Let's use the regular starters from last year because we arent really sure what will happen with Edmilson/Marquez/Van Bommel/Oleguer. For me the canidates are: Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco, Xavi, Marquez, Puyol, and at times Valdes. Ronaldinho- Had a quiet year compared the one before. However, Ronnie is the best x-factor/game breaker on the team. He adds a lot to the pretty football that Barca plays (which IS important), he scores and creates, and most importantly he attracts multiple defenders which makes it easier for everyone else. (Can be backed up by Messi and Ezquerro) Eto'o- Highest goal scorer in a few years. Not the best finisher and not a threat in the air, but his runs and dribbles create a lot of chances (along with the beautiful passes he receives). He works a lot and is a threat all the time. (Can be backed up by Larsson, Maxi, and to a lesser extent by Ezquerro) Deco- I think the best attribute to Deco is his hustle. As good as he is offensively, he makes sure to add something defensively, which suprised many (like me) when he 1st came. IMO he has definitely shut up all critics who questioned his transfer. He adds his passes, a long scoring threat, and defense. (Can be backed up by Motta, Iniesta, and Van Bommel) Xavi- The puppet master. I think he is the glue of the team. He adds possession, tempo control, a long shot, and beautiful passes. (Can be backed up by the same people as Deco). Marquez- Last year there wasn't really anyway to back him up. He added the most bite to the midfield. He is a fighter, can mark and tackle well. He can also contribute to the offense. (Currently can be backed up by Edmilson, Van Bommel, and Motta) Puyol- The heart of the team. As I like to say, he is a talented player who plays like he has no talent (all heart/hustle). His passion really makes up for his size. Last year he was a little off and looked to have problems organizing his defensive line. (Could be backed up by Edmilson...probably Oleguer too, but let's pretend that he is a starter). Valdes- A bit inconsistent. He has saved Barca's butt on many occassions (1v1's mostly). He has potential to be pretty damned good. (Can be backed up by Jorquera and Ruben). So assuming it is the same starting XI from last year, the loss of which player (hypothetically the rest of the team would remain healthy) would hurt the team the most?
For me, I automatically have to take out Marquez. As good as I think he is and as well as he has done, I think his backups are more than adequate to cover him. VV is my 2nd elimination. I do believe he is quality and clearly better than his backups, but I just don't think he is as good as the other players mentioned to be a real contender. Now it gets difficult. Eto'o I consider to be a top 10-15 striker in the world, but he is my victim. He is speed and dribbling would be a great loss, but with the very talented and experienced Henrik Larsson him backing him up, I think Barca would be fine. Eto'o I think is better at this point in time, but Larsson is a deadly finisher (when he finds form), and with all the balls he would be receiving from the midfield I think he would do well. Also when he gets tired Maxi could back him up. Deco is #4. None of his subs could truly replace him, but I think they would do a good job. When being replaced there is an obvious let-off either offensively or defensively. However, there is a chance that Van Bommel would accept his defensive role (along with offensive) and do very well there. With the other two subs (Motta and Iniesta) you get a better defender with a large offensive dropoff or a defensive dropoff and a bit less offense. Sadly, Xavi is the runner-up imo. This is only because I think he has better subs than Ronaldinho. Van Bommel would not be as good as Xavi, but I still think he would be great in that position. Also Iniesta has bags of talent. Ronaldinho is the victor. If Messi was a year or two older and more experienced, maybe not, but that is not the case.
i'd say that eto'o is arguably the one player that would hurt the most to loose. if dinho is hurt he can be replaced by messi, ezquerro, and deco who really seemed to enjoy playing in dinho's position recently. with larsson replacing eto'o, we don't loose anything in terms of his finishing ability, and we certainly gain in aerial threat. but what sets eto'o apart is his pace, hunger, and aggression. if eto'o gets a long term injury, i think that would realy realy hurt the team more than loosing any other player would. i would put puyol in second.
Clearly, the answer is Ronaldinho. Without him, we are just a good team. With him, we are arguably the best team in the world. After that, it's gets a little tougher. Losing Puyol for any significant amount of time will completely change the look of our defense. There are many times in a game when we are playing with what seems like just two in the back. With Puyol there, it's not a problem, but without him? I'd actually put Deco above Xavi, even though I think Xavi is more important to the team. I just think it would be harder to replace Deco with the players we have than it would be to replace Xavi. I think Van Bommle would play better in Xavi's position than he would in Deco's, as Deco brings so many DIFFERENT things to the table. Marquez wouldn't be as much of a loss now as he was last year. We saw the effects of not having him last year in the Champions League (I still say if we had him at Chelsea, we would have been the eventual cup winners), but this year we have decent cover for him in the back with Ole. It would be a drop off, but not as big as if Puyol went down.
