if River's cantera players manage to stay with River for a few years, they will be as good, if not better
Point is, Barca's youth academy is one of the best in the world. The fact that they are a massive team with great reputation further helps as they won't be losing their players.
Today's Barca youth system is amazing, but Ajax were producing as many great players in the 90s, or River are (and have done so since long).

 

Well

How Rubin Kazan played such a anti football tactic!

 

Well their football identity is easy to know by now, and how influential Rinus Michel and Cruyff have been (and dutch footie philosphy in general has influenced spanish footie). They been pretty strict about that approach for last 20+ years (and coaching staff is of generally former players/youth products who been brought up on it), and it has paid off.

 

River develops great individual players, but Barcelona is producing great individuals who fit into a great system of play like hand to glove.

 

how can we say then that River players wouldn't fit like a hand to glove in their team's philosophy?
Like Barcelona, River Plate has a history of sporting a specific style of play. Full-pledged offense with frequent passing and dribbling, kind of like tiki-taka but I would say even more entertaining as you see more dribblings and skills as well. The latest of these was the one assembled during the turn of the century.
The style of Saviola or Aimar or Ortega is distinct to the one of the River type. When they play together, they show telepathic understanding, despite probably only playing only 50 or so games together.
Unfortunately through the evolution of club football, we will never see Aimar or D'Ale or Conca, supported by Lucho and Mascherano, constantly feed the front-line of Cavenaghi, Savi or Higuain while sporting an entertaining brand of football.
Barcelona is a great institution, but what they have done is precedented.

 

Dunno but amazing stuff really..

 

They have great individuals who work extremely well together as a team. Barca's depth and team cohesion is remarkable. :thumbsup:

 

its ridiculous because its exactly what i was thinking when i saw the score and then stats. jeffren and someone scored, and i thought if i dont believe benzema can win us a game, what chance do our youth have.

and here they are, a team made up majority of B team winning a champions league match.

unbelievable and good on them really.

 

There's been some discussion on this forum and in the press about the current first teamers are this "golden generation". While that could play out to some extent, I don't see it that way for two reasons.

First of all, the current first team has IMO multiple generations. I know that one wouldn't normally consider people that close in age of different generations, but I think this is the case with Barça right now. IMO Puyol and Xavi are from one generation. Valdes (and Pepe Reina) are from another generation. Messi and Pique (and Cesc) are from another generation. So for me you've got different generations within the current team.

The second reason I think that this is just some golden generation is because it looks as though there are a lot of players in the system currently at various levels. The B team has a bunch of candidates for first team spots. A lot of those players are generally known though. However go down to the next team, Juvenil A, and you've got two near certainties for a first team place along with probably five other guys who look/sound good enough for the future. And Juvenil A isn't the only other team that's like that in the youth ranks.

Right now it looks as though Barça still has a CM machine that is producing quality CMs. However that's not it. You've got a lot of good looking CBs coming up along with some good wide players as well. On top of that there's the African players that came from Eto'o's academy. So don't be surprised to see more quality youngsters in the future.



I guess you'll never know since your youth never really get much of a chance. I mean guys like Mata, Borja Valero and Negredo were all let go without really being given a chance. IMO they're not at the level of a lot of the Barça homegrown players in the first team right now, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have been important squad players. Madrid's number one priority, well their number one long term priority, should be their youth ranks.

:howler:
Indeed. Due to humanitarian reasons, Barca splashed millions to treat the growth deficiency syndrome of a random unknown kid.

Well he clearly wasn't a very known quantity outside of Argentina from what I understand. It doesn't matter either way since clubs like River, and make no mistake about it that they could have done the same had they so chosen, decided to pass on the kid.

 

mmm not sure about this River angle coming into play on this thread.

Doesn't really ring true or sit comfortably.

 

arsene wenger must be salivating if he saw Barca's game tonight. i mean i knew the kids were good and it helped them playing segunda this year instead of 3rd division but the display and possession was phenomenal.

Its almost like it doesnt matter who comes on because whoever plays will have good ball control, good passing, good technique and understands what is required of him. I dont think i saw a defender hoof a random ball forward even once! Fontas was the best from the back and i was impressed with the rest of them who i have been watching this season when i stream segunda games.. but to do it in the CL against rubin has really impressed me.

