Alex Song

Kick wrote:Silliest transfer this summer IMO.

not really need. The only one who benefits is Song.

DO you guys think you will buy a CB?

No. Simple because we are stinge with our money because of our previous encounters in transfer markets. Wish we did though I feel we will be saving our money on Neyamr for next season or the season after. Song will probably be our centreback tbh.

Kick wrote:Silliest transfer this summer IMO.

not really need. The only one who benefits is Song.

DO you guys think you will buy a CB?

Not anymore, no. This bad boy is going to fill that gap:



The more I think about it, the less it makes sence for Tito to actually use Song in CB. Maybe in special occasions, but I really think he´s the versatile player Tito wanted for when we have some bad injuries or when things just aren´t going our way in a match. He really is going to be the new Keita. Not happy with the purchase though; just too much dough. But let's give him a chance while we're at it.

Bartra's performances convinced Tito and Co. that there was no need to buy a CB. In an event of injury it is Bartra who will be called upon, not Song or Busquets. Our current CB position is actually similar to Madrids.

Pepe, Ramos, Albiol, Varane

Pique, Puyol, Machete, Bartra.

Like I said in another thread Bartra looks awesome, its probably wiser to give him this year to sure his worth and only buy someone if he flops. I don't think he will though, just watch him have a Pique esque breakout year.

Who do you guys rank as our best defending prospect between Barta, Fontas and Muniesta. Rank them in order

windkick wrote:Who do you guys rank as our best defending prospect between Barta, Fontas and Muniesta. Rank them in order

Current level:
1. Fontas 2. Bartra 3. Muniesa

Potential (based on ability):
1. Muniesa 2. Bartra 3. Fontas

Future:
1. Bartra 2. Muniesa (because of his injuries... I'm not sure he'll fulfill his potential) 3. Fontas

Kick wrote:Silliest transfer this summer IMO.

not really need. The only one who benefits is Song.

DO you guys think you will buy a CB?

I wish you come back end of the season to check your silliest comment.....

welcome song!
I think he's a good player, and an upgrade to DMC backup.
I'm not sure about him playing cb, would have gone with someone else, but if he adapts, he can be good enough. He has talent and the physical tools.

Jonathan28 wrote:Bartra's performances convinced Tito and Co. that there was no need to buy a CB. In an event of injury it is Bartra who will be called upon, not Song or Busquets. Our current CB position is actually similar to Madrids.

Pepe, Ramos, Albiol, Varane

Pique, Puyol, Machete, Bartra.

Like I said in another thread Bartra looks awesome, its probably wiser to give him this year to sure his worth and only buy someone if he flops. I don't think he will though, just watch him have a Pique esque breakout year.

Pique's performances last year were crap.Puyol keeps getting injured and only has 1 or 2 years maximum.Masch isnt a centre-back.Bartra is still young and has made less than 10 appearances for the first team.Too inexperienced.Looks extremely promising though.Madrid are good in centre-backs for the next 5-6 years while we still need a centre-back.

thoughts on this article guys?

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2012/08/20/3317380/barcelona-beware-why-alex-song-is-one-of-the-most-overrated

billy_gr wrote:thoughts on this article guys?

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2012/08/20/3317380/barcelona-beware-why-alex-song-is-one-of-the-most-overrated

Arsenals leaky defense is not his fault but the result of wengers unbalanced, overly offensive tactics, and a serious lack of depth in defence. Playing wingers (especially Walcott) who don't track back, and defenders like jenkinson, Gibbs, Meatstacker, Squillacci, Djourou, miquel and Andre Santos in front of an inconsistent albeit improving young gk isnt exactly a recipe for clean sheets.

The reality is song was Arsenals second best player behind RVP last year and is a young versatile DM with the ability to pick the killer pass who will at worst provide a great upgrade for the outgoing Keita.

I find this to be the best comments about the article. Somehow people imagine Song to be our midfield orchestrator, providing messi-like through balls and frequently bursting foward to try and create goal scoring chances for the likes of messi and villa.

The article also claims his passing is rubbish and he is slow, but compared to keita he is like messi.

I think Song will have very different responsibilities whilst at barca.


