Barça's Transfers and Rumors

[JamDav1982]

Rafinha was nothing special at all with the B team, the fact that one of his best assets was scoring headers from set pieces (!) shows that he went to Celta without that much quality. He's obviously not some future Ballon D'or prodigy now but still his development has been a complete turnaround.

The others weren't 180 degree turnarounds but he handled them well. Mallo was struggling after his return from injury but Lucho helped put him back on track. Nolito also improved as a player and looks comfortable under Lucho, but it wasn't a radical improvement.

I'm not saying that bringing him in would be a good thing, just that he wouldn't come with the conflict that Tata has (conflict of style, little to no control of players) and that he has some qualities. I reiterate that he should be down on the list of priority coaches.

Rafinha was easily one of the best players in the b team last season and had out grown it. With many big clubs linked to trying to sign him.

He has developed this season but his ability has not come from nowhere and shown any complete turn around in his career.

In Luchos two jobs out with Barca B team he has done average at best with the squads he has had. That puts me off.

 

[DonAndres]

He might gel with the squad and system, but can he make it be as efficient and effective as it was before? He might be a better player developer, but it is easier to develop young players at Celta without the pressure of needing to win every single game, than it is at Barcelona where one loss and you get hammered by the press and the fans.

Going with the familiar coach with a familiar style without achieving the same level as before might not be better than keeping the current coach and allowing him to get the players he needs to play the way he wants.

In no way is he the ideal, but I think it's smarter to bring him than keep Tata. Realistically, Tata won't get to revolutionize the squad in his image/style at all. He'll probably just get a few more quality players for reinforcement and continue on with players like Xavi going against him, Messi not being under his authority, and no discipline at all in general.

Lucho doesn't have much authority either but he'd get more support than a guy who lost the backing of both board and players in what is now a toxic tenure. Any ideas he had before are now not supported by anyone in the club, so there will not be any ideal situation with Tata. Lucho is a last-gasp option though, we should put a lot more effort into other coaches than taking the easy way out with him.

 

[mazp]

Much rather get Valverde,then Lucho. Can this day get any worse,Madrid in the final, and Lucho as our next coach.

 

[Sumlit]

In no way is he the ideal, but I think it's smarter to bring him than keep Tata. Realistically, Tata won't get to revolutionize the squad in his image/style at all. He'll probably just get a few more quality players for reinforcement and continue on with players like Xavi going against him, Messi not being under his authority, and no discipline at all in general.

Lucho doesn't have much authority either but he'd get more support than a guy who lost the backing of both board and players in what is now a toxic tenure. Any ideas he had before are now not supported by anyone in the club, so there will not be any ideal situation with Tata. Lucho is a last-gasp option though, we should put a lot more effort into other coaches than taking the easy way out with him.

I guess we'll see if Tata has truly lost the team. He strikes me as the type of guy where if this is truly the situation, he'd willingly step down from the team.

Lucho for us might be a last-gasp option, but it's looking like to me that he might very well be THE option for the board, just like it almost was last season before Tata entered the picture. If that's the case, you might be right about the familiarity with the figure and the style, but I have strong doubts whether he'd be an improvement at all over Martino and his style that does not fit the current players.

 

[Alarcón]

Given the fact that Celta Vigo were almost relegated last season, Lucho has done reasonably well. In the end, the board and sports director have to decide which coach they will sign, they have to bring in several coaches who are considered for the job and make them present their project, what they would do with the team etc. Only then could they really evaluate which coach is the best. But, to be frank, I don't think they know enough about football.

 

[JamDav1982]

Given the fact that Celta Vigo were almost relegated last season, Lucho has done reasonably well. In the end, the board and sports director have to decide which coach they will sign, they have to bring in several coaches who are considered for the job and make them present their project, what they would do with the team etc. Only then could they really evaluate which coach is the best. But, to be frank, I don't think they know enough about football.

Despite the fact they were almost relegated last season I still think they have a better squad than all those below them and some of the teams above them and he has not got anything special out that squad yet.

It may be he is in process of building something who knows but as of yet he has not done anything special or even better than average for me.

 

[mazp]

The club can't gamble on managers anymore.

 

[Flavia]

The club can't gamble on managers anymore.

It's Zubi in charge, he'll opt for the safest choice. That would be Lucho.

 

[mazp]

It's Zubi in charge, he'll opt for the safest choice. That would be Lucho.

Unfortunately he will be. I guess Zubi didn't watch his brief stint at Roma then. A club with pressure...

 

[JamDav1982]

Unfortunately he will be. I guess Zubi didn't watch his brief stint at Roma then. A club with pressure...

Look at his signings for Roma as well, he massively misjudged the required standard and I think there is only Pjanic at the club this season that he signed.

 

[Kohe321]

Hey, if getting Lucho means that we actually start playing to our players strengths instead of passing to the wings and crossing 100 times per game, I'm in. The way we've been playing the last few weeks we seem completely lost and without any tactical coherence, and Messi being used as Peter Crouch is getting more and more painful to watch.

 

[darthvader7888]

we should put a lot more effort into other coaches than taking the easy way out with him.

Agreed.

 

[Frejsgodes]

In (permanent first team or as a member of b team):

Marco Reus
Marc-André ter Stegen
Aymeric Laporte
Rafinha
Jordi Masip
Right back (Cuadrado, Carrasco, Fernandes, Pereira)
Adama Traore
Sergi Samper

Out:

Alexis Sanchez
Victor Valdés
Christian Tello
Manuel Pinto
Alex Song
Dani Alves
Ibrahim Affelay (no influence on transfers)
JDS (no influence on transfers)

 

[Kohe321]

Lucho is a last-gasp option though, we should put a lot more effort into other coaches than taking the easy way out with him.

Well I agree. But the question is, if not Lucho then who? Barcelona has got to be one of the most difficult and fickle clubs to be a manager at, and also the most difficult to FIND a new manager for. The culture surrounding the club and the pressure around how the team is playing, let alone if they are winning or not, and how every move gets analyzed and critiqued. It's not easy to find someone who can handle it. We struck gold with the Pep and Tito duo, and finding a new "winning formula" might prove to be really hard.

I'd like Klopp or Rodgers, but neither is going to happen. It seems to me that we either have to go with a relative small name like Luis Enrique, or gamble even more and promote someone from our own system, because really, what big name coaches are available that would suit us right now?

One thing is certain, we can't have yet another coach whose football philosophy is a complete mismatch with ours. Like Valverde for example...

Edit: fixed the text a little to make it readable without getting an epileptic seizure.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Alexis stats like Cesc's don't tell the full story! When you look at them they seem pretty impressive. HOWEVER when you watch them over a season and in big matches ESPECIALLY the Champions League both tend to disappear at worst or are completely ineffective at best.

A lot of people here would agree with me. Please check assists and goals for Cesc and Alexis in the CL for the past 3 seasons.

I don't really understand the argument that because player X scores against small teams, player X is bad. Small teams make up the vast majority of our fixtures, and someone needs to score against them, so why are those goals automatically devalued? Not to mention Alexis has scored in a 3-2 win against Sevilla, assisted an only goal against Celtic, scored in the 2-1 win against Real, scored the only goal against Espanyol, assisted in the 2-1 win against Villarreal, and got an assist in the 2-1 win against Bilbao. Not a Messi-like record, obviously, worse than Neymar as well, but then you look at Pedro, whose first goal/assist in a tight game was in the 2-1 win against Bilbao and perhaps the hat trick against Getafe, all the others were walkovers. And another thing, the whole "they seem impressive until you look," why don't our other players rack up the goals against small teams too? If they can regularly score against big teams, why not small ones?