Ernesto Valverde

[soul24rage]

Please please please let it be true...

 

[El Gato]

Correct about Bale, Hazard instead of him. Marcelo is a starter over Mendy when fit.

You apply double standards to similar situation in the Barca - Madrid cases. The only major thing that his vastly different is you have a manager who is of a different level than Valverde.

No proof of that, Zidane used both when both were fit and since then Mendy has made Madrid great in defense (which Zidane spoke about as being as important as attacking in recent weeks) so not likely he will just ditch him, especially for important fixtures.

I didn't apply double standards here in regard to Xavi having played with half of this Barca side did I? Was just a normal statement pointing out half of your side is old. So hence I find your, respectfully, irrelevant comment a bit strange. Must be your odd imagination seeing "Barca are old and Madrid are young" I guess.

 

[Porque]

Rumour is what cost Valverde his job is packing a leg of Jamon in his luggage for the Saudi trip.

 

[Don Andrésº8]

Accept it plz, just to put an end to this reign of terror

 

[Vilarrubi]

Rumour is what cost Valverde his job is packing a leg of Jamon in his luggage for the Saudi trip.

 

[serghei]

No proof of that, Zidane used both when both were fit and since then Mendy has made Madrid great in defense (which Zidane spoke about as being as important as attacking in recent weeks) so not likely he will just ditch him, especially for important fixtures.

I didn't apply double standards here in regard to Xavi having played with half of this Barca side did I? Was just a normal statement pointing out half of your side is old. So hence I find your, respectfully, irrelevant comment a bit strange. Must be your odd imagination seeing "Barca are old and Madrid are young" I guess.

Half of your side is also old. So leave the argument aside. Barca are old, and Madrid are old. The key players of both sides, the ones that have won all these titles in the last 5-6 years, are OLD. From Modric, to Ramos, to Kroos, to Messi, Suarez, Benzema, Marcelo, Pique. Every old Barca superstar has an equally old Madrid superstar. All of which have been essential in your serial CL wins, as well as our longlasting domination in Spain.

I doesn't mean anything if Xavi played with some players form this Barcelona team (mostly Pique, Busquets and Messi, the remaining players from Pep's time). Pep also played with Xavi and Puyol for some years. Zidane played a few seasons with Ramos too and they get along fine with different relations.

 

[fergus90]

I wonder if Bartomeu and co got the wake-up call by seeing how much distain there was towards Valverde when abroad from foreign supports. After all Bartomeu's ethos has been to make Barca more global, richer, etc etc. The reality is Barca is actually in danger of slipping behind the leading pack, with the lack of success comes less fan interest in the future and less revenue. This is especially true now we are in the final stretch of Messi's years at least as a regular starter and a new global superstar of football will emerge. They were at a crossroads in May and 99% of clubs would've been aware that the situation required fresh management with fresh ideas.

Sometimes, especially at the top a team's play-style and character is a reflection of the managers persona, the intricate details of Guardiola, Ferguson's leadership, Wenger's ingenuity in his prime, Klopp, Mourinho(in his prime) etc. Valverde has absolutely zero personality, always very morose, meek and dull. This is what the football being played by Barcelona has transpired to, it's slow and predictable with two or three good performances a season.

At the top you need a manager with guts and guile especially in pressure situations, dropping players when they aren't performing, making tactical changes at the right time. Bar the Classico's, Valverde's big matches he has been outsmarted by the opposition manager and hasn't developed a single player in my opinion from the day he began his time here.

 

[El Gato]

Half of your side is also old. So leave the argument aside. Barca are old, and Madrid are old. The key players of both sides, the ones that have won all these titles in the last 5-6 years, are OLD.

Except our old is not as bad as your old. It matters who is old, not just how old they are. Modrić at 35 is still very very useful when he's not a starter as proved recently. Ramos at 34 is not nearly as much a liability as Pique at 32. Benzema at 32 is having two of his best consecutive seasons since 11/12. List goes on. I don't need to tell how your only consistently good starter old man is you-know-who.

