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Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On September 17 2025 03:17 RvB wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2025 01:14 sharkie wrote:
Selling Etoo was not a pragmatic decision.. Also wasn't most of the 2008/09 squad at Barca when Pep became manager?
Imo a lot of decisions Pep made were very stubborn because he has based a lot of decision on his preferred style. Took him years playing against Klopp's Liverpool (where he was battered H2H) to finally accept that sometimes he should play a different style. No it wasn't. It was the opposite. He got rid of players like Ronaldinho, Deco, Zambrotta, Thuram and brought Pique, Busquets, Dani Alves, Keita.
Yes, he threw out a big chunk of Rijkaard’s CL winning side and rebuilt it with relatively (at the time) unheralded players that fit his idea.
Of course he doesn’t get the credit for it in some quarters because people make out he just inherited said team and didn’t completely rebuild it:
Just as he doesn’t get credit for bringing through youth players elsewhere and gets called a chequebook manager.
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51667 Posts
champions league is back!
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Norway28875 Posts
Juventus-Dortmund was good 
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51667 Posts
also benfica-qarabag if you aren't a benfica fan
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On September 17 2025 03:17 RvB wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2025 01:14 sharkie wrote:
Selling Etoo was not a pragmatic decision.. Also wasn't most of the 2008/09 squad at Barca when Pep became manager?
Imo a lot of decisions Pep made were very stubborn because he has based a lot of decision on his preferred style. Took him years playing against Klopp's Liverpool (where he was battered H2H) to finally accept that sometimes he should play a different style. No it wasn't. It was the opposite. He got rid of players like Ronaldinho, Deco, Zambrotta, Thuram and brought Pique, Busquets, Dani Alves, Keita.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_FC_Barcelona_season
Sort by appearances. In the top 11 appearances most of Pep's S11 were already there.
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On September 17 2025 06:05 Liquid`Drone wrote:Juventus-Dortmund was good
Dortmund ist just the pinnacle of stupid sometimes. How can you let that happen. Juve was dead in the water after the penalty
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United States10530 Posts
Surely we can't keep getting away with it... right?
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts
Why are Barcelona less favoured in odds vs Newcastle tonight? I am confused?
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Because people don't rate Flick. They think barcelona is only Yamal. Oh and Premier League is always massively overrated
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If people watched Barcelona more they would realise that our best player is not Yamal. Out best player is Pedri, most of our gameplay revolves around him and I've not seen a midfield like him in a long time.
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On September 17 2025 15:57 sharkie wrote:Show nested quote +On September 17 2025 03:17 RvB wrote:On September 16 2025 01:14 sharkie wrote:
Selling Etoo was not a pragmatic decision.. Also wasn't most of the 2008/09 squad at Barca when Pep became manager?
Imo a lot of decisions Pep made were very stubborn because he has based a lot of decision on his preferred style. Took him years playing against Klopp's Liverpool (where he was battered H2H) to finally accept that sometimes he should play a different style. No it wasn't. It was the opposite. He got rid of players like Ronaldinho, Deco, Zambrotta, Thuram and brought Pique, Busquets, Dani Alves, Keita. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_FC_Barcelona_seasonSort by appearances. In the top 11 appearances most of Pep's S11 were already there.
That leaves out many players. Technically you're right that most of the squad was already there but that's the case for most club in the top leagues. More than half of players leaving does not happen much except at recently promoted clubs. For top clubs player retention is high. Since I was bored I made a comparison using www.experimental361.coms churn rate which is the percentage of last seasons minutes played by players who are still there this season. Using minutes played with data from Transfermarkt I get a percentage of 71,37% for barca 08/09. As a quick comparison if you'd rank the clubs by churn rate in 2025 that'd place them at the following spot:
PL: 14th
Serie A: 10th
La Liga: 10th
Bundesliga: 12th
src:
https://www.experimental361.com/p/squad-retention-2025-26
https://www.experimental361.com/p/squad-retention-in-the-big-european
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On September 19 2025 18:33 haitike wrote:
If people watched Barcelona more they would realise that our best player is not Yamal. Out best player is Pedri, most of our gameplay revolves around him and I've not seen a midfield like him in a long time.
Flick made him really beefy and durable no? Didn't he use to be injury prone? He did something similar with Goretzka at Bayern.
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Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On September 20 2025 00:41 sharkie wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2025 18:33 haitike wrote:
If people watched Barcelona more they would realise that our best player is not Yamal. Out best player is Pedri, most of our gameplay revolves around him and I've not seen a midfield like him in a long time. Flick made him really beefy and durable no? Didn't he use to be injury prone? He did something similar with Goretzka at Bayern.
I don’t think Pedri was particularly injury prone if memory serves. He just had a pretty big, serious long-term one.
There was a lot of criticism in how he was managed at the time. He was like 12 years old and played something crazy, like basically all games for Barca, Spain, I think he even played either an u21 or Olympics on top as well? Im going off memory but it was something silly like he’d played 70 games in a season or something
Folks thought such a workload for such a young player invited injury, although of course you can wrap a player in cotton wool and they can still suffer that fate
Good to see him doing his thing though, seen tons of players in my time with the world at their feet who get an injury and never quite get back there!
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After the stadium tour, I have to say Arsenal is my second favourite team in the PL. Still will need a miracle to get tickets (or sell my kidney)
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts
On September 19 2025 18:33 haitike wrote:
If people watched Barcelona more they would realise that our best player is not Yamal. Out best player is Pedri, most of our gameplay revolves around him and I've not seen a midfield like him in a long time.
Yeah i have always been a fan of Pedri, but the stats from Raphina as well, insanity! He was good in the premier league foot Leeds, but i never expected him to this good at Barca (Really wanted him at Chelsea but Deco hijackted it!)
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Utd going to beat Chelsea maybe?
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chelsea down to 10 men from 5 mins and best attacking players all off the pitch in 20. if we dont get a clean sheet today fire everybody
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Dont wanna curse it so early but looking good!
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WTF is that red for casemiro?? not a second yellow in a million years
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Should have been quiet... hope we still win
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EPT
