Ernesto Valverde - V1

[DonAndres]

I am dead serious.
Imagine a year 2019, CL quarters Barca against AM again.

You have a current team plus Dembele, Cou, Arthur, Griezz.
You are Barca's coach.

What formation and a lineup would you field, but please, don't put a lineup of midgets since AM will outplay you in the middle, proven tons of times till now.
Will you play 433?
Where will Messi play?
How will you break their bus of 4+4 players around the box with open flanks since we can't cross?

Also, without Raki/Suarez, how will you defend corners against AM, english teams, Real etc?

I agree, 433 and our style is a good recipe against RM.
But what about AM, Bayern, Liverpool, Psg etc?

If you'll play 433 with Coutinho-Raki-Busi, we'll get murdered in a CL.
If you'll play 433 with Cou-Arthur-Busi, we'll look like 13 years old kids in defending.

So, please, give me some answers.

I am not worried about La Liga.
433 is usually good enough against tons of technically inferior teams in La Liga.

A million dollar question is: how to get past a 1/4 in a CL?
Barca has been knocked out in 4 quarters in the last 5 years.

You focus FAR too much on height and physicality. The reason Atleti beat us was not because they outmuscled us in midfield, it's because they were able to retain their defensive shape and restrict space in a way that was impossible to overcome for our poor midfield. Rakitic has always been the #1 problem in those bus parking games these past years because of his inability to penetrate through defensive pressure. He slows the game down way too much and puts the opponent in a position that's ideal for them to defend.

You need to think of the game in terms of the space rather than the man. Cause the 'workhorses' have constantly proved to be the worst players who bring down the winning effort while the technical players actually increase our advantage and ability to create. The workhorses aren't even better for our defense. Barca's first philosophy should ALWAYS be that a good offense is the best defense and controlling the game and its flow is the best way to overpower the opposition. Attack aggressively and press high, don't let the opponents out of their half. That eliminates a huge fraction of the hypothetical defensive effort you were talking about.

It's also why, contrary to your belief, the 4-4-2 has been a worse defensive formation for us in the CL than the 4-3-3. A team that is constantly reacting to our offense and having to adjust and play against their will is going to have a LOT harder time attacking than one who is just patiently waiting for us to give up the ball in a position that suits them. Paulinho isn't even slightly good at the kind of defense you seem to be wanting him to play (sit back, 1v1), 90% of his defensive actions come from pressing high but he's so bad offensively that it isn't worth it. This was proven against Chelsea when Paulinho and Rakitic were constantly burned and didn't provide an ounce of defensive resistance.

I think the 4-3-3 lineup of MATS; Semedo-Pique-Umtiti-Alba; Arthur-Busi-Coutinho; Dembele-Messi-Griezmann is our best bet.

We saw today and vs. Chelsea that the presence of Dembele on the wing as a pacy 1v1 threat and playmaker is key to opening up space and disrupting opposition defenses. We nearly scored directly because of Dembele's play multiple times in the 5 minutes he was on today. On the wings you need a dynamic, speedy player. Not Paulinho, not Roberto. The 4-4-2 is also HORRIBLE for Busquets, he is best anchoring the midfield in a 4-3-3 where he can break the lines and be the spine of our buildup. Our passing play has NO structure without Busi in the holding midfield role.

I don't think Arthur will come in and be necessarily better than Rakitic in every way but I think stylistically he's much better and can just circulate possession in a more effective way for the team's play.

 

[JamDav1982]

The one time Rijkaard won the CL they conceded a headed goal to ten man Arsenal in a game that were lucky to win.

Earlier in that competition Terry had scored a header against Barca the year after he eliminated Barca with a header,

Can be a bit easy to rewrite history.

 

[xXKonan]

I remember certain Cat radio where doing a session talking about some of the concerns about Valverde.

Some of things they talked about where.

-Valverde didn't have to much experience with the 4-3-3 as he prefered the 4-2-3-1 or even the 4-4-2.

-Valverde rarely rested and rotated his squads.

-Valverde wasn't a fan of big squads and prefered small ones.

I thought at the time maybe with Valverde moving to a team like ours he can evolve some of his views but as of right now despite the lead we have in the league, he still failed to evolve his views on things even at Barcelona.

There's even talk that Valverde wanted a smaller squad for next season.

 

[Givenchy]

I still cant believe EV, a professional football manager, stood idley on the touchline while our weak, slow midfield got bullied off the ball over and over again, whilst asking for non-existent fouls. this was the time to admit he got the lineup wrong and bring the fetish on; Paulinho, to add some muscle. 442 is a disgusting formation and EV is Mourinho 2.0 dragging our style down turning us into a safety first shithouse.

I can't be bothered to watch the rest of our liga campaign as i know it'll be more of the same sleep inducing garbage 442 with more appearances for Gomes. this season sure has been a rollercoaster and I won't be suprised if we actually lose the Copa and make hard work of the league.

its time Barca bring in a world class proven manager to give us some stability, no more of this unproven 'ex-barca' dna bullshit. unless its Pep returning, NO MORE.

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

It ain't over yet, and lots to look forward to!! What's keeping me going:

a) La Liga and Copa b) Coutinho, Dembele (and Griezmann?) c) We have Messi d) we are still unbeaten in La Liga e) a bit more controversial, but now, we may just get the guard of honour now that Real Madrid has something to be smug about. Even if we don't, we can still wipe that smug off their (ugly) faces, if we crush them at el clasico.