The guy is 24. He can still learn There are few at that age with Song's experience.

He may go on to flop at Barca but will be more than good enough to fit into most top-sides' midfield

Garganese is clueless

However I have to agree with him on some points he made.

Lol @ that article. The writer obviously had a drink of some haterade. It's typical football nonesense.

When the player is at your club it's, "He's the best 'insert position here' in the league/world"

When same player is leaving your club it becomes, "He's overrated, overhyped, we got a good deal for him, he's easily replaced"

Football fans are full of so much BS its unreal

Also, do people still take Carlo seriously? Him being an out if closet EPL hater and world class prat and all.

Most points that he made were true.Netherlands had the same defence in the Euros as the WC except Van brockhorst but where exposed due to the poor performances of both Van Bommel and De Jong.

billy_gr wrote:thoughts on this article guys?

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2012/08/20/3317380/barcelona-beware-why-alex-song-is-one-of-the-most-overrated

I know Goal.com is hated at these forums. I also know that I should say good things about a player who has just joined. However the brutal truth is that I largely agree with this article and consider this the worst and least exciting incoming transfer that has happened with Barcelona since the summer of 2008. Chygsy may have been even worse but he at least made me curious. This transfer only produces feelings of sheer disgust in me right from not buying a central defender to spending a good amount of money to not even buying a somewhat untested player whose potential at least could attract and make us curious. Anyway I am just venting my feelings about this for now. After this he will be a member of our squad and one has to try to be as fair to him as to any other of our squad members.

Jonathan28 wrote:Bartra's performances convinced Tito and Co. that there was no need to buy a CB. In an event of injury it is Bartra who will be called upon, not Song or Busquets.

If this is true then that's great. Could I please see defenders play defenders instead of midfielders playing defenders? Isn't there a small chance Godric Abigod will be back sometime? If that happens and he is anywhere near his best there won't be much to worry.

ok ok timeout guys!! seriously we have no idea what the plan is for song and where he's going to play! we've no idea what Tito is planning regarding the defence and who is going to play there!
what we do know is that he, unlike us, is a certified coach so im going to say that theres a fairly high chance that he's come up with some plan to try rectify the mistakes of last season, and there were more than just defensive frailties there!

song has been chosen for some reason or other and until he is proved to be unable or unfit to play for barcelona than im going to give him the support that il give any of our players!

theres no point in hating on a player simply cos he happened to be bought instead of someone else, the club and management are dealing with this in the real world whereas we at best have only FIFA 12 management experience at best!

yes we couldve made more of an effort to sign someone like agger, silva, etc but for all we know there may well have been efforts that havent worked out! rosell plays his cards very close to his chest, remember!

the management has some plan regarding song, let them be given a chance to prove themselves right before getting mad! he deserves a chance at the very least!
and maybe, just maybe, he may win us over! it wasnt too long ago that Abidal was labelled as a very weak link in the barca defence with people calling for a new LB to be signed only for him to go on and become a defensive rock!!

patience!!

I've just updated Song's profile and he will be added to the archives. This will be the thread for general Song discussion guys. Feel free to open new ones if they are specific etc. otherwise keep general comments here.

Check out some of these vids.

Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong
DOB: 9 September, 1987
Height: 1.83m
#25
Nationality: Cameroonian
Defensive Midfielder /Central Midfielder / Centre Back

Zubi: “Song was the first on our list of players. He is skilful and tactical, he is good on the ball and very fit. He has experience of top level competition and knows how to cope with high pressure and big demands”.

People have mostly argued against him because he is undisciplined and rushes forward. IMO, this problem will be solved at Barça: we have a very clear handbook and very positional play, and he will find it easy to understand what is required of him playing as DM.

I am more doubtful about him playing CB, because playing CB requires a lot of positional sense, usually acquired with years of playing CB and keeping the offside line, etc, but I think the lack of discipline won't be a problem for Song either, rather the experience.

In any other sense, I trust Song. He is technically sound, strong, hard tackler, and he isn't slow by any means. I think he can play as DM a lot better than Machete could. I don't know much about his aerial ability, but if Tito says he is good in the air, he must be.

