The Future of Dani Alves with Barça.

Dani Alves is entering the final months of his career as a Barça player. His contract ends at the conclusion of the season. He is free to talk to other teams since January as he was hoping to stay with the Blaugrana. That might be different as of last week since both, the club and the player, differ on terms for a new deal. Either a compromise must be reached or this relationship will come to a sad end.

Dani Alves will go down in Barça’s history as the greatest right back to have ever played for the club. At one time, he was considered one of the best in the game. However, those days feels like a distant memory. He was such an offensive asset in the past as he partnered with Messi down on the right flank while the club won all those titles under Guardiola. When Barça captured the league and Champions League double in 2010-2011 season, Dani had 18 assists. However, he has not reached double digits in league assists since the 2011-2012 season. Furthermore, we have been witness to his gradual decline over the years with no hopes of improvement as he has become more known for his ineffective crosses as a running gag with followers.

Charts courtesy of Sarah Khoury @SarahKhoury2

Last week, Barça president Bartomeu and Dani Alves’s agent, Dinorah Santana, sat down for one last meeting to try to come to an agreement after initial talks began following El Clásico. Santana, also Dani’s ex-wife, spoke to the media from the passenger seat of her car, after that meeting ended, to inform the public that no deal had been reached. She disclosed that the fullback was seeking a three year deal and that Barça offered a new contract based on conditions. Santana stated, “Barça said three years if the player plays at least 60 percent each season, if he doesn’t, it won’t continue year-on-year.” She added, “That for me is not three years. It is one year”.

VÍDEO: Ya puedes escuchar las declaraciones de la agente de Alves tras la reunión con el Barça http://t.co/JgJa4DEM7f pic.twitter.com/kVveU8HhGZ
— Mundo Deportivo (@mundodeportivo) April 8, 2015

Santana was not finished. She then mentioned that she had spoken with Barça presidential candidates about his future. “I’ve spoken with some of the presidential candidates at Barça and they’ve told me think differently.” She was now trying to use political propaganda against this current board. That makes sense seeing as the club seems to be only attracting bad publicity and this would be another setback for them come elections time.

Alves' agent: "I've spoken with some of the presidential candidates at Barça and they've told me think differently."
— SPORT English (@Sport_EN) April 9, 2015

Santana told the world that Barça offered Dani Alves a 1+1+1 deal, but Barça countered that they had offered him a 2+1 deal instead. It was the classic he said, she said between two parties negotiating. The problem was Santana was taking this to the media in hopes of winning public sympathy. Santana stated that Dani Alves was sad, although he sure caught many fans off guard when he later posted a photo of himself on Instagram smiling with his pants at his ankles. If a photo is worth a thousand words, then that photo was the epiphany of dropping the ball at the worst moment in terms of garnering more sympathizers on his side.

Tw Alves: "Life is a great game and I'm a small player #goodvibealways #lovelife" [danid2ois] pic.twitter.com/goIbqYiikU
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) April 9, 2015

This unexpectedly turned into a game of Poker when Santana tried to use other teams’ offers as leverage against the board. Barça cannot sign new players thanks to the FIFA transfer ban, so if Dani Alves leaves, the club is stuck with Montoya and Douglas as the only first team fullbacks for next season. Santana tried to use that to her client’s advantage when she said, “Dani has a concrete offer on the table for a three-year deal plus the option for an extra year with a better wage than he has here and a signing on fee.”

By no means am I a fan of this current Barça board. I detest them and want them gone. However, they were right to balk at this proposal. Just because Barça are in this predicament because of the transfer ban does not mean that they should held hostage and be forced to give Dani Alves the deal that he wants. If other teams have offered the fullback a three-year deal with better wages, then call their bluff in this poker game. How can you justify giving Dani Alves a raise when he has regressed over the years?

Furthermore, this month’s issue of Four Four Two had an article indicating the top 50 paid footballers in the world. Dani came in 16th with a weekly salary of £182,341 (roughly $268,000 a week). Mind you, Philip Lahm came in 43rd, earning $210,000 and makes you wonder who really deserves a raise but that is a different story. The fact that Dani Alves thinks he can force the club to give him a raise since they cannot replace him till 2016 is not exactly in the club’s best interest. They are planning on giving the likes of Pique, Jordi Alba and Neymar new wages in the near future and that budget cannot be feasible if includes paying Dani more than what he is earning now.

If Dani Alves wants to stay, then accept the new deal. He once posted on his Instagram account, “… felicidade está nas coisas mais simples e não em notas de cem” which basically means happiness comes in the simplest things, and not in $100 bills. Well, Dani, practice what you preach! If he does not want to play for Barça next season with his current salary, then thanks for the memories and good luck wherever you go.

Dani Alves commented that he will think about his future after the season is over. However, if both sides want Dani to remain, then he should accept the offer or else the club will go with a platoon of Montoya and Bartra at that position (forget about Douglas), or even 3-4-3 formation till the transfer ban ends. That’s a four month gamble risk till Barça can sign new players in the January 2016 winter transfer window. Since Dani Alves is suspended for the upcoming match against Paris Saint-Germain, we will get a glimpse of life without Dani. There is still time for both sides to reach to some sort of an agreement and the current Barça offer seems fair enough. If Dani Alves wants to stay with Barça, then he should accept the offer and not try to bluff his way into a raise.

Ibrahim Ayyub – @IBES16

* Special thanks to Sarah Khoury for the Dani Alves charts. You can follow her on her twitter @SarahKhoury2 for statistical charts regarding FC Barcelona and their players.

Barça Must Remain Focused.

Back from the international break, Barça must remain focused as they enter the final and most difficult part of the season.

Yesterday’s 1-0 victory against Celta Vigo showed that Barça cannot ill afford a lapse in concentration against any opponent. Barça face a tricky month where they are playing a match twice a week. They will have to be focused for both the Spanish league crown and the UEFA Champions League.

