FC Barcelona 2016-2017 Thread

2,161 Views | 27 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by winslowhorne
spence10
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Fellow Blaugrana supporters, let's put the disaster of the final stretch of the season **edit: disaster near the end of the season that almost cost us the league** behind us and get this thing started! We we're all secretly expecting a back to back treble but a double is still awesome.

Key points, rumors, and questions going into the season:

1) Of utmost concern is depth at CB. There are rumors floating around for Marqinhos and Umtiti. While Marquinhos' quality is undisputed, he would cost a fortune. I'd personally prefer the latter. I've heard Man United's Eric Baily as an option as well.

2) Alba needs some actual competition at the LB after a lackluster season. Lucho continues to rely on Mathieu as his backup where he singlehandedly dropped points in a few games over the course of the season. I'll never forget his 2015 El Clasico goal (which I actually saw in person ) but it's time about time for Lucho to recognize he's more of a liability than an asset to the team.

3) Related to the above points, will we continue to buy injury prone, out of form defenders at a price twice as much as other teams are willing to pay? Vermalean was bad enough, and the shady Douglas purchase is actually laughable at this point. Time to rid ourselves of the deadweight and properly address our depth issues in all positions on defense.

4) Props to Lucho for bringing Pique back to peak form the last 2 seasons after a few mediocre years. And an obligatory shoutout for entertaining us with your Real Madrid banter (and in particular Arboloa "the cone" burns), periscoping, as well as shots of your smoking hot wife. And Masche, please don't leave as you bailed us out multiple times this season.

5) Midfield happenings: Busquets' renewal was well deserved and long overdue for the world's best DM. Really nothing more to add here other than him continuing to be criminally underrated or said better, not praised enough. In addition to Iniesta's form that gives no reason to expect it to drop this year, the return of Denis Suarez after his excellent spell at Villarreal is huge for us.

6) As Messi continues to perfect his new role, all we can ask from Suarez is to finish half of his chances, provide his relentless work rate, and just generally cause havoc and he'll run away with the Golden Boot. I don't have any doubt the world's best striker will continue to perform.

7) Neymar, bro - don't "pull a Cesc" again. You were incredible the first half of the season and helped carry us with Messi out, but returned from Brazil half the player you were when the season began. Seems to be a pattern with Brazillians honestly but I haven't lost faith just yet. Just please keep the selfies with Bieber at a minimum.

8) Ter Stegan should be the undisputed starter in all major competitions next season. He has ice in his veins, out of this world distribution (something we heavily rely on) and potential to be the world's best keeper down the road. Let's not screw this one up. While we're on the topic of GKs, shout out to Bravo for a solid season.

9) It's time to move on from Aleix Vidal and Turan. The former has yet to gain confidence from Lucho and the latter has consistently severely underperformed in virtually every game.

10) The #10 spot is reserved for Messi. I can't do him justice so let's just continue to witness the best player of all time do all things Messi while we can. D10S indeed.

11) Thank you Dani Alves for an incredible spell at Barcelona. Not bad to go out with a few trebles, doubles, league wins not to mention leaving as all-time leading assister to Messi. I hope for the best for him at what looks like Juve.

And most most importantly, Visca el Barca i Visca Catalunya!
byfLuger41
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You and gambo should just text instead of starting a club thread.
Dre_00
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Props for what might be a long, insightful start to the thread but I checked out right after I read the words "disaster of the final stretch of the season".

You won La Liga and the Spanish Cup. So in short, go to hell.
gambochaman
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Lol dre...well, it was a pretty awful 5 game stretch there

Anywho
Need to spend on defense defense defense....need a solid lb backup, couple of rb (why you gotta do me like that alves ) and couple of solid cb
We are pretty well set everywhere else

Not sure if i agree with your ter stegen assesment...i like him too but bravo is as solid as they come
gambochaman
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Also, prepare for ALL the hatred and vitriol
All of it



I think the biggest dissapointment right now is letting bartra go...hope he pulls a pique and comes back in a couple of years with some good experience
spence10
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quote:
Props for what might be a long, insightful start to the thread but I checked out right after I read the words "disaster of the final stretch of the season".