I think most important and irreplaceable are not quite the same. Eto'o is replaceable. Xavi and Deco are replaceable. Giuly replaceable, Oleguer, Belleti in same ways also. This is only from a talent standpoint. Not emotional ties. The only really irreplaceable players (by other players in the First 23-29) are Ronaldinho and Puyol. Before I address them, you could also add Gio/Sylvinho because we've yet to see Motta play LB under Rijkaard. But since Gio and Sylvinho provide for each other they're all we have. Back to Puyol first. The simple question you ask is where would you find another player who does the things Puyol does, provide pace and dogged tenacity when other players try to attack down his wing. Puyol is there for the major missing piece that any successful football squad need, passion and fire. So now its Ronnie. Ronaldinho is a different from Puyol and everyone else. Sure he loves to play aggressively, with passion and panache and complete, unadulterated flair. But the problems he causes for other teams is unlike what you find anywhere else in Europe. With the team Rijkaard has. You COULD try to limits Ronnie's effectiveness with a good, pacy, Rightback. But you'd only make him more passive, allow him to distribute more than try to create for himself, and then the other 10 guys will cause you problems. When Ronnie is feeling the mood, he'll pick his spots and go aggressively as necessary and give the backline fits. Ronaldinho does what every championship team needs: A Player who Plays very Well in BIG, BIG matches. Versus Madrid last November he 'techinically' got an assist on Eto'o goal because Roberto Carlos and Casillas didn't take the ball allowing Eto'o to steal in. Last April/May, scores versus Valencia in the Mestalla, hits a FreeKick in the Bernabeu, scores 2 versus Chelsea in Stamford Bridge in March, and of course sends Milan home after baptizing Nesta and beating Dida with his Left-foot from 20 yards last fall Ronaldinho's importance to this team is not just positionally or talent-based but acutal "need". He's there when we need him. In some cases you could say the same for Puyol, but Ronaldinho beats him by just a bit.
I think Puyol because the rest of the defenders are so and so. If he is out, I think big problems for us.
See, as much as I worship at the shrine of "Ronaldinho is the best player on the planet," I still think we'd win a lot of games if he went down. We have a lot of class in the attack, and while we wouldn't be as dominating, I think we could get by. But if we lost Puyol...I shudder to think what would happen to our defense. Obviously, our attack has so much class that we would still win games, but I think you would see a larger drop off. Beyond all of Puyol's intangibles, he is also a world class player in his own right, and the perfect fit for our system.
Ronaldinho. He has a vibe that other clubs will always draw lots of attention too, even if he is off. His dribbling, speed, passing, passion, and effort are unlimited. He may not be the grunt that Deco is, but he is the essential cog on Barca.
What Asta and the G-man said. Dinho makes it a completely different ball game, moreso than any other player...as simple as that, really.
Excellent post Asta but I think the most obvious answer is probably the right one here. It has to be Ronaldinho. Eto'o has a passion and hunger that a lot of goalscorers might not match even getting balls like Eto'o does from the Barca midfield...Xavi is the midfield glue, knows when to hold the ball and when to crack a shot from outside the 18...Puyol is Puyol. All of them though, cant completly bend a game to their will like Ronaldinho can. Moreso in his first season we saw this (because last year the rest of the team stepped up) but Ronaldinho has that rare ability that some of the greatest have had to impose their will on the game sometimes. Hell even on Barca's worst days Ronaldinho still looks fantastic - remember that excellent free-kick goal he scored in the Superclassico we lost this year? But when we win, it almost always has something to do with Ronaldinho - getting a foul that sets up a goal, or an assist or the goal itself, or simply drawing 2 or 3 defenders and leaving whats left of the defense for Eto'o to rip apart.
Great subject and very well thought-out responses. I'm going to throw my 2 cents in with those of you who chose Ronaldinho, and for the same reason: He changes the way we play, he changes the way the opponent plays, he changes the tempo of the game and he almost always directly effects the final scoreline. That said, we'd win a lot of games without him. We'd win a lot without Puyol, or Deco, or Xavi as well. The difference is that if we lost Puyol, or Deco, or Xavi (or Eto'o or Valdes or Giuly etc. etc. ad infinitum) we either have acceptable replacements or could find one in the transfer market. For a large sum, of course, but a replacement could be had. If we lost Ronaldinho? We would have to completely change our approach to the game. There's no one in the world who's even a "similar" player to Ronnie, and because of that he can't be replaced.
