Francesc "Tito" Vilanova

[Fourteen]

Iniesta is simply in better form and he has a much better understanding and feeling for playing in the position.

I think Jordi Alba has also helped alot towards Iniesta's success.

 

[Aryagorn]

now you are just creating myths

up front meaning playing Iniesta as a wide forward... Don never really played any where near his level in that position, under Pep

 

[UberNjufer]

up front meaning playing Iniesta as a wide forward... Don never really played any where near his level in that position, under Pep

No meaning was getting more out of iniesta in attack which is false

 

[Kerrybai]

No meaning was getting more out of iniesta in attack which is false

By 'up front' I mean I mean his starting position ( wide forward as pointed by Aryagorn ). Last season Iniesta struggled when starting up front, to point of been anonymous at times.

 

[UberNjufer]

By 'up front' I mean I mean his starting position ( wide forward as pointed by Aryagorn ). Last season Iniesta struggled when starting up front, to point of been anonymous at times.

he struggled this season aswell,he was anonymous on quite a few occasiones.He had few stand out performances last weeks but to say tito brought more out of him than pep ever did based on that it's just silly.

 

[Barcaman]

Iniesta is simply in better form and he has a much better understanding and feeling for playing in the position.

I think Jordi Alba has also helped alot towards Iniesta's success.

If our left flank is Bartertown then those two are Master Blaster.

 

[Garrus]

Instead of crediting the wins to his fantastic reading of the game and his killer substitution, You blame it on luck??, I don't get why you all undermine your own coach?, We should give credit where it's due, The way you've been talking about him is just not fair.
He's trying to slowly shape the team into something better, Adding his own touch, And the process won't be smooth that's for sure, If you want to judge him, Do it at the end of the season.

 

[Ursegor]

He is trying to be much more direct (more long balls, more shots from outside the area, more long corner kicks, getting the ball forward quicker, Iniesta on the wing and not in midfield, no David Villa). Which results in more losses of possession in midfield areas. Which means our defense gets tested more often and the opponents can impose their game on us. I'm not sure if we can successfully play this way against big teams. If Betis can cause us so many problems despite the team being rested for a week, imagine a side like Dortmund (who are playing a similar high pressure counterattacking game but even more intense and with better players) infront of their 80,000 crowd. I'll judge Tito after the CL campaign is over. So far he has been lucky on many occasions (Sevilla red card and last minute winner, Granada last minute Xavi golazo, 4 goals conceded against Deportivo , Osasuna being all over us in Pamplona, Real Madrid owning us in the Supercopa like never before, last minute win against Celtic at home, Benfica missing 500 chances last week, Betis hitting the woodwork 3 times, Adriano wonder goal against Valencia, Spartak first leg when we went behind twice at home ...). The majority of games unter Tito weren't convincing tbh. Only Spartak 2. leg, Levante second half, Getafe away and Athletic Bilbao were from the top of my head. And Levante played in the Europa League only 2 days before we played them and Athletic are just rubbish this season. Hilarious how people think Tito might be better than Pep already.

 

[Barcaman]

Barca were magnificent at home in Supercopa too. Real really escaped there with a narrow loss.

 

[oz187]

Since the defeat to Celtic, Barca comfortably won the next 6 games by at least 2 goals. Then there was a draw against Benfica in a game that was irrelevent, and now a tough game away win to Betis(5th best team in Spain who already beat Madrid at home). Tito's doing well so far, and the team is improving.

 

[Kerrybai]

