OT: Barcelona

Anyone watch the Barca game? .. just absolutely humiliated L'Hospitalet 9-0.

Even their kids can play better football than most teams in the PL !! (i know it was against a lesser opponent but they still look so technically sound).

Would love us to get hold of one or two of them

 

Aye saw that. Still some experience out there. Where does a team of l'Hospitalet start trying to counter a Xavi-Iniesta midfield.

It was the Copa del Rey wasnt it?

 

Yea it was aii .. well it was xavi, iniesta and fabregas at one point wasn't it .. you just cant play against them !

 

So much better to watch than the Chelsea/Spurs game.

Even L'Hospitalet, when they had the ball, looked quite good. Better then a lot of English teams. It is crazy how much better technically Spanish players are compared to English.

 

I watched both anyway .. i thought the spuds game quality as well though .. end to end.

Yea in the short time they had the ball they werent bad at all .. We need to find out what on earth spanish academy's do to un-earth some of the players they do!

 

I always seem to draw L'Hospitalet if I go Barca on Football Manager.

 

Agree, they seem to be miles ahead of the game

 

When there's so many of them at such a good standard I think it's more to do with how they coach them and bring the talent out of them than it is a case of 'unearthing' them

 

It’s not that I don’t agree with you but are you saying that we don’t have the right coaching and patience that that they do in Spain?

 

Cant say whether it's right or wrong but it's certainly different, over there (and a few other countries on the mainland) they're more concerned with gettin players comfortable with the ball, touch, passin, the more technical side of things if you like, where as even from a young age over here we seem to be more intent on winnin games than anything else. I do however think that that's changin

 

Definitely the right way to go, the Spanish team proves it.

First thing English academies need to do, is play on 7-a side pitches, instead of full size and get rid of the "win at all costs" mentality.

 

Yea good point .. then that way its really good for passing, movement, fitness, touch, reading the game quickly as well.

 

I'd like to think thats why I never made it as a professional. I was never the quickest which meant i couldn't outpace some players but I had the technical ability of a Zidane. Maybe if I lived abroad

 

Defo need to change the win at all costs mentality when it comes to junior football, not only does it create unnecessary pressure and take alot of the enjoyment out of playin for some but it also usually means the bigger stronger players get picked ahead of smaller, technically better players and too often in this country size takes precendent over skill when it comes to youth football. Also all football from under 11 is now small sided for the reasons statted by jonny, and i'm sure academies will incorporate small sided games into trainin sessions, as i'm sure the pro's do too

 

This, players like Messi might not even have made it as a pro in England because they arent physical enough. In Europe they dont even focus on physical training until your mid teens.

 

Any country where Peter Crouch is considered world class there is a clear problem.

 

anyone think it's got something to do with the 90minute per day restrictions on how much we can coach youngsters?

 

Well Messi did get turned down in Argentina didnt he .. Got told he is too small to be a pro and ended up getting scouted off Barca .. Suppose he has turned out OK.

 

Not quite, he had a growth hormone deficiency and none of the Argentinian clubs could afford his treatment so Barca snapped him up.

 

That would explain it .. just heard some commentator or pundit saying he was turned down.