Ernesto Valverde - V1

[Givenchy]

He really really really fucked up vs Las Palmas. we have Coutinho, a record club signing, CL tied, sitting on the fucking BENCH while poor ol' Iniesta runs himself into the ground against la liga cannonfoder.. this is inexcusable, especially with Chelsea on the horizon. Dembele is again poor management. the kid needs confidence and match rythme, were playing with all due respect an low table team and it would of been a perfect opportunity to get him atleast somewhat ready for the CL tie, we will need his speed considering how fucking slow we are.

I give huge credit to Valverde for the start of our season, expectations were at an all time low and his ugly tactics and formations went under the radar for most as we were getting wins with some pretty average players including Suarez in amatuer mode. I was expecting things to improve drastically when Coutinho was bought in but its the same old shit and it reminds me of midtable managers setting up with caution. Yerry is another player along with Semedo.. totally mismanaged

 

[Aryagorn]

If Valverde is still stuck on the same old-fashioned mindset on starting Vidal and Paulinho, I would say we wouln't win Atletico or Madrid and might possibly bottle a 10+ points lead.

Dembele isn't injured, Coutinho has already settled in quite nicely, so what excuse to start players like Vidal.

I would love to see his starting lineup again vs Atletico. If it's still his same workhorse XI, safe to say he's a pussy. Doubt we will win any Liga or CL in the next few years.

Also, Umtiti gave an injury scare. If he were to be really injured, we dont have any backup except Pique. Playing with fire this guy. People will defend him again and again, by saying we are leading the table, "undefeated". Yeah, not any more if ATM and Madrid were to catch by brisking through wins despite not signing much players. Quite ironic we are doing more terrible than them. Says alot about his player management.

There's just no comprehensible reason for playing Iniesta yesterday instead of Coutinho - Now, he will have to start Coutinho in a match that's sort of a must win!

 

[vlad]

In the end, this draw it isnt his fault, even with dembele and cou on the bench, suarez snd messi should scored that 2vs1 chance, was it valverde fault they were joking around? Then goalkeeper handball outside of the box and penalty which should not be called


Lahoz was there to take points from barca and he did just that

 

[Neeraj]

I think I've made my mind on Valverde. I have given him a good part of the season, but I don't ever see him being the manager I want for our club. He's just too cautious, stubborn, and makes bizzare decisions with lineups. He strikes me as a mid table manager trying to stay afloat on the big stage. I'm tired of hearing the same old 'but we're top in the league, in the CL,...etc' nonsense.

With Messi and a half decent team around, most managers would make us title contenders, and with a cautious team, it's not that hard to grind out results when Messi is bailing you out over and over and over again. Even if we win the league, I just don't enjoy his style of management, his football, his lack of focus on bringing up ANY young players, etc.

Only problem is, I don't see any way of him getting the sack. I firmly believe we will win the league and probably the Copa; CL is unlikely. That is a record that won't ever get a manager thrown out, not in FCB at least.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

At any rate, something needs to change, and fast. Our season is falling apart. I've seen this story way too many times and know exactly how it ends. So do all of you, unless you were living under a rock during Tata's season. And Tito's. Even Lucho's second season to a lesser extent (which wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but could have been so much better if we didn't collapse during that crucial period).

 

[MessiCam]

Ah, blame the ref for Valverde's tactical shortcomings...

Here is what Valverde did or didn't do.

He somehow managed to give key players, except Pique of course, zero rest just before a game that could decide La Liga.

Doesn't play the attacking players while the game is open... Instead subs them on to a parked bus. Now he will say they didn't perform as expected and give them the cold shoulder... That's been his MO all season.

Vidal and Paulinho were disastrous (they had no clue about how to deal with Las Palmas pressing. Farts in a perfume factory spring to mind) and as the season has progressed it's become more and more evident that Roberto is not the right back solution many of you want him to be. Play him in midfield where his runs will actually mean something.

Messi, Iniesta, Busquets, Coutinho and Dembélé were about the bright spots in what was a tactical shit show and they're all technical players and not workhorses. Rakitic deserves a mention here too. I thought he was outstanding when he came on.

You can say what you like about Dembélé and Coutinho's lack of defensive contribution but they create danger where it really matters. The workhorse midfield was overrun once again.

6 Draws are equivalent to 4 losses and 2 wins. I know which I'd pick if it meant playing attractive attacking football. Defensive stability my ass...

 

[henias]

In the end, this draw it isnt his fault, even with dembele and cou on the bench, suarez snd messi should scored that 2vs1 chance, was it valverde fault they were joking around? Then goalkeeper handball outside of the box and penalty which should not be called


Lahoz was there to take points from barca and he did just that

Not saying he was responsible for the loss. Problem is he started Paulinho and Vidal for the majority of the minutes. For what? Defensive stability? Against Las Palmas? And they were simply terrible, yet we have Coutinho and Dembele rotting on the bench, again for what? They have no injuries and put up good performances against Girona, so there's simply no excuses. Till now I'm still really struggling to understand what Vidal offers. Absolutely zero. Yet those are his favourite players, just because they played more games than Dembele and Coutinho? Do he seriously think they are starter material? Vidal and Paulinho should only come on as a sub, because for the past few games they didnt do shit, and it's clear Dembele has so much more potential and we need to give him game time.

Not to mention he absolutely snubbed Mina while Pique was injured and Semedo for most part of the season.

Like I said, if he decides to field the same workhorse XI against Atletico and Chelsea and think they can secure us a game, I have nothing else to say.

He's resting Dembele and Coutinho, instead of Messi, Suarez or Busquets. Go figure.

