Philippe Coutinho

No, I'm defo not abandoning this forum. I enjoy the civil discourse lol. Thanks for the recommendation. @The Rebel CRS Know of any others? Thanks everyone.

@SirBalon @Spike @FCBNick @El_Loco @Viva la FCB Does anyone know of any good intelligent FC Barcelona forums online? I love talkfootball365 but would also like to join a Barca-centric forum. Thanks a bunch. -aka "Savvy Xavi"......at least it's not Savvy Chavvy lol

Agree with most your points @Spike @SirBalon Yes, Seri defo ain't comin. Dembele will be signed soon. The best we can expect in an overly inflated market. A signing for the future. As was Gomes. He's just not Barca material, I'm afraid. Just too slow. Not creative enough, nor is he a gamechanger. Always plays the safe pass. When's the last time Neymar played a "safe pass"? Risk and reward, folks. Neymar often misplaced passes but a lot of the time they created bonafide goalscoring chances. Gomes? Create chances? That's not something he does. All he does is circulate the ball. Alba, I'd personally give him a slight edge over Digne. Links up better with attacks down the left flank. (There was good chemistry between Alba and Neymar). Now that we have Dembele comin we need Alba and his torrid pace supplying passes to "Dembouz". I like Messi as a false 9. He's a bit older now, not the electric pace of 2009 when he used to tear down the right flank (boy, was he somethin else!!) Electrifying he was. I've been watching Ter Stegen. Oftentimes he doesn't even attempt to make a save. Contrast that with someone like Keylor Navas whom you just KNOW will attempt to save each and every goal-bound ball. Latin passion > logical Germanic reasoning? He's terrible at defending set pieces and crosses/corners too. Not convinced by Ter Stegen, but he "plays the Barca way", by building from the back. Even Umtiti isn't the defensive stalwart some supporters make him out to be. Barca has never ever been known for our defense!! Historically, our attacking prowess always makes up for defensive lapses. Pique is Pique lol. Slow, but a leader. I'd include Rakitic in there for some matches. He doesn't have the heart of someone like Roberto but technically he is better at breaking down the teams that park the bus. Powerful shot too for said buses. Vidal defo should get more chances. Semedo promising start. (squad is paper thin, not exactly the time to get rid of players you'll need in a long season!) Gomes gotta go, I'm afraid. The only player that's worse than Paco for Barca.

Arda Turan hasn't been playing. Anyone know why that is? There's talk of Rafinha going to AC Milan. Really hope that's not the case. The Turk and the Brazilian are valuable squad players. If anything, ditch Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer. These two just aren't good enough for Barca/aren't contributing.

Currently watching the live Paulinho presentation. On https://www.fcbarcelona.com/videos/live if anyone's interested. lol

@SirBalon, mate, I know that you HATE Neymar with a passion (lol) but consider this: The Gamper Trophy aside, Neymar was responsible for 4 of the 6 goals scored in the International Champions Cup in the US (3 goals and an assist in pre-season friendlies). I happened to watch all of them and he was the one dependable attacking threat in all those games. Always looked dangerous when he went forward with the ball, though he does misplace passes as he always does. Also consider the fact that Neymar was #1 in assists during last season's Champions League, even though we got eliminated in the Quarterfinals. There's a reason why nearly all attacks originate from his side of the pitch: he (was) the one DEPENDABLY DANGEROUS attacking threat. I'm not so sure if he can be replaced. Think about this: Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi ARE the two best club football players of ALL TIME. (I'm a club football man through and through. I do love the World Cup but club football is my real passion). That says quite a lot about Neymar when he's considered the current third best player in the world by some distance! HOW do you fill those shoes? I said a season or two ago that Neymar would win a couple or several Balon d'Ors with Barcelona. Little did I know that he would move to PSG when I said that. If dangerous Brazil wins the 2018 World Cup (a real likelihood with Germany seemingly on the decline) AND PSG makes the CL semis (at least) this season and/or the next, then it's hard to see him NOT in the convo for that most prized of personal honors. That's a real possibility now. Luis Suarez seems to have lost a bit of his touch and is now a bit injured. So again we are back to Messi being the sole dependable goalscorer? Back to the good ole overreliance on Messi? I'm not a fan of Neymar as a person but I realize what an attacking threat he brings to the team. Without him, Barca looks toothless. It's a good thing you didn't watch the 2-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu, @SirBalon It was embarrassing. Real Madrid was literally TOYING with Barca at times. Like a lion toying with its prey, playing with its food. A matador with the bull chasing shadows. Barca did have a few chances but you always had the feeling they weren't a real attacking threat. Like I said, toothless. I have the first leg 3-1 loss at the Camp Nou in the Supercopa on my DVR. Watched bits and pieces of it. Gon watch it in its entirety. To see how we performed. It can't POSSIBLY be as bad as the 2-0 loss today. At least, that's what I'm hoping. (from what I saw, that shouldn't have been a penalty. So that means Real Madrid should have won 5-0 on aggregate??) Folks, we can dislike Neymar all we want, but you can't argue with his football and what he brings to the table from an attacking football standpoint. 2016-2017 Champions League Top Assists Source:[44] Top assists[edit] Rank Player Team Assists Minutes played 1 Neymar Barcelona 8 797 2 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 6 1200 3 Ousmane Dembélé Borussia Dortmund 5 769 Dani Carvajal Real Madrid 975 5 Benjamin Mendy Monaco 4 525 Raheem Sterling Manchester City 577 Eduardo Salvio Benfica 628 Thomas Lemar Monaco 895

Not even the 4-0 and 3-0 losses to Bayern engendered the same "End of an Era" fears as recent developments and results.