The powers that be have our beloved Blaugrana playing the likes of Sevilla, PSG and Valencia in consecutive order this month. PSG will be missing some starters for the first leg and hopefully Barça do not take them lightly. The memories of Barça getting beaten by a Milan side missing a few of their starters in the 1994 Champions League Final still lingers.

What is certain is that Barça can somewhat calm their nerves, if Barça manage to obtain a victory in Paris by a big margin. This crazy month will be key in how Barça will finish the season. There are only 9 matches left and I have always been a firm believer that the season always comes down to the final five matches. They cannot win any titles this month but they can lose one or both of them this month.

Barça control their destiny and hopefully players like Neymar, and Dani Alves find their mojo and we see the dangerous Barça team we saw after the Real Sociedad loss. We cannot keep relying on Messi on bailing this team out every month, especially with his current foot injury. The final months of the season are upon us and we need every player to stay focused on and off the pitch.

La Liga’s disciplinary committee lacks discipline.

La Liga has found itself in another ridiculous situation when it comes to players’ lack of self-control and the league’s failure to properly discipline them. If the league wants to set an example by punishing players, then they need to wake up and revamp its disciplinary committee. January saw the return of La Liga football after the winter break and we already have seen some players commit terrible acts on the pitch that are worthy of a lengthy ban. Yet, we are left wondering why that is not the case. Ronaldo was given a two match ban after getting sent off against Cordoba last week for losing his mind and kicking and punching Edimar when the score was 1-1.

Many were not surprised that he was not given a lengthy ban. La Liga has always been known to be lax when it comes to disciplining players, especially those from the big clubs. A few days ago, we saw two bizarre incidents in the Copa del Rey clash between Atlético Madrid and Barça. In the second half, Arda Turan lost his cool, after getting fouled by Dani Alves, and proceeded to pick up his boot off the ground and toss it at the linesman. If that was not bizarre enough, what happened next was even more bizarre. The referee gave Arda Turan a yellow card. Perhaps if the boot had struck the linesman, it would have warranted a red.

Don’t be surprised if Arda Turan will not be punished for this outrageous conduct since the referee report will show that the player was booked. The league’s disciplinary committee relies on the referee’s final report which in itself is a problem and not on secondary evidence. During that Cordoba Real Madrid match, Ronaldo had earlier gotten away with punching Cordoba player Jose Angel Crespo. Even though everyone else saw it, the three officials on the pitch did not and he was not punished for it. Better yet, it was not even taken into consideration when the two match ban was handed down by the disciplinary committee. Thus, if the referee did not report it, it did not happen and will not be taken into consideration.

The league’s disciplinary committee needs to adopt the Premier League’s model when it comes to punishing players for aggressive conduct. Former La Liga troublemaker, Diego Costa, was recently given a three match ban for stamping Emre Can, even though the referee did not spot it. The FA’s decision mentioned that “[t]he incident was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.” Another perfect example was when FIFA rightfully banned Luis Suarez for biting Giorgio Chiellini, even though the referee failed to spot the disgusting act, thanks to what they saw on video. If this measure is good enough for FIFA and the Premier League, then it should be good enough for La Liga to adopt. La Liga’s disciplinary committee needs to become strict if it really cares about its young viewers who are watching their games.

Ronaldo has been sent off five times during his time with Real Madrid. Out of those five, four were for aggressive conduct and he got away with just a booking when he and Godin engaged in a quick slug fest during the Spanish Super Cup. Perhaps it’s time the league cracked down on players by increasing the ban on repeat offenders to act as a deterrence or else we will continue to see players get sent off for aggressive conduct; that’s if they do get sent off like what we saw with Arda Turan. Allowing a player to get the same punishment for the same type of aggressive conduct over and over again for losing their cool does not send a proper message to the players and the fans is not acceptable.

In conclusion, La Liga’s disciplinary committee needs to get with the times and rely on video evidence. If the referee failed to punish Turan for what he did, then they need to rectify that problem themselves. Furthermore, the league’s disciplinary committee needs to punish repeat offenders in a stricter manner to deter players from losing their calm. The league needs to be conscious of its image both across the world and domestically or continue to be mocked for lacking the discipline to get things done right.

The Fate of Barça’s Future?

Back in April, FC Barcelona  displayed a huge banner in the Camp Nou prior to a league match kickoff that read “La Masia No Se Toca” which meant, La Masia is not to be touched. However, those words may have fallen on deaf ears under this regime. With the Montoya fiasco, following the Thiago fiasco, one has to wonder if the La Masia players wonder if their future lies elsewhere.

It’s been a difficult time for Barça fans what with the transfer ban and the way the club has been run by this current administration. It equally has to be tough for the Barça B players who are supposed to learn their craft from an dreadful manager such as Eusebio. The Blaugrana faithful used to take pride in watching players from the academy get called up. However, it seems that this club is more interested in picking players outside the club over those from within. So it is ironic that FC Barcelona’s response to FIFA transfer ban with the huge “La Masia No Se Toca” banner when they seem to be neglecting it as well.

The perfect example is the current situation with Martin Montoya. For the past few years, quite a few considered the young fullback as the heir apparent for Dani Alves. That belief was enhanced when Luis Enrique was brought on as the new first team manager. Montoya was a starter under Luis Enrique during their time together at Barça B. However, for reasons no one quite knows why, Barça decided to sign a nobody, Douglas, who has failed to show he is Barça material. Nevertheless, Montoya was put on the back burner and now he wants out in the winter transfer window.

Barça fans already had to go through Thiago leaving the club for Bayern and now Montoya is next to follow as another promising player who must play elsewhere. With the transfer ban still in effect, how can Barça afford to lose Montoya when Dani Alves is rumored to be leaving the club when his contract runs out at the end of the season. Douglas has been a nightmare of a signing where he struggled against S.D. Huesca.

Far more concerning for me is what will other players think about their chances with the first team? Deulofeu is out on loan again for the second year running and Adama is still working his magic with Barça B. You also the same situation with midfielders Denis Suarez and Sergi Samper. Denis is also on loan with Sevilla, with Deulofeu, while Samper is shining for the Barça B team. Barça did capture a diamond in the rough with Alen Halilović’s signing so the future looks bright for Barça.

