Luis Enrique

[KingMessi]

What about Wenger?

Why so he can come in and ship out all of our Masia products to Arsenal?

 

[KingMessi]

And Rakitic.
And of course Gündogan and Hummels who'll come with him

Don't forget Reus.

 

[Alarcón]

And Rakitic.
And of course Gündogan and Hummels who'll come with him

If these two come I'll even take Uli Hoeness as head coach

 

[Luftstalag14]

If these two come I'll even take Uli Hoeness as head coach

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

What you said at the beginning though, about the Dortmund goal, is what I have been feeling for at least 2, if not 3 seasons now. WHERE ARE THE TRIANGLES? Where is that close-knit interlinking play? THAT Dortmund goal is tiki-taka. Pass the ball through and around the other team in a short amount of space and beat them like that... it is untouchable. We used to score goals like that (reminds me of Xavi's goal vs Arsenal... the one where it was Iniesta - Villa - Xavi) all day. Now, it seems much more rare. I feel like if we go back to those fundamentals that you laid out... creating goals by overloading a side and just interlinking those close-range passes, we would be so much more deadly. Perhaps interchange that with some more direct counter-attacks here and there, but when we have teams in front of us to break down, nothing works better for us IMO than that 1st Dortmund goal style of play. Well said.

That's why I laugh on here when people say tiki-taka is dead, the German's are taking tiki-taka and running with it, almost both figuratively and literally.

The key to playing that brand of football is that all 11 players have to be tactically perfect at all times or else the system starts to crumble. More so than our legs or our personnel, our tactical sharpness is whats lacking the most and clearly that's because of Pep. His innovation and pragmatism is what allows him to develop highly technical and tactical teams that constantly out think their opponent because they are constantly thinking of the next move. All of that comes from tight organization in all areas of the pitch that squeezes the space in between the lines, so to make such an offense style work, all 11 must be on the same wavelength and working as one.

What I am curious to see from Lucho is what can he bring tactically to the table because now more than earlier is the time where his tactical nous will be truly tested. He has proven to be an excellent training coach, our team looks physically stronger than usual and we are playing with more pace and more tenacity which is why we started off so hot this season. But now is when we will start playing tougher games and with a tight race for La Liga now, any slip up will cost us. We have a solid foundation to build from and while our transition game still isn't as great as Pep's, it has improved.

We aren't light years behind Madrid like they were a few years ago, as Modric proved, even as Champions League holders they still have a slight psychological fear of us because they know what we are capable of. Madrid are simply more familiar with each other and right now have better chemistry while we are working out ours. Madrid will drop points away this season because their defense is still susceptible and they currently have a lot of space in between their MF and defensive lines that teams will exploit. So I'm not worried about Madrid, they will cool off eventually and they are extremely fortunate that Ronaldo has been virtually injury free his entire time at Madrid. A lengthy spell on the bench for Cristiano will cause Madrid a host of more problems than Messi would for us right now.

Lucho's style seems to be similar to Pep with its high-tempo energy and pressing but it seems both focus on different aspects of the game, Pep with more of the offensive side of the game while Lucho wants a solid defensive foundation that expresses itself from there. However, we continue to emulate certain offensive characteristics of Pep in 2010 that Pep of 2014 doesn't do anymore. One of the biggest things for me with this team that really grinds my gears is our insistence with using our fullbacks to provide width in attack. Its why you constantly see our attacking moves ending with a turnover cross from out wide and when that does happen, it leaves us woefully exposed on the counter attack. It was at times a 4 on 2 against Madrid and how they didn't score more on us is hard to believe. Pep learned this in his trashing last season which is why he is working with three at the back now. With how high our fullbacks play, we virtually play a 2-5-3 with a 4-3-3 defensive base. This is why I am suggesting we start playing Bartra in that RB role. I'm not saying he should start every game in that role because especially against La Liga teams, we can still play a 2-5-3 and get away with it because of our quality. But against better teams with offensive weapons, we need that extra defensive protection and by doing so, it will allow our attack to be more cohesive. We never won anything with Pep when we had two attacking fullbacks, it was always Abidal-Pique-Puyol-Dani at the back. Instead of a 2-5-3 with a 4-3-3 defensive base, its a 3-4-3 with a 4-3-3 defensive base, much easier to execute tactically on the field without headache. Look at it like this:


Use this11.com for drawing your football tactics

So to say if we split our team in half, our left side is our pace and direction while our right side is where we overload and play tiki-taka. By not having to continually cover for Dani's runs and with defensive support on the right side, Rakitic can focus on winning the ball in the midfield and sparking an attack from there. Then, since Messi naturally drifts to the right and Suarez dropping deep or shifting inside once Messi comes wide, it will drag their team in on the right to overcompensate which should open up more space for Neymar to create 1 on 1 opportunities with a defender. Like I said in the last post, the freedom it would allow Xavi as well would be immense for him. He could strictly focus on keeping the ball and creating scoring chances for a front three begging for service.

