"Are Barcelona the best team ever?"

[IrishMacca]

Why debate the defence when you can't get the ball off them to even test it :-)


Barcelona are definitely the best team i've seen in my lifetime. Though i'm only 26, so that opinion only carries so much weight.

Because their defence is their weakness.
They are an incredible team, and will probably go on to win the thing, as they did last year.
But I wouldn't let the hype of the media take you away.

I mean how much of it is genuine and how much of it is media hype. Would you take every single player of the Barca team and have them as starters for City?

 

[depps]

I mean how much of it is genuine and how much of it is media hype. Would you take every single player of the Barca team and have them as starters for City?

Yes bar Pedro and maybe Valdes and Puyol. So out of our team only Tevez would definitely make theirs


Edit: And even then actually I would take Pedro over most of what we have

 

[IrishMacca]

I mean how much of it is genuine and how much of it is media hype. Would you take every single player of the Barca team and have them as starters for City?

Yes bar Pedro and maybe Valdes and Puyol. So out of our team only Tevez would definitely make theirs


Edit: And even then actually I would take Pedro over most of what we have

You'd take their backs and all?

 

[Cobwebcat]

"Media Hype"!!!???LOL I've seen it all now. Wenger said it's the best he's seen in his lifetime...is he writing for the Independent now?!

I made my mind up way before their demolition of Arsenal and the English press started asking the question.

Before Barca the best team I'd seen was Brazil 1982 (much better than 1970) but my eyes tell me Barca are better....nothing to do with the press (though I do agree with the article)

 

[depps]

Yes bar Pedro and maybe Valdes and Puyol. So out of our team only Tevez would definitely make theirs


Edit: And even then actually I would take Pedro over most of what we have

You'd take their backs and all?

Yes bar maybe Puyol like I said and thats prob more to do with his age than his actual ability. I doubt Barca would be interested in swapping him for any of our players.

Abidal(probably their weakest player) > Bridge
Alves > Micah, Zabaleta
Pique > Toure, Lescot /Maybe = Kompany
Puyol =/< Lescot, Kompany

 

[bluemoon32]

Can only go by the sides i've seen and the AC Milan side of the late 80's - early 90's would have beaten this Barcelona side.

 

[Scotland_WC2010]

Arsenal 03/04 would beat this Barcelona side as they're open to counter attack.

 

[Bill]

brazil 1970. simple as that.

yep

Carlos Alberto, Felix, Piazza, Brito, Clodoaldo and Marco Antonio;
Jairzinho, Gérson, Tostão, Pelé and Rivelino

what, no stevie ireland?

 

[TTS]

Would you take every single player of the Barca team and have them as starters for City?

Kinda missing the point, this, isn't it?

We're not trying to construct some kind of 'World XI', or say, oh, well I'd take Messi, but not Busquets, maybe Alves, but not Puyol. Of course there are going to be weaker players in the Barcelona squad, they haven't managed to acquire all the best players in the world.

It's about taking the team as a whole and asking yourself, 'have I ever seen another team play better than this?'

Right?

 

[Manc in London]

Mate what do you mean a stuttering Madrid?? This is a phenomenal Madrid team also, have a look at the league table and tell me there is a single team in the Prem that would kill for either teams record this season. Every team in the Premier League has played more games and won less points.

Current Spanish table:

1 Real Madrid 30 25 2 3 83 26 77
2 Barcelona 30 24 5 1 75 19 77
3 Valencia 30 16 8 6 48 32 56
4 Mallorca 30 14 6 10 46 34 48


Last years final table:

1 Barcelona (C) 38 27 6 5 105 35 +70 87
2 Real Madrid 38 25 3 10 83 52 +31 78
3 Sevilla 38 21 7 10 54 39 +15 70
4 Atlético Madrid 38 20 7 11 80 57 +23 67

If anything both Madrid and Barca will end up with more points this season than Braca last season.

Barca may not be the best team ever but you can not use how close Madrid are to them in la Liga as a point to prove that.

Fair enough. Good point, well-made.

Madrid and Barca are close in the league, while Mardrid have looked relatively poor in Europe. I cannot understand why it's wrong to say they are 'stuttering' when they have not performed in Europe for a few years. You are claiming that a team has improved because they have more points. I would suggest that is as much to do with La Liga as a whole looking fairly weak.

The point is that a poster stated they are the best team ever, even though Mardid are close to them in La Liga, and yet this current Mardid team are nowhere near as good as previous teams who played at the Bernabau (regardless of how many points they have). Fair enough that you are using a more scientific approach (using points accumulated) to justify your view. However, I cannot believe that Real are anywhere close to matching any of their great sides.

I would also suggest that Barca are assisted by La Liga being relatively weak. It's not as if they have to play with full intensity each week like the Prem clubs do. I am not necessarily claiming that any English team is better than Barca, but it's easy to perform better in the likes of the CL when you only have about 6 tough league matches each season.

Some believe that last years Barca team were better. If it wasn't for poor officating, Chelsea would have knocked them out of the CL. Chelsea were the better team both home and away.

I honestly think that the Barca team of the last two years would have been picked off by a number of Italian sides from the late 80s / early 90s. There's no way that Messi would have been able to run through those Italian defences at will.