However, it does not seem likely that these young players command starting minutes away anytime soon. Tello knew that and that is why he is playing on loan for Porto. Barça spent over 150 million euros this summer to strengthen the team and by the looks of things, they might need to spend some more next season if the transfer ban is lifted. Where does that leave the kids?

It’s easy for everyone to say that the kids need to be patient before their time comes. Montoya has been with the club for 15 years and he has had enough of sitting in the stands. I don’t blame players who are ambitious and want to play. Thiago did what he thought was the best for him, and if not for the injuries, he would he excelling with Bayern as he had when he was fit, and no one would fault him for making the move there.  Jonathan Dos Santos remained patient and loyal but no one wanted to play him and in the end, the club just wanted him gone.

My biggest concern is what are the Barça B players and the younger players thinking after what has transpired with Montoya. Do they think their future lies elsewhere? Just the other day, Eusebio lashed out on hisplayers following a loss and said they were interested in showcasing their talent for the winter transfer window. Well, to be frank, can you blame them?

Barça are currently a different system than the one Cruyff and Pep had installed. The same system that the youth players are supposed to be learning. So you have Luis Enrique playing a different style of football and you have Eusebio with his own style for Barça B. There is no clear cohesion from what the youth players are taught as they climb through the ranks. Barça hardly resemble the side that won the Champions League a few years ago while Barça B are hovering above the drop zone in the second division.

The idea of Barça B getting relegated would just be another step in the wrong direction for the club. People can say the players should be loyal. Sorry, but we have seen that both, clubs and players, are not loyal to one another. Figo was the Barça captain and he left for Real Madrid while Barça kindly showed Abidal the door. So spare me the loyalty speech.

In the end, the future of Barça’s future is not one to be messed with. This administration has made a mess of things during their time in charge and the way this Montoya situation has played out is alarming. If La Masia players see how the situations of Thiago, Jonathan Dos Santos and Montoya played out, how can we be sure that they are not thinking of an exit plan in the back of their minds. Better yet, can you blame them? You’d probably be weighing your options too if you were in their shoes since everything seems going backwards with Barça nowadays.

-@IBES16

The Malaise of Having Zubizarreta as Barça’s Sporting Director.

It’s no secret that the current FC Barcelona board is not highly popular among the FC Barcelona fans at this moment. Out of all the directors and members of this administration, Zubizarreta stands out as one of the most disliked figureheads at this club. Zubizaretta’s tenure as Sporting Director at this club will go down as one who has been ridiculed on social media for his inept handling of his position. The thought he will remain with this club till 2016 is stomach-turning for some and one can only hope he does resign soon.

Zubizarreta, or Zubi, is a legendary Barça goalkeeper who was in goal when Barça captured their first ever Champions League title in 1992. Sadly, he was also in goal for the 1994 Champions League Final when Barça were embarrassed 4-0 by Milan. That was his final match for the Blaugrana, in which he committed a comical error that killed any chance of Barça making a comeback. Since that gaffe, Zubi has been more known for his mistakes for Spain, World Cup 1998, and for his mistakes as Barça’s Sporting Director.

Zubizarreta inherited the position of Sporting Director from the outgoing Txiki Begiristain following the 2010 Barça elections. Simply put, Zubi inherited a diamond mine with Pep in charge and the team were on top of the world as one, if not, one of the best teams in the world. Prior to becoming Barça’s Sporting Director, Zubi had the similar position with Athletic Bilbao. Of course, the requirement of Basque only players handcuffed Zubi in his ability to wheel and deal. Sadly, his ability to wheel and deal with Barça leaves much to desire whereas Txiki has enjoyed some success in a similar position with Manchester City since joining them in 2012. Meanwhile, Zubi’s diamond mine has become full of coal.

Zubi’s disheveled appearance (put a tie on!) makes one wonder if he is a director at the club or a Western Humanities professor on a sabbatical. His failure to dress for the part does not come close to his failure in performing his duties.  In the past, whenever there was a Barça transfer rumor, the running gag has been that Zubi is taking a nap and missed out on finalizing the deal. The man falls asleep once on a plane and it comes back to haunt him. Of course, images of him falling asleep at the Amsterdam airport while the plane was delayed just gave us more fodder to enjoy. His way of handling the media leave much to desire. Just recently, he was asked about the upcoming clash against PSG, and he replied he has not watched much of the French league this season. One of those “insert foot in mouth” moments from a man who has experience hoofing the ball down the pitch.

Nevertheless, the overall performance of Zubi as Sporting Director has been a big failure. Under his watch, FC Barcelona have seen the likes of Sergi and Oscar Garcia leave the club as coaches in the youth setup and coach elsewhere while Eusebio is still underwhelming at Barça B. Some would say most players under Eusebio have regressed and not improved, with unfavorable lineups and tactics. Speaking of the youth, the FIFA transfer ban occurred because Barça did not follow the rules in signing these some young players. Again, this was under Zubi’s watch.

Nonetheless, Zubi offered to be the fall guy and resign following the transfer ban. The club disagreed, which would prove to be a grand mistake by the club. Zubi had shown he is not up for the job thanks to his numerous mistakes when it comes to signing and watching over players. Under his watch, the young starlet, Thiago, did not play enough minutes to trigger the big buy-out clause and Bayern swooped in for his signature at a fraction of his buy-out clause. Meanwhile, the club failed to sign the likes of Ozil, Isco, Kroos, and most recently young player Asensio while opting instead to sign Cesc and Alex Song.

Barça’s fall from the best club in the world in 2011 to their current status of good enough to be in the top eight of Europe is not surprising. Mistakes have been made since Guardiola left the club and allowed it to be run by the board and Zubi. A perfect example of gross negligence by the club was the recent comments by Bojan Krkic Sr., who had worked for the club as a scout, in which he indicated that the club could have signed Thibaut Courtois and Raphael Varane in the past. However, the club opted to allow those players to be signed by Chelsea and Real Madrid instead. There is nothing like watching good talent slip through Zubi’s fingers to the opposition.