Bartra needs to be in the starting 11 now because we can't use Mascherano in the back anymore, Pique still seems to be lost in lala land, and Verm is still injured. Him rotating between the RCB role and RB role would offer this team a lot. Believe it or not I think Pique would welcome this as well because it would give him a defensive partner to shut down the right side and make his job much easier than trying to cover the space Dani leaves in behind.

Cheers by the way! Always glad to get positive feedback!

 

[Flavia]

I really disliked Lucho's press conference yesterday.

Many things sounded as BS or just straight lies.

Like this: "That's a decision taken between the player and the doctor and it's not for me to say. I don't know if he needed an injection, but he was at 100 percent. My advice, as a former player and a manager, is not to do it, but if someone wants to that is a personal decision."

He's the coach, and he has to know about things like that, and interfere too.

His crazy preference for douglas over montoya is something else bothering me. Defends douglas, and now he pratically discarded Montoya after that presser, plus not playing him today.

I try to be positive and to back him up, but he surely is making it harder each day.

 

[Ghostmaster]

His crazy preference for douglas over montoya is something else bothering me. Defends douglas, and now he pratically discarded Montoya after that presser, plus not playing him today.

After Malaga's game I don't think he'll play Douglas anytime soon either.

 

[BBZ8800]

I saw a documentary on Laporta's 1st year yesterday, and it was good to remember Rijkaard's initial six months were terrible. Everyone wanted him sacked. Different times, but Barça is also going thru a transition now.

I don't believe Lucho can do the same.

The "psychological" situation is much different today than back then.
Currently, we had only 2 "horrible" Seasons. We still haven't hit the bottom.
-- we still haven't move away from Pep's formation, and we still play with Pep's players (for example, Busi-Xavi-Iniesta midfield)
-- we are trapped in 2008-2011 era, and we are constantly talking about Barca Dna, La Masia products/Dna, and about our famous style
-- so, we are living in dreams and in history while other teams are improving

Anyway, Rijkaard's Barca were in much bigger troubles.
Our last League title was in 98-99 Season. So, Seasons 99-00, 00-01, 01-02 and 02-03 were horrible.
Rijkaard came after 4 Seasons without titles. And his 1st Season was the 5th Season without titles.
-- so, we were in much bigger troubles back then.
-- and we needed some huge and drastic changes. The board and fans were desperate.
-- especially since Real won 3 CLs in 1998', 2000' and 2002'

So, it was easier to kick out basically all Dutch players and other players from that horrible 5 years era and to start with a completely new team.
Our team in Rijkaard's first Season were, for example:
-- 19 years old Iniesta
-- 21 years old Valdes
-- 21 years old Motta
-- 23 years old Xavi
-- 23 years old Ronaldinho
-- 23 years old Oleguer
-- 24 years old Marquez
-- 25 years old Puyol

-- so, our players were much YOUNGER than today
-- the second thing is that our players from those days haven't won anything
-- not only that they have never won World cups or several Champions leagues like our current players, but 90% of our players haven't won even a single La Liga title

-- so:
1. we had a young team
2. they were all hungry for a success
3. and the third, in the second Season, (I remember one interview in those days) Rijkaard said that they were looking for a few new players, but they were looking at a psychological profile of new players. They wanted to buy only those players who were leaders and captains of their former teams.
-- so, Rijkaard wanted extremely:
1. technically good team
2. physically strong and tall players
3. psychologically strong players/leaders/captains on the field

-- so, Rijkaard kicked out:
-- Saviola, Kluivert, Cocu, Overmars, Luis Enrique (!!), Reiziger and Quaresma

-- and he bought new leaders in:
-- Eto'o, Larsson, Deco, Guily, Edmilson, (and Belletti)
-- plus young Leo Messi

So, in our team only Puyol and Xavi had La Liga title from 1999. And Deco had Champions league with Porto.
All other players haven't won La Liga nor Champions league.
-- so, they didn't have current Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pique, Alves and similar players who aren't too bothered anymore to play football

So, we haven't hit the bottom yet. We are still living in the past currently.
1. we need to move away from 2008-2012 and evolve our formation and tactics
2. we need to move away from Pep's small players (Rijkaard's team was physically very tall with a lot of 180-190 cm guys: Puyol, Marquez, Edmilson, Oleguer, Motta, Van Bommel, Ronaldinho, Eto'o)
3. we will probably need to get rid of some of our players who have totally lost the hunger (Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pique, Alves, and who knows, maybe even Messi one day :/)

So, Lucho doesn't look like a tactical master for now.
Plus, the overall psychological/motivational situation around the club is not as good (or bad) as in Rijkaard's days.

