SirBalon

Luis Suárez posted this on his Twitter account today.

Adams' "mental health" issues have their source and stem from the bottom of a bottle. He is a drunk and always has been (I actually know him quite well)... He's a great guy though and I can only wish him the best to ge honest.

Since the winding down and soon to retire Philipp Lahm, for me Dani Carvajal is the best right-back in the world right now... I can't think of one better and is a big part reason for many of Real's "just about" wins this season of which there have been many. A lot is made of Sergio Ramos' late late goals (nothing to take away there), but it's been Carvajal's endeavour that's caused much of this to happen. If I'm not mistaken, when Real Madrid re-captured Dani Carvajal from Bayer Leverkusen, he arrived as being voted the best right-back in the Bundesliga that season... A feat in itself if I'm right considering Lahm was active and how young Carvajal was at the time. He would NEVER move to Barça!!!

He hasn't got anything against any player personally or in particular... That was established with how he treated Aleix Vidal's playing time since he joined FC Barcelona from Sevilla at HIS petition. He had nothing personal against Vidal, but just wasn't complying with his instructions. Of all the right-fullbacks offered in a list to Luis Enrique at the time he was obsessed with acquiring Aleix Vidal. Jordi Alba is one of the best left-fullbacks in the business right now and all of these playing issues that have occurred at Barça (according to insider information from quite some time now with senior journalists) is because he is obsessed with the full-back position and as far as Luis Enrique is concerned all of the varying issues his Barça have been suffering from have their source there. To be honest I can see where this is coming from although I personally think the main issue is in midfield but don't doubt that the right-back problem is acute. According to these journalists, because he has serious problems in the right-back position, Luis Enrique playing Alba unbalances the team so he has supposedly had to look for other formations and tactics so as to bypass playing traditional back four full-backs. Alba is mighty pissed off about this apparently but understands it's nothing he's been doing wrong although he's become a scapegoat of his coach's obsession with that particular position. Where Guardiola was obsessed with midfields, Luis Enrique is a fanatic of the full-back area.

Luis Enrique: "It was terrible and very sad" Luis Enrique isn't one to ever be auto-critical in press conferences. He usually leaves things like that for the dressing room and never ever will he give the press an ounce of his thoughts outside the purely football. Even after the Paris debacle which ended 4-0 did he let it be seen that things were as bad as they looked and only concentrated on what could occur in the return leg... He almost even had a fight with a journalist from Catalan tv station TV3 that night! But yesterday was different and that's that the performance wasn't as horrible as the one in Paris. It's as if something has been confirmed to Luis Enrique and on that side of things you'll never get an ounce of information from the Asturian coach. These were some of his quotes after the 3-0 defeat in Turin against Juventus. "It doesn't matter if I think the result is just or not, that's the result and that's all there is. The first half against Juve today was exactly the same as the third quarter of the game in Paris... For that to happen to us in such a short space of time is something I've never witnessed and something I certainly never expected. We were absolutely terrible, it was grave, very grave indeed and I feel impotent." "Today I'm finding it much more difficult to be optimistic like I was after the game in Paris. I don't particularly want to talk about the future of this tie. I'm an optimist by nature but now I need time to think and reflect. I am 100% responsible for not having been able to transmit to the players what I wanted because that's the most important job for a head coach." "It's like re-living an nightmare to be honest. Our positioning was terrible. In the second half we moved the ball a lot better, but that was due to Juventus getting obviously nervous for some reason and backing off which transmitted itself to the fans and we started to dominate and create more chances. There's more things I can say in respect but it's not important now because it doesn't matter what could've been due to the could've not having materialised itself. Only completed actions count in football. They only thing I lament of the second half is conceding a goal when we were playing the better football... Actually that hurts a lot more. Tomorrow is a new day, we'll all get out of our beds and we'll carry on." The only thing on the return leg; "Of course we can score 4 goals against Juve. We can score 4 goals against anyone." At least Luis Enrique has the courage to be autocratical on his side of things. Something somebody else doesn't know how to do here in London for so many years.

That quote is better than the one I was thinking off! Although hard to implement in football culture.

George Graham always used to say; "If we don't concede, we have a great chance of winning" Nobody can doubt he was right and we were inevitably known as "Boring, boring Arsenal" on the terraces or even us Arsenal fans chanting "1-0 to the Arsenal... etc... etc..." It depends how you want to see it. Another example was Mourinho playing a double-pivot against Barça in La Liga and getting stick even from the most fervent Madrid based journalists. Some people in football will never accept sides of that ilk resorting to that. What was it that Che Guevara once famously said?