You won La Liga and the Spanish Cup. So in short, go to hell.

To be fair, Barca were an unstoppable force going into the international break and returned looking like a mid-table EPL team. We choked horribly against a gritty Athletico team in the CL, barely won La Liga, which is big in its own right but almost giving up a 10 point lead with a only few games leftl isn't the ideal way to end a season for any team. Oh, and watching Real Madrid win the CL in the most Real Madrid way possible (unequivocally easiest draw as usual) was annoying as hell.

But yeah, the Copa del Rey win was quite nice. I'll be the first to say we've been spoiled from the past few years - our expectations are extremely high, but unlike our A&M football fanbase, we generally meet expectations.

Regarding the impending Barca hate - it's football, and banter is part of it
spence10
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quote:
Lol dre...well, it was a pretty awful 5 game stretch there

Anywho
Need to spend on defense defense defense....need a solid lb backup, couple of rb (why you gotta do me like that alves ) and couple of solid cb
We are pretty well set everywhere else

Not sure if i agree with your ter stegen assesment...i like him too but bravo is as solid as they come
I see where you're coming from with your Bravo comment, but he's getting old while Ter Stegen is just as solid (I'd argue more, but that's really besides the point) and can be the club's GK for the next 10+ years. You don't let someone with that kind of talent play backup during La Liga or he'll simply leave. Not worth the risk whatsoever.
wangus12
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I'm curious to see how long you two can go with other people just dropping by for the Classico
gambochaman
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CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
spence10
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Once this inevitably turns into a La Liga vs. EPL thread, people will come pouring in.
gambochaman
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Where have you been all my life
spence10
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Gotta stick together my man. Arsenal fans travel in packs and Man United fans are well..Man United fans
Gigem Trevas
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I'll be here.
stillmerk
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I'M ON BOARD! So Pogba isn't in the picture anymore?
jrod2181
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FORCA BARCA
Dre_00
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quote:
Man United fans are well..Man United fans


The best fans in the world? Totally agree. You're wiser than your club affiliation would lead one to believe.
HHH 95
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I'm in. Forca Barca!
spence10
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quote:
quote:
Man United fans are well..Man United fans


The best fans in the world? Totally agree. You're wiser than your club affiliation would lead one to believe.
Based on that comment, you're as delusional as what I'd expect from a United fan.
Dre_00
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quote:
quote:
quote:
Man United fans are well..Man United fans


The best fans in the world? Totally agree. You're wiser than your club affiliation would lead one to believe.
Based on that comment, you're as delusional as what I'd expect from a United fan.

I think you misspelled "Liverpool".
AGC
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Clearly a diehard cule.

y nada ms!!!
spence10
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Mascherano returning , Busquets & Messi renewed, Umtiti signing all but official halfway through June. Extremely pleased with our progress this early on.
PatAg
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byfLuger41
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I created a fantasy league for this year. It's creatively titled "TexAgs Classic League" and the league code to join is 1634813-400128.

The other league is a head-to-head titled "TexAgs Head-to-Head League" and the code to join is 1634813-400242.

If you haven't done this before, the website is [url=http://fantasy.premierleague.com/][/url][url=http://fantasy.premierleague.com/][/url]http://fantasy.premierleague.com. Go there, click "Leagues," "Join a League (private)," and enter the code.
gambochaman
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according to marca, barca and citeh have reached an agreement for Bravo...

granted...this is marca we're talking about
stillmerk
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THe ter Stegen injury will kill that.
spence10
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Latest rumor is bringing in Diego Alves for the short term.

Bought Bravo cheap, won a **** ton of trophies, and sold him to Pep for ~17m. Extremely pleased.
gambochaman
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Well, at least we're getting the yearly inexplicable loss to a much lesser team out of the way early
spence10
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International break completely shafted us, though there's no excuse in Lucho's rotation. I'm more concerned we have 7 games in a ~23 day span. Today's game should be fun- reminder of the last time we played Celtic hahaha:


winslowhorne
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Incredible showing last game!
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