Luis Enrique

[Kerrybai]

We will not win trophies with Lucho so it's time to roll the dice and see if we can turn things around. It won't be easy for a new manager but stranger things have happened.

 

[serghei]

He's a bad communicator but you need 2 to tango.

One of the key qualities of a manager is not to create issues that don't benefit the team. When you bench your best player in one of the hardest away games in the league, that's textbook definition of creating an issue. He just created a problem for the club with his arrogance. It's arrogance towards the team, the competition and the opponent as well. He had nothing to gain from that move, nada, he just made that call to prove anyone he is the boss. Well, he isn't. Being the boss, or the leader, is about the man, not the job.

 

[Barcaman]

"An issue" was created when Messi, Neymar and Dani were allowed 2 extra days of vacations.
Knowing Lucho, I don't think it was his idea at all. Things functioned that way before and Lucho, unwillingly, gave in.
Benching them was rational thing to do considering the circumstances and Lucho's way of saying "I'm still the boss".

If he hadn't allowed extra 2 days, Messi would pout and we'd have the same outcome now (missed/late for training)
Only thing he could have done better was to communicate what would happen if extra days were allowed.

 

[Batman]

Sport.es just confirmed what Xavi Torres said earlier as true. so its matter of time now...tik tak

 

[serghei]

"An issue" was created when Messi, Neymar and Dani were allowed 2 extra days of vacations.
Knowing Lucho, I don't think it was his idea at all. Things functioned that way before and Lucho, unwillingly, gave in.
Benching them was rational thing to do considering the circumstances and Lucho's way of saying "I'm still the boss".

If he hadn't allowed extra 2 days, Messi would pout and we'd have the same outcome now (missed/late for training)
Only thing he could have done better was to communicate what would happen if extra days were allowed.

If it wasn't his idea to give Messi & Co. two extra days of vacation, then it is even worse. That means he's not in charge of anything. Benching those 3 in Sociedad was stupid, as demonstrated by the result and the game. I don't think Messi needed those extra days. And why did he play against Elche 3 days after the game at Anoeta. The logical thing to do was play the best team at Anoeta, win the game, get back to first in the league, then let the players have a rest and play the kids against Elche. But no, he needed to show off and tell us he's the boss and he can bench everyone.

Well, he did, he demonstrated he's the boss. For 1 day. After that he found out what it means to bench the best players and DON'T GET THE RESULT in a very important game. The issue is not that he benched Neymar, Messi and Alves. The issue is that he did it and lost. And that everyone but him knew that winning on Anoeta is pretty hard to do even with the best team, let alone when playing with Munir instead of Messi.

If he hadn't allowed extra 2 days, Messi would pout

Then I'd jump on Messi's throat. But as things developed, a large part of this unnecessary scandal is on Lucho.

 

[Barcaman]

Which brings us back to root of the problem. Structural problems aside and focusing only on football issues: Problem with this squad was lack of motivation since 2012/2013 (Pep himself said he couldn't motivate them anymore). Since then, we've been trying to replicate the same thing with same players for 2 seasons and things, naturally, only deteriorated.
It's a natural thing, players are no machines and after winning everything both on club and international level, they lost the hunger they had when the cycle started and when they were younger. Lucho comes along and tries to shake things up a bit. He makes right choices; discipline is back, dropped Xavi/Iniesta, more rotations are on (everyone moaned about lack of it in recent years). Thing is you can only do so much in given set of circumstances. For right or wrong, Messi is clearly above the coach and we don't have quality youngsters to replace the old core. I can't stress enough the last part.
On top of that, Lucho hasn't shined with his playing style nor helped matters with his bad communications skills.

 

[serghei]

If you've read my comments you know I've criticized Messi a lot for his lack of effort lately and for not giving 100% every time. Some said it's the injuries, the World Cup or the manager, but Messi keeps being well in decline. So, Messi has some issues he needs to fix -- more off the ball movement, more hard work, more hunger. He's 27 and he acts like he's 34. So, I understant the criticism of Messi.

But I don't understand your backing of Lucho. The man is a proved incompetent. A failure at Roma, a moderate succes in a small team like Celta, and now close to a failure again at Barcelona. A change is needed, but I don't trust Lucho to do it, he's the wrong man for the job, simple as that. I want a coach to do the same think Lucho is doing now, but to do it competently, not randomly and not to serve his egomaniacal attitude.

 

[MikeLoudDrop]

I think the salaries they earn (between 6 and 20 Million Euros depending on the player) and the fact that they are representing their boyhood club that needs them to perform at this time more than anything should be enough motivation. If that doesn't motivate them, we don't need them.