This past summer was going to be one of the biggest summers in club history. Barça knew they were facing a transfer ban and had to splash the cash to strengthen the team. One would think that they would do their best to have a strong team for now and for the future in case the transfer ban was upheld. Although Barça signed Claudio Bravo, ter Stegen, Rakitic and Luis Suarez, it was a surprise that the club ended up signing Mathieu, Vermaelen and Douglas as defensive reinforcements. For the past few seasons, Zubi neglected to sign proper defenders so it was not that big of a surprise to see these players signed after all.

Mathieu is a good signing for depth reasons but Vermaelen and Douglas are a different story. During the summer, the club was trying to offload Dani Alves but his suitors balked at his wage demands. Signing Douglas did not make sense seeing as he was not highly rated in Brazil and Montoya seemed to be the right back of the future. Fast forward to today, and it is rumored Dani Alves will not be given a new deal and thus will leave the club at the end of the season while Montoya will be heading off to another team in the winter transfer window because of lack minutes that no one knows for sure why. The idea that Douglas, who has failed to impress in his few outings, is the only bona fide right back for next season is another example of Zubi not doing his job.

The fiasco that is the Vermaelen transfer should be enough to give Zubi his marching orders. I was never a fan of the Vermaelen signing due to his history of injuries. We only got to see Vermaelen in one friendly with Barça B against Indonesia’s U19 team back in September. He was indisposed the rest of the time as he trained individually because of physical discomfort before succumbing to surgery this month that will rule him out for four to six months. What makes this infuriating is the alleged knowledge by Zubi that Vermaelen was not fit to be signed. There were reports during Vermaelen’s medical examination that club doctors informed the club that Vermaelen needed to be operated on. However, Zubi decided to ignore medical advice and finalize the transfer anyways for a player who will not be counted on this season.

All I want for Christmas is for the current FC Barcelona board to resign and bring forward early elections. Zubi being fired now would be a Christmas stocking stuffer for me. However, this board and Zubi will remain with the club for 2016, which is like finding coal inside your Christmas stockings. It is the equivalent of getting socks as a Christmas gift and unfortunately, that is what we are left with thanks to this inept board.

Time to drop Dani Alves?

Barça’s disappointing loss to PSG on Tuesday showed that Lucho still has some work to do. Perhaps one of the things he needs to do is drop Dani Alves. After wowing us his first few seasons, has the time come for Dani Alves to be dropped following some subpar seasons of late.

When FC Barcelona kicked off the new era of Pep Guardiola, one of the biggest signings back then was the Brazilian fullback, Dani Alves. He was 25 years old and fresh from some amazing performances for Sevilla in which he played a part in helping the club capture back to back UEFA Cup titles. He exploded on the scene during that magical Barça treble season as he clicked well with Messi down the right flanks. He was considered one of the best at his position in the world during his first three seasons with the club as the club rose to the top and became one of the greatest sides in football history.

Fast forward to today and Dani Alves is 31 years old and no longer the force he once was. His assists are down and he has become comedy fodder for fans when they count the number of times he whips in a cross to no one. He has become careless with the ball in the attack and has become too sloppy with the ball as evident by him after losing the ball 15 times against PSG. Unfortunately, his turnovers in the attack lead to counter attacks and his lack of hustle down the other side of the pitch leaves much to be desired. Even defensive minded Luiz Felipe Scolari dropped Dani for Maicon in the latter stages of the most recent World Cup so it’s no surprise he’s become a defensive liability.

There was talk all summer long that Luis Enrique wanted to sign Cuadrado to be a weapon on the right side. One doesn’t have to wonder why when you see performances like this from Dani Alves these past few seasons. His drop in form coincided with his marriage ending in December 2011 and he hurt his stock with his attacks on the Blaugrana faithful last season.  He still has those flashes of brilliance here and there but the days of when Dani Alves bossed the right side of the pitch are over.

This is why Luis Enrique needs to decide whether to keep going with him or go with his younger understudy, Martin Montoya. However, Montoya can’t seem to get a game, let alone find a spot on the bench under Lucho. He did perform well against Athletic in subduing Muniain but the way Athletic have been playing this season, it’s not saying much. The less said about Douglas, the better, following his average debut and his medical ailments that followed that forced him to miss his next few games. Montoya attacks well without whipping in useless crosses to no one and are a pretty good defender.

Dani Alves will go down in history as the club’s greatest right back of all time. However, Dani Alves is being remembered more for what he says off the pitch than for what he does on the pitch. So why not give Montoya a shot and not be subjected to more of Dani Alves’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act.

Lucho’s First Test for Barca Reveals More Questions.

September has bid us farewell and October is now upon us. Nevertheless, this new month begins with more questions than answers being provided by FC Barcelona and their manager Luis Enrique. These past few weeks were the manager’s first big test and although he passed his first big test, he still has much work to do.

Back in September, I discussed Luis Enrique’s first big test of the season that awaited him that month. I asked if he would be able to have his players perform well in both competitions and can he keep his players well rested? Will he rotate players and perhaps drop Messi from the odd game and continue to rely on Barça B players? The answers were a mixed bag of yes and no. Overall, this test, which culminated in the PSG loss, was to show us if Luis Enrique can handle the demands of this job. Unfortunately, we are left with more questions than answers after this first test.

The first issue Luis Enrique has to address is his goal keeping situation. Claudio Bravo has performed well in the league without conceding a single goal. I expected Bravo to start yesterday seeing as you should always go with the player who is in hot form. Marc-André ter Stegen has only featured once this season, and that was in the first Champions League match against APOEL two weeks ago.  I had some concern that perhaps he would be a bit rusty for PSG and I would have opted for Claudio Bravo instead. Unfortunately, ter Stegen did not perform well, and neither did those in front of him, and now Luis Enrique has to decide what to do about that position. Should he rotate both more often so both feature at least once a week or just go with Claudio Bravo as his number one and let ter Stegen be the backup and feature in Copa del Rey? Obviously this does not leave third choice Masip with not many minutes at all but Lucho needs to make sure all his keepers are not rusty and in form.

