[B]10 hard questions about the future of FC Barcelona[/B]

[The Unsackable]

1. Is it too early to push "Panic button?
2. Does the board have any Plan?
3. Are we deluding ourselves with "Tiki-taka" expectations (maybe it was just period in time when circumstances like Pep & La Masia allowed it)?
4. Can some "damage controll" drasticall actions stop this crisis from harming us on long term?
5. Is it time for us to think about long term manager (decade or more)?
6. System we had is obviosly broken-is it time 4 new one or 4 reboot?
7. Can we somehow compensate short term decline 4 long term healthy stability and domination?
8. Can come sort of "decision making filter and responsibility & punishment system" be installed in the board?
9. How to create best players scouting sector?
10. Financial situation: should we concentrate on saving and debt reduction or keep on spending like never before?

 

[Marshall D Teach]

I'm just going to comment on the tiki taka thing, yes it is delusional to expect 2011 style tiki taka but I don't think that's what anyone sane is expecting. We can still do much better than the boring slow defensive shitshow Valverde gives us.

 

[The Unsackable]

I believe many fans have some "Tiki-taka" idea in their mind as some form of expectation (maybe redundant remains of former system or firm belief that "it is our style").

What angers me the most is chaotic, predictable, random "style of game" (read: "lack of ony system or concrete Idea).

We lost games before but this huge lack of controll is painfull 2 watch...

 

[RIZALDINHO]

i would like us to play tiki-taka again but i don't think we will ever have players we need to play tiki-taka again and also we don't have a good future with valverde as manager and bartomeu as president.

 

[LABarcaFan]

Hey guys. Forget about that tiki-taka. Back then we had the right players to play that system. Pique, Puyol, Busqets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi were all younger and trained to that from La Masia. Now, they are all 31-33 y.o. or retired. That Guardiola system will never come back, even if he returns to Barcelona in the next 2 years. There is no more technically gifted individuals who can play in that system. Look at Pep's Manchester City team. They are 25 points behind Liverpool and have not win any CL since he took over. Pep was very, very lucky that he became a manager of Barcelona, when all above mentioned players were in their prime. He is not that good as a coach, as many of you think.

We need to go different direction.

First: We need to have new board with people, who are not interested in the club revenue more than its success as a football team.
Second: We need to hire professionals in our scouting department who will be able to find the right players for the system.
Third: There has to be a clear plan for the future and its priorities.

 

[serghei]

Pep had Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, Busquets. True. He wouldn't have done what he did without those players. And those players wouldn't have dominated the world as much as they did without Guardiola.

The order of importance inside that team for me, for the way we played, in terms of single pieces was 1) Pep, 2) Xavi, 3) Messi.

 

[Messigician]

Pep had Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, Busquets. True. He wouldn't have done what he did without those players. And those players wouldn't have dominated the world as much as they did without Guardiola.

The order of importance inside that team for me, for the way we played, in terms of single pieces was 1) Pep, 2) Xavi, 3) Messi.

Arguably we would have done even better without Pep.
There's an argument to be made withthe players he had failed to meet expectations during the post ibra years.

 

[serghei]

Arguably we would have done even better without Pep.
There's an argument to be made withthe players he had failed to meet expectations during the post ibra years.

No. Pep's 3 year cycle between 2009 - 2011 gave us something incredible which will never be repeated probably:

- 3/3 La Ligas and 2/3 CLs (unmatched record, just like Zidane's 1 La Liga and 3 CL)
- Incredible football which made us be called the greatest team ever
- Absolute humiliations vs Madrid, both home and away. 5-0 and 6-2 were epic performances we'll probably never repeat in our lifetime (not the score as much as the performances and the feeling of toying with your arch-rival)
- Got to see a club as huge as Madrid celebrate winning a Copa del Rey like a Champions League (imagine the mental impact we had on them)
- Truest to our DNA we've ever been (at one point about 75% of the team was La Masia based: Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Busi, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro - that's unheard of at this level, imagine building a team as great as that almost entirely with your own graduates).


There's no bettering that, except if we build a super-team containing some of the best players of all time in their position, which most happen to be La Masia players, who manages to win 3 consecutive CL - La Liga doubles (including a treble), while smashing Madrid to pieces in the process.

Good luck reaching that level.

 

[KingLeo10]

No. Pep's 3 year cycle between 2009 - 2011 gave us something incredible which will never be repeated probably:

- 3/3 La Ligas and 2/3 CLs (unmatched record, just like Zidane's 1 La Liga and 3 CL)
- Incredible football which made us be called the greatest team ever
- Absolute humiliations vs Madrid, both home and away. 5-0 and 6-2 were epic performances we'll probably never repeat in our lifetime (not the score as much as the performances and the feeling of toying with your arch-rival)
- Got to see a club as huge as Madrid celebrate winning a Copa del Rey like a Champions League (imagine the mental impact we had on them)
- Truest to our DNA we've ever been (at one point about 75% of the team was La Masia based: Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Busi, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro - that's unheard of at this level, imagine building a team as great as that almost entirely with your own graduates).


There's no bettering that, except if we build a super-team containing some of the best players of all time in their position, which most happen to be La Masia players, who manages to win 3 consecutive CL - La Liga doubles (including a treble), while smashing Madrid to pieces in the process.

Good luck reaching that level.

I'll also add destructions of other top European teams. United 2009 was one of the strongest CL teams, especially compared to the cupcakes around right now among the European 'elite'. Destroyed United again in 2011. Were beating Bayern 4-0 in 45 mins at the Camp Nou. Destroyed Arsenal before they became a (complete) joke. Owned RM in their stadium in the CL semi-final.

Also destroyed Inter (we beat them 2 times and drew once in 4 games. It just so happened that they got lucky).

Chelsea were the only big team who had our number tbh.

 

[serghei]

I'll also add destructions of other top European teams. United 2009 was one of the strongest CL teams, especially compared to the cupcakes around right now among the European 'elite'. Destroyed United again in 2011. Were beating Bayern 4-0 in 45 mins at the Camp Nou. Destroyed Arsenal before they became a (complete) joke. Owned RM in their stadium in the CL semi-final.

Also destroyed Inter (we beat them 2 times and drew once in 4 games. It just so happened that they got lucky).

Chelsea were the only big team who had our number tbh.

Chelsea and Inter gave us a game back in 2009 and 2010, really strong defensive teams with match winners up front like Drogba, Eto'o, Milito, Sneijder, Lampard. Like superior versions of Atletico with better players in all departments. One time we got lucky, the other time we got unlucky. If we had Madrid's luck of Inter having some Karius or Ulreich clone in their goal instead of an inspired Julio Caesar in 2010, we would've went 3/3 CLs.

 

[El Gato]

Why the fuck is a 6 month thread full of vagueness being revived? I know this LaBarca dude is a bit slow, but come on, why reply?

 

[LABarcaFan]

Pep had Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, Busquets. True. He wouldn't have done what he did without those players. And those players wouldn't have dominated the world as much as they did without Guardiola.

The order of importance inside that team for me, for the way we played, in terms of single pieces was 1) Pep, 2) Xavi, 3) Messi.

There is no order of importance in that team. They all were equally important, but without Messi in his prime, Pep wouldn't be able to achieve whatever he did.
Trust me. He is not that good as a coach as many think. He was just lucky to take over a team built from very talented La Masia products playing at the same time.

It is the similar situation to Bulgaria's 1994 World Cup success. The coach was lucky to have a team with the most talented players, who were playing at a top European teams. After they were done as a players, the same coach could not achieve anything at all till these days. It was just that Golden Generation playing together, same as Pep's Barcelona team.