So, Rijkaard kicked all the players from 99-04 era and built a new, young, motivated and psychologically strong team.
He won a lot of trophies after that.

Pep kicked all of Rijkaard's players who have lost the motivation in the meantime.
He also built a new, young, motivated team.
-- from this or that reason, all these players were gone till Pep's era:
-- Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Larsson, Gudjohnsen, Guily, Deco, Van Bommel, VBronckhorst, Belletti, Oleguer, Gabri, Motta
He won a lot of trophies after that.

And look what we have now.
It is probably a moment for a new generation and some changes, but we aren't changing too much.
I have said a few times that I have gave up from Pep's 433 formation (against bigger teams).
Now it seems that we won't win Champions league until we will build a new, fresh, motivated generation of players.

It is not nice to say this, but currently our team looks like Galacticos in Rijkaard's era.

We had a new, young, fresh team who was winning La Ligas and Champions league.
Real Madrid had an old generation of Galacticos who were on their prime 4-5-6 years ago, but they didn't have the balls to build a new generation of players.
And we were winning titles because of that (we had an awesome team, and they had a crappy, old team).

Back to the question from the quote, sadly, I don't believe that Lucho can replicate Rijkaard's era.
Not until he kicks out some older players. And with a transfer ban, the situation doesn't look too bright in terms of motivation.

 

[raskolnikov]

So we basically need someone with really big balls to break the Pep era style we are stuck in chasing shadows of the past.
I have this fearful feeling we will have to be patient for 2016 with new board along with a new era with major changes.
Such a waste, this generation had atleast one more cl in it with the right board/transfers/coaches/motivation.

 

[KingMessi]

Who else should we bring in to break Pep's original style than Pep himself? His contract ends in 2016 does it not? Laporta+Monchi+Pep for 2016.

 

[DonAK]

I don't see Pep ever coming back as Barca manager. Time to move on.

 

[CuleLife4Life]

I think Pep would come back in 10 yrs when all the guys he managed aren't there anymore. Plus from reading about his time at Bayern, I think he is very much going to try to manage in the EPL so he can have experience in another league. What he did at Barca was legendary, at Bayern he is lucky enough to be in a one horse lague, but in EPL that will truly be a challenge since its so competitive.

 

[KingMessi]

I don't see Pep ever coming back as Barca manager. Time to move on.

Laporta-Monchi-Klopp for 2016 then. But of course, let's see what Lucho can do. After all it hasn't been too long since he's taken over.

 

[DonAK]

Laporta-Monchi-Klopp for 2016 then. But of course, let's see what Lucho can do. After all it hasn't been too long since he's taken over.

Ideally the transfer ban will be shortened to one window and these mofos thrown out ASAP as well.

As for Lucho then he need to bring on some big and important changes ASAP if he is to succeed.

 

[SeloBarca]

I dont know, Pep leaving might be alot about the new board. He didnt like them, the changes he wanted to make the board oposed.
If there is a new board elected in 2016, he migh be a bit more open for a return, if he gets to do it his way.

The only other option would probably be to bring in someone that arent Spanish or Southamerican, to bring in new ideas, like said Klopp.
And as BBZ said and ive said before aswell, the players doesnt look hungry anymore. Theyve done everything you can do as a footballer.
Alves, Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquetes, even Messi. Its no conicidence those players are the ones that have declined the most. They are the ones that have won the most.

Unfortunally, the youngsters from LaMasia doesnt look to be quality enough to be the next stars. Maybe Halilovich and Munir can do it, along a couple of others like Adama etc.
But Sergio, Rafinha, Deulofeu, Samper, Ie..Their good, but not top notch talent good. Rafinha, Sergio and Delofue havent shined in any games they have played with the A team.

Question is, if the club that is more then a club, dares breaking free of players with old merits and really renew the team with quality players, not mediocre midleague team players and players ready for pension.
We have missed out on so many good players the last years due to bad dicisions from the board and leaders. TS, Modric, Kroos, Benatia, Isco...

I also think next year might become even worse unless we get the transferban lifted. Although we would probably just buy another attacker like Cuadrado.