Francesc "Tito" Vilanova

[spark]

That's some nonsense, Tito did not bought Cesc nor Alexis... if you´re talking about bringing players in then look at the reality.

Pep could not win against Real in the end and Chelsea (lol) stopped Barca, if Pep stayed doubt he would win against this Bayern.


The material Tito had to deal with is just poor, and with Puyol and Messie out.... not even 3 Peps could have done a better job.

Stop the irrational hate.

People harp back to when our squad was young hungry and fully fit, ignoring the start of the cracks last season when the motivation first went down after we won the club world cup. Its basic human nature and not even Pep could keep them motivated which is part of why he left.The reality is only new blood in the squad and an embarrassment like the last two weeks will reinvigorate those older players.

 

[Stric]

Some new blood in the squad will not change anything other than fix whatever flaws there might be at the moment. Unless it's a completely new generation of players, new blood can't make the difference. The other part I agree with, though. Losing the Primera title to Madrid last season played a big role in fighting for it this year. I believe this humiliation with Bayern will shake things up, too. That's not to say that I consider our CL season a failure, though. Reaching the semis is still a great success. Being beaten 7-0 over two legs is the only real bad part as far as I'm concerned.

 

[spark]

Some new blood in the squad will not change anything other than fix whatever flaws there might be at the moment. Unless it's a completely new generation of players, new blood can't make the difference. The other part I agree with, though. Losing the Primera title to Madrid last season played a big role in fighting for it this year. I believe this humiliation with Bayern will shake things up, too. That's not to say that I consider our CL season a failure, though. Reaching the semis is still a great success. Being beaten 7-0 over two legs is the only real bad part as far as I'm concerned.

Yea it more or less turned them into a machine at the start of the season. Once they got their 14 point lead and Tito went to New York, all the "We are Barca we dont need much effort to win" performances crept back in. Then players started dropping like flies and here we are today.

 

[Jaykob]

The most interesting part from the ZM article

"Barca pressing?

It’s the standard strategy to break into Barcelona’s full-back positions, but Bayern had so many opportunities to do so because of Barcelona’s disjointed pressing. One obvious change from Barcelona under Vilanova is that they’ve pressed less than under Pep Guardiola, but here they did attempt to press higher up the pitch . However, while Barcelona’s sheer stamina in their pressing was frequently praised under Guardiola, less attention was played to the actual positioning and cohesion in the pressing – the player in possession wasn’t just closed down, all his other passing options were pressured too. Here, Barcelona’s ‘pressing’ seemed simply more like frantic chasing with other opponents left free."


This is one of the main reason the defence looks so shaky this season imho

 

[Stric]

Pep and Tito are incomparable. I wonder what happened to all those people who claimed Tito was really the mastermind behind Barcelona all these years.

 

[Jaykob]

Tito should step down for various reasons. One of them being that he is simply not a good enough manager. He lacks the charisma, presence and leadership. He also seems like a mediocre motivator. Moreover there have been persistent rumors of him not being able to lead the dressing room and apparently several players have complained about the lack of leadership that sorrounds the team/squad. All aspects that Pep more or less perfected during his stint.

Tito was and probably still is a great ASSISTANT manager but that is not sufficient to be a manager for FC Barcelona and to replace the legend that is Pep. In hindsight the appointment of Tito was a bad choice. It also came out of nowhere and was a huge surprise, overall. The continuation of the project Pep started, in the form of Tito, was always going to be a cheap imitation. The team needed something new. A new direction, new ideas and new inspiration. None of that has happened nor was it something unexpected the day Tito was appointed.

We all know that football evolves around cycles. That of Pep was something truly extraordinary and was not going to last forever or continue the day he left. Sure, the current setup and its fundamentals that have made this club the most successful in Europe in the last 20 years should not be changed nor will they. The point is though that the club could use NEW IDEAS. They are not going to come under Tito.

I am sorry to say this but I really think that we could use a new manager. Most mangers that would be willing to coach us/be deemed good enough would probably do wonders or at least perform as well as Tito has with those players at disposable and the clubs excellent setup. As long as they would have a right man that knows the club in and out next to them. Ironically a Tito type would be ideal.

I can only think of one manager/person who could make the "revolution" needed and give us more or less instant success. His name is Mourinho. Obviously that is not going to happen but the thought is interesting nevertheless regardless of the hatred/ridiculous critique that Mourinho naturally gets on this forum for obvious reasons. Although this is a completely different discussion.

What I still insist in is that a managerial change is needed and that Tito is not likely to be the right choice on the long run. Unfortunately since Tito is a barcelonista and a very sympathetic character much like Roura btw.

Most importantly Tito has had MUCH more important issues to think about this season - his cancer. That will probably also be haunting him, unfortunately, for some time since it is still unresolved.

Anyway we all know that Tito is not going anywhere (unfortunately IMO) but at least this 0-7 defeat over the two legs should or rather must force the club and staff to react in some way. So, as painfully as it may sound, then this trashing is a better thing than a narrow defeat since the latter would probably not cause major changes as this trashing hopefully will.

I would love nothing more than to be wrong and for users to quote this post in the future to show how wrong I was. But there is very little that tells me that this will ever happen.

I wanted to say great post , until I read Mourinho. Not only is he a complete amoral a++hole but also incapable of playing anything resembling attacking football, did you see the semi final against Dortmund, Real Madrid tried to play like Stoke, just lump the ball forward and hope for a lucky flick on or a piece of individual skill, completely clueless. Mourinho can only coach technically limited physical counter attacking teams like inter or chelsea.
All in all his tactics are very conservative and would provide none of the new ideas you crave.


