La Liga: Real Sociedad vs Barcelona

I can see why Alex was/is so upset, I am too.

I dont think friendlies should be scrapped per say, because NT's already play generally dull football because the players dont get enough time to play together.

However, playing 30 year old Xavi in a friendly is simply retarded.

I would have it so the players go into training camps when called up for NT duty but no matches are to be played. They go away for the same amount of time, but they will be stupid travel to far away lands for most players and they wont get fatigued in matches. Have those training camps, obviously not for fitness purporses, but for coaches to have plenty of time to work on trying to make a cohesive team.

So, no friendly matches, just training camps.

I submit, coaches ideally want to test new players in matches and brining them straight into major tournaments is quite risky. So, perhaps not all friendly matches should be scrapped, but they should either be drastically reduced or no player over a set number of caps (say 30?) can be used.

There could be cirmumstances such as Brazil wanting to bring back Ronaldinho who obviously has 30 caps already, so also I would add that the cap rule is excluded if the player hasnt played a game for the NT for 2 seasons or more.

I think that covers everything, players wont get fatigued by pointless games and coaches complain anymore then they arelady are about not getting enough time with the players.

I don't think this result had that had much to do with the international fixtures. Especially not enough to suggest scrapping these mid-season internationals. Or our key players not partaking in them. (I'm sure the thousands of Indian fans that were able to see Messi in action will agree. Or the Spanish and Argentinian fans who will feel their teams need as much practice as they can get.)

True, these games played a part in it (as the stats will show), but to say it was everything (or even the bulk of the reason) is letting several poor performances and bad decisions of the hook too easily.

There's huge amount of complacency and over-confidence involved in blowing a two-goal lead.

I have to agree with BarrileteCosmico and say that the result will be a good humbling and a welcome wake-up for some of the players.

matpol wrote:We should bring Botia back, he is definitely better than Fontas. Fontas is terrible and in pair with Busquets they make the worst possible CB pairing. I don't want to see Fontas on the pitch for long time. Maybe in 1/16 of Copa del Rey he should come back, now he can warm the seat in the stadium, cause he shouldn't even be on the bench.

BTW, what's the worst? Fontas in the line-up, Busquets as CB or Keita as DMF? I know it's tough to choose but try. IMO 1. Fontas, 2. Busquets, 3. Keita but they are all terrible, Pep must stop with this Keita love and not play him so often ffs.

I don't have much faith in Fontas either, but considering his age and relative inexperience, I believe he can improve - which can't be said for Keita.

Keita's natural athleticism makes him well suited to the continuous-pressure game. However, his lacking in his vision, passing range, positioning, and composure under pressure, make him ill-suited to the pivot role ....

Let's just say, if I never see him as the pivot again it would be too soon.

alexjanosik wrote:I know you are an Argentine man.And that you care deeply about the Argentine NT.
But with all due respect I dont give a damn about NT football.
I just hate it when we lose points always after a stupid international break.
I mean friendlies.What the hell.
And its this bad with us because almost all our players are world class and all of them get called up to remote parts of the world.

I realize that this is an exaggerated response. But my overall point is that from the perspective of the footballer, there is no higher prize. So it's in their best interest to continue playing in the NT with some regularity, friendlies or not.

I do agree that most friendlies are useless though and only make FIFA money - reason for which they will not go anywhere. For example, I don't think that Sabella had enough time to really have any effect on the team or watch a good performance by them in this recent round of friendlies. Might have been better to just play no friendlies at all and try to institute his own playing style on his players, at least initially.

friendlies are a necessity for NTs,like alfred said in Sabella's case,its easy for teams like Spain who are based on Barca and Germany/Netherlands who have been playing for a long time,but teams like France,Brazil and Argentina need all the playing time they can get together before a competition,and its impossible without interfering in club schedules.

Aristotle Onassis wrote:There's huge amount of complacency and over-confidence involved in blowing a two-goal lead.

I have to agree with BarrileteCosmico and say that the result will be a good humbling and a welcome wake-up for some of the players.

It's our Hercules moment of the season. It happens. So long as the team reacts well it's an overall positive thing. I almost wish we lost

Aristotle Onassis wrote:I don't think this result had that had much to do with the international fixtures. Especially not enough to suggest scrapping these mid-season internationals. Or our key players not partaking in them. (I'm sure the thousands of Indian fans that were able to see Messi in action will agree. Or the Spanish and Argentinian fans who will feel their teams need as much practice as they can get.)