 

Yeah, quite random I think..

 

I don't understand why somebody has to show in River Plate into this thread. Why don't we discuss Sporting or Ajax then? Or why don't we discuss Sevilla? Hint: the thread is not dedicated to them.

As for the Barca youth, I think they found a way to produce players with a very specific set of skills, that will be good at all levels. It is an intelligent football based on technique. I saw Barca youth playing for Spanish youth sides, and at all levels, there are multiple Barca youth players who are leaders of the Spanish youth sides. My point is, they can and do perform outside of Barca set up, tactics and philosophy.

The influence of Dutch masters has been great, but it is not a direct copy, it is an adapted version with a lot of novelties and may I say, upgrades. It's ridiculous right now. The current Barca B is good enough to play in Spanish Primera, IMO, which is not going to happen, but it tells you how high is the level of these players. Today, they not only showed that they are good enough for Primera, but they will not be out of place in Champions League either. Fantastic stuff.

 

The side had many B team players in it but i dont get the point about Barca B being able to play in La Liga.

It had 3 guys who started the season as a B team player but all of them are expected to make the jump in near future. Or in Thiagos and Fontas´s case, have already made the jump. Then you had Bartra, Vazques coming in quite early. But in the end it still had players like Pique,Mascherano,Busquets roaming around and holding things together with a certain God entering the stage later in the second half.

All about balance. Todays result that is.

 

I say Barca B is ready to play in Primera based on its results in Segunda, not because of today's CL match against Rubin.

Of course that Champions League part might be exaggerating a bit, but really, at this rate, Barca B could have earned a promotion to Primera (if it weren't for the rules).

 

Passes: Barcelona 991 (87% completed) - Rubin Kazan 297 (56% completed) #cl #fcblive

Barcelona managed over 79% possession for the 3rd time this CL season. No other side has managed more than 73% #fcblive #cl [via @OptaJose]

The short answer to that question is that youngsters learn early on to incorporate the technical aspect into physical and tactical training, for example most if not all physical excercises are made with the ball playing a part. Then you have the triangle positioning and simple but effective pass and move philosophy. Also all the teams in the youth cathegories play either 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 (alternately 2-3-2-3 or the W-W formation, which is what Barcelona looks like at times when in possession/attacking). All learn not only basics, emphasis is put on passing and dribbling/shielding possession (defenders included) and most of them feel tactically and technically comfortable when going out there, which means less pressure on the mental preparations part. La Masia is also an academy that prepares them for academic studies should they not make it into professional football. They also learn to appreciate the history and values of the club, and that the club and the team is above any individual and so forth. Short answer that is.

DEpor, Thiago and Fontas aren't promoted yet. This was Fontas' CL debute. Even the more 'seasoned' among the youngsters are in ages where most footballers still play in B-teams. Despite nindra's efforts, I hope this thread doesn't derail into yet another Europe vs South America mudslinging contest. Great posts, Zico 10.

[tub]aWjuaCtRC1s[/tub]

 

DEpor, Thiago and Fontas aren't promoted yet. This was Fontas' CL debute. Even the more 'seasoned' among the youngsters are in ages where most footballers still play in B-teams. Despite nindra's efforts, I hope this thread doesn't derail into yet another Europe vs South America mudslinging contest. Great posts, Zico 10.

It was 2? months ago when the reports came out about Thiago,Fontas being officially promoted in January. Thiago has been training mostly with the main team this season, last time he played for the B-team was 2 months ago. And he has been getting a good amount of minutes. Fontas aswell, though mainly playing for the B-team, it was quite certain he´ll be making the step. Technically those 2 might be still the B team players but im quite certain for Guardiola they are already in the main team. Thiago has already 8 appearances for the main team this season. Its just i regard them both as part of the main squad.

And i dont know about the seasoned part. Fontas is 21, Vazquez 23, JdS 20, Thiago 19. Not exactly green either. But the age thing doesnt matter imo. Theyll get their chance when they are ready and this is individual for everyone. Might make it when 16 a´la Bojan and might make it when 21 a´la Pedro.