"Resign now Bartomeu" trending #1 worldwide.

I think we'll do relatively well this new season. In spite of/despite the abysmal quality of recent signings and the horribly incompetent board. Barca is Barca. Guardiola Debut Season Version 3.0 Loading (maybe not quite the Triple Treble quite yet but here's hoping we'll SURPRISE some ppl and naysayers....lol)

Gomes is horrible. Can't believe he's still a Barca player. Oh, and our new signing?

So apparently we signed 30-year old Spurs reject Paulinho. This is just sad, folks. Wouldn't be surprised if Real Madrid wins everything in sight now. This current board needs to go. PRONTO. They make Sandro Rosell's board look appealing. Bring back Laporta! https://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/barca-sign-paulinho-for-40-million-6220876

SirBalon, any truth to this?? https://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/tv3-messi-wanted-to-leave-last-summer-and-join-peps-man-city-6198974

Fellas, a) If you could sign ONE player and ONE player only for Barca this summer, who would it be and why? (this is a general question: the player need not be a direct replacement for Neymar) b) If you could sign ONE player as a DIRECT REPLACEMENT for Neymar, who'd it be? If I could sign ONE player it'd be Dybala. He is defo Barca quality. Bellerin too. Not convinced with Semedo. Verratti or Di Maria would probably be good replacements for Neymar. Yes, Verratti as a direct replacement might seem bizarre but I for one wouldn't mind Barca going back to a more tiki-taka Xavi-like "beautiful passing" version of our beloved club instead of the much more direct individualistic dribbling style that Neymar plays. Neymar and Suarez helped the gradual organic shift to a more direct style of playing in recent years. Both styles have merit. I'd probably have included Ozil here but he isn't the player he was in his Real Madrid years. He was incredible back then. Dunno why some ppl rate Verratti over Dybala. I'd rather have Dybala.

I'm intrigued by what you say about Arabs here, mate :-) I grew up in the Middle East (Jordan) even though I'm not Middle Eastern myself. Some of my oldest/best friends are Arab/Middle Eastern/Muslim as a result. Speak a bit of Arabic cos of my formative childhood years in a British school there. Yes, some of them can be quite "tribal" and materialistic but there are people like that in every culture. That's just human nature. If countries like Spain or Portugal were ever to get windfalls in the form of massive oil reserves discovered around the Iberian peninsula etc. watch how quickly people will change too. Most Arabs are good decent honorable people is what I'm saying. Just my two cents. And yes, Barcelona will ABSOLUTELY continue to survive and thrive if and when ANYONE leaves (Messi, Neymar etc.) NO-ONE is bigger than the team, the all, our beloved Barca.

Completely agree. Not even Messi is bigger than the team. If ever there came a time when he hinders the progress the development and success of the team as a whole, then it's time for him to be sold for a record fee. Barcelona thrived long before Messi came on the scene and will thrive long after he leaves.

(Barca opens the season vs Real Betis at the Camp Nou, just like last season) OFFICIAL: El Clasico dates Real Madrid vs Barcelona (Matchday 17) - 20th December Santiago Bernabeu (may be moved cos of the Club World Cup) Barcelona vs Real Madrid (Matchday 36) - 6th May Camp Nou (may very well be the title decider) Anyone attending matches at the Camp Nou this season?

FC Barcelona Full La Liga Fixture List now on the FC Barcelona website (see link). Scroll past the "Filter" and click "Load more matches" to do just that. https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/schedule?competitionId=2902&month=0&temporada=1101

Cules, here's the full 2017-2018 Barca La Liga schedule. Scroll down to "Results". Home Team listed first, of course. So it's Home Team vs Away Team https://usa.laliga.es/en/laliga-santander/barcelona/calendario#ancla

To everyone that says: "Stop talking about Barca DNA", the heart and soul of Barca Xavi constantly refers to "Barca DNA". Who are you to tell him otherwise? :-) See https://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/xavi-hernandezs-verratti-recommendation-that-barca-cant-ignore-6163575

Pity we probably can't get Carvajal ;-) He's probably the best full-back right now.

Thanks Balon. So you're saying that once the right back situation is addressed once and for all, the team will be more balanced and Alba will be playing more? I certainly hope so! Yes, the right back position has been glaringly exposed time and again. Not Sergi Roberto's fault, of course. He's a natural midfielder. I blame the board for not having the foresight to sign someone as a direct replacement for Dani Alves, whom in some ways is irreplaceable. Now that the end of the season is upon us, the acute lack of squad depth has been costing us, with desired results found wanting. Would love to see a Bellerin (with his Barca DNA) and Cancelo etc. etc. at right back. Cancelo is quality, don't think he'll let the team down as Alcacer and Gomes have. Let the pipeline of fullbacks from Valencia to Barca commence and resume its normal service :-)

Why isn't Luis Enrique playing Jordi Alba? He's miles better than any of the other clowns Enrique has been playing. Grossly underrated.

Oh no. This guy's a friggin joke. https://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/referee-appointed-for-clasico-hernandez-hernandez-5952125