Ernesto Valverde - V1

[BarçaBarça]

He has developed Busquets?!?! Sorry WHAT?

Of course I don't mean develop as in youth-development, but as you might know Busquets hasn't been world class every season for Barca even though the media sometimes portrays it that way. Maybe that is too nuanced for some people in here. It is no criticism of him. This season he has been great, and I think at least some of that is because of the tactical setup compared to late Enrique.

This guy just said Valverde developed Busquets. And Rakitic. CL medal winners who only developed under the manager who forces them to play on painkillers so he can chase an invincibles record.

Pack it up now, boys. You'll have to hop on Reddit to find gold better than this.

I don't say anywhere that I think it was great that Valverde played Busquets against Valencia - in fact I think that was wrong - but obviously I was talking about the season as a whole compared to other seasons.

But you are right: Busquets and Rakitic have been nothing but world class quality the last few seasons, with no ups and downs, just pure stable quality

The tactic and roles gives possibility to certain players to utilize their skill more - as we have seen with Alba benefiting from Neymar leaving. In the same way Busquets and Rakitic have benefited from Valverdes tactics, performing better than previous season, where the midfield was dysfunctional. I don't praise Valverde as a God and say: He has solved all the teams problems, but I really think that Rakitic and Busquets play better than previous season, and in my mind some credit must go the coach for that, and not only the players themselves.

 

[MTL_Barca]

Well Busquets might look better because there are actual midfielders around him. Lucho just played him as a one man midfield in many situations where one or both other CMs just played next to wings what left a giant dead space in the middle all covered by Sergio.

But this is still not the style he shines in, he's not top level on defending 1v1 or playmaking so if he is paired with like Paulinho and has to do the build up with no triangles, proper movement etc it's still hard for him as well as a more defensive approach in games like vs Roma because while he is tall he is still fairly slow and lacks the strength to defend like Casemiro, Kante etc so it's still not ideal for him.

Rakitic is a good example too. Lucho often played him almost as a RW because Messi just left the wing empty on defense and offense and Rakitic had the job to cover that all while being a CM on paper. Never was a big fan of him but playing 2 positions at once is almost impossible.

Lucho made it very hard for all of our midfielders by concentrating so much on MSN and depending more and more on them with every season.

So i think its more about this comparison to the last 2-3 seasons than about Valverdes tactics fitting him perfectly.

 

[El Guaje]

Of course I don't mean develop as in youth-development, but as you might know Busquets hasn't been world class every season for Barca even though the media sometimes portrays it that way. Maybe that is too nuanced for some people in here. It is no criticism of him. This season he has been great, and I think at least some of that is because of the tactical setup compared to late Enrique.



I don't say anywhere that I think it was great that Valverde played Busquets against Valencia - in fact I think that was wrong - but obviously I was talking about the season as a whole compared to other seasons.

But you are right: Busquets and Rakitic have been nothing but world class quality the last few seasons, with no ups and downs, just pure stable quality

The tactic and roles gives possibility to certain players to utilize their skill more - as we have seen with Alba benefiting from Neymar leaving. In the same way Busquets and Rakitic have benefited from Valverdes tactics, performing better than previous season, where the midfield was dysfunctional. I don't praise Valverde as a God and say: He has solved all the teams problems, but I really think that Rakitic and Busquets play better than previous season, and in my mind some credit must go the coach for that, and not only the players themselves.

The midfield is still dysfunctional.

 

[BarçaBarça]

The midfield is still dysfunctional.

I agree. But at least more solid than last year.

Certainly room for improvement, and with Iniesta leaving we have a golden opportunity to reinvent it.

 

[serghei]

I agree. But at least more solid than last year.

Certainly room for improvement, and with Iniesta leaving we have a golden opportunity to reinvent it.

Only improvement we'll get is by ditching this dude and his dinosaur flat and rigid 4-4-2.

I want Setien or Sarri, with a Coutinho - Busi - Arthur, and Dembele - Messi - Griezmann line-up.

 

[Raketa10]

Of course I don't mean develop as in youth-development, but as you might know Busquets hasn't been world class every season for Barca even though the media sometimes portrays it that way. Maybe that is too nuanced for some people in here. It is no criticism of him. This season he has been great, and I think at least some of that is because of the tactical setup compared to late Enrique.



I don't say anywhere that I think it was great that Valverde played Busquets against Valencia - in fact I think that was wrong - but obviously I was talking about the season as a whole compared to other seasons.

But you are right: Busquets and Rakitic have been nothing but world class quality the last few seasons, with no ups and downs, just pure stable quality

The tactic and roles gives possibility to certain players to utilize their skill more - as we have seen with Alba benefiting from Neymar leaving. In the same way Busquets and Rakitic have benefited from Valverdes tactics, performing better than previous season, where the midfield was dysfunctional. I don't praise Valverde as a God and say: He has solved all the teams problems, but I really think that Rakitic and Busquets play better than previous season, and in my mind some credit must go the coach for that, and not only the players themselves.