The second issue is the back four. Lucho wants his fullbacks to attack and be part of the offensive juggernaut of this team. Sadly, it’s not working that well. Dani Alves and Jordi Alba both lost the ball a combined 23 times against PSG, with the Brazilian guilty of losing it 15 times. To see Dani Alves still start is alarming seeing his work rate has dropped defensively and he still resorts to countless crosses which result in more turnovers than scoring chances. I have been a big proponent of letting Montoya start where he defends well and will not turn the ball over when he attacks. New signing Douglas had an average debut against Malaga followed by a case of the fever and a bruised foot that saw him miss some action. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays as often as Dmytro Chygrynskiy did. Meanwhile, Adriano is a decent backup who has come up clutch at times but he is not good enough to replace Alba.

Furthermore, I thought this was the season we would see Mascherano play in the midfield but here we are, yet again, watching him playing center back and although he has great last ditch efforts, he was beaten by David Luiz on the first goal during a set piece. His partner, Mathieu had a subpar performance and has been shaky of late. One wonders why Pique is not starting more often and what does Bartra need to do to get more minutes? Moreover, Vermaelen is now deemed fit so how is Lucho going to handle the center of the defense. Lucho has his work cut out for him in how to keep these guys organized and focused. The clean sheet run in the league is impressive but not whole heartedly convincing. In other words, those clean sheets have been rather fortunate and not the work of a team that is shutting down teams with authority.

The midfield also poses some issues. Lucho wasted Rakitic on the flanks against PSG and didn’t play him in the middle of the pitch where he strives. Iniesta seems to be off to a slow start with some flashes of genius here and there. Busquets is paying the price with some sloppy play because of this new style mixed in with some Xavi-esque moments when it comes to superb passes. Speaking of Xavi, we have not seen enough of him and perhaps we should adjust the lineup to have him feature in a 4 man midfield, or as some would like, with Busquets and Mascherano instead. I never rated Sergi Roberto and if Rafinha is 100% fit, then he should be featuring more than Sergi Roberto.

Up front, Messi is back to his old self again and I am enjoying him pressure high and cause some turn overs after watching a more subdued version of him last season. The problem is that Messi still has to carry everyone on his back and none of the guys up front are doing that for him. Neymar is thriving because of Messi but he is not doing enough for Messi’s sake. Pedro, Munir and Sandro all have gotten to play and all have shown that this is Luis Suarez’s job to lose when he returns later this month.  The problem is the inconsistent ineffective play by the fullbacks in the attack, which probably explains why Lucho wanted to sign Cuadrado this summer, and there is no guarantee that Luis Suarez’s inclusion will solve these problems. These players cannot rely on Messi to bail them out and hopefully Suarez’s inclusion will do that and not become another player reliant on Messi.

The loss to PSG does not mean the sky is falling; Far from it. I expect this team to challenge for both the league title and the Copa del Rey. Champions League football is another story altogether. Lucho got outcoached in this loss and the team’s performance this past month showed that there is an issue of a lack of structure and organization by the players on the pitch. Furthermore, Lucho’s usual tactics leave much to desire when his plan B is to replace one player with another without changing positions or tactics. Perhaps it is a sign of things to come when he did throw us a surprise after he took off Dani Alves and put on Sandro with Mascherano attacking as a full back. That though didn’t seem like a well calculated plan but more of a gamble. This team went through two seasons of poor coaching on the pitch and can ill afford a third straight season of such.  Real Madrid can solve whatever issues they have by buying in the winter; Barça does not have that luxury. These issues have to be resolved by the manager and the players.

An additional element of concern for Lucho will be how he handles players returning from international duty. He was fortunate that many of his big stars missed out on September international duty. I can’t see Messi missing out on playing for Argentina in early October and mid-November; circle your calendars for November 18 when Argentina and Portugal face one another at Old Trafford. Will he be fortunate to have a well-rested squad for those two months like he did for September?

I will end this on a positive note. September was a harsh month that saw the team play 6 matches in 3 weeks with a combined result of four wins, a draw and a loss. That is still a great result and the team is still are league leaders. Also, October with only consist of three league matches, with El Clásico being one of them, and one Champions League match against Ajax Amsterdam at the Camp Nou.  I don’t consider Copa Catalunya Final as a serious fixture and let’s see if it even takes place. Hopefully Lucho and the team will get their act together this month because there is still much to do.

La Liga Cannot Whitewash Racism Problem Anymore.

The Dani Alves banana incident is still fresh in everyone’s minds following the great reaction through the social media. Sadly, posting a photo on Instagram is not enough. La Liga got another awful reminder today when some Atlético fans made monkey chants towards Levante’s African player, Diop, today. Diop danced like a monkey to mock them back. La Liga cannot afford to tap dance its way around this issue anymore and must deal with clubs severely.

Back in November 2004, the sporting  world experience an awful event when black players from the English national team were subjected to racist monkey chants from vast numbers of the crowd at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium during a friendly. It probably wasn’t the first time something of this sort had happened in a Spanish stadium but it sure was the first time many had witnessed it outside the viewing area of that country.

Sadly, the reaction then was poor and even farcical when one of the Spanish officials denied it even took place and hadn’t happened in Spain in quite a while. Well, it did and still does to this day. Just two years later, I recall FC Barcelona’s Eto’o almost leaving the pitch because of the racist taunting from the Zaragoza fans. Unfortunately, Spanish Football Federation opted to just sweep it under the rug and forget about it. The same would transpire in the 2011 Supercopa Clásico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Dani Alves was subjected to monkey chants from some of the Madrid fans and then three days later, Marcelo was subjected to the same treatment from some of the Barça fans as well.