 

[serghei]

Lucho comes along and tries to shake things up a bit. He makes right choices; discipline is back, dropped Xavi/Iniesta, more rotations are on (everyone moaned about lack of it in recent years). Thing is you can only do so much in given set of circumstances. For right or wrong, Messi is clearly above the coach and we don't have quality youngsters to replace the old core. I can't stress enough the last part.
On top of that, Lucho hasn't shined with his playing style nor helped matters with his bad communications skills.

Everyone can shake things up if he wants. You want people to give credit to Lucho merely for trying to change things? I'm sorry, but I won't give it to him. The changes he makes have to be in the best interest of the team. He is there to make the right changes, not any changes.

Dropped Xavi/Iniesta? He should've kept Cesc then, or buy an actual creative midfielder. Rakitic is too scared to death to try any trough balls. Hell, Mascherano is more creative than Rakitic. That's saying something. He doesn't play Montoya for 3 months and then goes on and plays him against Sociedad away That's rotating? It's like his idea of rotating is to play the best players in the easiest games and to let them rest against top opponents. Hell, he played Douglas the first time not on Camp Nou against the likes of Elche, but on La Rosaleda on a cold night with wet pitch against a hard opponent.

 

[Icarium]

Messi is not declining continuously, i think he improved from last season. He is getting involved in the plays much more and even pressing very decently compared to last season. Messi is playing bad in away games, the entire team is playing bad. But at Camp Nou messi is almost playing at his top level.

 

[serghei]

Messi is not declining continuously, i think he improved from last season. He is getting involved in the plays much more and even pressing very decently compared to last season. Messi is playing bad in away games, the entire team is playing bad. But at Camp Nou messi is almost playing at his top level.

Messi will almost always play at least well. But in the last year and a half, his only truly great performances against elite teams were against City at home and against Madrid away. That's it.

 

[Rahj]

He makes right choices; discipline is back, dropped Xavi/Iniesta

i agree with your post except for the quoted part. just look at the messi fiasco, and xavi/iniesta are still fielded regularly. (unless you mean that they no longer play together.)

 

[Vilarrubi]

Everyone can shake things up if he wants. You want people to give credit to Lucho merely for trying to change things? I'm sorry, but I won't give it to him. The changes he makes have to be in the best interest of the team. He is there to make the right changes, not any changes.

Dropped Xavi/Iniesta? He should've kept Cesc then, or buy an actual creative midfielder. Rakitic is too scared to death to try any trough balls. Hell, Mascherano is more creative than Rakitic. That's saying something. He doesn't play Montoya for 3 months and then goes on and plays him against Sociedad away That's rotating? It's like his idea of rotating is to play the best players in the easiest games and to let them rest against top opponents. Hell, he played Douglas the first time not on Camp Nou against the likes of Elche, but on La Rosaleda on a cold night with wet pitch against a hard opponent.

+100

 

[Icarium]

Messi will almost always play at least well. But in the last year and a half, his only truly great performances against elite teams were against City at home and against Madrid away. That's it.

Only other ''elite'' team we faced were Atletico. Simeone knows how to stop messi, he perfected it. Last season i agree he performed below his standards anyway. This season it has been a bumpy ride, he played at his best in some matches and some he failed to impact. But he won us many matches on his own. With proper tactics things could have been different. Midfield creating almost zero chances for him still he is doing better than last season.

Anyway i don't think messi will ever reach the 2012 form, no matter who the coach is and how much effort messi put. Did messi also did not give 100% in WC? Do you think messi did not care about argentina winning wc? That is the best he could do. He is tired from the 5 years of top level performances week in week out. But we could build a team such that we could get the best out of him.

Comparing current messi to 2011/12 messi is unfair. He had Xavi and Iniesta at their prime to create chances for him and do link up plays and even dani. Who does he have now?

 

[SeloBarca]

Which brings us back to root of the problem. Structural problems aside and focusing only on football issues: Problem with this squad was lack of motivation since 2012/2013 (Pep himself said he couldn't motivate them anymore). Since then, we've been trying to replicate the same thing with same players for 2 seasons and things, naturally, only deteriorated.It's a natural thing, players are no machines and after winning everything both on club and international level, they lost the hunger they had when the cycle started and when they were younger. Lucho comes along and tries to shake things up a bit. He makes right choices; discipline is back, dropped Xavi/Iniesta, more rotations are on (everyone moaned about lack of it in recent years). Thing is you can only do so much in given set of circumstances. For right or wrong, Messi is clearly above the coach and we don't have quality youngsters to replace the old core. I can't stress enough the last part.
On top of that, Lucho hasn't shined with his playing style nor helped matters with his bad communications skills.

And that is why i think we need a big overhaul of the team, including the old players that won us alot of trophies. When even Pep cant motivate them anymore, it will only get worse.
And recent years has shown this to be true. Pique, Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro and even Messi somewhat are not the players the were 3-4 years ago.
Mathieu, Rakitic and Douglas are not even near good enough to replace them. Attack is fine, but midfield/defence is far far away, even with better tactics.