So here goes the mega signing of the summer! Henry in a barca jersey..hmmm...i wanna be excited but something feels wrong. Things just do not add up, i mean he is a great player, but you gota understand, our offense is what has kept us in the high rankings not our defense. So i would've wished they focused more on the defense rather than the offense. Just look at our offense: dinho, eto'o, the new inspiration messi and i would like to include Deco also. So where in the world would you put henry at? There's way enough offense in barca, (if you need proof, look at how many goals they have scored). I just hope they do not turn out to be a star studded team more than they already are and become the real madrid of couple years ago who were under-achievers; not to mention, you will not see messi dinho eto'o and henry on the pitch at the same time, it just won't happen....not when u have a defense that is weak and needs work.With that said, i am actually happy we signed toure and now abidal who willl most likely replace Gio as a FB.

Lets talk about the latest guys...lets hear wut u gota say.. and keep the topic goin....

Barca for life!!!

if you think that henry is not much of an addition to the team, how about eric abidal? it is said that after the completion of his medical exam, he will be joining the team....

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abidal was a waste. u guys have zambrotta already. and with henry's addition, i can gurantee eto' or ronaldinho will be leaving...

if henry and abidal are not that helpful for the team, why is barca getting them? i dont understand the concept of that...the management must have a game plan or a strategy using their particular talents....

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The question is who will benefit more, Henry of Barca? I sincerely think the answer is Henry (and this is not because i'm a gooner). But yes, there should have been more focus on the defence, thuram and zambrotta are old, but they have got toure junior and abidal so that should suffice

Yea, i can see why they brought in abidal, (funny, he has been begging them for the past few months now).....with the departure of Gio, we need somebody to fill up that FB position, and i believe that will be his duty...most likely...

There is a rumor that belleti might leave Barca once he gets better. He's a strong defender..i wish he stays with the team..

Deco should not leave barca, he's actually the core of the team i would say, after Ronaldinho. If he leaves, it will be hard to replace him...jus like when Ballack left Bayern.

henry is that bad huh?

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Something is wrong with you guys obviously!  How can you look at a team that conceeded the least goals in la liga along with Getafe, and scored so many goals as a bad thing?  Abidal is a waste, i mean, c'mon this can't be a serious comment, can it?  Our defense shapes to be like this at the start at the season:  Abidal, Thuram,Marquez/Chivu, Zambrotta! Are you guys crazy?  Milan won a CL and Italy won a world cup with older defenders.  

The problem has to be jealousy!  You have a chance to build on a champions league winning team to create this: 

                                                                                   Henry - Eto'o

                                                                 Deco    -     Ronaldinho      -    Messi

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JOGO BONITA!

check out the newsroom...they are now after lampard. ronaldinho or deco must be on their way out.

Something is wrong with you guys obviously!  How can you look at a team that conceeded the least goals in la liga along with Getafe, and scored so many goals as a bad thing?  Abidal is a waste, i mean, c'mon this can't be a serious comment, can it?  Our defense shapes to be like this at the start at the season:  Abidal, Thuram,Marquez/Chivu, Zambrotta! Are you guys crazy?  Milan won a CL and Italy won a world cup with older defenders.  

The problem has to be jealousy!  You have a chance to build on a champions league winning team to create this: 

                                                                                         Henry - Eto'o

                                                                 Deco         -     Ronaldinho      -    Messi

                                                                                              Yaya

                                                            Abidal   - Thuram      - Marquez    -  Zambrotta

Bench:  Edmilson, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Sylvinho, ?Chivu?, Dos santos, Belletti etc.

You guys cannot be serious!  These are some of the best players in world football....Rijkaard will rotate Eto'o/ Henry, so one striker will be utilised.   Why would Ronnie and Eto  leave, when Henry came precisely to play alongside them...This is one of the best teams you can put together.  Eto'o and henry are arguably in the top 5 strikers in the world, Deco, Ronnie and MEssi the best supporting cast in the world and the defense, well i think you guys are over-reacting.  Marquez had a bad year.  Puyol & edmilson is likely to miss the start of the season through injury, that's why he isn't starting.

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JOGO BONITA!

abidal is now officially part of the team after he signed the 4 years contract for barca...and now we are eyeing roma's defender, chivu as the next signing....

