Luis Enrique

[Doobs]

No worries, if we start losing big games then we should start thinking about how bad Lucho is. Losing against Real at Bernabeu isn't very shameful.

Koeman to take over next season!

Bring back Van Gaal! Will get fired soon anyway

 

[beautifulgame]

Can you elaborate?

Lucho has pushed to build his own squad something that Tata and Tito never really tried to do and relied on Pep's work. If anything, this is the most changed that Barca has been since Pep.

I realize that he has been completely outclassed today, but I don't see the correlation of this loss being the result of Lucho trying to emulate Pep.

Bs. It was the decision of the higher ups that refused to bring changes b

 

[Chainsaw]

I will be surprised if we win anything this season. This performance was the worst i have seen since bayern rout. Why can't we bring back pep. I miss him

You also missed the Real rout on Pep last season. Pep is not what Barca needs now. The problems goes way too deeper than just the coach. Barca will probably win the league if you ask me but I'm not counting on Lucho for the big games. I never had much expectations from him tbh, but he has a better squad than Tata and winning the small matches might become the difference maker for him at the end.

 

[spark]

World class manager that won 2 leagues in 12 years.

What a meltdown around here. Disgusting

Disgusting "supporters"

You really like judging other fans with this word don't you.

 

[DonAK]

I thought Lucho would bring meritocracy, but so far it looks like that one is selective.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

Am i the only one that thinks too much rotating could hurt the Team?

 

[Kohe321]

Malaga, PSG and now this humiliation against Real Madrid. That's three big matches with three glaring mistakes from him.

He keeps talking about learning lessons. Believe it or not Lucho, but Barcelonas first team isn't some academy where coaches come to get their education and learn through trial and error. It's a place where you come with your PHD as a top-coach and do your job well from the get-go, or you leave.

The spark of optimism and shine surrounding Luchos arrival is dwindling fast. Beating Rayo, Granada, Levante etc. but consistently failing against harder competition over and over is worrying, to say the least.

 

[Barcilliant]

I will be surprised if we win anything this season. This performance was the worst i have seen since bayern rout. Why can't we bring back pep. I miss him

Because our board never supported him. He won't come back as coach.

We are a club in transition and have been for the past 2 seasons. Finding the right coach and the right players is a mammoth task. It will take time and plenty of tears will be shed.

 

[Barcaman]

What's worrying is; this Madrid's style was supposed to suit us more than their past editions (even few Carlo's) when they defended more. I remembered thinking we wouldn't stand a chance vs. Mou's Madrid

 

[Icarium]

There is a lot of work to be done. But the league is not lost yet. Somethings he must do are,

1) Mathieu at CB, at LB i thought he would give defense stability and will provide good runs but that turned very bad. He never found the right balance. Not many good offensive runs and nothing much in defense. He is good at CB just play him there.

2) Bench Iniesta for some matches, i just can't watch my favorite player perform so bad. It is torture. I don't know if he will get back his form if we do that but something must be done. I don't know what is the problem. It hurts.

3) Build the team around the partnership of Neymar Messi Suarez and good chemistry is a must between them. Messi should not always play in the middle and deep down in mid, he should be fed some chances by suarez and neymar. Messi was a goal scoring machine lately he is missing sitters. Once that record passes maybe things will change and more goals give more confidence and that is why we should feed him some more chances.

4) Rakitic is a must in the lineup. He is not effective in the current tactics but without him we are very bad defensively. Xavi and Iniesta offer nothing in defense and with average busi we will never win a big match. Rakitic Xavi until iniesta comes into form should be the midfield pairing. I think we should start giving chances to Samper.

5) Pique and Pedro should remain on bench far from starting lineup but sadly we don't have that many good defenders and pique might start. Masch and Mathieu might be the best one but pushing masch to DM and playing Pique acceptable but it is not very secure. Pique is a liability. If we manage to suspend the ban again buy one more defender and sell pique. Pedro there is no chance send him to B team and keep Sandro.

6)Set Piece defending. We had Pique Mathieu and Busi but still we conceded. It is obvious that they will target Masch why can't lucho understand that and change his set piece defending style. Masch sucks in aerial duels. Having tall players can not stop from opposition to score on corners. I don't know how we could improve in this area.

This match had so many tactical mistakes let us hope lucho learns from the mistakes. The season is not over and i still think it can be saved but my initial target of treble has definitely gone down. League, CL semi spot should be our targets.