I doesn't mean anything if Xavi played with 4 players form this Barcelona team (mostly Pique, Busquets and Messi, the remaining players from Pep's time). Pep also played with Xavi and Puyol for some years. Zidane played a few seasons with Ramos too and they get along fine with different relations.

He didn't play with 4, he played with at least 7 outfield regulars which includes Suarez, Alba and Rakitic, and MAtS in goal. No need for dodging it.

For sure it's OK if captains remained until they're very old, so long as they're not detrimental to the play with their age, but if any of the others who add really sodall to the club AND start, you know you have a problem.

 

[serghei]

Except our old is not as bad as your old. It matters who is old, not just how old they are. Modrić at 35 is still very very useful when he's not a starter as proved recently. Ramos at 34 is not nearly as much a liability as Pique at 32. Benzema at 32 is having two of his best consecutive seasons since 11/12. List goes on. I don't need to tell how your only consistently good starter old man is you-know-who.

If your older players are so much better than ours, then how the hell did Barca walk the last 2 La Ligas with this old core and a crap manager like Valverde, trashing you in the process with embarrassing scorelines like 5-1 and 3-0? What an absurd claim to make. We've almost won a treble last year with fucking Valverde, while you ended your season in early march lol.

He didn't play with 4, he played with at least 7 outfield regulars which includes Suarez, Alba and Rakitic, and MAtS in goal. No need for dodging it.

For sure it's OK if captains remained until they're very old, so long as they're not detrimental to the play with their age, but if any of the others who add really sodall to the club AND start, you know you have a problem.

His last season was the season Rakitic and Suarez were signed. Also, I missed the part where this is important to the point you are so sure Xavi won't work because of this reason.

 

[KingLeo10]

Wolfe has adopted this notion of their old core being better than Barca's when they've amounted to 75 point league campaigns last 2 seasons and have a R of 16 fiasco and a CL win to their name (mostly thanks to Bernat and Karius).

Comical. You guys peaked in 2017 and have been on a steady decline since then.

 

[El Gato]

No? They how the hell did we walk the last 2 La Ligas with this old core and a crap manager like Valverde?

Oh loads of reasons. Messi not stopping scoring like Ronaldo switched off for autumn 2017? Benzema having the worst 2 season of his life in between 2016 and 2018 unlike Suarez and having zero competition at striker in the latter season? Dembele being probably twice as useful as Bale long term with let's say relatively equal playing time? Just about every veteran bar Marcelo who is now performing rather well not feeling like doing their job in 2017 after winning 5 trophies? More immediate quality in 18/19 in attack than we had after having sold our topscorer in the previous decade? More managerial stability with the only failure in 17/18 being Roma which doesn't affect your league strength (and neither did Anfield TBH), which doesn't make the veterans have to readjust their long-term habits?

His last season was the season Rakitic and Suarez came. At that point he was already as his last season.

Yep. He played with them.

 

[serghei]

Oh loads of reasons. Messi not stopping scoring like Ronaldo switched off for autumn 2017? Benzema having the worst 2 season of his life in between 2016 and 2018 unlike Suarez and having zero competition at striker in the latter season?

So basically our older players (Messi and Suarez) were better than your oldies (Ronaldo, Benzema).

 

[El Gato]

So basically our older players were better.

Yep. Those two clearly were.

Were.

 

[serghei]

Yep. Those two clearly were.

Were.

Have you taken a look at the goalscoring and assists table this season? Compare the numbers of Messi and Suarez with those of Benzema and Bale. That is the difference. With both missing quite a few games mind you.

You have no basis for saying your older players are better than ours. It's probably the other way around currently.

 

[El Gato]

Have you taken a look at the goalscoring and assists table this season?

Pretty good. Let them stay.

You have no basis for saying your older players are better than ours. It's probably the other way around currently.

Aye. Modrić coming off the bench and scoring goals is clearly worse than walking Busquets. Ramos being part of a backline that conceded half the amount of goals is clearly worse than Pique. Kroos arguably performing the best since 2016 is clearly inferior to Rakitić. No basis.