11 - Ousmane Dembélé - V1

[soul24rage]

I think it would have been understandable to risk Dembele if he was the only one who could have provided the pace we needed from the bench. But we had Malcom as well (not great as Dembele but still useful) to provide something vs Lyon.

 

[serghei]

It was 2-1. Lyon only needed one goal, and we would be facing another humiliating CL fiasco. EV found himself in a very tough spot.

If Dembele recovers before the Man Utd games, no harm done. If not, then it will be a problem for us. There are no easy answers here. Maybe Malcom can deliver against United?

Yes, EV found himself in a very tough spot. Which is why he shouldn't have made a step back and tried to go defensive in the first place. He always does that. He always goes defensive when in front, trying to defend leads against teams which we can outplay while maintaining control of the game and continue to play on the front foot. It's one of his main weaknesses as a manager and probably what is going to get him burned this year in CL as well.

Trying to defend leads against smaller teams, while having a great attacking side which can play on the front foot is just not a good idea. You go defensive when you don't have a choice, as in the opponent pushes you back or is better than you. You don't do it by choice unless you are a Simeone or Mourinho wannabe.

So, the correct way to put it is not that EV found himself in a tough spot. He took a bad decisions to try to defend deeper and catch them on the break, put the team in a bad spot in the 2nd half, and then risked Dembele trying to repair the situation.

 

[Sorin]

Some posters around here will tell you that milk is black before criticizing anything about Valverde. You'd swear he's perfect, the best manager to have ever lived, better than Michels, Sacchi or Ferguson since even they made mistakes managing teams over the years.

 

[LordLichtenstein]

Some posters around here will tell you that milk is black before criticizing anything about Valverde. You'd swear he's perfect, the best manager to have ever lived, better than Michels, Sacchi or Ferguson since even they made mistakes managing teams over the years.

Personally, I don't subscribe to the notion of him being a bad manager. He has his flaws - just like all other managers. With that said, he arguably has the most difficult job in all of football, managing the world's best player(s). In my opinion he has done a great job; He won us La Liga and Copa del Rey last season, the former he almost went through the entire campaign unbeaten. Our defeat against Roma last season, was hardly his fault. Our XI should have been able to go throught, but our players let us down, not our manager.

You might disagree with some or most of his decisions, but you can't argue, that he doesn't get the job done. This season we are on course for yet another treble, and that is not something you do with a bad manager.

But hey, that is just my opinion.

 

[Sorin]

Personally, I don't subscribe to the notion of him being a bad manager. He has his flaws - just like all other managers. With that said, he arguably has the most difficult job in all of football, managing the world's best player(s). In my opinion he has done a great job; He won us La Liga and Copa del Rey last season, the former he almost went through the entire campaign unbeaten. Our defeat against Roma last season, was hardly his fault. Our XI should have been able to go throught, but our players let us down, not our manager.

You might disagree with some or most of his decisions, but you can't argue, that he doesn't get the job done. This season we are on course for yet another treble, and that is not something you do with a bad manager.

But hey, that is just my opinion.

Let's leave it at this because the only thing I agree from your post is that he's not a bad manager. Everything else I disagree with, no offence.

 

[Centauri B]

Yes, EV found himself in a very tough spot. Which is why he shouldn't have made a step back and tried to go defensive in the first place. He always does that. He always goes defensive when in front, trying to defend leads against teams which we can outplay while maintaining control of the game and continue to play on the front foot. It's one of his main weaknesses as a manager and probably what is going to get him burned this year in CL as well.

Trying to defend leads against smaller teams, while having a great attacking side which can play on the front foot is just not a good idea. You go defensive when you don't have a choice, as in the opponent pushes you back or is better than you. You don't do it by choice unless you are a Simeone or Mourinho wannabe.

So, the correct way to put it is not that EV found himself in a tough spot. He took a bad decisions to try to defend deeper and catch them on the break, put the team in a bad spot in the 2nd half, and then risked Dembele trying to repair the situation.

How do we know that it was his decision for the team to retreat in the 2nd half? I think it was probably down to our players being unable to maintain their intensity the whole 90 mns and Lyon taking some risks of their own. In the end, Lyon's risk-taking got the better of them.