The reaction back then was the same. Just brush it under the rug and forget about it and move on. It’s going to be tough now. They can keep turning a blind eye, like they did when a Nazi flag was seen hanging on one of the entrances of the Real Madrid fan entrances to the Mestalla stadium in Valencia on the day of the most recent Copa del Rey Final, along with some xenophobic act of burning the Catalan flag. However, the time has come for change.

 What Dani Alves went through last week and how Villarreal handed the matter was reassuring for once. There was talk that Spanish football was changing for the better in how to confront the racism problem. However, we were reminded again that there is too much left to be done following today’s incident between Diop and Atlético Madrid fans. However, Spanish football needs to put its foot down on this issue.

We cannot rely on fans, athletes and celebrities posting photos with bananas as a way to cure this problem. Small fines hasn’t done the trick so it’s high time Spanish football Federation start to send a stern messages to these idiots who think that they can continue to get away with these awful acts. Stadium bans and points docked.

You think people won’t turn on you if they hear a monkey chant coming out of your mouth where it could cost you precious points to win the league, avoid the drop or qualify for Europe? Sure, traveling fans could be doing it too so the punishment would be directed at the visiting club where they would face the same punishment. It’s 2014 and we can no longer accept monkey chants or Nazi flags or salutes as part of the atmosphere of the game. Spanish authorities need to look into implementing this sort of punishment starting next season or risk further embarrassment to its reputation.

Barça Needs To Clean House.

Barça’s disappointing culmination on what seemed to be a promising season is coming to a bitter end. The hopes of capturing the league crown remain miraculous at best since it is no longer in their hands. With the FIFA transfer ban on hiatus now, the club can make new signings. If the club’s proclamation that new players will be bought is true, then it’s time they clean house; from top to bottom.

This season has been a roller coaster for Barça fans with lots of highs and lows. It was also nostalgic to the 2003-2004 and the 2006-2007 seasons to which I alluded to earlier in the season. 2003-2004 saw two new managers, Frank Rijkaard and Carlos Queiroz, take charge at Barça and Madrid, while 2006-2007 was a nightmare of a season for the Blaugrana where they saw their lead atop of the standings disappear down the stretch and finish runners-up.

I gave Tata Martino the benefit of the doubt earlier in the season but that sailed away following his questionable decisions that saw this team squander their five point lead atop of the standings and kiss good bye to any chance of silverware the past few weeks. Clearly, this hiring has back fired and is yet another black eye for Sandro Rosell who made the decision to hire Tata in the first place. To be fair to Tata, he did request new players which were never provided, much like what Carlos Queiroz endured back in 2003-2004. They both squandered big leads atop of the standings down the stretch, lost in the Copa del Rey Final and exited the Champions League prematurely. Now, Tata falls on the sword that was set in place by this board. In order to go forward, we still need someone new to manage these players and someone who has ties to the club.

Speaking of players, I have been always of the opinion that this team needed to be gutted for a long time. This team could easily see over ten players leave in the summer. Puyol already indicated his career as a Barça player was over and Valdés had his bags packed since last season before he suffered his injury. Injured players such as Jonathan Dos Santos, Afellay, and Cuenca are also surplus to requirements. It’s also time for the club to look into cashing in on Tello, Alex Song, Mascherano and Alexis. Tello hardly plays and if Deulofeu returns from his loan spell at Everton; then he should be getting those minutes instead. As for Alex Song, it was doomed from the start and if Napoli want him, and Mascherano, then cash in on them. Mascherano has played his heart out for the club but is not a defender and will hardly feature as Busquets’s substitute. There’s already talk of Alexis joining Juventus and after three years, it’s time to cut our losses and realize he has the energy of Eto’o but is not a factor against defensive minded teams. There are some fans who are also considering selling Cesc and I can’t blame them after he managed to pull off his disappearing act in the second half of a season for three straight years now. As for Dani Alves, he no longer is the player he once was and his mouth seems to be turning off the fans more than his endless crosses to no one and that could be his final season as a Barça player.

 Thus, that’s eleven players who might not be a part of this team next season. However, before we discuss which players come in to reshape this team, we need to discuss the resignation of this board first. Current Barça president Bartomeu and his board need to resign after sitting on their thumbs and not reinforcing this squad when it was obvious last season. Zubizarreta has done an abysmal job when it comes to signing players and by all means should not be entrusted in future transfers. No, if a revolution is needed, then it needs to start from the top with the board stepping down and allowing someone competent to come in and hire a new manager and have a competent sporting director who knows how to scout and sign players to strengthen this team again. Unless that happens, this team will not progress and just continue to frustrate the Blaugrana faithful and squander the talents of Iniesta and Messi.

Blame the Federations and not FIFA.

Another unnecessary and poorly timed international fixture break was bestowed upon a few days ago. It was sandwiched in between league games. Of course, some of the matches were important such as the Asian World Cup Qualifiers but the rest were meaningless friendlies with a few memorable performances and inexcusable trips across the globe. Of course, FIFA picked this date but they should not bear the brunt of the blame. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the respective country’s federation.

The FIFA Virus reared its ugly head again a few days ago. Barça players had to play in meaningless friendlies which required them to play on a few days rest and training with their national teams coupled with flights across the Atlantic Ocean. Alexis Sanchez was the biggest FIFA Virus casualty when he suffered yet another injury that will keep him out up to four weeks. Barça players representing Spain flew all the way to Panama for a friendly while Dani Alves traveled to New York with Brazil to face Colombia. Messi traveled to Saudi Arabia to represent Argentina.

All the Barça players had to return and get ready for a match today.  Today! Not tomorrow, but today! So Barça players, and other club players too, had to return and get ready for another match on two day’s rest. I am sure that is exactly in the best interests of the players and the game. Many would love to spew venom at FIFA for such a meaningless decision to have International games played in such a manner but I don’t think they should bear the brunt of the blame.