He is trying to be much more direct (more long balls, more shots from outside the area, more long corner kicks, getting the ball forward quicker, Iniesta on the wing and not in midfield, no David Villa). Which results in more losses of possession in midfield areas. Which means our defense gets tested more often and the opponents can impose their game on us. I'm not sure if we can successfully play this way against big teams. If Betis can cause us so many problems despite the team being rested for a week, imagine a side like Dortmund (who are playing a similar high pressure counterattacking game but even more intense and with better players) infront of their 80,000 crowd. I'll judge Tito after the CL campaign is over. So far he has been lucky on many occasions (Sevilla red card and last minute winner, Granada last minute Xavi golazo, 4 goals conceded against Deportivo , Osasuna being all over us in Pamplona, Real Madrid owning us in the Supercopa like never before, last minute win against Celtic at home, Benfica missing 500 chances last week, Betis hitting the woodwork 3 times, Adriano wonder goal against Valencia, Spartak first leg when we went behind twice at home ...). The majority of games unter Tito weren't convincing tbh. Only Spartak 2. leg, Levante second half, Getafe away and Athletic Bilbao were from the top of my head. And Levante played in the Europa League only 2 days before we played them and Athletic are just rubbish this season. Hilarious how people think Tito might be better than Pep already.

Results are all that matter. At this stage last season we had 4 draws and 1 loss in the league. Madrid had effectively won it shortly after Christmas. This season is the exact opposite.

Anyway I'm only playing Devil's advocate. You're right we must wait until the latter stages of the champion's league.

 

[Garrus]

He is trying to be much more direct (more long balls, more shots from outside the area, more long corner kicks, getting the ball forward quicker, Iniesta on the wing and not in midfield, no David Villa). Which results in more losses of possession in midfield areas. Which means our defense gets tested more often and the opponents can impose their game on us. I'm not sure if we can successfully play this way against big teams. If Betis can cause us so many problems despite the team being rested for a week, imagine a side like Dortmund (who are playing a similar high pressure counterattacking game but even more intense and with better players) infront of their 80,000 crowd. I'll judge Tito after the CL campaign is over. So far he has been lucky on many occasions (Sevilla red card and last minute winner, Granada last minute Xavi golazo, 4 goals conceded against Deportivo , Osasuna being all over us in Pamplona, Real Madrid owning us in the Supercopa like never before, last minute win against Celtic at home, Benfica missing 500 chances last week, Betis hitting the woodwork 3 times, Adriano wonder goal against Valencia, Spartak first leg when we went behind twice at home ...). The majority of games unter Tito weren't convincing tbh. Only Spartak 2. leg, Levante second half, Getafe away and Athletic Bilbao were from the top of my head. And Levante played in the Europa League only 2 days before we played them and Athletic are just rubbish this season. Hilarious how people think Tito might be better than Pep already.

WOW, 10 games tito got lucky in them out of 25 games, Now what are the cosmic chances of that happening.
Guardiola fanboy , I have nothing more to say.

 

[Ode to Django]

He is trying to be much more direct (more long balls, more shots from outside the area, more long corner kicks, getting the ball forward quicker, Iniesta on the wing and not in midfield, no David Villa). Which results in more losses of possession in midfield areas. Which means our defense gets tested more often and the opponents can impose their game on us. I'm not sure if we can successfully play this way against big teams. If Betis can cause us so many problems despite the team being rested for a week, imagine a side like Dortmund (who are playing a similar high pressure counterattacking game but even more intense and with better players) infront of their 80,000 crowd. I'll judge Tito after the CL campaign is over. So far he has been lucky on many occasions (Sevilla red card and last minute winner, Granada last minute Xavi golazo, 4 goals conceded against Deportivo , Osasuna being all over us in Pamplona, Real Madrid owning us in the Supercopa like never before, last minute win against Celtic at home, Benfica missing 500 chances last week, Betis hitting the woodwork 3 times, Adriano wonder goal against Valencia, Spartak first leg when we went behind twice at home ...). The majority of games unter Tito weren't convincing tbh. Only Spartak 2. leg, Levante second half, Getafe away and Athletic Bilbao were from the top of my head. And Levante played in the Europa League only 2 days before we played them and Athletic are just rubbish this season. Hilarious how people think Tito might be better than Pep already.

I wish i had you memory, damn.

Can we swap?