 

[serghei]

How do we know that it was his decision for the team to retreat in the 2nd half? I think it was probably down to our players being unable to maintain their intensity the whole 90 mns and Lyon taking some risks of their own. In the end, Lyon's risk-taking got the better of them.

It happened exactly after half time. We simply switched strategy at half time, moving from possession oriented game plan to a reactive approach. Valverde likes to adapt to the scoreline, but in some cases it's better to keep playing on the front foot, especially against inferior sides like Lyon.

 

[Centauri B]

It happened exactly after half time. We simply switched strategy at half time, moving from possession oriented game plan to a reactive approach. Valverde likes to adapt to the scoreline, but in some cases it's better to keep playing on the front foot, especially against inferior sides like Lyon.

If this is true, then I agree. It doesn't suit us very much to sit back, especially at our home.

 

[serghei]

If this is true, then I agree. It doesn't suit us very much to sit back, especially at our home.

It doesn't suit us aganst Lyon. But if we play City at home and we're 2-0 up we'd be dumb to attack them. You adapt to the scoreline, but also to the opponent.

The tactic we used last night is perfect away in CL vs the likes of Liverpool, Juve, United.

 

[Centauri B]

It doesn't suit us aganst Lyon. But if we play City at home and we're 2-0 up we'd be dumb to attack them. You adapt to the scoreline, but also to the opponent.

The tactic we used last night is perfect away in CL vs the likes of Liverpool, Juve, United.

Most of the forum was having a meltdown when the line-up for last night's game was released. Irrational criticism for Valverde reaches ridiculous extremes at times on this forum.

 

[Havesaks]

It happened exactly after half time. We simply switched strategy at half time, moving from possession oriented game plan to a reactive approach. Valverde likes to adapt to the scoreline, but in some cases it's better to keep playing on the front foot, especially against inferior sides like Lyon.

Lyon-coach and players put effort in moving the ball closer to our game, and thats what the team talked about in lockeroom just before second half, as the coach told us after the match. You are speculating.

 

[serghei]

Lyon-coach and players put effort in moving the ball closer to our game, and thats what the team talked about in lockeroom just before second half, as the coach told us after the match. You are speculating.

Of course I am speculating.

So is everybody else around here. I admit I wasn't in the locker room in the half time of Barcelona - Lyon. Here, I admit I can be wrong and I am speculating.

 

[FCB1987]

Most of the forum was having a meltdown when the line-up for last night's game was released. Irrational criticism for Valverde reaches ridiculous extremes at times on this forum.

It was a shit lineup, Messi and Suarez just bailed us out though.

 

[Potroh]

Most of the forum was having a meltdown when the line-up for last night's game was released. Irrational criticism for Valverde reaches ridiculous extremes at times on this forum.

The line-up was a typical EV 4-4-2 often 4-5-1 that has little to do with any Barca-style and even less with attacking football.

- Messi more or less screwed up all free-kicks for two months or so, it's not Valverdes merit that this time Messi was more punctual.
- The second goal was the result of individual play by the only two attackers, who know each other quite well. Not Valverde's merit.
- The third goal was the result of an individual attempt by Suarez, who always tries that dribble in his awkward and clumsy way, but almost never succeeds. Exceptionally he did, after screwing up two much clearer chances. It's luck.
- The fourth goal doesn't even need to be mentioned, it was pure individual brilliance by Messi.

None of the goals have anything to do with any tactical move, or anything that has to do with the coach.
The coach was lucky because some of the exceptional players saved him and the team.

But during the first 15-20 minutes, the team was under strong pressure, could have conceded at least two goals easily, once again it's not EV's merit that luckily they did not.

So to sum it up, the result was anything but Valverde's merit, he did nothing but his usual thing to defend and leave the rest on Messi and Co.
Had he started with 4-3-3 or anything else, the result could have been the very same, because individual factors played in every goal scored.
All these can easily and simply depict that this time the coach had NOTHING to do with the favorable result...

 

[Ustari]

Yeah Valverde tactics have nothing to do with the win. Basically it was the players that won the game. . . Jeez