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hmmm...i believe we have won the CL already without henry AND have won the league without henry by scoring all those goals you mentioned. So now what we needed to do is to look back at this past season and figure out what was the cause of the downfall. Off COURSEE! we have scored all those goals like you pointed out, so why didn't we win the league then? when we had the chance to? doesn't that tell you our defense let up in the last few games which caused us the league??.....THAT my friend, says that we need to work on our defense, not our offense. Having conceded few goals, does not mean our defense is exellent...if that was the case, we would be champions right now, not Real. I will go ahead and say that we do not need henry when we have ronaldinho, messi and eto'o..period

Something is wrong with you guys obviously!  How can you look at a team that conceeded the least goals in la liga along with Getafe, and scored so many goals as a bad thing?  Abidal is a waste, i mean, c'mon this can't be a serious comment, can it?  Our defense shapes to be like this at the start at the season:  Abidal, Thuram,Marquez/Chivu, Zambrotta! Are you guys crazy?  Milan won a CL and Italy won a world cup with older defenders.  

The problem has to be jealousy!  You have a chance to build on a champions league winning team to create this: 

                                                                                         Henry - Eto'o

                                                                 Deco         -     Ronaldinho      -    Messi

                                                                                              Yaya

                                                            Abidal   - Thuram      - Marquez    -  Zambrotta

REPLY:

hmmm...i believe we have won the CL already without henry AND have won the league without henry by scoring all those goals you mentioned. So now what we needed to do is to look back at this past season and figure out what was the cause of the downfall. Off COURSEE! we have scored all those goals like you pointed out, so why didn't we win the league then? when we had the chance to? doesn't that tell you our defense let up in the last few games which caused us the league??.....THAT my friend, says that we need to work on our defense, not our offense. Having conceded few goals, does not mean our defense is exellent...if that was the case, we would be champions right now, not Real. I will go ahead and say that we do not need henry when we have ronaldinho, messi and eto'o..period

Given how long Eto'o was out last season I think there is room for Henry but I hopeit will be more of a rotational system using the 4-3-3 Rikaard has usually favoured. Also I'd be really surprised if Puyol wasn't first choice once he comes back from injury, he's and one of the best centre backs around. I really hope we do sign Chivu as those two together would be awesome, plus it would allow more freedom for Marquez to rotate the holding midfielder with Toure. Latest talk is Frank Lampard too, but honestly I don't see a place for him in a midfield that could Deco, Iniesta, and Xavi, especially if Giovanni Dos Santos gets more first team chances or if Messi plays further back to make room for Henry.

This is a two in one reply, so i'll reply to the henry issue first.  What is being argued is slightly ignorant i believe,  Ac Milan won the Champions LEague and are looking to buy players like Eto'o, Ronaldinho, midfielders etc.  Manchester United won the EPL and bought 4 players and perhaps more, Chelsea came 2nd and bought a few too, Inter Milan won Serie A and bought a striker and still looking at Chivu etc to improve.  The point is, whether you win or not, you look to improve. 

Henry is an improvement whether you or i like it, he is better than Ezquerro who is leaving, he is better than Gudjohnsen etc.  aka more goals, which should mean more wins if you follow the basic concept of goals wins games.  A couple of you are talking like Barcelona went out and bought 4 strikers and no defenders.  Fc Barcelona bought ONE striker, and Abidal, Toure and are looking to add more defense in Milito, Andrade or Chivu.  What do you think is the problem now?  Abidal is World Class, Toure is World Class and Chivu, Andrade or Milito are all World Class defensive players.  Surely, Barcelona didn't up and get rid of Motta, Giuly, Ezquerro, Gio etc. because they are helping the team and we want to lose.

It is already said in Henry's contract that he will not be GIVEN a starting role, he must accept the rotation system.  Eto'o will be out for a month too, so we NEED a quality player that can score 30 goals to make it look like Eto'o never left aka Henry.  It is almost guaranteed that Rijkaard uses the 4-3-3 the majority of the season.   Note well, this is a dead issue, Barcelona doesn't think that Lampard is better than Deco, so Lampard cannot find space to play, since that is his only position.  I agree!  Goal.com published a ridiculous comment about how and why Barca NEED Lampard, but i think this is obviously biased to help him out of Chelsea, cause Ronaldinho and Messi can score 20 goals.  We do not need Lampard's goals with this team.

Puyol will start when he returns, he's captain!  So Visca El Barca, i'm quite confident you're right and Marquez and Yaya will rotate, with the other defensive players in the back rotating among themselves.  Messi and Ronaldinho will start most games.  And there's almost 60 games to play, so Eto and Henry will get around 50  with starts and subs and injuries to consider.

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JOGO BONITA!