I'm not criticising defenders mate and I don't think Xavi is either. It's the way a team plays, not the fact that they aren't innocent defensively. Defenders as Cruyff used to say, are part of the team mechanics and must also be able to provide what those up front do and dominate by using the ball. I disagree with you on that there aren't teams that come out playing scared to lose... They do, I see it a lot! I forgive "smaller" clubs when they do this, but not clubs with massive financial resources. It's all down to coaching and how a coach sees football in my view. But this is the way I see the game and I've had many a heated debate on the other forum. I have no problem with winning by playing with the rules and with respect... But I will share my opinion because otherwise there's no point in football because the world would be full of Arsenal stadiums watching the game in silence.

Trust me, there's no loss in context with those quotes (the aesthetic side to things) mate. He is a football fundamentalist which I can understand where people feel friction with the comments. I don't particularly like them although at the same time I also know he isn't intending to be arrogant or almost condescending. He only believes there's one way to play and that if you can't beat a team by going out there to win (not being scared of losing) then you deserve being told so. I don't like it although at the same time (as many here know) I only see one way of playing the game. Again at the same time I understand why other top sides change their ethics when facing superiority (see how that last bit sounds arrogant and yet I'm not intending it mate?). He's been the first to applaud teams that have beating his side playing great football or lauding sides in other lands that are playing something he loves. He isn't insular in the sense of only seeing "Blaugrana", and is more on the side of football being something almost religious and not to be messed with. A radical version of Cruyff? I reckon so because Cruyff was constantly writing newspaper columns to this effect.

You know what they say about Green Party voters mate, and I'm one of those.

His Barça colours run deep and he has come out with odd remarks in the past although totally taken out of context. For me the only thing that ever bothered me about things he said while at Barcelona was his obsession with grass length and how wet it was before kick-off. For me he is the Spanish version of Marcelo Bielsa... Two people of Football OCD.

In this one I agree with you and for this particular issue I've argued with friends I have that fervent Barcelona fans. I have nothing to say about Xavi's professional career as a model professional but this last ditch move for money when he doesn't even require it is almost blood thirsty.

No serious football club would allow you that much freedom mate. The MSL may seem amateur here in Europe but I'm sure you well know that they take it seriously there and no Spanish club would ever contemplate paying him a salary (especially the one he receives there which is perverted) while spending 50% of the time getting himself ready to coach Barça. He doesn't practically train with the club he plays for and does private gym training to get ready for games while spending most of the time with the youth setups.

Everyone asks this... To be honest he's enjoying it there and is doing more on the coaching side of things than being serious about the playing. The reason he went there instead of the States was exactly that... They let him do his coaching badges while playing and also coach the youth setups with total autonomy.

Yeah, but one league title in almost a decade is almost at a level of Valencia.

Do you mean ""outsiders" as in people that aren't Basque? If that's the case then you're wrong mate. The Basques is most of the north of Spain, are the most welcoming people in the country. Supporting either Athletic or Real Madrid (Barcelona included) has nothing to do with one another.

Well done mate. Which club?

In other words you've gotten a job as a club press officer?

He'll probably be sacked straight away for wearing that suit! How did he get that job? Granada is a beautiful place to live the lucky git.

I agree with this wholeheartedly... The suspicious and untrusting eye is always on Britain in this case because of the way we receive Amercian "culture" with seemingly open arms in the UK.

I was gutted for Márquez when he crashed out while challenging for the victory. But I'm happy for Crutchlow who's getting some interesting results early on.

Celta doctor says Rossi's injury could be serious The head of Celta Vigo's medical department Juan José García Cota said after Celta's game against SD Eibar that the Italian striker Giuseppe Rossi asked to be changed after he felt a snapping sensation in his left knee. Rossi has had multiple cruciate ligament injuries during his career, so the medical staff have taken it seriously and even after initial explorations haven't come out with any visible injury, Celta will be investigating even further due to Rossi saying something is very wrong. Celta Vigo fans are awaiting further updates in the next few hours as to what the injury may be. If confirmed that Giuseppe Rossi has a serious knee injury, then this is just such bad luck for the player who has had his career hampered with these issues from a very young age. El médico dice que la lesión de Rossi “puede ser grave”

