Francesc "Tito" Vilanova

Richard.H

Senior Member
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.

In fairness to the people criticizing Tito, they do have a point. Even in the first half of the season we didn't get good results against RM, which was our only real tests in the beginning. Take into consideration some miracle away wins thanks to Villa and you have the so called perfect start of the season. Everybody in the footballing world knows the real test of any European football comes in the 2nd half of the season.
 

Maria

New member
As everyone knows, I always have a point to make when I talk about Rosell or Tito :lol: so my opinion cant really be taken seriously..so all Im going to say right now is that for me the most important thing(more important than the fact that were going to win the league, that we have the worst defence since Gaspart or that we suffered our biggest humiliation in the European Cup) was that I couldnt really enjoy watching this team play football this season(apart from a few games in December)..and that is the worst thing for me. That and the fact that even Arsenal scored against Bayern..and they dont have Messi. :(

We need to remember this though, this Bayern tie could have been much different with a fit Puyol and Messi.

You might think so..but then you remember that they were present when we lost at Milano or against RM in Copa del Rey..and you realize that this it isnt about the players.
 
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DucdeOrléans

New member
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

I respect your opinion and I know that only a few fellow barcelonistas share my likeness of Mourinho as a manager. Although he was the clear favorite in every single poll back in 2008. In hindsight it was a very good thing not to hire him, mind you. There is just something in me that would like to see the best manager this decade return to FCB in order to prove himself as a manager and not as a translator or assistant manager. I think that this would be his greatest challenge and we all know that he would love to manage FCB despite the love-hate relation that is more based on coincidence than anything else since we have encountered his teams wherever he has been.
 

mobster_1930

New member
I don't hate Mourinho at all, he would be great for Barcelona with this kind of players at his disposal. Anyway, there is a bigger chance of making a spaceship with speed of light travel then Mourinho coaching Barca.
 

Garrus

New member
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.
Here you had a team that just won 4 trophies in a season, Could've reached the final of CL if it weren't for bad luck, And the man in charge, The one who made it all, Suddenly doesn't want to coach anymore, What are you going to do?
Bring a foreign coach?, Too risky and doesn't make sense,The team isn't doing badly, It's quite the opposite in fact, Cules not only got used to success, But also to a certain style of play, You'll be jeopardizing those with an outside coach, Cules didn't want anything new, They wanted more of the same thing, They wanted for things to run as if pep had never left, And the only logical choice is tito, And the correct one.
For his first season, He was good, What we did in the league simply can't be overlooked, And i can assure you, If the runner-ups weren't so far away from us, We wouldn't have dropped more than 4-6 points until now, I remember how i watched madridista with resentment as they celebrated their la liga last season, And now we have it back, And with a bang i might add, I'm happy.
He brought changes in our attacking methodology, And it backfired against big teams, Now he either he thinks he can mend it's 'holes' by new signings, Or he may drop it all together, I'm not sure, But what i know for certain is that my definitive judgment for tito will be on his second season, There is no way in hell i'll judge him now.
Of course there is the whole 'Complacency' issues with the players after so many successful years, Which also has a big say on what is happening now, But that's a different subject all together, I wanted to keep the post simple.
 
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dlx3

New member
CelticVBarca002.jpg
 

Kerrybai

New member
I respect your opinion and I know that only a few fellow barcelonistas share my likeness of Mourinho as a manager. Although he was the clear favorite in every single poll back in 2008. In hindsight it was a very good thing not to hire him, mind you. There is just something in me that would like to see the best manager this decade return to FCB in order to prove himself as a manager and not as a translator or assistant manager. I think that this would be his greatest challenge and we all know that he would love to manage FCB despite the love-hate relation that is more based on coincidence than anything else since we have encountered his teams wherever he has been.

I'm not going to comment on the merits of Mou, however I will say this. There is very little point of discussing him as a possible manager right now. He is going to Chelsea in the summer, there is very little doubt about that. Mou and Barca will not be happening any time soon.
 

SeloBarca

Senior Member
He has no controll of the players, they do what they want. I think the players knowing him to well is a problem.
 

Howlgrana

New member
Hello guys I am new to the forum.

I signed up to say that a huge factor in Barca's losses this season in the big games (Clasicos and CL matches) has been the form of Victor Valdes. I know it is all too obvious to blame Valdes but this season, he really has not performed close to the level of a keeper at one of the top clubs in Europe.

Quite simply he is not making enough big saves. Last night was an example where he let in more goals than the opposition had shots on target. He is not an adequate last line of defence this season. Contrast his display to Diego Lopez on Tuesday, who stopped at least 3 clear-cut chances for Dortmund.

This is the damning evidence of Valdes in Barca's last 8 most recent big games this season:

Barcelona v Bayern Munich: Bayern 2 shots on target, 3 goals scored past Valdes

Bayern Munich v Barcelona: Bayern 7 shots on target, 4 goals

Barcelona v PSG: PSG 8 shots on target, 1 goal

PSG v Barcelona: PSG 5 shots on target, 2 goals

Barcelona v Milan: Milan 2 shots on target, 0 goals

Milan v Barcelona: Milan 3 shots on target, 2 goals

Real Madrid v Barca (La Liga 2nd March): Real Madrid 6 shots on target, 2 goals

Barcelona v Real Madrid (Copa Del Ray 26th Feb): Real Madrid 8 shots on target, 3 goals

If you add up all the shots on target in these games (41), and add up all the goals he let past him in the same games (17), then the average rate that shots on target end up in goals is a staggering 41%!

Now of course this is just using these sample games and there are obviously other factors in goals being scored. But on a basic level, you can predict that any shot on target against Barcelona in a 'big game' has a massive 41% chance of being scored.

That is just crazy for a club that should have one of the best keepers in the world.
 

oz187

New member
In fairness to the people criticizing Tito, they do have a point. Even in the first half of the season we didn't get good results against RM, which was our only real tests in the beginning. Take into consideration some miracle away wins thanks to Villa and you have the so called perfect start of the season. Everybody in the footballing world knows the real test of any European football comes in the 2nd half of the season.

Even Pep was struggling against RM last season including the 1-2 defeat at home in the league, and the team also struggled in La Liga, especially away games. People are looking at Peps team with rose-tinted glasses.

They got miracle away wins this season, and they got the miracle win against Milan, but that shows that Tito does have ability to motivate the players to a high level. With a year of experience, maybe he can learn to do it with more consistency against stronger teams.

Also, if you want some good news, Mourinho is probably leaving in the summer so it's likely RM will be a lesser threat next season in direct encounters.
 

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