Originally Posted by
Kano
The simple fact is we moved the ball quicker at one point because we had pace across the team. Barcelona/Spain do not have so much but because of their technical precision above anyone else, the can afford not to. In the past few years all we have really had is Theo and a bunch of Xavi-lites who cannot replicate what they have done in Barca for years - nobody can, it's a one-off. Us slowing down was never Cesc's fault but a result of pace disappearing throughout the entire team over a few years, moulding into the new style of being midfielder heavy which has also seen the quality of our strikers slowly decrease across the years. It's no coincidence that in the same period we have also struggled to replicate the success we had in the late 90's to early 00's.