en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1368645 Comments by mateo9 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-21-07-2012/#IDComment406840557 If Vertonghen will continue to play like he has done last season and if Barca will lose matches because of lack of length and strength in the centre of defense, especially exposed with freekicks/cornerkicks and other high balls coming in, we will think with regret about a missed opportunity. But hopefully Barca can find another player, Abidal returns or one of the younger players proving to be a good addition to strengthen Barca's defense. Sun, 22 Jul 2012 19:47:49 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-21-07-2012/#IDComment406840557 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-21-07-2012/#IDComment406489242 I still can't believe that they let Tottenham pick up Vertonghen from Ajax Amsterdam for less then 12 million Euro. Vertonghen would have been a great addition to the Barca defense. Sun, 22 Jul 2012 01:54:27 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-21-07-2012/#IDComment406489242 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-18-07-2012/#IDComment404214378 They could have had Jan Vertonghen for around 12 million Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:42:26 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-18-07-2012/#IDComment404214378 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/first-team-training-resumes-next-week/#IDComment401761872 Let's hope so, I understand why they like to sign Martinez, but if I hear how much they need to pay for him and for how much they could get Vertonghen, I wonder if he is that much better. Vertonghen has gone through the Ajax school, is tall, strong and is used to play offensive football. He is pretty good on the ball, is a good header and picks his goals. You can compare him a bit with Pique. Look, my favorite defender is Abidal, aggressive, strong, fast, very good on the ball and great in one to one. But I don't think that at Barca they are fully confident he will return at the same level like he was.Puyol is still a great defender, but he is getting older and has been struggling with his fitness. So my question is not that strange, or are we no longer allowed to ask critical questions. and should we stop thinking for ourselves? Sat, 14 Jul 2012 21:13:41 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/first-team-training-resumes-next-week/#IDComment401761872 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/first-team-training-resumes-next-week/#IDComment401230993 So Thiago Silva and Martinez are not coming. I hear that Martinez was going to be around 30/40 million and now he even doesn't want to come and they could have gotten Vertonghen for around 12 million and now he signed a contract with Tottenham. Are they sleeping at Barca? Vertonghen would have been a great addition to the defense. Barca needs at least another tall, strong guy! Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:55:24 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/first-team-training-resumes-next-week/#IDComment401230993 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/mourinho-offered-amnesty-over-vilanova-incident/#IDComment399455670 Barca players had a good chance to quieten Mourinho in the home match for the Copa when it was 2 - 0 after 45 minutes. But then they lost concentration or started to be arrogant. Whatever it was, they gave Madrid the chance to fight themselves back in that match and at the end they were a bit lucky to escape that night and gave Mourinho a stick to hit with and boost up the morale of his players. If Barca would have just finished them off that match, I am sure the next day Mourinho would have been forced to pack his bags. That would have been the ultimate humiliation to him. Look some kind of verbal abuse is part of a football match, but sometimes it goes a bit too far, even in the case of Mourinho and also Ronaldo. But I already stated that Mourinho also attracts it with his behaviour, but still................... He is also a coach who makes his teams better, and we have to admit that Madrid only got stronger since he became the headcoach. He manages to turn his teams into fighting machines. I also don't like his style, but the sportsrivalry between Madrid and Barcelona makes them both stronger in the end.and is good for the quality of the game. But the atmosphere gets sometimes a bit too overheated and becomes too hostile. I do not enjoy watching that, especially when Barca doesn't win :) Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:23:51 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/mourinho-offered-amnesty-over-vilanova-incident/#IDComment399455670 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/mourinho-offered-amnesty-over-vilanova-incident/#IDComment399342050 Ridiculous that Mourinho can get away with poking his fingers in the eyes of Vilanova along the sidelines. If he would have done it outside, he would have been convicted for a violent assault. Mourinho uses his provocative behaviour to create animosity towards opponents and as a way to create unity between his own players and supporters. He makes them believe that it is them against the rest of the world and uses this idea to motivate his players. But I also must say that I do not agree with the way he is treated by many football fans. the swearing to him and Ronaldo, almost every away match. (Di...... Por..............) is seen as normal while if we talk about racist abuse it immediate becomes an issue of which most normal thinking people agree that it is not acceptable in this day and age. To me to swear Di..................... Port................. for 90 minutes with thousands and thousands of people is also a sort of racism. Plus with all the abuse he has attracted throughout his career, i would imagine it is not that easy to keep your sanity. One of the positive effects of his provocations is that he keeps the Barca players sharp. Players like Xavi and Messi are not intimidated with his big talk,. Also Abidal showed he was mr. Cool and played his best football if the atmosphere got a little heated. I think Barca needs one or two more tall, physically strong players. If Pique or Busquests gets an injury you will really struggle against Madrid, especially if the game is not going your way and you struggle to keep possession and although miracles are not impossible, it is unlikely that Abidal will return at the same level he used to play for Barca. Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:21:21 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/mourinho-offered-amnesty-over-vilanova-incident/#IDComment399342050 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-10-07-2012/#IDComment399142249 Ridiculous that Mourinho can get away with poking his fingers in the eyes of someone along the sidelines. If he would have done it outside, he would have been convicted for a violent assault. Mourinho uses his provocative behaviour to create animosity towards opponents and as a way to create unity between his own players and supporters. He makes them belief that it is them against the rest of the world and uses this idea to motivate his players. But I also must say that I do not agree with the way he is treated by many football fans. the swearing to him and Ronaldo, almost every away match. (Di...... Por..............) is seen as normal while if we talk about racist abuse it immediate becomes an issue of which most normal thinking people agree that it is not acceptable in this day and age. To me to swear Di..................... Port................. for 90 minutes with thousands and thousands of people is also a sort of racism. Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:18:08 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/the-front-sport-10-07-2012/#IDComment399142249 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/keita-announces-his-departure-from-barca/#IDComment397601898 Keita has been a great player for Barca. In most other teams he would have been certain of being one of the starting eleven and one of the important players in the team. At Barca he often started as a substitute, but he was still an important player in the squad, always 100% there when he came on the pitch and he never complained about being left out of the starting eleven, despite his qualities. Hard worker, physically strong, good defending and coming forward, good header. He made some great goals for Barca. Really great guy to have been part of the Barca squad! I can imagine that he thinks it is his time to go now. He has won everything with Barca and he can go everywhere he likes and gets paid much more then he will get at Barca. But hats of to Keita! Sun, 8 Jul 2012 00:20:18 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/keita-announces-his-departure-from-barca/#IDComment397601898 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/andres-iniesta-named-best-player-at-euro-2012/#IDComment394852707 Iniesta and Raul Albiol donated their prize money to charities! Tue, 3 Jul 2012 15:48:08 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/andres-iniesta-named-best-player-at-euro-2012/#IDComment394852707 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/matches/euro-2012-a-triple-for-spain/#IDComment393662963 Good to see that the Barca and Madrid players get along well playing for Spain. Pique and Ramos formed a very good central defense, Alonso and Busquets as holding midfielders and Arbeloa and especially Jordi Alba flying on the wings, good Madrid/Barca cooperation for a change. Mon, 2 Jul 2012 02:06:37 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/matches/euro-2012-a-triple-for-spain/#IDComment393662963 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/photo-of-the-day-balotelli-was-almost-a-cule/#IDComment392986397 Would have been good for his character building if he would have come to Barca at that age. He is playing very good for Italy this championship and also made important goals for Man City this season. Let's hope he can keep his feet on the ground! Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:33:33 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/photo-of-the-day-balotelli-was-almost-a-cule/#IDComment392986397 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/official-jordi-alba-transfers-to-fc-barcelona/#IDComment391504708 ? Thu, 28 Jun 2012 19:34:07 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/official-jordi-alba-transfers-to-fc-barcelona/#IDComment391504708 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/official-jordi-alba-transfers-to-fc-barcelona/#IDComment391317763 Correction: Jordi Alba and Dani Alves, not Jordi Alves and Dani Alba :) Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:25:53 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/official-jordi-alba-transfers-to-fc-barcelona/#IDComment391317763 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/official-jordi-alba-transfers-to-fc-barcelona/#IDComment391316947 Great addition to the squad! Jordi Alves on the left and Dani Alves on the right wing. Will be great with their pace and energy! Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:24:40 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/official-jordi-alba-transfers-to-fc-barcelona/#IDComment391316947 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment391254766 One of the important ideologists connected to the Qatar Foundation is Yusuf al-Qaradawi who is an influential Islamic scholar who is closely connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The QF is an Islamic organization. In itself there is nothing wrong with that, I just don't think that it is appropriate for Barcelona to have this organization as their shirtsponsor, unless they fully support all their work, including the Islamic studies and their underlying ideology, which I doubt. It is good that Barcelona as a club have good relations with peoples and organization throughout the world, including th QF, but I don't think they should have themselves paid a large sum of money to wear the QF Logo on the Barca shirts and trainingswear. Thu, 28 Jun 2012 12:50:45 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment391254766 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/matches/euro-2012-semifinal-roundup/#IDComment390887184 Great penalty shootout. Both the goalkeepers looked very strong and the goal awfully small. You really needed to come up with a good penaltykick otherwise you could forget it. Top class how Pique, Iniesta and Fabregas kept their cool and took fantastic penalties. I think Ronaldo told their goalkeeper in which corner Alons was going to shoot, but a great response by Casillas and the penalty by Ramos was a beauty like Pirlo's. If you take a penalty like that it is a psychological blow to your opponent. I think both these penalties were the turning point, but it still was a quality finish by Fabregas. Especially after the 120 minutes Spain deserved to win. Does anyone knows what petrol Jordi Alba uses, this guy kept on making his runs till the end amazing. The portugese looked stretched after 90 minutes. Was not the best match, but still some great football by both sides. Nani looked sharp, and some fantastic combinations by the spanish team, almost always with Iniesta involved, but also later in the match some beautiful defending by the Spanish. Good match by Pedro and Fabregas! Thu, 28 Jun 2012 00:56:35 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/matches/euro-2012-semifinal-roundup/#IDComment390887184 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment390641906 I did not say that Barca should be without sponsors, that is not realistic. But the club should carefully chose which sponsor fits with Barca's values of respect, honour, democracy and solidarity. I personally would have liked if Barca would have kept their shirts free from sponsorlogo's, although the Unicef Logo was a great idea by the former board. But if the majority of the members agree with the present board that Barca can not do without shirtsponsorship so be it. But by wearing a Logo on your chest for a company or organization you associate yourselves with them. There are plenty of companies and organizations who like to pay a lot of money to have their logo on Barca's shirts.The Qatar Foundation's ideologists underlying agenda makes it more then just a charity, like it was presented. I wonder if the Barca members agree with the underlying ideology of the QF. I personally think the Qatar Foundation does some good work, but it would have been better if Barca would have chosen another company or organization as shirtsponsor. Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:31:13 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment390641906 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment390570940 By the way I am not against Rosell, I just think it was wrong to bring in the Qatar Foundation as a shirtsponsor + I don't like the way they treated Johan Cruyff, one of the big inspirators of Barca's football according to Rexach, Guardiola and Xavi + the smearcampaign against Laporta was unnecessary. Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:32:21 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment390570940 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment390558041 The reality is that the Qatar Foundation has through it's ideologists close ties with organisations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. IMaybe it is a good shirtsponsor for a Football Club in Qatar, but not for Barcelona, no matter how much money they pay them, unless Barcelona fully supports the underlying ideological agenda, which I doubt.. If Barcelona wants to be 'Mes que un Club" it should prove it by the way it acts and not be slaves from money, because that makes them the same like others. By the way, you can criticize Laporta about some of the things he has done wrong, but you should not forget that during his time as a director Barca appointed Rijkaard and Guardiola, took the brave move to suppotrt Unicef, became more active in supporting all kindof charities and worked closely together with Johan Cruyff. All the successes, the beautiful football,all the prizes are fruits from that time. Without Laporta Guardiola would probably not have been appointed to coach of the first team. The debts are something not just for Barcelona but many clubs have this problem + it coincides with the huge international financial crisis. So it is clever to point the finger to Laporta and damage his reputation, but it is a simplification of what really happened. But many people do not look and think beyond the headlines and buy all this cheap accusations. Do not let yourselves be blinded by some dollarsigns! Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:12:19 +0000 http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sandro-rosell-e40-million-profit-e40-million-transfer-budget/#IDComment390558041