Barcelona Have Acted Disgracefully, and We Should Ignore Them

Since the Cesc Fabregas transfer saga broke, FC Barcelona have been utterly disrespectful to Arsenal and despicable.

When Fabregas allegedly told Arsene Wenger he wanted to leave for FC Barcelona, he said he wanted his future sorted before the World Cup. In an effort to drive down his price, Joan Laporta encouraged him to go public with his alleged desire to leave Arsenal. Technically, Laporta having this sort of contact while Fabregas is under contract at Arsenal is tapping up, which Barcelona have done throughout this whole saga. Barcelona then made an insultingly low bid of £29 million. They claimed that they would pay no more, because Fabregas was "stolen" from them by Arsenal and developed at Barcelona.
2 points about that: 1. It was well within FIFA rules for Arsenal to sign him when he was 16. He had no contract at Barcelona, and was worried that he wouldn't play. 2: Barcelona are only doing this because he became an excellent player. It's like Xavi is claiming Fran Merida has Barca DNA.

Despite Arsenal being clear about their refusal to enter negotiations, Barcelona continued their underhand approach to our captain. They went to the press claiming they had agreed personal terms. Every day it seemed a press release would be on the official website claiming the deal would be done. Barcelona's players went to the press talking about Barca DNA and what not. Finally, yesterday, during the Spanish celebration, Pique and Puyol forced a Barca shirt on Cesc. To be fair to Cesc he never enetered into bullshit discussion. He wanted his teammates to shut up. He said how great Arsenal and Arsene Wenger are. And he took the Barca shirt off. It's became painfully clear what Barca want: They want Cesc as a trophy, and they want to bully there way to get him because they are in serious debt.

Last week they made a loan for €150 m. According to this article, they are in €392m of debt. Joan Laporta and Sandro Rosell knew this. However, instead of saying to Cesc that they couldn't afford him, but they could in the future, they used the press to destablilze Cesc at the club. My belief is that someone at Barca told Puyol and Pique to put the shirt on him. Why else would it be on their official site? Despite saying they would respect Arsenal, they haven't at all. They've gone to the press, complained that the press drove the price up and have tried to bully their way to buying Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal have repeatedly said he is not for sale; Arsene Wenger refused to meet with Sandro Rosell.

My advice to fellow fans is to ignore everything about Cesc unless it comes from Cesc himself or Arsenal. And I hope very much that Arsenal report Barcelona for tapping up and break off relations with Barcelona. If Cesc puts in a transfer request, he doesn't have to be sold to Barcelona. He could always be sold to Real Madrid, which would be Barcelona's (Or the Catalan Real Madrid) worst nightmare.

Samir Nasri can replace Cesc Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas came off against Burnely with a tight hamstring, and Arsene Wenger might take a gamble to play him against Porto. Personally I think he will be on the bench like he was against Aston Villa.
Update: Cesc Fabregas is out for the game against Porto, Arsene Wenger confirmed today.

Samir Nasri stepped into his role after he went off against Burnley, and it was Nasri who set up Cesc's goal. Nasri can step into that role again Tuesday night against Porto. Nasri has the best control and passing after Fabregas. Also, the shift in Arsenal's formation can also help Nasri come into that role.
Cesc Fabregas opens the scoring against Burnley after a sparking Samir Nasri chip.


As noted in an earlier article, Arsenal's formation has changed. Instead of one deeper player and two players going forward, Fabregas is now the highest playing midfielder midfielder with Song and Diaby deeper lying, Song deeper on the right hand side, which has allowed Eboue or Sagna to get forward as displayed against Sunderland and Burnley. Diaby will attack more than Song, but is deep enough to cover for the full backs on counter attacks. With Nasri being better defensively than Tomas Rosicky, he played in the Diaby role on Saturday, but move to Fabregas' role after Diaby replaced Fabregas. Fabregas' new role is playing as an attacking midfielder, sometimes appearing right off Bendtner as a ponta da lança in what was almost a 4-2-4, but better described as a 4-2-Fabregas-3. Nasri, who is a player who has played in that role before, off the striker, for Arsenal, Marseille and France. With his passing and control skills he is the obvious choice to replace Fabregas, and also has the creativity to support Bendtner. Arshavin, who has returned, is the favourite for the left wing position, and with Eboue and Walcott impressing they can also play on the right, along with Tomas Rosicky. At least Porto, and Hull City if Fabrgas is out for that long, Arsenal should play a 4-2-Nasri-3.

Shift in the Formation

After the Man United and Chelsea games, where Arsenal conceded 3 of the 5 goals on counter attacks, Arsene Wenger made a slight tactical shift in the 4-3-3 formation. 2 of the midfielders, Diaby and Song against Liverpool, and Ramsey and Song against Sunderland now playing a deeper role, with Fabregas playing further forward.

by Guardian Chalkboards
Diaby dropped back against Liverpool



The formation is now basically a 4-2-3-1, or a 4-2-1-3, with Fabregas in the hole. That is a role that he didn't play well in towards the end of last year, but this year he has developed into a more rounded player, as Arsene Wenger remarked:

He is a complete midfielder.

"He has become a complete midfielder because he can defend now, he has kept his vision and I believe he has added some physical power to his game.

"If you compare Fabregas two years ago and today, physically they are completely different.

Song still remains the slightly deeper player, but has shifted to the right of the midfield, which gives the full back leeway to get forward, as Eboue did last Saturday. At times it has appeared that Fabregas is playing as a striker, or at least a ponta da lança, and as the front line is missing creativity with no Van Persie or Arshavin, Fabrgas playing that high can effective.

by Guardian Chalkboards

Seen here, Fabregas is playing much higher than Song against Sunderland, almost as a striker.