Gerardo "Tata" Martino

[Aryagorn]

What a beast he is. He allows us a 6 point advantage just to give us a false sense of security and make Tata think he got it all figured out, only to catch us off guard later in the season. Truly European

Europeans can be pretty dangerous man

 

[Cule4life]

Whoever gave that really long lobbed pass to Neymar deserves lots of praise from me! Was an excellent chance for Neymar since the pass was incredible accurate.

That was Iniesta

 

[darthvader7888]

I like the fact that he's willing to change things up. He doesn't HAVE to have 70%+ possession every game and is more willing to play on the counter when its necessary and/or beneficial. He can play both tiki-taka and a counter-attacking game. Hopefully we won't see any more of the 70%+ possession with no chances created that we saw in big games last season. Or the same tactics, lineup, etc over and over again, even after they fail over and over again.

He was playing with fire defending a 1-0 lead though. And he shouldn't have started Masch imo.

All in all, he did well in his first clasico. He was certianly the better of the 2 coaches in that game, especially in the first half.

 

[suckabov]

I don't know about Mascherano starting. I was hoping for Bartra and Puyol, but then again, if Bartra had committed one fatal mistake, all the confidence he built up in recent games would have been destroyed, especially in a game that is as emotional as this one, among fans and players. Now Tata can ease him in a bit more and maybe rotate him with Pique and/or Mascherano to keep especially Pique fit and grant Pique even more experience. Based on his form, he totally deserved to be considered, and I do think he's ready to play in big games, but why take a risk too early? We want a long-term CB in him that doesn't suffer from pressure. I don't think Tata left him out just like that. As for Puyol, we need him as long as possible and shouldn't risk his health one bit, especially if he's not completely match-fit yet. I don't think it would be wise to start him in every game, we should save so that he is available in big games - of course yesterday was a big game, but it wasn't as important as those (hopefully) coming up next spring, and I'd like to have a fit and healthy Puyol avilable then.

All in all, we have seen that our defense can work even with thee CB duo we played in the second part of last season. Reassuring to say the least.

 

[poldep]

I really like Tata. He made Madrid look like fools and for that I love him.

 

[BarcaGirl]

Love him.

But poor guy, he just won the classico, hasn't lost a single game so far, but still gets heavily criticized, because we don't have enough possesion

 

[Blancone]

As long as we win, I don't care about the possesion or our play. Keep bringing the victories Tata, and you should be fine

 

[darthvader7888]

Love him.

But poor guy, he just won the classico, hasn't lost a single game so far, but still gets heavily criticized, because we don't have enough possesion

I think its more about our performance than possession. We didn't play that well in the second half, though I'm not really pissed with the overall game.

 

[Stric]

That lineup was a bold decision. The guy sent 11 players that never played in that formation against the toughest team he faced so far. Some would say crazy, and they'd have a point, but after the game, it seems like a wise decision. I'm very happy with him so far, good luck Tata!

 

[DennyCrane]

 

[Valdivia]

I was mostly impressed by how the team pressed off the ball, reminiscent of the good ol' days, along with the disciplined defensive performance of the team but especially Alves and Pique. Amazing how different we played against those counterattacks that broke our backs in the last two seasons. I'm glad that Tata is changing things up, it was bound to happen but needed a brave first decision. Boost of much needed confidence.

 

[oz187]

Tactically he's been excellent. Just a shame the players have been letting him down. However it was important to get the win against Madrid and hopefully this will get the players to really believe in themselves again.

 

[Kerrybai]

Tactics tactics tactics... this is most important. No player is bigger than a team and its tactics, Martino has been great so far.

 

[Aryagorn]

Tactically he's been excellent. Just a shame the players have been letting him down. However it was important to get the win against Madrid and hopefully this will get the players to really believe in themselves again.

letting him down!?

Players, even world beaters, will take some time to get used to new tactics... So I am not sure if they are letting him down

 

[klc123]

Here is what Martino has already brought us.

1. Restoration of the pressing game. This has resulted in us being much more solid in defense.
2. Rotation of squad. Allows us to play a pressing game without key players getting tired, and allows younger players a chance to break into the team.
3. Vertical play. People are saying that Martino brings us counter attacking football, that's not strictly what has happened. What has happened is that when we have possession, more players, including midfielders, are encouraged to make runs forward. So instead of having 4 options all within 15 yards and in deep "safe" positions, we now have times where a player will break forward, to either receive the ball and advance the team, or drag a defender with him. This is especially true with the wide players, with us playing lots of diagonal long passes, and that creating plenty of new chances for us.

The biggest point is our last point. The reason I think we got beaten so badly last year, was that our players had no options to move the ball forwards, no players were making runs into advanced positions. This resulted in two problems. Firstly, we had no way to create a goal scoring chance, and often resorted to long shots. Secondly, it meant that teams like AC Milan and Bayern especially could press us extremely aggressively, extremely high up the pitch, with quite literally no risk of barca pinging a long pass forward to relieve the pressing and create a goal scoring chance. We couldn't threaten them. I also think it is why we struggled to score goals against some of the top teams last year, especially when we didn't have Messi. Only when we had Messi, did we have the incisiveness to move the ball forward.

Edit:
The whole possession thing that many Barcelona fans are whining about is silly. Against Rayo, they were the team that had the second highest possession in la liga last season, they also had the vast majority of their "possession," along the back four. Tata's tactics were spot on for that game, he pressed when they put the ball into midfield, and once we had a lead there was no need to chase the game when they were passing it along the back four.