 

[vlad]

I agree with you mostly henias, but still, even with that defensive line up barca should take 3 pointd there, but barca didnt scored what they needed to, las palmas got funny penalty, and thats it, 1:1, sometimes referee give sometimes he takes.

This barca does not trash lower teams this season, la liga teams got stronger and valverde have this conservative approach, and you get this.

Now barca needs to win against atletico to make things easier, then 8 points from them and better h2h score would do the job

 

[henias]

I agree with you mostly henias, but still, even with that defensive line up barca should take 3 pointd there, but barca didnt scored what they needed to, las palmas got funny penalty, and thats it, 1:1, sometimes referee give sometimes he takes.

This barca does not trash lower teams this season, la liga teams got stronger and valverde have this conservative approach, and you get this.

Now barca needs to win against atletico to make things easier, then 8 points from them and better h2h score would do the job

Valverde had enough excuses already. First people said his squad isnt good enough/ Dembele injured etc etc, that's why he has no choice but to be conservative and play Vidal or Gomes. Now people are blaming the refs, referee decision has always been part of the game and we might have benefitted from it without you noticing because we dont give a shit about our opponents.

But enough is enough. There is no point for Dembele to sit on the bench when he should be grinding post injury and Coutinho as well. Played Iniesta 70 mins, Suarez, Iniesta and Busquets all for a draw, or a 1-0 win? In all these minutes Dembele could have gain more experience and possibly be more of a threat on our right side.

You cant always be conservative against lower tier opponents, ironically playing the likes of Vidal and Paulinho is equally suicidal. They keep fking up our attack and provide nothing defensively. Las Palmas look strong because we are slow at the front and at the back, players like Dembele and Coutinho would have added more pace, energy and control and more attacking options. Our attacking output far outweighs our defensive capabilities and it would be stupid not to exploit that against a team who conceded a fuck ton of goals.

Yeah, try winning Atletico with Valverde's favourite workhorse XI and possibly try that against an in-form Madrid. Not only there wont be any attacking threat, there will be zero defensive stabililty. Not to mention a tired Iniesta and Busquets will be easily overrun.

Think about this, if we manage to bottle a 10+ lead, how are people going to use the same old excuse "Undefeated, top of the table" or are people going to blame the squad/players again? When we win it's all Vavlerde's credit but when we lose it's always the refs, the players, or something else.

 

[Aryagorn]

Valverde had enough excuses already. First people said his squad isnt good enough/ Dembele injured etc etc, that's why he has no choice but to be conservative and play Vidal or Gomes. Now people are blaming the refs, referee decision has always been part of the game and we might have benefitted from it without you noticing because we dont give a shit about our opponents.

But enough is enough. There is no point for Dembele to sit on the bench when he should be grinding post injury and Coutinho as well. Played Iniesta 70 mins, Suarez, Iniesta and Busquets all for a draw, or a 1-0 win? In all these minutes Dembele could have gain more experience and possibly be more of a threat on our right side.

You cant always be conservative against lower tier opponents, ironically playing the likes of Vidal and Paulinho is equally suicidal. They keep fking up our attack and provide nothing defensively. Las Palmas look strong because we are slow at the front and at the back, players like Dembele and Coutinho would have added more pace, energy and control and more attacking options. Our attacking output far outweighs our defensive capabilities and it would be stupid not to exploit that against a team who conceded a fuck ton of goals.

Yeah, try winning Atletico with Valverde's favourite workhorse XI and possibly try that against an in-form Madrid. Not only there wont be any attacking threat, there will be zero defensive stabililty. Not to mention a tired Iniesta and Busquets will be easily overrun.

Think about this, if we manage to bottle a 10+ lead, how are people going to use the same old excuse "Undefeated, top of the table" or are people going to blame the squad/players again? When we win it's all Vavlerde's credit but when we lose it's always the refs, the players, or something else.

The only valid explanation for not starting Coutinho and Dembele would be if he wanted to start them against Atletico which is less than 3 days away from yesterday's match.

Considering that they suffered injuries very recently he probably didn't want to stress them


But even then, I don't understand starting new comers in a match which is probably the most important of the rest of the liga! And we pretty much know that he hasn't got the balls to start them in such a match and it is still gonna be the grandpa Iniesta running his ass off!!

 

[Neymessi]

I am going to reserve my judgement for him for now. His lineups are as bad as lucho's, if not worse. I really doubt if someone who is that clueless in basic things such as lineups can be great in advanced tactics. Perhaps its just a lucky phase after all just like we played well sometimes under lucho. Perhaps its not. I hope its the latter. But I am not concluding things so early.

 

[BarçaBarça]

Playing Paulinho and Vidal was quite strange, as we all assume that Dembele won't play against Atletico and therefore don't need that much rest.
Coutinho could also contribute yesterday, and we really could need a fresh Iniesta on Sunday.

He moaned about getting no rest between Las Palmas and the Atletico-game, but didn't take any consequence of the fact, that is a bit baffling, tbh.

 

[MagIX]

In the end, this draw it isnt his fault, even with dembele and cou on the bench, suarez snd messi should scored that 2vs1 chance, was it valverde fault they were joking around? Then goalkeeper handball outside of the box and penalty which should not be called


Lahoz was there to take points from barca and he did just that

I agree. The facts are clear.
Of course this does not mean that we have played well.

 

[FCBfan22]

Yes, Lahoz was a big factor (and is a waste of sperm, as I said before) and he possibly cost us 2 points.

But even if we won 1-0 with this kind of performance, it would be undeserved.

 

[Joan]

Yes, Lahoz was a big factor (and is a waste of sperm, as I said before) and he possibly cost us 2 points.

But even if we won 1-0 with this kind of performance, it would be undeserved.

Why do we have to deserve every win?

We were robbed 2 points, shameful performance aside.