Valverde is a mastermind... His tactics are working perfectly, undefeated season, pretty invinsible denfensive tactics (something Barca lacked for a very long time). La Liga is pretty much a win already, final copa del rey, semi finals CL with us being the team to beat after the chelsea game... Valverde is doing magic with this team eventho he let go of a couple Cruyff tactics, the team is alot more stable now than it was over the past couple of years...

The left and rightback are used in a very smart way and attackingwise we can bring alot to the table with the defence also being very solid... He's someone that had the balls to change from the Cruyff way of playing, because we needed that... We still have alot of authentic barca playing styles, but for example Valverde is the type of person to let his players take it easy after we go up 2-0 in the first half, which is something that never really happened at Barca, we always used to push thru and go for a 3th 4th 5th 6th etc goal in the second half, wasting energy for no reason...

I think his rotations are also very smart, he gets the best out of Iniesta with the minutes he gets everytime and the 442 is really working... If you want Valverde to be sacked, youre not a Barcelona fan imo.... The football may not be as attacking and with high scorelines, now we are a team where every single part of the team is well organized and not only from the midfield forwards.... We will win the double, and we will go far in the CL with Valverde, a BIGGG upgrade over Enrique imo

 

[messi2140]

It ain't over yet, and lots to look forward to!! What's keeping me going:

a) La Liga and Copa b) Coutinho, Dembele (and Griezmann?) c) We have Messi d) we are still unbeaten in La Liga e) a bit more controversial, but now, we may just get the guard of honour now that Real Madrid has something to be smug about. Even if we don't, we can still wipe that smug off their (ugly) faces, if we crush them at el clasico.

Valverde is a mastermind... His tactics are working perfectly, undefeated season, pretty invinsible denfensive tactics (something Barca lacked for a very long time). La Liga is pretty much a win already, final copa del rey, semi finals CL with us being the team to beat after the chelsea game... Valverde is doing magic with this team eventho he let go of a couple Cruyff tactics, the team is alot more stable now than it was over the past couple of years...

The left and rightback are used in a very smart way and attackingwise we can bring alot to the table with the defence also being very solid... He's someone that had the balls to change from the Cruyff way of playing, because we needed that... We still have alot of authentic barca playing styles, but for example Valverde is the type of person to let his players take it easy after we go up 2-0 in the first half, which is something that never really happened at Barca, we always used to push thru and go for a 3th 4th 5th 6th etc goal in the second half, wasting energy for no reason...

I think his rotations are also very smart, he gets the best out of Iniesta with the minutes he gets everytime and the 442 is really working... If you want Valverde to be sacked, youre not a Barcelona fan imo.... The football may not be as attacking and with high scorelines, now we are a team where every single part of the team is well organized and not only from the midfield forwards.... We will win the double, and we will go far in the CL with Valverde, a BIGGG upgrade over Enrique imo

Is this a reddit post ?

 

[Messi91]

Is this a reddit post ?

It's a nonsense post is what it is.

 

[DonAK]

I saw a similar post on reddit with 100+ upvotes lol.

 

[messi2140]

It's a nonsense post is what it is.

Knowing him , its either a sarcastic post or a reddit one.

 

[wisconsincule]

Surely he won’t be around next year? I can’t handle this fraud.

 

[DonAK]

I guess he's Mourinho lite after all then

 

[Aryagorn]

when in Rome do as the Romans do


Unfortunately, the idiot took it way too seriously

 

[FC433]

Lack of experience was one of the reasons. I am not too upset because I never believed that we were ever good enough this season to win the CL. Being knocked out by Roma is much better than RM or LP and absolutely better than losing in the final.

I think it is Valverde's fault, but I also believe that our squad is not the best. We are struggling to keep the ball in the midfield for a few seasons now and I do not think Coutinho is going to solve that. I have said it before, we must not start the coming season without a new CM maybe even two. I always supported Gomes, but I think he should leave it is best for both parties. Same with D. Suarez.

Hopefully, we win the cup and two trophies are much better than what we expected earlier.

We should get Griezmann, we need his speed. Our players are way too slow to compete. Vermaelen, Paulinho, Paco and anyone else who did not get enough chances this season should leave.

 

[Barca-4-Life]

Yeah. So, let me get this straight: Dembele sits on the bench for 80+ minutes when a single goal would have instantly sealed the deal for us.

What the actual fuck was this genius of a manager thinking?

Shit's so stupid, it's unbelievable.

The few minutes Dembele played were more than enough to show how ginormous of a difference this guy could have made tonight.

His pace and runs alone would have made it much more difficult for Roma to mark Messi and Suarez.

If I were to pick the single biggest reason behind this catastrophe, it'd actually be Valverde's idiotic decision to bench Dembele.

Too late. It hurts.

 

[xXKonan]

This tie was easily salvageable in the first half. The warning signs were all there we conceded a goal and nearly conceded a couple of more. You would think Valverde would go into the Locker room at HT make some key adjustments and even make a sub or two but instead he didn't do anything and watched us get mauled on the Sidelines and waited to long to make subs when it was obviously two late.

While it's true the players also deserve some of the blame as some looked like they were sulking and didn't bother to really show up when it mattered but there's rather nothing more pathetic than seeing our manager just stand there and do nothing to fix the issues.

Valverde is a guy who can live alone in the safest place on the planet with no weapons or anything that could potentially harm him and not a single other person other than him living there and he would still be afraid that something out there is going to hurt him.

Valverde is the management equivalent of Courage the Cowardly dog. He thinks that one or two goal leads is enough and we should sit back and instead of going for a 3rd goal. all we needed today was just one goal or two but instead we shit ourselves because Valverde and the team didn't want to come out and play.