Hindsight isn't 2020 - The 2019-20 Season Thread [R]

Thread is for Barcelona's season.
Discussions of Other Teams goes into another thread called... something. I forget what it's called.

 

Suarez could come back at the end of season (ucl semi final and maybe 4-5 liga last matches).

 

Dembele finishes the season with 9 app, 1 goal, in La Liga. How depressing.

We paid 125m Euros, he's now worth 75m...

 

Freakin 50 million loss. These guys have ******** all clue about running a business. Bring back Laporta or a really good one. Laporta really is a fan of the club unlike these douchebags.

 

He's not even worth 25M€ what are you talking about? No club with the right mind will ever want to buy a complicated and extremely injury prone player. He'll run his contract out and go for free playing only 25% of his contract time with little to show for. Same for Coutinho and that's a loss off roughly 300M€! Not even counting the salery. Its so massive that entire board and management should get the sack!

 

Considering the kind of player Dembele was when we decided to sign, it's not like the deal was the worst. Players can develop according to many scenarios, but he looked good and promising. Maybe the money was too much, but we were in a bad spot (admittedly thanks to us not seeing the danger of PSG game-changing the buy-out clauses). He wasn't a glass man, and not some wildly unprofessional fool either when we signed him. Just to say this when we talk about the deal: it hasn't worked out (at least so far, but who knows how's it's turning out) well, but deal-making is not the same as how a signed player turns out in new environment. Some of it is luck, which he hasn't had. The case is more complex than just "it was an incredible horrible move from the dumb board" (by which I don't mean to defend the board).

 

When you act in desperation, which is something Bartomeu is known for, this is what you get. It's not bad luck but a pattern. He's never had a vision, he's got no character and this is the results. His way of signing players has always ended up in failures.

 

I don't think it's that black and white, but I agree that multiple players we have signed haven't turned out great. But my point was not whether a player ends up a success or failure, it was that deal making and player delivering are two separate things. Dembele's shortcomings in Barcelona are not entirely board's fault.

 

Dembele is great. He is still young so he will overcome his shortcomings. I just hope the injuries don't kill his career. If he doesn't work out that is simply bad luck

Talent wise for me the guy is between Neymar and Hazard. And I see only Mbappe above him in his generation (~19-24)

Or who knows maybe Trincao is the next Figo (minus the pig's head) for Barca

 

I agree his story is not over, and he definitely has his strengths. Let's see. Fully agreed on injuries. Hoping for the best for him.

 

We're still in the hunt for the two biggest trophies this year. Not sure why lots of pundits are acting like Barca's season is over. This Real team is crazy overrated. I see no indication that they are a great squad. They've played 5 matches this year against good teams... two against PSG, two against Atleti, and one against us. Of those five matches, they failed to score in three of them and scored one goal in another. This team simply won't put up enough goals to win the CL. I think they'll have to fight like lions to beat City. Even making QF is a long shot for them.

Our problem this year is injuries coupled with the fact that we're stripped of all depth. We may be starting Junior Firpo @NAPOLI and in the Clasico. That's why I don't like our chances but I don't believe that this Real team is better than us.

 

He was never that good. Between Neymar & Hazard? Stop.

No idea why we paid that much. Bad deal from the start and everyone knew it at the time. He's a €30 mn guy, nothing more.

 

Talent wise, he’s nothing compared to Neymar, Hazard, Mbappe or even Jadon Sancho. We wasted our freakin money on Coutinho and Dembele.

 

I’m pretty sure Pep is gonna leave by the end of season. He should return if he loves Barca

 

For my part, I never put him between Neymar and Hazard.

We paid that much for two reasons: firstly, the situation (Neymar deal re-calibrated pricing, and we were short in LW), secondly, the potential (he was already good, but we looked at him and saw potential for growth and a soon-to-be world class winger with many years ahead of him).

Was it a good deal? Now people can say no with ease. But he could've not gotten injured at all, and killed it, and a lot of people would now call it a good move. So easy to rate transfers afterwards, with info how he has been doing.

 

Valverde ruined Coutinho .. he was the best player in the EPL when we took him ... Klopp was devastated

 

Liverpool improved after he left though.

 

He was world class at Liverpool and their star player, the reason Liverpool improved i won't even bother mentioning as it's clear to anyone who gives it a second's thought.

 

That’s down to Klopp and their scouting system though using the massive fee we paid to buy fabulous players

 

wish he would be world class at bayern

 

Coutinho is overrated nor was he the best PL player lol. Valverde didn’t single handedly ruin him either. We need to cash him and Dembele ASAP. The new board should try signing Mbappe

 

Van Djik kinda deserves the credit for instilling hunger in that team tbh. Salah in one season did greater things than Coutinho lmfao. Also, preferred Firmino and Salah over Coutinho. Coutinho’s weakness is lack of pressing ability. He didn’t actually fit Klopp’s system and they’re far better without him. If anything, Coutinho was a liability and another overhyped Brazilian.

 

Coutinho isn't bad. I think if Bayern doesn't want him we should keep him on the bench and use him as part of the rotation. He's still a useful player and considering his sharp drop in value we won't get much $ for him.

 

People here ( not you ) have selective memory at times . When Coutinho first came here , after a short period of getting to know people , he was very effective for us and one of our best players ... he scored a fair amount of long range goals as well .