With regard to the interview, Pique still seems mature in interviews, but sadly he just did not seem so mature all throughout the season. The useless tweets? The commercials and public social events? Football should come first. I don't care what the hell he does with his life as long as he plays well. He has stopped playing well. Hopefully he regains his form, because in 2010 he was imo the best central defender in the entire world at only 22/23 (!) and this year he wouldn't even make my top 5. The thing that did reassure me though was that he was able to admit sorta that he was not at his best, hopefully next step is to improve on that.

Hopefully soon we see this Pique again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX8z2Pfrwss

Lol, "let them have their 'power shift.' That's another title that they've got." Haha, they can put it on their almost empty trophy case next to the "puto jefe" and "puto amo" awards. Idk, Pique's response just reminded me a little of Pep's last year when he snapped at Porquenho.

Funny how desperate people are to start talk of the end of an era. Unfortunately, it seems even Barca fans are keen to do it, even on this forum. Are we not allowed to have one bad season? Was this even a bad season? We can win possibly four out of six titles, yes they are smaller titles, but luck, injuries and referees were not on our side this year. I would say that this is more of a transition season than a failed season. We are transitioning to a new phase of the Guardiola era, where Tito will be able to learn from Pep's past mistakes and fix the few holes in our incredible ship. Next year we will hopefully have plenty of fresh new faces, and Alexis, Cesc, Thiago and Cuenca will be in their second season, and more accustomed to our style. We will learn new ways of breaking buses, and maybe not trying to walk the ball in every time.

Yes, Madrid are getting better and better. Have they been better than us at times? Yes. Do they deserve the title? Maybe. But are they the superior team? No. What we need to do is sign dangerous forwards, because Ronaldo-Benzema-Higuain/Di Maria is currently the best forward line in football. We have Messi and ...? Just remember, after an average 07/08 year we had an incredible 08/09 year. After an average 09/10 year we had an incredible 10/11 year. So after the disappointments of this season, we can expect the genius to return again.

Aguero, I agree 110%. He is amazing, and may even score 30-40 goals a season.

On Silva.... I would rather buy Hummels or Vertonghen. Have we not learned our lesson from buying old players for mega millions?

On your lineup... Fabregas in the midfield is crazy, maybe for when Xavi sits out, but Busquets HAS to start. He is irreplaceable, just after Messi. Abidal will probably not be here next season unfortunately, and if he is, I still think we should purchase a new left back.

I haven't heard it but I already knew it for a couple months. A liver transplant? That is huge man. It would be difficult and frankly very irresponsible for him to ever play again, at least at a professional level in the world's best team. It is very, very likely that he will never make a full recovery. I think Eric should just enjoy the rest of his life. He deserves it.

Then again, people said he wouldn't recover after his injury last season, and yet he was fantastic the first half of this season. People said Puyol wouldn't ever be the same after being out for 7+ months, but he has been fantastic this season. Miracles happen, especially with such brave and stronghearted soldiers like these. However, I really do not think Abidal will be with us when we start our next season.

Do we need 23 world class players in our squad? No, no team in the world will. It is not like Botia would not start big games because he sucks. It is because he is young. I believe Botia is the next Pique (the good Pique, of 2010). He is already better and more experienced than Muniesa and Bartra, both of whom are being promoted next year, so your argument is invalid, because Pep and Tito obviously think that young, yet still slightly unreliable players like these have a place in the first team.

Just because he isn't a world beater doesn't mean we don't need him. Xavi and Puyol are only getting older, and (at least for Puyol) they can no longer play 60 games a year. We only have one defender on the bench atm (Mascherano), so we need two more centerbacks to have 5 - a centerback (vertonghen?) and Botia (he is so talented and young, and only 3 mil, so not signing him would be frankly idiotic). Sprinkle in a couple youth. Then we can rest Puyol and co for games against minnows, keeping them fresh for CL and such.

I would love for Eto'o to return. If it was feasible I would accept him in a heartbeat. Much more preferred for me than Drogba. He is a striker, as pure as can be. Not like our millions of wingers and midfielders and winger-midfield hybrids that we fill up our front line with and expect to score goals. Eto'o scores goals.

However, I think he is way too expensive at 20 million euros. Plus imagine his wages.

I agree with your statement that the youngsters are not world beaters. But is anyone expecting them to be? I don't know about you, but I consider Cuenca's contributions this season to be fantastic for a 3rd division player last season, and Tello too had his moments. Botia is not the solution, but PART of the solution. We also need to sign a left back and an experienced centerback. No worries, Botia would stay very far away from CL games and Clasicos. But he could still rest players in smaller games. Puyol is getting to the age where we cannot start him every game that he is fit, just because he is able to play. His role may become to start mostly only in important games. Botia would add depth though. Besides, he would be like 5th choice anyway, so...

My opinion: Sign Alba, Vertonghen, and Botia. Maybe Hummels instead of Vertonghen.

I also think that Bale and T.Silva are unnecessary.

Completely agree of Jan Vertonghen. He's perfect! Relatively cheap, perfect age (not too old, but not too young to need a couple seasons of growth), raised with Ajax's similar system, technical, fantastic long passer, attack-minded, and versatile. He can play left back, and be the next Abidal in terms of being a defensive minded left back that still delivers the goods in attack. Alba + Alves would be fantastic, but since both are very attacking we would get screwed on the counterattack, having both Vertonghen and Alba on the bench means we have options, like Abidal and Adriano this year. In the end, my verdict for the defense is Alba, Vertonghen, and Botia. Also some promotions are in order.

Hopefully the ball doesn't ever fall back down to earth. Someone will die. Unless we get Messi to stand under it and settle it.

Ronaldo-Van Persie-Messi
Yaya-Busquets-Iniesta
Marcelo-Mascherano-Puyol-Alves
Cech

Coach: Bielsa

Honorable mentions: Aguero, Cavani, Rooney, Falcao; Ozil, Silva, Xavi; Kompany

Remember, this is based on performance THIS SEASON, not on the best 11 players in the world. Otherwise Barca would sweep the board. Tbh many Barca players did not have their very best seasons. Xavi, despite his incredible goalscoring, was not as consistent and decisive as in prior seasons. Iniesta was fantastic at times. Dani Alves was not at his usual best. Pique was horrible. Valdes was horrible. Pedro lost form, and poor Villa got injured. Poor Abidal, god bless him, but he missed the crucial finale to the season. Honestly if it was not for Messi and Mascherano, I have no idea where we would be this season. God bless our Argentines.