 

[Kohe321]

I thought Lucho would bring meritocracy, but so far it looks like that one is selective.

Yup, Busquets is still starting at DM even though Masch has been far better than him at that position this season (and for the NT), while Busq has been struggling. Pique is starting even though he has been terrible for three consecutive seasons. Jordi Alba is benched in order to play Mathieu at LB with orders of running up and attack, not to stay back as a defender, and subsequently failing at attacking over and over. Suarez is subbed off for Pedro (!) way too early. Xavi is subbed off just before a corner kick, just before RM scored against us, to play Rakitic who didn't improve our game at all, but rather lead to less controll if anything - something we badly needed as RM was all over us.

Impressive stuff for a coach who bragged on twitter about how hard him and his team was preparing for this match. I wonder what they were actually watching on that computer monitor, Tom and Jerry cartoons?

 

[El_e8]

Tata with same squad would smash RM 8:3 every given time. Get it together Luis. You are ex Barcelona/Madrid player, you know European football.

 

[Icarium]

Bringing pep might not be a good decision i just miss him. One more defeat in a big match i will lose hope in lucho. There are problems that can be seen very easily but the solutions are very hard for them. Transfer ban could not have come at worst time. Iniesta form, don't know how to solve it. CB pairing, nothing feels secure. RB no backup or future option if alves leaves who is also not that great. Xavi decline. Busi off form. Messi not that effective in scoring goals. Solving them will be very tough. I don't think any coach could solve all of these problems.

 

[DennyCrane]

People are again making this about our possession football when in reality the way we played today has nothing to do with that and I'm sure Pep cringed today while watching the match, this wasn't his idea and if you want to see this supposedly broken system live, watch Bayern's match tomorrow.

People seriously need to get this sorted out. It's not about criticizing posession-based foootball and it's not about Pep as it's figurehead.

What we saw on the field today isn't a system anymore, it's merely sequence of bad habits: Passing the ball around aimlessly and endlessly, mostly sideways and with zero off-the-ball movement is just that; leaving gaps between the lines one could fit an aircraft carrier in is that as well. The pressing, or lack thereof, is also a recurring theme for the contemporary cule: Mostly it's nonexistant, but when it's there it's so poorly executed that it only serves to instill exhaustion in the two or three players who actually bother to pressure the opponent.

But the absolute worst is that the positives of Tata's tenure have been discarded as well, namely the quality of transition after ball recovery, which by incident, was also one of the most important qualities of Pep's Barca, especially the 08/09 one.
This team was patient, Lucho's team is just slow. This team had the majority in posession yes, and they passed alot as well, but on the transition they killed fast and swift. They rarely made the mistake of trying to run against an organized defense over and over again. And in that peculiar aspect, Tata's Barca was a lot closer to Pep's Barca than the current one is.

Pep on the other hand actually evolved. The transition of Bayern is fast and they have aspects of a healthy physicality as well + all the little things like Neuer's impact on how far up the field the back-4 is positioned, overlapping wingers, fluidity instead of rigidness etc. All the while our team, the entire club in fact, is walking round in circles again.

 

[Cule4life]

People seriously need to get this sorted out. It's not about criticizing posession-based foootball and it's not about Pep as it's figurehead.

What we saw on the field today isn't a system anymore, it's merely sequence of bad habits: Passing the ball around aimlessly and endlessly, mostly sideways and with zero off-the-ball movement is just that; leaving gaps between the lines one could fit an aircraft carrier in is that as well. The pressing, or lack thereof, is also a recurring theme for the contemporary cule: Mostly it's nonexistant, but when it's there it's so poorly executed that it only serves to instill exhaustion in the two or three players who actually bother to pressure the opponent.

But the absolute worst is that the positives of Tata's tenure have been discarded as well, namely the quality of transition after ball recovery, which by incident, was also one of the most important qualities of Pep's Barca, especially the 08/09 one.
This team was patient, Lucho's team is just slow. This team had the majority in posession yes, and they passed alot as well, but on the transition they killed fast and swift. They rarely made the mistake of trying to run against an organized defense over and over again. And in that peculiar aspect, Tata's Barca was a lot closer to Pep's Barca than the current one is.

Pep on the other hand actually evolved. The transition of Bayern is fast and they have aspects of a healthy physicality as well + all the little things like Neuer's impact on how far up the field the back-4 is positioned, overlapping wingers, fluidity instead of rigidness etc. All the while our team, the entire club in fact, is walking round in circles again.