Andrés Iniesta - Life in Japan

[SirBalon]

The prestigious French football magazine 'France Football' will be dedicating practically the whole of next month's magazine to Andrés Iniesta the the apt headline "Don Andrés" as he is generally known to the football world. In the 18 page dossier the will be going through his whole career from when he was spotted in the Albacete infants side by Carles Rexach and Johan Cruyff all the way through his move to La Masia, to the first team at Barcelona under Louis van Gaal, to the Spain squad and so on...

Last month the magazine had already done an 8 page piece which was titled in Spanish, "Perdón Andrés" (Sorry Andrés) in relation to France Football's connection to the Ballon d'Or and apologising for never having been awarded the prize.  Obviously it's a hypothetical apology as the it has been decades since the magazine itself had a major say in who won it.  In that piece it stated that it's a sin for one of the greatest of all time to not have that accolade...  But also said that even though it was a major error by all those that have ever voted for him while he was in elite football, that someone like him didn't need it because his name is bigger than the award.

Fitting that such a magazine should honour Andrés Iniesta in such a manner.

Just as an anecdote, today Iker Casillas in a promotional conference was asked about Iniesta where he commented that he has been one of the greatest of all time and that he is respected by the whole football world,. He also added that he wished he'd have had a send off himself at Real Madrid like the one Iniesta got by Barcelona.

[Carnivore Chris]

 

[SirBalon]

14 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

 

What's the word for more than a legend?

[Carnivore Chris]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

What's the word for more than a legend?

Whatever that word may be, life without Iniesta is going to be a lot more difficult for the team. There is nobody like him.

But the midfield does have a lot of options and there is a strong side there for me. It's all about bringing in the right players to improve the overall depth of the squad, although the starting 11 is pretty much spot on. What I will say though is that reverting back to 4-3-3 makes sense to me.

 

Back to the midfield options

Busquets, Rakitic, Arthur, Coutinho, Denis Suarez..There are are some solid options there for me. Not to forget that Aleña's recovery seems to be quicker than expected so he could end up getting more pitch time then we expect next season judging by Valverde's recent comments and there is Roberto who can play both in midfield and at right back.

[SirBalon]

34 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

Whatever that word may be, life without Iniesta is going to be a lot more difficult for the team. There is nobody like him.

But the midfield does have a lot of options and there is a strong side there for me. It's all about bringing in the right players to improve the overall depth of the squad, although the starting 11 is pretty much spot on. What I will say though is that reverting back to 4-3-3 makes sense to me.

 

Back to the midfield options

Busquets, Rakitic, Arthur, Coutinho, Denis Suarez..There are are some solid options there for me. Not to forget that Aleña's recovery seems to be quicker than expected so he could end up getting more pitch time then we expect next season and there is Roberto who can play both in midfield and at right back.

I think every football fan loses out when people like Iniesta call it a day like whenever both Messi and Cristiano also do this which will be sooner rather than later.

As for what's needed for the new season at Barcelona... I still think more is required mate and the technical team seem to know this although signings are being very difficult because there's a number of clubs that have plenty of money.  What I don't think is required is Willian if the rumours and price are to be believed...  Not that I don't rate Willian highly which I always have done and love his dynamism.  But Barcelona already have Coutinho who is very direct and Willian is more of the same and they're not very combinative players in my opinion.  You couldn't play both Coutinho and Willian in a same team as the midfield would suffer or if you do you then have to completely change how Barça traditionally play and become a counter-attacking side and someone like Busquets would become null and void.

[SirBalon]

Ive just finished watching a documentary with unseen footage of behind the scenes stuff with the Spain national team and a series of interviews with all sorts of football personalities. It was brilliant and eye opening!

The documentary was about how football has changed in the past 15 years and how Spanish football was the student map for the change...  But it went further back than the last 15 years also because for things to change first one has to admit he or she has a problem in any walk of life and that change takes time, that change has a root and a beginning which then requires hard work with a goal to achieve at the end of it.  This is where Johan Cruyff comes into the documentary and this post isn't about what I saw and enjoyed as a whole, but a quote by Johan Cruyff two days after the World Cup Final in South Africa 2010 (Johannesburg). 

Cruyff makes a statement shrouded not only in football know how, but even the celestial which was strange but gave me goose pimples and made the hair on my arms stand on end.  He used Iniesta (that's where the relevance for me having posted on this thread comes into play) for his wise words.

"I was young and I was already tired as a player with arguments popping up in every corner I inhabited.  I even started to believe I was a bad person and a manipulator, someone difficult to be around and someone impossible to live with.  I argued and argued at club level and playing for my national team with everyone because nobody understood what I was seeing, the future, but the future we had right in front of us ready to use.  I won't name names from back then because I don't want to disrespect anyone, but for years football was controlled by fools, by dictators without any room for freedom of expression and that this freedom could actually not only be a winning formula, but also provide everyone that loves the sport with entertainment and art."

"Strangely, I wasn't dissappointed when we lost the World Cup Final the other day.  Part of me really wanted to be but another side to me, the man I've always been and what I fought for made me smile and enjoy the moment.  People spend part of their lives questioning whether there's something divine that controls everything and many tend to come to the conclusion that it just can't be true.  But we must admit that there're are moments where strange things happen.  When Andrés Iniesta put the ball in the back of the net for what the whole world knew would be the goal that won a World Cup I smiled and remembered everything I fought for because Iniesta and players like him would never have become professionals let alone become icons and play a World Cup Final.  Iniesta is a player that unifies, that doesn't have an ego, that doesn't have tattoos, that doesn't show off Ferraris, that doesn't cause problems in a dressing room.  But yet Iniesta is as much if not more than those players he isn't and when Iniesta scored that goal it felt that something had put balance back into football.  I felt fulfilled."

[SirBalon]

 

[JoshBRFC+]

Feels weird not seeing Iniesta in a Barcelona shirt. Probably my favourite player after Messi over the years. 

The sad realization that another player from arguably the greatest ever club side is near retirement. 

[SirBalon]

Andrés Iniesta in an interview for a Japanese sports newspaper gave an answer to one of the questions that's quite curious and probably unexpected when we consider the length of time he has been playing that the footballers that have plied their trade in that time anywhere.

Journalist:

"Apart from those players with which you played with both for Barcelona and Spain, which player since you've been playing would you have wished to have played with?"

Iniesta:

"Without disrespecting anyone and considering the position I played in, the player I've admired for a long time and continue to wait up at nights here in Japan to watch him is N'Golo Kanté.  Football fans tend to have a different way of thinking when they watch football matches which is normal.  They look for excitement and we all know where that element comes from... But for us footballers we feel different things on the pitch and we look out for players doing certain other things that we know are necessary for a successful team.  Let's just say that France wouldn't have won the World Cup without Kanté and yet other names have made the headlines, the same as Barcelona and Spain with Busquets, but France may have won it without those players making the headlines but again, not without Kanté.  He is intelligent, knows his limits but is excellent in those important football decisions that need to be made in that position.  I love watching Chelsea because of him and haven't missed a game this season!  I remember being in my garden the summer after Leicester City won the English league and watching 3 whole games on my tablet just to watch Kanté."

@Cicero @carefreeluke @Bluewolf @The Liquidator @Spike @Stan @Dan @True Blue @Batard @...Dan

[Dan+]

I said it during that season and I say it now that for all the plaudits that Vardy and Mahrez got, Kante truly was the one who held it all together. He was phenomenal right from the word go. You could tell he was a bit abnormal.

Nothing sums him up better than a line I read on him from that season - we could've won 4-0, Mahrez has absolutely rinsed their full back all game, Vardy's scored a couple and ran them ragged, the defence barely gave them a sniff although they did force Schmeichel into a couple of brilliant saves. Sounded great, who was your man of the match?

Kante.

[Stan]

6 hours ago, SirBalon said:

Andrés Iniesta in an interview for a Japanese sports newspaper gave an answer to one of the questions that's quite curious and probably unexpected when we consider the length of time he has been playing that the footballers that have plied their trade in that time anywhere.

Journalist:

"Apart from those players with which you played with both for Barcelona and Spain, which player since you've been playing would you have wished to have played with?"

Iniesta:

"Without disrespecting anyone and considering the position I played in, the player I've admired for a long time and continue to wait up at nights here in Japan to watch him is N'Golo Kanté.  Football fans tend to have a different way of thinking when they watch football matches which is normal.  They look for excitement and we all know where that element comes from... But for us footballers we feel different things on the pitch and we look out for players doing certain other things that we know are necessary for a successful team.  Let's just say that France wouldn't have won the World Cup without Kanté and yet other names have made the headlines, the same as Barcelona and Spain with Busquets, but France may have won it without those players making the headlines but again, not without Kanté.  He is intelligent, knows his limits but is excellent in those important football decisions that need to be made in that position.  I love watching Chelsea because of him and haven't missed a game this season!  I remember being in my garden the summer after Leicester City won the English league and watching 3 whole games on my tablet just to watch Kanté."

@Cicero @carefreeluke @Bluewolf @The Liquidator @Spike @Stan @Dan @True Blue @Batard @...Dan

Can't argue with him. Legends of football know the game inside and out and all the intricacies of it, not just the exciting parts as he alludes to. Legends of the game also know a great player when they see one. 

[Batard]

The pro’s pro and easy to see why. Great athlete and all round thoroughly decent person. 

[SirBalon]

I've always imagined footballers missing goals when watching a game because they're observing something else going on with a particular player.

[SirBalon]

A genius is a genius... Watch Iniesta’s assist to Podolski last night...

 

[SirBalon]

It looks as if Iniesta and Podolski have created a great friendship and football relationship. 

 

[Mel81x+]

39 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

It looks as if Iniesta and Podolski have created a great friendship and football relationship. 

I'd imagine he'd make friends with anyone he played with. He understands the importance of being a team player and that means cultivating good working relations with everyone on your team.

[SirBalon]

54 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

I'd imagine he'd make friends with anyone he played with. He understands the importance of being a team player and that means cultivating good working relations with everyone on your team.

Yeah, having a self centred ego isn't one of his talents.  Shows you don't actually need one to be regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.

[JoshBRFC+]

On 02/11/2018 at 12:07, SirBalon said:

Andrés Iniesta in an interview for a Japanese sports newspaper gave an answer to one of the questions that's quite curious and probably unexpected when we consider the length of time he has been playing that the footballers that have plied their trade in that time anywhere.

Journalist:

"Apart from those players with which you played with both for Barcelona and Spain, which player since you've been playing would you have wished to have played with?"

Iniesta:

"Without disrespecting anyone and considering the position I played in, the player I've admired for a long time and continue to wait up at nights here in Japan to watch him is N'Golo Kanté.  Football fans tend to have a different way of thinking when they watch football matches which is normal.  They look for excitement and we all know where that element comes from... But for us footballers we feel different things on the pitch and we look out for players doing certain other things that we know are necessary for a successful team.  Let's just say that France wouldn't have won the World Cup without Kanté and yet other names have made the headlines, the same as Barcelona and Spain with Busquets, but France may have won it without those players making the headlines but again, not without Kanté.  He is intelligent, knows his limits but is excellent in those important football decisions that need to be made in that position.  I love watching Chelsea because of him and haven't missed a game this season!  I remember being in my garden the summer after Leicester City won the English league and watching 3 whole games on my tablet just to watch Kanté."

@Cicero @carefreeluke @Bluewolf @The Liquidator @Spike @Stan @Dan @True Blue @Batard @...Dan

That's interesting and good to hear/read. 

I still think Kante is underrated. 

You can argue that without him Leicester and Chelsea wouldn't have won their league titles and France wouldn't have won the World Cup. Absolute beast of a player. And the pro's pro, it seems. 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

There is always a player like that in the very best teams. Winning football is about winning, and effectiveness. Khedira, Matuidi, Kante, Busquets, Van Bommel and the like are clear examples of this. Warriors who get shit done in the centre of the park.

[ScoRoss]

 

[Panna King]

4 minutes ago, ScoRoss said:

 

I mentioned something like this would happen in the Sinter Klaas thread, that on Kings day people will call out racist because of the Black King.  It's a tradition which has been going on for years, like with Sinter Klaas, the Internet and mainly mainstream media have published around the world with negativity around the events, mainly America and UK are the most offended by this. 

[RandoEFC+]

Unfortunate cultural differences I guess. You'd think if this is on Instagram or whatever you'd probably keep this one to yourself rather than risk the wrath of the snowflakes in the West.

[Cicero]

His wife's legs are as big as my forearms 

[Panna King]

3 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Unfortunate cultural differences I guess. You'd think if this is on Instagram or whatever you'd probably keep this one to yourself rather than risk the wrath of the snowflakes in the West.

Its not a problem in Spain, Portugal, France but these things are made a huge issue in The USA and The Uk.

[RandoEFC+]

12 minutes ago, Panna King said:

Its not a problem in Spain, Portugal, France but these things are made a huge issue in The USA and The Uk.

That's because Spain, Portugal and France are clearly full of filthy racists.

❄