Who in the English team would start for Barca?

Who in the English team would start for Barca?

"You look at our senior side, we have some of the best players in the world. Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, Rooney, the list goes on. If they were in the Barcelona squad I'm sure all of them would start." - Jack Rodwell.

Gerrard -(hmmm maybe. I really rate him as one of the best but look at who he's up against)
Lampard - no
Terry - close call. Pique has really developed. Is he better than Terry? Toss up. Pique is getting old but still reliable and solid and inspirational when fit
Ferdinand - love him, but no probably not
Rooney - maybe at the expense of Pedro. Close call between him and Villa. I love Rooney so I will say Yes for Rooney as he is capable of some great things as we saw against City
Jack Rodwell (I'll include him in my summary) - gotta make the Everton team first before you can make Barca

Xavi > Gerrard

and Bothroyd for Villa. Oh and Green/Stockdale for Valdes

None.

/thread

Agree with LB being the only real area of weakness in Barca. Still, Cashley hasn't exactly been playing well this season...

Of those listed, I think only Rooney would be a chance - he's a very good player, certainly not worse than Villa, and once he got used to the way Barcelona play think he'd do very well with them.

The others aren't even close, especially if we're looking at their current selves. If you look at the quintet that Barcelona have in the middle of the park (Xavi, Iniesta, Seydou Keita, with Sergio Busquets and Mascherano playing a bit deeper in the middle of the park) Lampard and Gerrard would struggle to make the bench, let alone start.

Ferdinand from 7-8 years ago would have been close, but years have caught up with him now. Terry's been one of the most overrated players in the world for the past 8-10 years who's greatly benefited having the likes of Makalele and Essien in front of him for much of his club career. When he's actually called upon to do some defending (like when he's with England) he looks barely competent. Also he's not that good in the air defensively for a man his size.el grapadura2011-06-16 10:46:52

Don't really think it's a weakness - Abidal's a top player, it's just his role to be more defensive. He's actually critical to the shape that Barca play, as it's his responsibilty to make sure Barcelona backline doesn't get stretched too wide on the counterattacks, which is especially important considering that Dani Alves has a licence to bomb forward almost at will.

The weakness is that they don't have a player as good as Abidal to do this when he's absent - both Maxwell and Adriano were too weak defensively and this put Barcelona under much more pressure than usual when Abidal was absent with illness. I'm sure Barcelona would like to strengthen that area just to cover for Abidal, but would probably look for someone who's a strong defender first and foremost. This move could also effectively provide for centre-back cover, since Abidal's pretty good there too, so you could move him into the middle of the backline if Pique or Puyol were to be absent, and have the new left-back fill in for Abidal.el grapadura2011-06-15 22:40:44

They can have Clichy for �10m. Sorted.

Abidal is getting on too (31), which is pretty old for a FB (even a defensively minded one).

I clicked on this thread because I thought it would be a lot of pro- or anti- England bollocks, but it is probably one of the most thoughtfully discussed threads on the whole flipping forum.

Well played.

Why can't we get this sort of discussion about the local game?  Way too many numpties, that's why!

A. Cole isn't even the best left back in England. Bainsey all the way (totally unbiased of course) and he'd walk in to teh Barca team.
I could see Rooney in the Barca line-up playing just behind Messi and Villa. And I rate Joe Hart normally too. Wasn't at his best against Swiss last week but is by far the best English keeper and would push Valdes very hard.

Look. Nobody would walk into the Barca team. Not even the current starters. It's through years of hard work and a gradual understanding of the intricate system in place there that they earn a spot in the starting line up.

Talk of Rooney starting. Well yeah, but, no. Who would he push out? Villa? Why fix something that isn't broken? What would be his specific role in the team? Could he adapt to a very precise and exact football philosophy? How well would he blend with his new team mates?

Sorry Jack Rodwell but none of the current England team truly has what it takes to command a place at Barca, and they are indeed technically inferior as well.

Come on. Sure there are certain players in the Barca team that make them tick but you don't think that someone like Rooney could not adapt. Villa is only a recent acquisition, before that there was Imbrahimovic and Eto'o and Barca still won things, hell they averaged more goals per game in the CL pre-Villa. And Pique spent 4 years at Utd, one year on loan, and didn't exactly set the world on fire but cements himself in the first team first season back at Barca. Comparing him with Ferdinand, I would say Ferdinand is better in the air and one on one challenges and even with his recent injuries has at least as much pace as Pique. Pique may trump him as a ball playing CB but Ferdinand is not that bad.

Ibra never fit in well there and was shortly offloaded. Eto'o spent 5 years there and was very successful and played his role well. Big difference.

Villa may be a recent acquisition but he has spent years in the Spanish national team set up and their style of play is almost identical to that of Barca. No real need to adapt.

Can also add Henry to that list then. The point is that good players are adaptable and could fit into different systems/styles. Rooney could fit into Barca's system and be successful, potentially ahead of Pedro or Villa.

So then how many from the German team would start for Barca then? After all they're far better than the English. Same goes for Brazil, Argentina or Holland.

Think most people are just saying Rooney has the talent to potentially fit into the system. For example, I'd prefer Villa and Pedro over Rooney, but out of the England team, Rooney is the only one who I could possibly see being nearly as good as the Barca players. Even if I personally wouldn't have him in there. And Pique over Rio every single day of the week and twice on Saturdays, especially if we're basing this on current form.  

It is not like Barca have the perfect XI and there are no players better. They have the 3 best players in the world, according to the last Ballon d'Or, and add Biscuits to them and they set the tone for the team and Barca supplement them with talented players that could be from anywhere.

Well they provided 7 starters for Spain in the World Cup final which they won, crowning them the best team on earth. So i'd say they are pretty close to a perfect XI.

Obviously not close enough: Barcelona join race for Udinese's Sanchez

So they're still looking to improve and aren't content with resting on their laurels? Shock horror

Have you ever agreed with anyone on here?

Ok, we can agree that Barca are awesome. One of the greatest teams ever. They have awesome players, as I pointed out the 3 best players in the last Ballon d'Or. Yet it seems you cannot envisage any English players being good enough for Barca and I can.

I can envisage English players being good enough for the Barca squad, but no i cannot envisage any being good enough to command a starting spot.

Another thing that hasn't been factored in yet, English players traditionally struggle in foreign leagues.

"Another thing that hasn't been factored in yet, English players traditionally struggle in foreign leagues"

as players or with the lifestyle?

Keegan,Woodcock,Wilkins,Platt,Lineker,Beckham,Hoddle,
Waddle,Hitchens seemed to adjust easily enough...

Greaves,Baker,Gascoigne may have struggled with the lifestyle,but football wise they were easily good enough.
I think the "can't play overseas" argument is usually a lazy generalisation...