So all in all, I would have prefered a pure CB, but Song would have been one of my prefered options if we went for a reconverted midfielder (the other being Capoue).

cat, I don't agree Song can play DM better for us than Mascherano can. Mascherano is the better tackler and man marker. Technically Song may be better but Mascherano has improved in this aspect and could have done more by now if he had been played there. I see Mascherano more as a specialist and Song more as a utility player. Song is supposed to have come to play the Keita role but most of us feel there isn't even a need for such a role. Tactically I can trust Mascherano more and he is also the more unselfish player with better work rate who will contentedly sit behind and do his job for the team without any frills. I know many people here including you were against Mascherano's signing and I among a few others here now find this much worse. Overall the subject is very debatable I think.

Anyway since you think Song can be a better DM than Mascherano but obviously not as good as Busquets, where would you rate him in comparison to our former player Yaya Toure.

Actually we can make this a poll since this is quite an interesting topic. To all my fellow Barca fans, who do you think can be the better DM for us - Mascherano or Song?

free_cat wrote:People have mostly argued against him because he is undisciplined and rushes forward. IMO, this problem will be solved at Barça: we have a very clear handbook and very positional play, and he will find it easy to understand what is required of him playing as DM.

I am more doubtful about him playing CB, because playing CB requires a lot of positional sense, usually acquired with years of playing CB and keeping the offside line, etc, but I think the lack of discipline won't be a problem for Song either, rather the experience.

In any other sense, I trust Song. He is technically sound, strong, hard tackler, and he isn't slow by any means. I think he can play as DM a lot better than Machete could. I don't know much about his aerial ability, but if Tito says he is good in the air, he must be.

So all in all, I would have prefered a pure CB, but Song would have been one of my prefered options if we went for a reconverted midfielder (the other being Capoue).

Very similar thoughts. I also thought about whether we could have gotten Capoue for a bit less... maybe 12m or something. Forget the money now though.

I agree on all of what you say. Barca should teach him tactical discipline and I think he'll do well at DM. He can play at CM if needed and when closing out games on rare occasions.

CB... like you I'm gonna wait and see. Dunno even if he will play there much at all. Looking forward to what Tito does.

kizz, you said CM? We have Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Thiago. Will Song ever see a minute in that role?

Overall I just don't see the need for Song. Based on what you guys are saying all I can say is right now Mascherano is third choice CB. If we had got a proper CB that would make him fourth choice and leave him with more chances of doing the kind of role in midfield that you are saying Song will do. I think doing this instead of what has been done, the pros would outweigh the cons. Let's not forget that the overwhleming con right now is that the fourth choice CB is a huge question mark. To that let's add that some here are not yet convinced with Mascherano as third choice CB. Finally add Puyol's age and expected injury problems and it becomes crystal clear to all except our think tank what kind of soup we have landed ourselves into with a long and hard season just starting.

messixaviesta wrote:kizz, you said CM? We have Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Thiago. Will Song ever see a minute in that role?

No, not really at all. He'll be DM and CB, but I think mainly DM. I just mentioned it because there may be situations where we do want another physical presence in midfield late in games. Wouldn't be surprised if he did that a few times, subbing off Xavi or something while Busi remains on the field. This idea of 'closing down the midfield' only has negative connotations because despite Pep's insistence on making Keita do it, he wasn't really that good at it. Yaya was though and Song could be.

We all wanted a CB but we didn't get one so we have to make do. What you said all makes sense, but we can draw conclusions from this action.
1) Whether we do or not, Tito has faith in Masch as a CB, complete faith.
2) Masch IS a CB, not a DM anymore. Thats why I don't think Masch was considered for the DM role. I know he was once a great DM, but he can't play our role... full stop.
3) I think Tito has some faith in Bartra, which I like.

Machete cant play the dm for us JD. He cant get the ball under pressure and move it forward plus he is too short. Song is better in those two things that are crucial for our dms.

Nice reply kizz. Here are my comments on your points.

1. Good point

2. Masch still plays DM for Argentina. What makes you think Song can play our DM role when Masch can't - just that he is a little better on the ball?

3. Great to know that