Florentino Pérez indeed always finds a way! It's why he continues to have a slight majority of support amongst the Real Madrid 'socios'. André Gomes... Yesterday has to have been his worst performance for Barcelona and that takes some doing. He was a total ghost in the game and it was like playing with 10 men most of the time. He had two interventions of note, one was a magnificent pass from Messi in the first half for André to score and for some reason André Gomes let it run too far past his body which gave time for the defender to rectify his initial mistake and clear easily. The other intervention was a cross toward the end of the first half. Apart from that he was missing in action the whole game until he was substituted. The truth is that hardly none of the players played well yesterday and it was a very physical game. I don't know if the players had Juventus on their mind or not but that was a poor performance. Neymar who has been the best player for months overall made countless mistakes by cutting in when he should've hugged the line or staying close to the line when he should've looked inside. Messi came deeper and deeper into midfield but that was actually due to the fact Barça were being dominated in midfield where key moments were in question because Barcelona had all the possession of the ball (Málaga let them have it) without being penetrative with it. Luis Enrique has rotated too much this season and what that achieves is that the players don't get to associate properly and don't bed into accomplishing form. Iniesta is the best example of this and even though Iniesta has to be given rest more than ever these days, Luis Enrique has taken that too far because in midfield and especially the way Iniesta plays the game, he needs to play more. It's coming toward the end of the campaign and Iniesta should be playing all of them now, or at least most of them from the start. But Luis Enrique is so scared of losing him due to an injury that he has him wrapped in cotton wool practically all of the time. Rafinha out for the season now (he's had various injuries this year) hasn't helped matters either because he does fit into the system and is the perfect player to rotate with. He has hurt Luis Enrique's rotation capabilities in terms of effective quality when applied. Arda Turan's constant calf strains have also been a nightmare for the coach because he started the season so well and looked to have regained the form he was signed for at Atlético Madrid. So there are reasons for the thinness of the options because even though there are multiple players to choose from, the real quality has worn thin. What I don't understand at all is the rotation of Ivan Rakitić... The Croatian would've put that André Gomes chance from a Messi pass away with his eyes closed. That's one of his main fortes. Not only is he one of the best second line attack minded midfielders in Europe, but he is also more than just competent in the destruction of the rival's game. In other words, a must in any top midfield anywhere in the world. Obviously it was away to Málaga and Luis Enrique decided once again to rest the all terrain midfielder due to how much the player wastes himself physically in games. The thing is that Rakitić isn't Andrés Iniesta's age and he can take it twice a week! It was the biggest error yesterday because he should've been playing instead of André Gomes. If André Gomes ends up leaving Barça in the end, he won't be able to ever say that he wasn't given a chance. Luis Enrique has definitely given him that. He has played as many minutes as any midfielder this season. He's had the coach's faith and confidence which is paramount for a player to eventually show form. But that hasn't ever looked like arriving. Infact I'd say André Gomes' problems started when he was dropped from the Portugal side that won the European Championship in France last summer. That was his downfall and no longer has that form and game he had at Valencia been seen again. He needs to go to a club where he will be the protagonist once again and not just another player. Only then do I see him returning to what he was which was one of my favourite players anywhere at one point and the reason I was so happy when Barcelona signed him.

The secret plan: Griezmann to Real Madrid Presitigious French sports newspaper L'Équipe today released a front page where they make an affirmation revolving around the future of Antoine Griezmann. They speculate on certain sources they have that say the French attacking midfielder is the main priority of Florentino Pérez' Real Madrid and which would see Cristiano Ronaldo depart to pastures new. Only the other day the Atlético Madrid President Enríque Cerezo was quizzed for the umpteenth time on Griezmann's future and he could only say; "Whenever there's an important game between us and Real Madrid the same thing happens, the speculations start and I'm really tired of repeating myself because it seems you guys aren't happy with what I always tell you and you want me to invent something that gives you a headline". Only this week (Thursday) one of Griezmann's agents Eric Olhats on RMC Radio said; "Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona and Real Madrid have all been in contact with the player and his representatives to ascertain the player's situation in reference to his future. Everyone wants to know if it's possible or not. It's the game of musical chairs. His clause is of €100m and Atlético won't negotiate with anyone for two reasons... One, he's happy at Atlético and two, Atlético know he's worth even more which means paying the buy-out clause and that also includes a 42% tax payment to the Spanish fiscal system which takes the deal in total to almost €200m". We must also remember that there is a pact of no aggression between Florentino Pérez and Enríque Cerezo where possible acquisition of players from each respective club is concerned. This goes back to when Real Madrid wanted Sergio 'Kun' Agüero from Atlético Madrid back in the day and an agreement was struck between the two entities.

A lover's quarrel.