I am changing my response. If by most important I mean whose loss would hurt the most due to the drop in quality by the replacement, then Belletti is the most valuable
Puyol and Ronadhino is the heart of the team. I rank Ronaldino and puyol very high, they are prob the best in the world at their posistions. You can't replace players like them without losing quality in your play.
But Asta don`t you think now with a fully fit again Gabri and with the young Damia waiting in the wings if we lost Belletti it won`t cost us that much. i agree that Belletti adds alot to our attacking style of play with those up and down constant runs and is also good on one-one situations, but i kind of feel that if Valdez experienced a sudden drop in form then we would struggle. His replacements are not yet proven, just my opinion.
I was a little bit serious, but mostly just joking. I do think Barca would lose of attacking from the right wingback, but I dont think it would hurt that much.
Puyol (followed by Ronaldinho). Besides being the best defender in the world(by far) Puyol is the leader of the defensive line, and he is the leader and the heart of the team. When the team is losing, you can see him motivating his teammates. He constantly gives 100%, you see him get in front of the ball and block many, many shots(I remember in season 03-04, against Real he blocked a goal with his face). He's even played with a broken cheekbone! The main reason Barça won la Liga was because we had great defense. We were the team that allowed the least goals, (so Valdez won the Zamora,the first Barça keeper to do that since Zubizarreta). All of that reflects on Carles, he is not just the starting defender, he organizes the other defenders. Ronaldinho may make the spectacular plays and win some matches, but Puyol is the main reason we don't LOSE matches. When he doens't play, you can see a huge diference.
Got you, i think also that Belleti is on of the best attacking wingbacks in the game currently even Salgado agrees.
1. Puyol 2. Xavi 3. Eto'o 4. Rafa 5. Deco 6. Messi 7. Ronaldinho 8. Edmilson 9. Valdes 10.Sylvinho 11. Belletti #7 is why i am making this post. year 1 he gave it his all, now he just tries letting everyone else do their tihng and he pops up now and then with magic.
has to be rinaldinho, then eto'o [see what happened when eto'o is marked tight and we cant get his goals we suffer. the flow of our game suffers]. dihno is the man. then its puyol and followed by marquez!but oh my! ronaldinho is just beyond belief. he is soo magical that he defines the word. he can bake a delicious cake out of sawdust! he has to be the most complete player since PELE! he made a believer of me tonight not that he hasnt before but nobody affects or changes a game in modern era like ronaldinho. ronaldo was like that 'explosive' but it was all individual effort and he rarely won club titles because he teammates were rarely invoved but dinho gets everybody involved in the game with his magic which leads to a great team and champion.dinho estou aqui orando que voce vai ajudar brasil ganhar a hexa.sempre vou te apoiar.obrigado, meu irmao por sua magia. eu fico feliz sempre quando voce estar jogando futebol.
This is so obvious it aint funny, Ronaldinho is the Man in Barcelona,reason why i say this is simple, he creates 99.9% of barcelona's goals and scoring opportunity. If their is a goal 9/10 times its coming from Ronaldinho one way or another.This season i have witnessed only 2 games in which goals were scored and he wasnt involved with at least one of them. Basically Ronaldinho is the spearhead of barca's attacking game.The beautiful assist we witnessed today in the 2:1 loss to Osasuna was not a fluke or a one time things.Its been like this in pretty much every game he plays.If his not gonna create a through pass,the assist weill come from a corner and if not a corner it will come from a free kick-One way or another the goals are created by him mainly.Other players are equally important but Ronaldinho is in a class by himself- no comparison.The world has never witnessed a player of his magnitude.
Yes barcelona could win a game or two without Ronaldinho but the winning will be from the magic he leaves behind. Without Ronaldinho Barcelona is just another team in La liga.Think about it this way, why is it that most of the goals come from his assists or his playmaking? As good as Etoo,Messi and Deco are, they are no where creative as Ronaldinho.More than often, nothing happens untill Ronaldinho says so.It was like that in the two games against chelsea,it was like that against Osasuna and it has been like that pretty much in most games.It very unusual to see barca score with no Ronaldinho involvment.He has made the people he assist look better and has made the entire team better but in the long run without him Barca is just another regular team.