True, these games played a part in it (as the stats will show), but to say it was everything (or even the bulk of the reason) is letting several poor performances and bad decisions of the hook too easily.

There's huge amount of complacency and over-confidence involved in blowing a two-goal lead.

I have to agree with BarrileteCosmico and say that the result will be a good humbling and a welcome wake-up for some of the players.

matpol wrote:We should bring Botia back, he is definitely better than Fontas. Fontas is terrible and in pair with Busquets they make the worst possible CB pairing. I don't want to see Fontas on the pitch for long time. Maybe in 1/16 of Copa del Rey he should come back, now he can warm the seat in the stadium, cause he shouldn't even be on the bench.

BTW, what's the worst? Fontas in the line-up, Busquets as CB or Keita as DMF? I know it's tough to choose but try. IMO 1. Fontas, 2. Busquets, 3. Keita but they are all terrible, Pep must stop with this Keita love and not play him so often ffs.

I don't have much faith in Fontas either, but considering his age and relative inexperience, I believe he can improve - which can't be said for Keita.

Keita's natural athleticism makes him well suited to the continuous-pressure game. However, his lacking in his vision, passing range, positioning, and composure under pressure, make him ill-suited to the pivot role ....

Let's just say, if I never see him as the pivot again it would be too soon.

I agree and disagree in equal measure.

Yes, the reason that we lost was because the team took their foot off the gas and didnt seal it. However, I dont agree it will be a lesson learnt because this same thing happened on more then one occassion last season. I dont see why they will learn now.

And yes, this result isnt the reason for all the comments about the NT. However, we are not talking about this result, we are talking 3 seasons worth of evidence here.

I dont agree what friendlies are needed at all.

How is a friendly any better then what I suggested, a training camp where you can work on style, system, moving your players around?

On the day of the game, the players probably do zero training and they just play the game. The day before and after, they need some kind of rest, so training will be next to nothing too. 3 days and little has been learnt other then how to play against this specific opponant for this one friendly game.

Time is much better served scraping the friendly and the 3 days be intense (but not physically tiring) work on shape, movement, positioning and systems.

I dont think there should be zero friendlies, but the amount now, plus travel isnt doing no favours.

Training camps don't make millions.

So its about money and not the team getting better, so the excuse/reason Ganso used is frankly a crock.

A training camp sounds fairly pointless. The best way to improve team chemistry is in a game situation.

Your cant do a game situation during training? Really?

Are you telling me your going to learn more and improve playing San Mariano then the "B" team you called up.

Also, what about the other point I mentioned'

When you play a game, your not going to work on much the day before or after and on the day of the game nothing at all. So how is that better then an intense camp?

I also didnt say get rid of friendlies totally, just most of them.

I think Dani's idea is fantastic actually. Though I don't think friendlies should be eradicated... there could be less of them and more training camps.

I think any sensible person can agree with Dani's point of view. More time spent on tactics and getting the idea across to the players is a marvelous idea, right now I am of the opinion that coaches don't have enough time to communicate their style but in broken pieces. Friendlies can still be used to test the team, but the focus would go away from them. However, due to commercial interests it will never happen. Not a battle that can be won.

This is the 2nd time I've been to a Sociedad match vs Barca and each of them has been a great result

Last year the 2-1 result against Barca at the Anoeda.

And then this.

Maybe I am good luck or maybe someone up there likes me.

Point is, I am not surprised as this is only the beginning for Basque triumph and rise as Basque teams in the future will reign among the best. Mark.my.words.

And finally this forum gets it as I've been saying Agirrexte, Greizmann and of course, the immortal Xabi Prieto are among the most underrated players in the Liga as the latter is the most.

The anoeta was on absolute fire.

Gora Sociedad! Gora Euskadi!

My post from the Sociedad appreciation thread.

I do understand you guys were under strength but you must appreciate the strength of these basque teams.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
It's our Hercules moment of the season. It happens. So long as the team reacts well it's an overall positive thing. I almost wish we lost

alfred, my mind also went back to Hercules.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I think any sensible person can agree with Dani's point of view. More time spent on tactics and getting the idea across to the players is a marvelous idea, right now I am of the opinion that coaches don't have enough time to communicate their style but in broken pieces. Friendlies can still be used to test the team, but the focus would go away from them. However, due to commercial interests it will never happen. Not a battle that can be won.

Yes that is unfortunately perhaps the best way to sum it all up.