Ernesto Valverde - V1

[BarçaBarça]

Coutinho and Dembélé will not play against Atlético.

Or EV might start Coutinho on the RM against them....which would be bette than Gomes/Pau/Vidal, but a huge waste of his abilities.

People are not going to like it, but I would consider dropping Iniesta to start both. Sooner or later it just have to happen. If it happened to Xavi at the same age and him accepting it for the good of the team, then why cannot EV do the same? We need the pace and willingeness to play more creative passes back in the team against top sides, otherwise all the creative burden falls back on Messi.

I really hope that Coutinho starts at LM with possible Iniesta sub in 2nd half. Playing Coutinho at the right would be a mistake. He could go all the way and play Dembele with defensive duties at RM, but I don't believe Valverde will do that.

 

[Zincubus]

After Pep Barça is still waiting for a world class manager. please bring Conte

Conte !!!! He's got defensive blood through his blood .

Don't want him anywhere near Barca

Let's forget about results for a minute.

We are playing worst football since 2007/2008 - Rijkaard's final season. Anyone unconcerned with this doesn't know what Barca is about.

Thank you .... I've been saying precisely this for a while and most just slagged me off !!

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

Wrong approach for the Las Palmas match. I will not complain about a manager that is unbeaten and managed to build up such a huge lead but it seems like he is the only person with a different view on obvious stuff.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

Not going to happen under Valverde unless Iniesta decides to leave the club. Valverde is a defense orientated, conservative, short-term thinker. While Lucho had his flaws one thing he certainly had was balls. He benched Xavi for Rakitic, converted Roberto into a RB when our options at that position were limited, dropped Masche for Umtiti, played 3 at the back in important CL matches etc. Under Valverde none of the aforementioned decisions would've been made. He treats the next match he happens to be coaching like it's his last and every match is as important as the CL Final in his eyes. He is too scared to try anything new or innovative out of the fear it may backfire and chooses the safest option at every turn.

Lucho's flaw in my opinion wasn't so much that he experimented, but that he did so at the worst possible times. It wasn't uncommon for his home lineups to be much stronger than his away ones

 

[xXKonan]

Kinda funny how being conservative could be Valverde's downfall vs Lucho's experimenting at the wrong time cost us last season.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

Kinda funny how being conservative could be Valverde's downfall vs Lucho's experimenting at the wrong time cost us last season.

There are times to be conservative and times to make changes. Now is one of the latter times. Valverde's flaw is not realizing that. Lucho's was not seeing when it was time not to make changes.

 

[MessiCam]

Wrong approach for the Las Palmas match. I will not complain about a manager that is unbeaten and managed to build up such a huge lead but it seems like he is the only person with a different view on obvious stuff.

6 draws is the equivalent of 4 losses and 2 wins.

I’d take the losses if it meant better attacking football. Imagine losing a league despite going unbeaten all campaign. It’s a very real possibility right now.

We’d be the laughing stock of the world!

 

[Zincubus]

I thought we had enough cushion in the league by March to focus on the UCL, but now we will need to stay focused on the league, which will be an advantage for Real in the UCL.

If Real wins another UCL (3rd in the row) I will call our campaign this season a failure even if we win the league.

Plus they will give Cronaldo yet another World Player which could hit Messi real hard ..

 

[FC B]

if he doesn't start coutinho+dembele against atletico then he is a fucking moron.

Club spent 300 mil on these 2 players and you decide to start them on the bench against las fucking palmas which is on the 18th position in la liga.

He won't, he didn't even had the guts to start them vs. Las Palmas and you think he's gonna do it vs. Atletico?

 

[Zincubus]

Is he still here
Don't those guys follow this thread ?

 

[serghei]

I think he can't be that dumb to not start at least one of Coutinho and Dembele. He was already dumb enough in the last weeks.

I think and hope he's had a reality check vs Las Palmas and he'll cut the shit playing technically inept players. I mean those players were incapable to having any impact vs one of the worst teams in the league, and they're supposed to have a great game vs Atletico? Just doesn't connect on a logical level.

If Dembele could play vs Juventus and we could win 3-0, then he can play vs Atletico as well. Similar teams. And Coutinho's had intense games like that in EPL a lot of time and shone in them.

So, Coutinho and Dembele are rather experienced playing these kind of games, even if Dembele is very young (he's played in CL vs the likes of Madrid, played several derbies vs Bayern Munich etc.). How could you play Vidal instead of them, he's basically out of his depth in games like this.

 

[FCBfan22]

Negative thought of the day: Gomes will play RM tomorrow.

 

[henias]

I think he can't be that dumb to not start at least one of Coutinho and Dembele. He was already dumb enough in the last weeks.

I think and hope he's had a reality check vs Las Palmas and he'll cut the shit playing technically inept players. I mean those players were incapable to having any impact vs one of the worst teams in the league, and they're supposed to have a great game vs Atletico? Just doesn't connect on a logical level.

If this guy can surprise us every fking week, I dont see why he won't do it again.

 

[CanadianBlaugrana]

Lot of dislike against Valverde in this thread lately. I’m giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. However, if we lose to Atletico tomorrow, I could feel different.

 

[blaug]

He needs to grow a pair and stop playing sterile players like Paulinho, Vidal, etc. Got a bad feeling he will bench Dembele and play Paulinho again. We would never score a goal against Atleti if there is no one to provide width