 

[Mes que un club]

He is trying to be much more direct (more long balls, more shots from outside the area, more long corner kicks, getting the ball forward quicker, Iniesta on the wing and not in midfield, no David Villa). Which results in more losses of possession in midfield areas. Which means our defense gets tested more often and the opponents can impose their game on us. I'm not sure if we can successfully play this way against big teams. If Betis can cause us so many problems despite the team being rested for a week, imagine a side like Dortmund (who are playing a similar high pressure counterattacking game but even more intense and with better players) infront of their 80,000 crowd. I'll judge Tito after the CL campaign is over. So far he has been lucky on many occasions (Sevilla red card and last minute winner, Granada last minute Xavi golazo, 4 goals conceded against Deportivo , Osasuna being all over us in Pamplona, Real Madrid owning us in the Supercopa like never before, last minute win against Celtic at home, Benfica missing 500 chances last week, Betis hitting the woodwork 3 times, Adriano wonder goal against Valencia, Spartak first leg when we went behind twice at home ...). The majority of games unter Tito weren't convincing tbh. Only Spartak 2. leg, Levante second half, Getafe away and Athletic Bilbao were from the top of my head. And Levante played in the Europa League only 2 days before we played them and Athletic are just rubbish this season. Hilarious how people think Tito might be better than Pep already.

First things first; we are not being much more direct. All statistics show this. Slightly more direct would be more accurate. No David Villa does not mean more directness, more shots from outside the area does not mean more losses of possesion in the midfield area; rather it allows us to return to position more often than not. Second of all, you could list games in such a manner of more or less every season any team has ever had. This luck (as you decide to call it) is exactly the difference between this and last season; but simply disregarding it as luck is in itself inaccurate. Your constant focus only on negatives is quite ridiculous. Being slightly more direct may lead to more losses of possesion, but there are many positives as well - we are scoring more this season; and from someone who the other day criticized Pedro and Alexis for being "Dirk Kuyt's" i find your sudden agenda towards being defensively secure odd. When Tito does something which makes us score more goals and be less defensive secure it is wrong, and when he does the opposite, it is wrong. It is absolutely fine to be critical, and it is definately premature to compare him with Pep - but your criticism is far from nuanced, constructive or fair.

 

[Ursegor]

We are much more direct when opponents play a pressing game. This is very obvious to me. Instead of trying to retain possession Tito is trying to make use of the extra spaces which teams leave behind when they press high up the pitch immediately. Instead of cooling things down in midfield and stringing 20 passes together as under Pep the ball now goes immediately to the forwards (who then lose it much quicker). Tito is even implementing counter-attacking mechanisms. The counterattacking move started by Pique in the 91th minute against Athletic is something that didn't exist under Pep. Normally we would rather allow the opponent to regroup and start a new attacking move. Slowing the game down deliberately. If you don't notice this, rewatch the games. It's obvious that we have much more "end-to-end" games under Tito IMO. Osasuna, Rayo, Betis ...

In theory this has a lot of advantages. But in practise we can't play like that (maybe it will improve with time). These players need possession and control of the game at all times. If we try to play a transition game we suck. It only leads to unnecessary giveaways which puts our defense under pressure.

We are NOT scoring more goals this season. That's simply wrong. Last season at this point after 15 games we were on 51:8 goal difference. This season it is 50:17. We aren't even scoring much more goals than back in 2008 / 2009, despite Messi more or less doubling his goal tally since then. 2008 / 2009: 46:9. There is only 1 noticeable difference and it's a worse defense (as a whole, not the backline) and luck which we lacked last season (playing in a swamp in Bilbao is very unlucky tbh, nevermind all the ridiculous refereeing decisions).

and from someone who the other day criticized Pedro and Alexis for being "Dirk Kuyt's" i find your sudden agenda towards being defensively secure odd.

What the ...?! That was obviously a sarcastic comment for people who think they are tactical geniuses when they point out Pedro's and Alexis' "workrate" and justify a starting spot even when they put in 10 meter high crosses and don't score for 19 games in a row as forwards for Barcelona. I just wonder where Pedro's famous workrate was when Ruben Castro needed 5 seconds to take a shot and Pedro was still nowhere to be seen tracking back on that flank. Remember who was in our penalty box winning the ball back when Rio Ferdinand claimed "hand ball" in the CL final towards the 90 minute mark? It was David Villa. But hey. Pedro = workrate, waving around with his arms. Villa = 31 year old striker who doesn't have the legs anymore to play football.