What the hell are you talking about? Our midfield is still mess! Busquets had ZERO benefits fom Valverde’s tactics. He has been terrible many times this season and this 4-4-2 formation doesn't suit him at all, not to mention that without triangles you lose most of strenghts Busi has. As I wrote many times alredy only Rakitic befited from this tactics.

 

[Vilarrubi]

What the hell are you talking about? Our midfield is still mess! Busquets had ZERO benefits fom Valverde’s tactics. He has been terrible many times this season and this 4-4-2 formation doesn't suit him at all, not to mention that without triangles you lose most of strenghts Busi has. As I wrote many times alredy only Rakitic befited from this tactics.

+1

 

[Devils]

Apparently Madrid have a higher attendance record than us this season, despite basically being out of the league in December.

The EV effect.

 

[raki]

Only improvement we'll get is by ditching this dude and his dinosaur flat and rigid 4-4-2.

I want Setien or Sarri, with a Coutinho - Busi - Arthur, and Dembele - Messi - Griezmann line-up.

Sarri would be something else. Could bring Jorginho in the bag.

 

[henias]

Lol Busquets literally struggled in this kind of formation, The only player who benefitted from this formation is Rakitic while the rest suffers, including Messi, Suarez, Iniesta,

Rakitic suffers without Dembele or if Roberto is too slow. Both Rakitic and Busquets struggle defensively and would be too reliant on Umtiti and Pique, where the latter crumbled under pressure.

Sevilla, Chelsea, Roma are all clear examples.

 

[soul24rage]

even with a few days after the roma game, I'm still pissed off of the result and valverde fucked up big time. I felt that after the chelsea match, we should have focused more on the CL as we are very unlikely going to have a big of a lead the coming seasons. We should have rotated so much more but no valverde has to run our team down the drain and many of them are looking very tired. With our core players being 30+ and iniesta potentially leaving, i fear that it'll be harder to win the CL next season with ATM and RM not fking up again next season

 

[George_Costanza]

even with a few days after the roma game, I'm still pissed off of the result and valverde fucked up big time. I felt that after the chelsea match, we should have focused more on the CL as we are very unlikely going to have a big of a lead the coming seasons. We should have rotated so much more but no valverde has to run our team down the drain and many of them are looking very tired. With our core players being 30+ and iniesta potentially leaving, i fear that it'll be harder to win the CL next season with ATM and RM not fking up again next season

Valverde is thinking of himself first and foremost. League title is a dream come true for him, and the unbeaten recored is what he thinks is an achievement for Barcelona and diffrentate him from other Barcelona league winner coaches. UCL is too big for him so he focused on domestioc trophies and thinking: "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

The age of our current regulars next season:

Suarez: 32
Pique: 32
Messi: 31
Alba: 30
Rakitic: 31
Busquets: 30
Ter Stegen: 26
Coutinho (replacing Iniesta): 26
Roberto: 27
Umtiti: 25

That's 6 out of our regular 10 over 30 years of age. Valverde somehow managed to run this group into the ground without incurring any devastating injuries all while scraping results in the league, but he's sadly mistaken if he thinks he can replicate this next year. Madrid likely won't be as shit in the league and we'll have a proper title race as well.

Not to mention there is no guarantee Messi doesn't decline or Ter Stegen doesn't stay as hot, and oh, our luck will likely even out, it always happens in the long run.

Can't rely on own goals, shit finishing, last ditch tackles and amazing saves all the time.

 

[khaled_a_d]

The age of our current regulars next season:

Suarez: 32
Pique: 32
Messi: 31
Alba: 30
Rakitic: 31
Busquets: 30
Ter Stegen: 26
Coutinho (replacing Iniesta): 26
Roberto: 27
Umtiti: 25

That's 6 out of our regular 10 over 30 years of age. Valverde somehow managed to run this group into the ground without incurring any devastating injuries all while scraping results in the league, but he's sadly mistaken if he thinks he can replicate this next year. Madrid likely won't be as shit in the league and we'll have a proper title race as well.

Not to mention there is no guarantee Messi doesn't decline or Ter Stegen doesn't stay as hot, and oh, our luck will likely even out, it always happens in the long run.

Can't rely on own goals, shit finishing, last ditch tackles and amazing saves all the time.

Hmm, half of those won't be that age before second half of the season.
You take Suarez and put Griezmann, add Dembele as 11th man and our age isn't that bad.
Bench need to be improved, and EV need tobe told he need to use a bigger squad for sure.

 

[jairzinho]

Hmm, half of those won't be that age before second half of the season.
You take Suarez and put Griezmann, add Dembele as 11th man and our age isn't that bad.
Bench need to be improved, and EV need to be told he need to use a bigger squad for sure.

That's the problem with him, he prefers smaller squads. He also needs to learn to rotate. This isn't Bilbao where they just play in the Cup and La Liga.