Look closely at that squad and see that calling it a B team is not valid. More like a selection of backbone made out of starters, bigger part of the team made out by the squad players and 1-2 guys from the B team. All about balance and in this case a very nicely balanced team indeed.

 

Xxavi and Culed, I apologize for derailing the topic.

 

lol no need for it mate, I'm sure you didn't mean to derail it anyway - its just funny how this forum works that way. River :thumbsup: After all, they turned down Messi and sent him our way p

 

lol no need for it mate, I'm sure you didn't mean to derail it anyway - its just funny how this forum works that way. River :thumbsup: After all, they turned down Messi and sent him our way p

:thmbdown:

I don't know if you know, but Barcelona were the front-runners in their bid to sign the 12 year old Erik Lamela in 2004, many source citing that Barca were looking for a new Messi when Messi himself wasn't prominent! Fortunately he rejected all European offers back then.

 

Put simply, there is no other club in the world that has the perfect conditions that Barca have to work with and on.

- The weather
- The location
- The laws which allow them to kidnap kids from SA.
- The laws which allow them to pick up kids from the other side of the country and then call them Catalans.
- The organisation structure, again the laws of the country has helped to make the club fan owned.
- A political agenda which has resulted in them having a huge, loyal fan base. Real Madrid have loads of fans, but the Anti Real Madrid/Franco movement have more.
- A well implemented football system which is churning out players all mini robots of each other.

Couldn't get any better for Barca.

 

- The laws which allow them to kidnap kids from SA.
- The laws which allow them to pick up kids from the other side of the country and then call them Catalans.

The same laws which allow English teams to take our kids?



Kidnap kids in SA? Barcelona was the best thing that could happen to Messi. Nobody in Argentina wanted/could pay his treatment. And when Barcelona did that, Messi wasn´t a world class player, but just an unknown kid. Don´t forget this.

 

^ Your posts are so filled with hatred that sometimes I feel you are just pretending.

 

Amber, neg rep :nono:

 

Love the haiku. This time on the realz. :howler:

 

One would think Amber would be happier these days that Benitez is at Inter, albeit not for long.

 

I made some important, valid points. But yeah, just ignore them everyone and focus on something irrelevant :rollani:.

There is no other club where the stars have aligned so perfectly. They've got the perfect environment to work with, and that's why they are where they are. At the top of the world.

 

I made some important, valid points.

:googly: :howler:

 

I guess you'll never know since your youth never really get much of a chance. I mean guys like Mata, Borja Valero and Negredo were all let go without really being given a chance. IMO they're not at the level of a lot of the Barça homegrown players in the first team right now, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have been important squad players. Madrid's number one priority, well their number one long term priority, should be their youth ranks.

no they are very good. not at the level of xavi, iniesta, messi for example, but are more than a match to the likes of pedro, busquets, jeffren etc in terms of talent.

its all about the system, like this thread implies. guys coming in and just fitting in so perfectly.

 

Yeah, they're good. I wouldn't say more than a match to the likes of Pedro and Busquets though. A match in Mata though.

Yeah, that definitely is a huge factor and it plays a part. Still the fact remains that the three guys I mentioned were never given a real chance.

 

Mata oozes class. If i was at real madrid i'd be hurting myself over letting him go

 

Mata , Negredo and Soldado are all good players. I'm glad they have let them go , I really doubt they would get many opportunities in the current Madrid setup.

 

Systematic use of performance enhancing drugs and general acceptance of it in the Cuntalunya area also helps...:rollani:

Don´t even try to deny it.

 

I think the key to their system's success is more in belief in it—complete, unwavering belief even when the results aren't coming—than the actual style of football being inherently superior. (It might be superior, but I maintain that belief and courage is more important.)

No other club in Europe has an identity and philosophy as firmly rooted as Barcelona. Not even Man Utd, which one would be forgiven for thinking what with Ferguson's long leadership, but they're more notorious for warping and mutating into something new to usher in new eras. They've done that fantastically, but as far as philosophies goes it's completely opposite of what happens in Barcelona.

 

signing players of Thiago's caliber and talent these days at his age would cost a club more than 25 million. La Masia in that sense is a money making machine as well.... defenders like Fontas would also cost a lot of money.