Ernesto Valverde

[DonAK]

It's not only Valverde.

Busquets, Suarez, one of Pique or Lenglet shouldn't be starting. We won't do well unless we line up with two wingers. So you either have to compensate for Messi by moving him centrally or tell him to play as a RW.

You can talk all you want about controlling the game or the midfield, but when you got two forwards up front not pressing, not working hard, not moving off the ball, no width, no pace, it's not possible to control the game.

 

[vinni]

[youtube]1ksgPkflyes[/youtube]

 

[Riordon]

It's not only Valverde.

Busquets, Suarez, one of Pique or Lenglet shouldn't be starting. We won't do well unless we line up with two wingers. So you either have to compensate for Messi by moving him centrally or telling him to play as a RW.

You can talk all you want about controlling the game or the midfield, but when you got two forwards up front not pressing, not working hard, not moving off the ball, no width, no pace, it's not possible to control the game.

Messi doesn’t wan to play RW and if he do, it won’t be ideal. Also he doesn’t want to play as a false 9 without a true 9 in front of him since he asked for a 9 in 2014 to help him. The Messi false 9 experiment died a long time ago.

So any suggestions to how Valverde solve this issue?

 

[mc_lovin]

Whcih is exactly Valverdes job?

 

[BusiTheKing]

Distance covered for week 3 of the Champions League:

1. Bayer Leverkusen 121,1
Leipizig 117,5
Atlético Madrid 117,2
Slavia Praga 115,2
Bayern 114,3
LOSC 114,2
Inter 113
Zenit 112,7
Benfica 112,6
Atalanta112,6
Tottenham 112,4
Estrella Roja 112,4
Salzburgo 112,2
Olympiacos 111,9
Liverpool 110,8
Lyon 110,6
Ajax 110,2
Juventus 110
M. City 110,6
Genk 109,1
Valencia 108,7
Dortmund 108,3
Galatasaray 107,7
Real Madrid 107,4
Lokomotiv 107,3
Dinamo Zagreb 106
Shakthar 105,9
Chelsea 105,4
PSG 104,5
Nápoles 103,5
Club Brujas 102,6
32. Barça 100,4

And we were pushed to our limits in Prague for 90 minutes. The absolute highest physical effort we can put in is still the lowest of any CL team. Shocking really.

I imagine Valverde and the key senior players at tactical meetings assuring the squad that as long as we are smarter and technically better than the opposition, we don't have to work hard, because they think that was what the philosophy promises.

It isn't. The team worked their asses off running off the ball when Pep was here.

 

[DonAK]

Messi doesn’t wan to play RW and if he do, it won’t be ideal. Also he doesn’t want to play as a false 9 without a true 9 in front of him since he asked for a 9 in 2014 to help him. The Messi false 9 experiment died a long time ago.

So any suggestions to how Valverde solve this issue?

Valverde cannot solve this issue, but he could try a more offensive formation in 4-2-3-1 and play Messi centrally to compensate for his workrate issues, Suarez as the CF as he's obviously undroppable for Ernie and Dembele/Ansu and Griezmann on the LW and RW respectively.

You'll be asking a lot from de Jong and Arthur to hold down the midfield, but both have played in this system before at Ajax and Gremio so it's not unusual for them.

Either way, there's no chance we win the CL, but perhaps they'll stop looking like a mid-table team out there.

 

[Riordon]

Valverde cannot solve this issue, but he could try a more offensive formation in 4-2-3-1 and play Messi centrally to compensate for his workrate issues, Suarez as the CF as he's obviously undroppable for Ernie and Dembele/Ansu and Griezmann on the LW and RW respectively.

You'll be asking a lot from de Jong and Arthur to hold down the midfield, but both have played in this system before at Ajax and Gremio so it's not unusual for them.

Either way, there's no chance we win the CL, but perhaps they'll stop looking like a mid-table team out there.

So by this you are basically agreeing with me regarding our chances in the CL will increase once Messi retires?

 

[DonAK]

So by this you are basically agreeing with me regarding our chances in the CL will increase once Messi retires?

I think we can win with Messi, but it will require some big changes.

But I won't be surprised if we never win the CL again with Messi and need a few years Post-Messi to get to the final again.

This team will have no chance though. Even with another manager there's no chance this team wins as long as we lack the workrate to match up with our opponent's intensity, and the width and pace to threaten their backline and control the game so they don't push up as high as they usually do and overrun our midfield.

 

[Sorin]

I'm bringing up Ruiz because the guys on Chiringuito said last night Real Madrid will go full blown in for him in January before us and Manchester City pounce, and before Napoli gives him another contract, raising his release clause to astronomical levels.


The time is now.


Frenkie, Ruiz, Arthur

Busquets for rotation.


Wait for the little genius Pedri to join next season. Puig as well.

Does Fabian Ruiz have a release clause? And if he does, how much is it?

If there is none there's no way anyone is buying him in January. Or if they do they gonna have to pay way over the odds, at which point let them have him. I don't believe De Laurentis is going to sell for less than 130-140m and if any team out there wants to pay that much then by all means, they could have him. And I rate Fabian but not for that much.

 

[Devils]

It's hard to believe how terrible Valverde is.

Yesterday was just another Roma/Ainfield match but only lacking the level of player quality that Roma and Liverpool had.

Velverde might just be the worst manager in the world.

 

[EdmondDantes]

Does Fabian Ruiz have a release clause? And if he does, how much is it?

If there is none there's no way anyone is buying him in January. Or if they do they gonna have to pay way over the odds, at which point let them have him. I don't believe De Laurentis is going to sell for less than 130-140m and if any team out there wants to pay that much then by all means, they could have him. And I rate Fabian but not for that much.

I've heard there's a secret 60 mil clause. But who knows if it's true or not.


Given how good he is, Napoli's unwillingness to sell, and the interested parties (us, City & Real) - he'll probably go for 100 mil.

 

[DonAK]

Messi staring Valverde down after Slavia Praha's goal as if he didn't support him this summer lol

You reap what you sow, and I think his buddy is a bigger problem than Valverde.

[tw]1187351398276587522[/tw]

 

[Hardy]

imagine spending 200 million on market just to look even worse than last season

 

[DonAK]

imagine spending 200 million on market just to look even worse than last season

You can spend another 200m on another midfield and a CB or two, and it will make no difference as long as Suarez is starting, Messi is positionless and Griezmann is stuck somewhere you limit him to 50% of what he can be.

What do people expect our midfielders to even do? Drive the ball forward and pass it to who? None of our forward make any runs forward and when they try to do so, they're too slow for it to matter, or miss the chances they get.

 

[serghei]

According to the UEFA report Messi played 7 passes to Suarez, and 1 pass to Griezmann.