xavi_the_Boss
New member
Make us play great Football again would be a start.
Barcilliant
Senior Member
Going by his comments he probably knows what we need. Bad news is he's inherited a squad that has a lot of players that don't fit his philosophy and he has to spend a lot of time and money to get it right.
What is his philosophy?
xXKonan
Senior Member
Attacking/Possession style. Here's his quotes from his conference on the subject.
V: "Barça's style is team play built around midfielders and playing from the inside."
V: "We will adapt to all situations. Whatever is demanded. We will control the play and command."
V: "We can't be static. If we don't go up in play then we will go down."
V: "Don't rely on MSN too much? Barça is about team work and combination of players. More focus is needed on defense."
V: "MSN carries weight in this team but there should be more team work than just relying on them."
V: "The fans know the style. I know it and I will adapt but my idea is to go even deeper with this style."
V: "I will continue progressing our style. We have a great style. We have GREAT players - Leo Messi and Iniesta."
V: "I want to create a team spirit that drives us. Be together in the good and bad moments. I want to excite the fans."
From his quotes you get the picture on what he wants to do and help bring back what this team had been missing for awhile now. with the Midfielders we got now, we won't be able to effectively play what he's thinking.
So yeah it's going to be a long summer of trying to get it right and I hope Barto and Robert give him the players he needs.
putogusiluz8
The Pale One
I like that he mentions improving our Defense. A defensively sound Barca is a consistent Barca team. Despite the 6-1 PSG, Barca has never been comfortable coming from behind. We get too anxious it fucks up our mojo when we're down, especially the deficits we've had to face this season.
xXKonan
Senior Member
With his reputation and what we have seen over the years with Valverde, He will likely live up to his word. Obviously the teams he managed aren't the same size in magnitude as Barca are.
But give him guys like Stegen Alba-Umtiti-Pique Iniesta-Busi and MSN+ and Options like Roberto and Rakitic and the other players he keeps+Plus the ones he brings in himself along with mixing in Barca B players, I think we will see a totally different and much more effective team that has been missing for so long.
But we will just have to wait and see how the players respond on the field and if he can keep all the egos in check.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Hope we actually give him a good RB and a good midfielder or two.
putogusiluz8
The Pale One
Another good forward wouldn't hurt either.
xXKonan
Senior Member
Another thing I'm looking forward to with Valverde is his handling/coaching of the younger players we have in the squad and the Barca B ones that get the chance to play for the first team. Umtiti is one that I can see benefiting from Valverde a lot. He's made a lot of strides this season in such a chaotic defense, but with Valverde I could see him being taken to the next level.
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Valverde will be under huge pressure now. He needs to stop the Madrid dominance. Huhu.. Not the easiest spot to step in.
Messi983
Senior Member
Valverde could have in mind something like this, which can work great imo if used properly.
I think this could be the best possible formation but I would replace Rakitić with Roberto and Iniesta with a new CM.
Also, when in defense we could probably easy change to 4-2-3-1. Something like this:
I know Valverde will most likely try to use high pressure to get the ball back ASAP and closer to opponents area and in those situations we keep your formation so that Suarez and Neymar will keep pressure on GK/CBs if they tried to play it from the back. Or if they go long balls route our players should also be good positioned in midfield to get possesion back. Messi would stay in his AMC position so if/when we get the ball back he can immediately serve Ney/Suarez again.
My proposed formation is more for situations where opponents will push us back, keep possession and try to attack us. We'd prefer to have possesion all the time but that's not always possible against better teams and we also can't expect to play high pressing for 90 minutes every game so we have to keep the right balance between pressure, organized attacking and organized defending. The amount of time we'll be in different positions/formations will depend on game situations and strength of the opponent. But there will absolutely be times when we'll (have to) sit back and let opponents play more, especially with result in our favour when even lesser opponents usually show more intentions to attack. That's where I think above mentioned formation should be used.
Neymar and Suarez are better defensively than Messi so they could track back/close the space on the wings and when we get the ball back in our possesion we could pass it to Messi (that's where it would be good if a new CM - who in this formation should be the closest to Messi - would be a great passer so he could help Messi keeping the ball until the rest of the team also transition into offense) and let him decide whether we have a chance for a quick counter attack with Ney/Alba and/or RB/Suarez pushing up the wing positions or just keep the ball to start building up new attack slowly. Of course Messi can also go into a counter attack by himself if opponents would be stupid enough to not let at least 3 men back to cover him. If he gets a good pass into his feets he will almost always win a 1 v 1 or 1 v 2 or at least get a foul out of those situations.
By keeping Messi as the man furthest up the field in defensive formation we'd nullified the most of his lack of defensive work while also probably keep opponents from sending more players to attack us because most coaches will respect Messi enough to not let him go into those possible 1 v 1/ 1 v 2 situations. I know Messi is not likely to pressure like crazy but that wouldn't always be necesarry in those situations. If opponents are happy (and comfortable doing that with Messi around where every bad pass/lost ball could be dangerous for them) just to pass the ball between their 2 CBs and DM around the midfield line or even in their own half then let them do that as long as we have both wings and middle of the field well covered so there won't be enough passing/receiving options for them closer to our goal. And we should have a numerical advantage in those positions if 2 or 3 opponents would be occupied just by Messi's presence so if everyone keep doing their job defense shouldn't struggle too much.
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Total-Football
Senior Member
I want us playing attracrive football with style and grace .. Trophies would come naturally and if not i wouldn't even be mad. i never bought this obsession with trophies.. i would never be happy with a result without entertainment. Let's try play in midfield again, i don't want ever to see that semi-circle around Stegen with Pique and Umtiti.
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