They are not blameless either but I wouldn’t have objected if this window was used solely for Asian World Cup Qualifiers. However, since these games were scheduled on a Wednesday and not over a weekend, why did the rest of the world decide to schedule friendlies? This is why I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the country’s federation. RFEF, Royal Spanish Football Federation, and other country’s federations decided to schedule the games. RFEF has been cashing on Spain’s success by scheduling them to play in friendlies in Argentina, Puerto Rico, and just recently Panama the past few years.

Countries do not have an obligation to schedule a friendly. FIFA only provides the window but the final decision lies with the Federations. Mexico, a side that is well known for playing way too many friendlies, did not participate in the glutton of friendlies on Wednesday. Obviously, the Mexican league playoffs played a part in that decision but they could have scheduled a friendly and fielded C team too. They did not! Therefore, it is possible to not see your country play a friendly on a day set aside for friendlies. So, the next time you complain about countries playing meaningless friendlies; don’t blame FIFA, but blame the Federation head honchos who decided to cash in and schedule the friendly.

Time to play Bartra.

Is there a Center-Back in the house? Barça’s great start to the season has suffered the disappointing news of losing both starting Centre Backs Puyol and Pique to injuries. Even though there was a need to sign another centre-back this summer, the club opted to sign another Defensive Midfielder who could play the role of a centre-back. Well, there is a young talented player on the bench waiting for his moment. The moment is now and it’s about time that the club played Marc Bartra.

First it was Puyol and then it was Pique. Barça fans have been accustomed to seeing their best players suffer an injury here and there over the years. However, we were not ready to see both our centre-backs out with injuries so soon. We went from a club that had two starting centre-backs and one young centre-back to basically one young centre-back in need of minutes with defensive midfielders sharing the load in the back. Marc Bartra has been patiently waiting for his chance to prove himself and the time has come.

I have never been a fan of Pep’s decision to rely on the likes of Yaya, Mascherano and Busquets playing in the centre-back position. Those were great ideas for a quick fix but not for the long term. As much as I enjoy watching Mascherano play, I think his time as centre-back should come to an end. The warning signs were there last season in the big matches where he was shown to be a liability such as his poor header clearance in the San Siro that lead to Prince’s goal against Milan; Ronaldo sprinting past him to scoring the game winning goal in the Camp Nou, not picking up Drogba during the counter attack that lead to Chelsea’s only goal of the game, his poor tackle on Lampard that resulted in a counter attack goal for Ramires; and more recently his poor clearance attempt in the second leg of the Supercopa. Just watching him partner Song against Spartak Moscow on Wednesday showed us that the club should have bought defenders to re-enforce the back four.

Mascherano has been a great player and person for Barça but he is not a centre-back. I don’t care that he helped the club win the Champions League when he started against Manchester United. A few good games do not wipe out a recent string of bad displays in big games. If his name was Oleguer or Rafa Marquez, fans would be all over him. The club should have bought a centre-back and I don’t believe the talk that the club never wanted to buy one because they have Mascherano so that’s why they bought Song. They wanted to get Thiago Silva or Javi Martinez but were scared off by the price tag. Unfortunately, they could have signed Botia, who is a former youth player currently on loan with Sevilla, Chico, former Barça B player who played for Pep and played a key part in helping the B team gain promotion and is currently playing for Swansea City, and Jan Vertonghen, former Ajax player who just went to Spurs for €12.5 million, for maybe half of the cost of one of those big named stars.

What’s been done has been done. Perhaps the club will sign someone when the winter transfer window opens or wait till next season when they go after the likes of Dortmund’s Hummels.  I hope the club does eventually sign a centre-back. I am tired of watching Barça repeat history by suffering from some dreadful defending too. We saw it during the final days of the “Dream Team” when Koeman was past it and it hurt this team. Rijkaard's last 2 years saw a lot of poor defenders around Puyol and now we are subjected to watching history repeat itself as we watch this team concede silly goals from poor defending. Pique still has his head in the clouds from time to time and Mascherano can't clear with his head and will get burned by a speedy forward.

If you think that this team wins on its offense alone, then look back at their triumphant Champions League titles and see how many blowouts they had in the semi-final stage, 0-1, 0-0 against Milan; 0-0, 1-1 against Chelsea; 0-2; 1-1 against Real Madrid. They relied on keeping clean sheets when they won those titles and not by winning 4-3 or 3-2 every game.

Barça’s legacy has always been on relying on their academy products. We have already seen that Montoya is ready to compete for the right-back position and in my opinion is the heir apparent to Dani Alves. Puyol was thrown in as a right back when he was young and he turned out alright. Chapi Ferrer, Pep, and Sergi were all thrown in as youngsters too and the “Dream Team” benefitted from it. Puyol was 21. Chapi was 20. Sergi was 22. Montoya is 21. I'm not saying bench Alves but I prefer to see Montoya start ahead of Adriano in that position and rotate with Dani Alves to give the Brazilian fullback some rest.

We have had a history of giving young players a chance. Xavi and Iniesta turned out alright. Messi turned out alright. Valdés turned out alright even with his odd brain farts. Busquets was how old again when he got to play ahead of Yaya? So it’s time to give minutes to Bartra. We've seen him play in Champions League games and Copa del Rey games before. He is a promising 6'0 centre-back who was also the captain of Spain’s national team at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. More importantly, he showed us that he's no Fontas with his decisions and his thinking. He deserves to be playing and he deserves playing minutes now that the club is without any centre-backs. Unfortunately, we will never know unless we see him out there on the pitch getting the minutes in matches. Today, Barça host Granada and this is the perfect moment to get him out there and gain some experience and shake off some rust. The moment is now and it’s about time that the club played Marc Bartra and not another defensive midfielder in the heart of the defense.

 

Barça & the Media – Lack of exposure in the US and Lack of action against false media stories.

