will be more familiar with this year. CLEARLY A GREAT PLAYER, EXCELLED MORE AS FALSE 9 OR 4TH MIDFIELDER THAN AS JUST 1 OF 2 ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS, BUT THAT'S PRETTY NORMAL IN BARCA, ESP. WHEN IT MEANS SUBBING OFF XAVI, INIESTA OR EVEN THIAGO.​

“We are very pleased with Jordi Alba’s signing, it was a priority. The fact that he had a brilliant Euro campaign makes us think that we didn’t make a mistake [in signing him].” Regarding Alba’s participation in the Olympics, the coach stated his concern about a lack of rest but gave his full support to the Spain national team.​

For the recently recovered Ibrahim Afellay and David Villa, Tito wanted to take things slowly with both of them. On Villa, Tito commented, “it has been a pleasant surprise. I saw him train before his holiday and it’s obvious that he’s worked and improved a lot. We all hope that he can recover as soon as possible, but we can’t rush his recovery, because the most important thing is his ability to play once he fully recovers.” Meanwhile, he had this to say about Afellay: “Afellay is a great player with a lot of quality, but he sustained a serious injury. We need to see how he is feeling during the preseason.” YES, TAKE IT EASY, ESP. WITH VILLA, NEED HIM HEALTHY IN APRIL/MAY MORE THAN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER.​

Tito also paid tribute to Gerard Deulofeu, who just won the Euro U-19 with Spain this summer. “We’ve known him for years. He has a lot of potential and his style of play makes it very obvious. But we can’t rush the issue of his promotion [to the first team], his place is in Barça B and he needs to improve aspects of his play – it’s a question that only he can work on, it’s about his performances.” He gave a hint at the possibility of temporarily giving Deulofeu a rotation with the first team, and he basically expects Deulofeu to improve his teamwork. This sentiment is also shared by Zubizarreta, who played down talk of comparisons with Messi made by the media.​

Lastly, he commented on Bojan Krkic, saying, “he’s a fantastic player, he was promoted when he was young. Whenever he’s been given the chance to play, he’s put the ball in the back of the net.” FC Barcelona still have the chance to buy back Bojan from AS Roma this season and the next. NOT JUST THE OPPORTUNITY, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BRING BOJAN BACK NEXT SUMMER PER HIS CONTRACT.​

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/titos-take-on-the-first-team-players/#ixzz20wmJOzU1​

 

It never ceases to amaze me how little time off football players get in their off season compared to most American sports. Some of these guys barely got 6 weeks off.

 

Yeah, it was a solid first pressy for Tito...Not entirely clear about Afellay as he sort of skirted the larger issue with whether he was on the transfer block but MD seemed to believe he's already informed the player that he is not likely to get many minutes or be cover for one of the forwards - in other words he's at the end of a long line of midfielders...So, I think the writing may indeed be on the wall...Speculative of course but disappointing if the player is being moved without really being given a chance - that injury really was a death sentence for him at the club, from the look of it

Hope I'm wrong

 

Messi going all hipster in his first press conference of the off season.

 

That's awesome.