I felt like it was a bit of both (players and manager). The manager chose the wrong lineup and failed to make changes after seeing the pattern of the match. At the same time Coutinho and Suarez had 2 pretty simple chances to score. Mats couldn't save a word document let alone a shot on goal. All the defence played extremely poorly. Also as highlighted in the video there were times where players just weren't brave in making the right choices. Rakitic was especially poor with his decision making. Then having Suarez and Messi up front not doing much pressing was a poor decision. Suarez should have been subbed off for another midfielder, instead he played the full match.I agree with everything said regarding Arthur... I was fuming for much of the second half knowning that he didn't start him, only to bring him on in the 75th minute...
That night was worse than the Bayern one for me(and I guess for most of the fans), so many things to be said, the whole team bottled it, it's like they were expecting this to happen, but Valverde is as much guilty as everyone on the pitch. I still remember his face gestures in all these games, no emotion, no nothing. Take someone like Conte for example, he wouldn't put up with that kinda shit. He should've jumped onto the pitch and shout at these twats to wake them up but no.. He just stood like you'd have the option to in a football manager game, just sim the match and do nothing else, since the game will still play out.
Yeah, it was poor display from everyone.. Suarez has been protected for quite some time in all those disastruous European nights, but truth is we also didnt have a reliable subtitute for him. Another midfielder would've surely helpd with keeping the ball and pressing atleast. Dont know if I should mention Dembele's miss from the first game(which I love to everytime I have the chance). Had we won the first leg 4-0 it could've been a different story I feel... Spurs in the final would've been good for us.I felt like it was a bit of both (players and manager). The manager chose the wrong lineup and failed to make changes after seeing the pattern of the match. At the same time Coutinho and Suarez had 2 pretty simple chances to score. Mats couldn't save a word document let alone a shot on goal. All the defence played extremely poorly. Also as highlighted in the video there were times where players just weren't brave in making the right choices. Rakitic was especially poor with his decision making. Then having Suarez and Messi up front not doing much pressing was a poor decision. Suarez should have been subbed off for another midfielder, instead he played the full match.
I agree with everything said regarding Arthur... I was fuming for much of the second half knowning that he didn't start him, only to bring him on in the 75th minute...
That night was worse than the Bayern one for me(and I guess for most of the fans), so many things to be said, the whole team bottled it, it's like they were expecting this to happen, but Valverde is as much guilty as everyone on the pitch. I still remember his face gestures in all these games, no emotion, no nothing. Take someone like Conte for example, he wouldn't put up with that kinda shit. He should've jumped onto the pitch and shout at these twats to wake them up but no.. He just stood like you'd have the option to in a football manager game, just sim the match and do nothing else, since the game will still play out.
And rakitic just won europa league with sevilla(I have to admit, this was the player whom I hated the most and our fanbase was really annoying and over the top with their hype for him)
A few years ago, during Valverde when fans whined that EV doesn't know what he is doing and isn't playing gems Arthur, Malcom, Alena, Puig, Semedo, some of us said that Arthur will play at Genoa or similar teams in a few years.
He is currently loaned to Fiorentina, 8th placed team from the last season.
In 1-2 years he'll be loaned/sold to Sassuolo, Empoli, Verona.
That's the natural progress of things.
Anyway, his career is really strange.
Touted here to be the 2nd best young midfielder in the world.
Fast forward a few years later and we have seen a player who had 2 periods lasting for 2-3 Months when he was in a good form (also won a Copa with Brasil).
Apart from those 2 short 2-months spells, his career mostly looked like this:
1. starts a season fat and without stamina
2. he needs 2-3 Months to get into shape
3. he gets into shape, plays well for 3 Months, but then gets exhausted due to playing for 3 Months in a row (or gets injured)
4. then he doesn't play for a few Months
5. when he returns, he is even slower, fatter than before and with a weaker stamina. And his play is very rusty
6. when he finally gets into a form, he gets injured and sidelined again
7. in the meantime, off the field he also does stupid things like snowboarding, driving scooter and recording himself, getting drunk etc
In 5 seasons in Europe, he offered 6-8 Months of good football.
Barca fans dreamt of a shiny future with Frenkie-Arthur duo dominating the world like Xavi-Iniesta.
Also, our fans wanted to get rid of Rakitic for this guy (Arthur).
Rakitic was apparently the reason for our humiliations in Europe. (But look at where are we today, lol, we can't make it out of a group stage in a CL).
Rakitic, who was never injured, always played for 90 minutes, always being the most used Barca's player under Lucho and EV.
Arthur is another example of how success in football is way more than a few shiny passes and nice movement.
He was a player with a horrible professionalism, bad physical attributes and being very injury prone.
Btw, where is Riki Puig, another guy with shiny passes and nothing else, who can't play football anywhere except at Barca?
Conte would've achieved the same things here with that squad if not more.Stfu
Conte has the worst European record out of any "top coach" by far
The Anfield loss had nothing to do with Arthur. We lost because of the following reasons:Arthur has turned out to be crap. He had a particular useful skill that should have been deployed by Valverde in the game for example against Liverpool at Anfield. In that game Rakitic shit the bed 3 times, 2 of those directly lead to goals. He was absolutely abysmal. We were crying out for a midfielder that could resist the press, put themselves in useful positions and recycle the ball quicker to stop pressure being built but we didn't have one on the pitch and we got severely battered because of it.
135m+ coutinho also missed an easy chance, a chance set up by WOAT Messi.
The job of a manager is to utilise the squad in the best possible way. Arthur being a crap player and only useful in certain circumstances doesn't change that. Countless players over the years aren't up to scratch for their team but they serve a purpose and are used for the limited skills they do have.
Some of the points in this clip are over the top but there's a few important ones that illustrate exactly how much Rakitic fucked up:
Doesn't mean Arthur is a better player than him, Rakitic is levels above and has had a great career. Arthur just would have been more useful than a walking scarecrow on the pitch.