As FC Barcelona ushers in a new era under President Sandro Rosell, it’s puzzling how the club has dealt with the media regarding its lack of exposure in the US via Barça TV and its nonexistent or unavailable online Barça TV service. Additionally, the club’s lack of action against other media outlets fabricating stories and painting the club and its players in a bad image is disheartening. Why do we have to rely on just Sid Lowe and Graham Hunter to stick up for the club and not threaten legal action itself against the Daily Express and Marca? This is a new era and this is a great time to usher in new changes and take advantage of promoting the club when it is considered one of the greatest in the world. Opportunity is knocking, so will the club answer?


I want to first emphasize that is not a direct attack at club president Sandro Rosell. Those who know me know I am not a big admirer of him but this is not an attack at the president as much as it is call for the club to address this problem that I feel many Barça fans are dealing with. I am upset that there is no US media outlet showing Barça TV and that the online version of Barça TV no longer exists. I am upset that the Daily Express can go ahead and print made up interviews with our players that depict them and the club in a negative light and yet the club fails to come out and denounce these interviews. I am disappointed that the club does not respond to Marca’s garbage cover depicting our manager Guardiola as refusing to shake Real Madrid’s hands. I really think that the club’s image is hampered by lack of exposure and its failure to fight back at the media outlets who try to make a mockery of our beloved club.


Barça TV first made its debut in 1999 as Canal Barça as the rights were held by Telefónica Sports. In 2004, the club regained total control of the channel and renamed it Barça TV. Over the years, Barça TV was used by the club to show exclusive coverage of player signings, interviews, highlights of former players, archived matches from the past and replays of current matches. To expand its appeal across the globe, Barça TV aired in Catalan, in Spanish and in English. We were fortunate enough to be able to catch some of what Barça TV offered when Fox Soccer Channel presented a Barça TV segment. That usually consisted of matches from years ago and replays of the most recent Champions League match with some highlights regarding past and present players. Fast forward to now, and I checked FSC and Barça TV was not listed and overall, it is not on the air in the US. In a day where we have Gol TV, FSC, ESPN Deportes and ESPN 3 providing us ton of football coverage, Barça TV is nowhere to be seen when they are
considered one of the best clubs in the world. It was nice that ESPN Deportes showed us the Joan Gamper Trofeo match while the Supercopa was never aired in the US and that is mostly the LFP’s fault for not trying to promote its league properly.


Barça TV Online was launched back in 2007 and allowed fans to subscribe to their service and enjoy the channel online. That was a great idea that would attract more fans to the club. However, have you checked it out lately and tried to access it? Pay a visit to the English Barça TV page on the official site where it asks you to choose either Canal TV or ON LINE and then click on ON LINE and see where it takes you. Surprised? I sure am. I expect that from a fan site but not from an official club’s website. Just recently, the club announced on its website that Barça TV underwent a new look with a new slogan – “Back to Normal People.” Well, here’s hoping that these issues get resolved so we can have Barça TV back in the US airwaves and thus better promote the club to a growing fan base here in the US.

This past summer transfer window saw the club painted in a negative light when its pursuit of Cesc was not warmly welcomed. Part of the problem was some of the club’s players such as Puyol and Xavi making some pretty blatant and tasteless comments that made them look like jerks. The Daily Express supposedly had an interview with Xavi in which he said that Cesc was basically on loan at Arsenal while The Sun published an interview with Puyol saying “He is having to stay at a club where he no longer wants to be for another year”. David Villa supposedly had an interview with The Sun and there was also a story about Messi tweeting “The Villa vs. West Ham match is really exciting – Ashley Young is having a blinder”. Here’s the thing though, these players never ever said those things. It appears to be common knowledge among Barcelona fans that these players never said it. Messi doesn’t even have a twitter page, that was a fake account. Puyol does have a personal blog and stated “Hola a todos, estos últimos días en aalgún medio de comunicación inglés han salido unas declaraciones supuestamente mías que son totalmente falsas, las acabo de ver ahora y puedo asegurar que no he dicho nada ni he hablado con nadie sobre este tema. Saludos.” ( translation courtesy of Totalbarca.com -“Hi everyone, these past days a British news media outlet has published some statements supposedly mine that are totally fasse, I just saw them and I can guarantee that I have not said anything nor talked to anybody about this subject. Cheers.”)

Pretty outrageous and we actually had Sid Lowe come to the rescue when asked about these interviews in his article about Zlatan’s transfer. Here was his reply - “I am absolutely bloody furious about this and it has become a constant this summer. The quotes are almost entirely concocted and I am pretty sure that I know how it is happening. Me and a couple of other journalists who actually try (yes, yes, don't always succeed) to do the job properly and who are here in Spain are trying to do something about it. But it's not easy.” It was great to see someone come out and explain it to everybody, especially the EPL fans, that the stories were bogus.

This is not just limited to the English press, but Madrid daily Marca resorted to its shameful procedure of creating something out o nothing when its cover page depicted our manager Pep Guardiol not wanting to shake Mourinho’s hand as he put his hand out What the poor excuse of a sport daily failed to do was show the hug between Guardiola and Mourinho.

Fortunately, Graham Hunter came to the rescue and said on his twitter account (have to scroll down to dig it up) – “Marca front page not cheeky, just false this am. Snatched pic from Pep, Mou & Platini CHAT. Mou making point. NOT Pep rejecting handshake.” As much as I was pleased to see some journalists out there actually doing a great honor to their profession and sticking up for the club, where was the club in all this?

It would have been nice for the club to come out and threaten legal against all those publication that published these fake interviews. The club recently stated that they were on good terms with Arsenal or rebuilding their relationship but I am sure denouncing those interviews help a lot more especially when it seems many bought those interviews hook, line and sinker. The club should always back its players and this was a situation where they dropped the ball. By remaining silent, they are allowing for further fake interviews to be released in the near future. As for Marca, the club perhaps doesn’t want to dignify Marca’s cover with a response but coming out with a polite but cheeky reply to make them look bad would have been nice. We know the Madrid sports daily will have their moments where we have to roll our eyes but perhaps the club should sometimes come out and denounce these types of covers solely created to generate more sales. The image of the club is very important and we cannot allow other to sully it with over the top generalizations or fake interviews.