Dude, I am not sure you are even aware of what/who prime Iniesta really was. Iniesta was our best big-game player for a number of years, during the Pep era. He had the best ball-control known to mankind, could play even tighter than Messi or Ronaldinho, he was basically Messi but without the venomous shot. 3 prime Iniestas on a team? Imagine all the passes, press-resistance, dribbling and calmness they would bring.
Spain has been producing the best midfielders in the world for many years now, but they could never replace Xavi & Iniesta, they were the Messis of genius midfield play.
Edit: Iniesta was our massive absence for both legs of the Inter SF in 2010. Abidal was the other.
Ok, let's not argue about a sci fi option about having 11 Iniestas in a team
One small detail that kind of annoys me. EVERY team is constantly evolving and adjusting. If Pep has a 3 season circle then it is because MOST teams and managers have a rather short span of greatness. Not just fuckign Guardiola. And most teams wont go for drastic changes after 3 great seasons (management gets comfortable and safe).
Every manager is the same, I agree.
I just want this place to be a more realistic place.
A few years ago, we had tons of deluded nonsense here like:
1. Barca is different than other clubs. We don't buy superstars, we create superstars.
2. La Masia is special, always was and always will be the best youth academy in the world.
3. If executed properly, NOTHING can stop Pep's style.
About:
1) We are the same as all other clubs. We were lucky with youths for some time, now we are back to a normal days.
Also, we cheated with La Masia, so a part of our success came from cheating.
2) La Masia, again: we cheated.
And then, even if we had divine methods, people talk, people reveal secrets.
If we had 10 coaches or directors at La Masia, some of them moved to other clubs or sold their knowledge.
City, Man Utd, Bayern, if they want, they could copy our methods and do the same what we did 20 years ago.
So, even if La Masia was special, over time other will evolve and copy us, so the margin will be smaller.
Then when you add that we cheated (plus others are copying us), you can understand why are we not so successful anymore and will never be.
Or, if we will find a new trick, it will work for some time and then the others will copy and neutralize us again, as always.
3. About Pep's system being unbeatable.
Again, all new/revolutionary systems are a shock/surprise in the beginning.
In the beginning, the opponents have no clue how to defend.
But over time, little by little, they get more and more tiny tricks and get better and better against that winning team.
So, in the early years, a winning team has an enormous advantage.
But later, it gets smaller and smaller.
Why am I mentioning Pep? Because people here often act as if he is a God and not human and how his methods are unbeatable.
Yet, it is clearer and clearer that he can "sell" the same trick for 3 years, wherever he goes and then he gets figured out and has to run to a new country.
Serghei used to say: everyone know about TikiTaka.
Well, it is not the same if you only watched it on a Tv or if you played against it.
Spanish teams played against Pep for 4 years and in the end, majority of teams found a way how to cause a lot of problems to Pep.
At City, EPL teams in the early years had only theoretical knowledge how to stop Pep.
And since Pep also added some new tricks to his play, he still had an advantage in the early seasons.
But now, when all teams played 6-7 times against his team, they learned a lot of practical knowledge and experience and as always: the end for Pep (or for any winning system).
Time will kill you every single time.
In that sense, this is why I replied to a post about 3 Iniestas.
Anyway, regarding that part about Pep and "if executed properly, Pep's system is almost unbeatable".
A few days ago on Youtube, one video popped out as a suggestion, and look at this:
This is Real:Barca from 2009/10 season.
The moment when Messi started to play as a False 9.
Now, just look at that video and check how crappy Real played back then against TikiTaka and false 9.
They were shocked and surprised.
And they had no clue what to do.
Just look at the amount of space between Real's defenders and midfielders.
Xavi, Messi, Iniesta had all the time in the world and all the space in the world to do whatever they want between their defense and midfield.
And of course that they were insanely deadly and magical.
Fast forward to a few years later when teams didn't allow that much space anymore and when they started to park 2 rows of buses (a defense bus and a midfield bus) in their half.
Suddenly it became way harder to do anything, isn't it?
Well, that is exactly my point.
And imagine if Pep stayed here for 10 years.
He would surely add some tricks, but the opponents would get closer and closer.
And then, if you add our team getting older, less motivated due to titles won, do you think that Pep's Barca in 2018 would be anywhere near to his Barca in 2009 or 2011? I don't think so.
Now, about opponents evolving, just look at this and how naive and surprised teams were in the first years of TikiTaka of false 9 Messi.
No matter what you do, you can NEVER again recreate that moment, because teams will never be as dumb or as shocked as back then:
