Gerardo "Tata" Martino
- Thread starter Faceless
- Start date
Devils
Senior Member
Sums it up.
In the footballing world, Tata's class is an example to follow. But he's not the man for Barca. I will never hold anything against him and I really hope the Barca job will open numerous great opportunities for him and he goes on to have many successes.
But he really has to step down after this season. We can't continue like this.
Pepe Silvia
Active member
You guys have little to no memory, in the beginning of the season we were playing the best disciplined and exciting football we had in years. It was all thanks to Tata and his shit tactics. The problem became the board not backing him up and allowing him to make changes. All that 'I trust Puyol' was what the board told him to say of course. They never gave him an opportunity to keep control of things, and once Xavi went against him he lost the locker room, even though he won a game 4-0. I do think that Tata is not qualified in a sense of European pedigree, but to say that he is clueless or that he sucked is not entirely accurate, as we saw what he did in the first half of the season. The facts are facts. It's the poisonous board who are to blame!
Stric
New member
I agree 100%. Early in the season we finally looked on fire again. I was very happy with the way we played and Tata's decisions. Something went bad along the way.
Alarcón
New member
That's not true at all. Our football has been disorganised, chaotic and lacklustre all season; even at the beginning of the season, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the previous years and that's also why a lot of people complained after the Rayo game - not because we had less possession, but because our football was boring and stale compared to the years under Guardiola and Tito. We drew 0-0 to Osasuna, lost 0-1 to Athletic, we were lucky in 3 games in a row against Málaga, Valencia and Sevilla, we were 2 goals down against Getafe and were only saved by individual brilliance and now that the players are in bad form and psychologically hurt, it shows that Tata's so called genius tactics are nothing but hot air. How anyone could derive from that that we were playing the most exciting football in years or that Tata has any idea what tactics to use with this team is beyond me.
darthvader7888
Banned
I like Tata, especially after his recent comments. But I just don't think he's the man for us.
DennyCrane
Senior Member
I agree with you in essence.
Jonathan Wilson over at the Guardian basically said the same as you about tiki-taka, only difference is he went after the old abstraction that football goes in cycles and that the posession cycle is coming to an end; and as a consequence made it only easier to swallow.
I'm not sure whether posession based football is done and dusted, but at least for me, posession has always been a result of the circumstances and not a way to achieve a result. Excessive posession always stroke me as a pragmatic solution to a specific problems, mainly as a substitute for actual defending. And Barca needed that, in 10/11 way more than in 08/09 for example.
The downfall of posession based play is caprice, a poor implementation and lack-luster middle-grounds. When it stops to be a pragmatic solution and becomes a philosophy or a dogma - when people get the idea that it is a keystone of an entire club and therefore irreversible, which is solely an observation based on a too narrow timeframe. At its' worst, it makes players complacent because they have the psychological proxy power to ignore the result as long as the posession level meets the expectations - which in itself is based on the common misconception that posession means dominance/forcing your play on the opponent. The matches you referred to are case studies of exactly why this is actually a misconception.
Meanwhile, back at the Barcaranch, we're all sitting on the highest possible horse. Winning per se isn't a joy, it's a necessity. And it has to be in a certain style as well. In these parts, we look down on notorious bus parkers like Chelsea, on counter-attacking sides like Real or those who throw some rather cynical stuff in the mix from time to time like... everyone but Barca (most of the time).
But when it comes down to it, this is just a another peculiarity of organisational blindness that affects everyone somehow involved with this club. Even more, it's loss of reality.
As for Tata, he tried and failed. He was asked to pick up where others left off and the result is on the table for everyone to see. His failure isn't a nearly trophyless season or some questionable results in La Liga; his failure is that he couldn't convince Barca that change is a necessity and that this needs time. Nevertheless, he knew that the Camp Nou benchmark is results + entertainment value while ignoring the circumstances. He knew that nobody will calmly analyze the problems of the team and differentiate between what is his fault and what isn't once he starts to lay his hands on what people perceive as a keystone of the club. And what will happen now is pretty obvious: He'll leave, another one comes and Barca pretend that all problems are solved. Throw a few new players in the mix, get rid of deadwood but keep the dogma.
What happens after that is obvious as well: Nothing will chance and I guarentee you that we will be back at square one next year.
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DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
He's holding himself accountable, no respect is lost for him on my end.
It's dead and over. You can say any reason you want for keeping Tata but the fact remains that his tenure is bound to a toxic situation at the club. That's not to say that with a new manager the situation suddenly becomes amazing, just that there'll be less damage going on from various parties (players won't revolt, press won't crucify him, etc.).
If we can't get the best or someone truly amazing then our next best option is to get someone who's not amazing but a perfect fit in the puzzle. That way they bring less of a shitstorm around them. It's not a solution but it's damage control and some form of improvement. Things might not necessarily become better but they'll become "less bad" if that makes sense.
It's only the extreme idealist to believe that Tata will suddenly get the best chance from the board next season with all the players he wants and total support from everyone to mold the team in his image. It doesn't really matter if he's "only had one season" or that "everyone else around him is making his job so much harder" because that won't change over time. Even if Tata is a victim, what makes you think he won't be next season? Move past it, that's the only logical thing to do.
No balls - no glory.
That pretty much sums up our season.
And this goes not only for Tata but for most of our players. Starting with all key figures bar Valdes.
And worst is yet to come, I' afraid. As we're losing 2 of our only true leaders on the pitch : Puyol and Valdes.
That pretty much sums up our season.
And this goes not only for Tata but for most of our players. Starting with all key figures bar Valdes.
And worst is yet to come, I' afraid. As we're losing 2 of our only true leaders on the pitch : Puyol and Valdes.
Ryan_Cule
barça amor d mi alma
Ursegor
World Champion
Intangibles like "balls" don't win games. Pedro and Alves converting at least one from the gazillion chances Barca created would. Not having to rely on a squad where Pedro is forced to mark people on set pieces and Adriano has to go into aerial duels would.
All of this doesn't matter anyway. Mentally the season ended for Culés after Granada.
All of this doesn't matter anyway. Mentally the season ended for Culés after Granada.
B
beautifulgame
Guest
^^^
Cule4life
The Culest
But they dont hurt your chances of winning do they? You could bring Benatia/Thiago Silva and whoever else you wont succeed if you dont have discipline. Just look at the 2nd goal conceded against Getafe today. There were 4 getafe players in our box and only 3 of our players. The rest were standing or jogging back. Unless the players work together the team would be less than the sum of its parts.
darthvader7888
Banned
Well said. Also, a world-class coach shouldn't succumb to pressure from the media and/or the players (like what happened in that supposed meeting with Xavi) like Tata did.
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