Neymar was and is the second best player in the world. Our whole squad planning was depending and has been influenced by having him in the team. If we hadnt Neymar, we would have focused on a stronger midfield. Its all connected with Neymar.
This is would be true if we had a manager(s) who valued strong midfield. Under Lucho, the transition between the defense and the attack was faster. The midfield played a support role rather than a vital role as it used to be under previous managers. That's why Enrique bought Raki rather than Kroos. Raki had a support role or played second fiddle to Dani Alves then without Dani he was forced out wide in right midfield so Messi could drift into work with Suarez.
Besides, Barcelona could still manage to buy top talent with a decent price like Isco who was dreaming to join Barca, eventually moved to Real for 30m, and lost Thiago for peanuts the same year we have bought Neymar.
From a tactical point of view, i would even say he was just a big a loss as messi would have been. While Messi is the better player, Neymar doesnt depend on other players to compensate for lack of running with and without ball because of his age (edit: which is a big problem in an aging and old starting line up. I dont agree with Neymar choosing PSG, but it is true, that Messi in the end limitied his development. Anyway, you mentioned Dembele as a replacement, but his 150m doesnt make him a 150/220 = 0,7/1 or 110/220 = 1/2 (half) the player Neymar would have been that season. Because he maybe was 2/4 or even 3/4 the player in dortmund as neymar would have been, but he wouldnt be that in Barca. Dortmund plays completely different where his lack of deffensive awareness and skills didnt matter. And his running was way more vital than it would be in a possession-played tactic valverde/barca intended to play. To make full use of Dembele and get the most out of him we would need to play like Dortmund - but with an aging core, a a god damn slow midfield and even slower offence, that would never happen. So what we really got in Dembele was 1/5 of the player Neymar would have been. But it doesnt end there... Dembele got injuried (because he was immature, like our medics have told us afterwards) and was out for 4 months. So our attack was basically Messi, Suarez, Munir and Malcom. That is as bad as it gets, not because Messi and Suarez are anything less than amazing, but because a team depends on harmony. How stupid was Perez to sell makelele all though his replacement was the "better" player. Or Sergio was favored despite Toure being the all-around better player. So we were really fucked. You do get that right?
Lastly Valverde caculated with Neymar, his tactics depended on him, club ensured him, neymar would stay back then and Neymar was part of our pre-season.
Not sure why Neymar is brought up in this Valverde discussion. The whole heavy dependence on MSN should have come to end because it failed to produce results and only lasted between January 2015 until March 2016. So Even hypothetically speaking if we didn't buy Dembele and Neymar is still there, the issue would still be there with the midfield. That's why I don't understand you explaining the slow trust of Valverde in Dembele. Valverde is the new manager and for him Messi, Suarez (Neymar if he was still there), Dembele or Coutinho all new to him. It's not like he worked with Barcelona players before to treat new signings as an extra curriculum that needs time to adjust to his vision and tactics (if he has any), isn't it? All players are new to Valverde's system. Also, we all saw how Arthur got treated at the beginning and only got a chance when Rakitic got injured, the rest is history. He is young and played in a very inferior league. Dembele integration should have been even smoother if he was trusted more by Valverde. We probably lost the Roma game just for this fact alone!
So Valverde did something amazing and we plated 4-4-2, where Paulionho helped carry the ball to our slow forwards and our midfield was stacked so our slow midfield wouldnt be overrun. It was pure genius and brave decision, but also the only way around it. It made us leading la liga with a margin, and gave the our team some leeway. Barca management then decided to buy coutinho. Also Dembele more or less came back from injury. So two totally new players, our fans demanded to get a place in our starting line-up immidately. The amazing work in the first half gave us amazingly enough some leeway to integrate those two, but to switch a succesfull formation / set-up during the season, isnt really logical. But there is only so much you can do. People wanted Coutinho in midfield, and dembele in attack. But guess what¸ its not possible, because neither of them are good enough defensive enough especially with our aging core. People would say "but but we played with xavi-iniesta", yes thats true, but both of them were masters at keeping balll possession, coutinho and dembele play both with great risk in their game. Also we had wingers/attackers who could actual run and pressure.
So thats why only one of them could play in the team.
What you call pure genius (shocking really), I call it a tactical limitation. When you can't control the midfield like we used to, put in more muscle and defensive minded players on the expense of controlling the game. I don't think it's purely his fault, we don't control matches since 2016, our midfield is getting repeatedly overwhelmed because we didn't have the players to implement the 4-3-3 tactics. We didn't have a deep-lying playmaker with a wonderful range of passing, also we didn't have that technically perfect midfielder that could link the play between midfield and the strikers, the one who has good match vision. Is Valverde at fault here, partly because I think he has at his disposal the players that could make this happen (Arthur and Coutinho) but rather opted for slower midfield combo of Busquets (who is essential btw) and Rakitic. We play slow football because of our manager who like slower players and don't know how to integrate Coutinho into the 4-3-3 system. One has to question what goes in his training session and how he communicates his vision to the players.
Also, like another user says, the media was going crazy after neymar, our team was uneasy because they also depended on Neymars quality. Valverde got a lot of praise from players and the club how he handled the situation; and everyone did calm down (players).
Again, this is a bit exaggerated. Neymar was essential but wasn't a club legend. We lost much better players in the last few years before Neymar whos loss is still felt until today with the fans and the players. We lost a leader that we couldn't replace yet Puyol, we lost two club legends and arguably the best-midfield combo in the history of football Xavi and Iniesta. We lost the best Right Back in the world, close friend of Messi and dressing room popular Dani Alves. This is Barcelona, we move on! Valverde didn't even feel it because he never worked with Neymar as I explained before.
Im fine with your ideal-barca-way, and i do agree thats the way we should play, but player-mix (type, age etc) and cirumstances considered that was never an option, unless we would be fine being number 3 or 4 in la liga winning no titles what soever and winning no titles this season as well. Maybe a copa or something. EV has been nothing less than exceptional and for that i also want him to get the chance to develop a more beautiful concept, but he hasnt had the chance yet. Next season with our new signings, he will have a chance. And Im sure he will improve, but im also sure he still wont go all pep on us, and thats also a fine approach - because a generational change is a proces, and if you can keep winning while keep adding younger player and also keep playing more beautiful you have done a perfect job.
For me Valverde has had two 10/10 performances so far (both seaons).
You contradict yourself in the above paragraph, you admit his football is ugly but in the end, you gave him 10/10 which made come to a conclusion that you are a result oriented fan. Like my previous post, I explained what it meant to be a Barcelona manager and, valuation should be based on many different criteria not only one. Your valuation is expected in a team like Chelsea, PSG or ATM but not with a club with a deeply rooted tradition, its motto "Més que un club".