I agree with everything else in your post

 

[Kerrybai]

I don't really know where I stand on this but I'll say just this.

Pro: Tito has regained the league title, and effectively won it with several games remaining. He has also brought us to another CL semi final.
Con: We have looked awful against Madrid and this Bayern defeat is not acceptable for our team, ultimately the blame is with Tito. Our pressing game is gone and he looks suspect tactically.

We need to remember this though, this Bayern tie could have been much different with a fit Puyol and Messi. Pep didn't play CL semi finals without Messi.

I would not mind if he leaves but at the same time I will support the decision to keep him, he is bringing home the league title and if you are going to blame him for his failures then you also have to credit him for his triumphs.

On second thought has Messi simply papered over the cracks of this management?

 

[Irish_Cules]

I don't really know where I stand on this but I'll say just this.

Pro: Tito has regained the league title, and effectively won it with several games remaining. He has also brought us to another CL semi final.
Con: We have looked awful against Madrid and this Bayern defeat is not acceptable for our team, ultimately the blame is with Tito. Our pressing game is gone and he looks suspect tactically.

We need to remember this though, this Bayern tie could have been much different with a fit Puyol and Messi. Pep didn't play CL semi finals without Messi.

I would not mind if he leaves but at the same time I will support the decision to keep him, he is bringing home the league title and if you are going to blame him for his failures then you also have to credit him for his triumphs.

On second thought has Messi simply papered over the cracks of this management?

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. I have my doubts about Tito but he delivered us the league title and got us to the semi final of the Champions League, all while being ill. He deserves to continue next season. If we are still encountering the same problems at the end of next season then he should leave.

 

[BXI Fútbol]

He deserves another year, learning from his mistakes (defense, better handling of youth players, etc.) and actually physically being there for an entire season.

 

[Kerrybai]

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. I have my doubts about Tito but he delivered us the league title and got us to the semi final of the Champions League, all while being ill. He deserves to continue next season. If we are still encountering the same problems at the end of next season then he should leave.

Exactly and we should learn from the mistakes of Chelsea etc, chopping and changing managers every season is not a sound strategy.

My only worry is that Messi has made our management look much better than it is, but either way Tito deserves a second shot and a chunk of change to bring in new faces.

 

[Jaykob]

Exactly and we should learn from the mistakes of Chelsea etc, chopping and changing managers every season is not a sound strategy.

My only worry is that Messi has made our management look much better than it is, but either way Tito deserves a second shot and a chunk of change to bring in new faces.

Changing for changing sake is not a sound strategy indeed, but one should change when it is necessary and not continue and hope for the best. The problems in Titos barcelona were evident at the start of the season and if he continues, I see no reason why that should change.

 

[Birdy]

Pep and Tito are incomparable. I wonder what happened to all those people who claimed Tito was really the mastermind behind Barcelona all these years.

Strange as it might seem, these claims might be pretty true actually..
Remeber how bad Rijjkaard was without Ten Cate? And how horrendous Ten Cate was as a first manager wherever he tried?
Devising tactics is one thing, and we have pretty much evidence (Guardiola's confessing himself several times) that Tito is a master-tactician. Look at the beggining of the season how spot on were his subs when the come-backs came..

But, being a manager requires much more than that. ANd we have to admit also that Tito is not anywhere near Pep in terms of psychology and leadership.
The coach is a father, a symbol, a teacher, a motivator. Tito seems to lack the sparkle of that. He is great as a master-mind standing behind or next to a great manager (and mind that Pep is a Maestro of players' psychology), but not as good to do everything himself.
I think Rossel and Co needs to work on that and find the other half of the equation for next year. Obviously this is not going to be Guardiola -unfortunately- so they have to look for something new that might come as a first or second coach that knows he is going to address this part of the game.. And since we all know Barca, it has to be a child of the team. I dont know who can do that really..

 

[oz187]

The exaggeration of Tito's weaknesses are disgraceful. The team broke the all time La Liga halfway points record(the points they dropped were in a Clasico with Adriano playing his first game as CB). He got cancer and despite the team having effectively won La Liga the team still has maintained a challenge for the La Liga all time points record. Seriously, there's a bunch of spoilt brats in here. As Pep said, the points Barca are getting are 'brutal'. That they have again managed that this season is an amazing accomplishment. You should all be proud of the fact that they are runaway leaders in La Liga against the most expensive team ever.

 

[jairzinho]

Strange as it might seem, these claims might be pretty true actually..
Remeber how bad Rijjkaard was without Ten Cate? And how horrendous Ten Cate was as a first manager wherever he tried?
Devising tactics is one thing, and we have pretty much evidence (Guardiola's confessing himself several times) that Tito is a master-tactician. Look at the beggining of the season how spot on were his subs when the come-backs came..

But, being a manager requires much more than that. ANd we have to admit also that Tito is not anywhere near Pep in terms of psychology and leadership.
The coach is a father, a symbol, a teacher, a motivator. Tito seems to lack the sparkle of that. He is great as a master-mind standing behind or next to a great manager (and mind that a Maestro of players' psychology), but not as good to do everything himself.
I think Rossel and Co needs to work on that and find the other half of the equation for next year. Obviously this is not going to be Guardiola -unfortunately- so they have to look for something new that might come as a first or second coach that knows he is going to address this part of the game.. And since we all know Barca, it has to be a child of the team. I dont know who can do that really..

Good.

 

[serghei]

A lot of you are exaggerating with Mourinho. He said things about Barca, but really, at the end of the day, all he did was to defend his team. Is he arrogant? Yes, but that's hardly a problem. He has already proved what a great manager he is.