Luis Enrique

[Alik]

What does that have to do with his post?

 

[Sumlit]

People are happy with the new-found counter prowess and directness, and that's understandable, but that first half still was a bit worrisome. Barca were pinned back and could not get out playing through the ground at all.

This could be a problem going forward as other teams surely saw how badly Barca dealt with getting their CBs pressured as they tried to play out the ball and midfield inability to support the distribution of the ball. I'm sure this will get exploited again by other teams.

It's good that they found how to play more direct and exploit the counters, this was needed, but they need to incorporate that to possession and control play, not replace it.

 

[DinhoR10]

People are happy with the new-found counter prowess and directness, and that's understandable, but that first half still was a bit worrisome. Barca were pinned back and could not get out playing through the ground at all.

This could be a problem going forward as other teams surely saw how badly Barca dealt with getting their CBs pressured as they tried to play out the ball and midfield inability to support the distribution of the ball. I'm sure this will get exploited again by other teams.

It's good that they found how to play more direct and exploit the counters, this was needed, but they need to incorporate that to possession and control play, not replace it.

+1 The midfield need to be able to pass out the ball under pressure again.

 

[Flavia]

What does that have to do with his post?

And where did Mathieu 'confirm' this?

You need to post the source too hamad. Always.

It's from espn: http://www.espnfc.com/barcelona/sto...-in-barcelona-training-reveals-jeremy-mathieu

"It was when we got back from holiday," Mathieu said to RMC of the incident that occurred at the La Liga club's training centre on Jan. 2. "Suddenly, for a foul that wasn't given, 'Leo' blew his top. Things got tense, they said a few things to each other. "The coach came to speak to him in the dressing room afterwards and that's that. It happens at every club, but because it's Barcelona, it's made out to be a huge thing. That's the problem."


Mathieu big mouth
Shouldn't had said anything, this was a dressing room issue.
Good to know LE went to talk to Messi, and they made up... andthe media blew it out of proportion.

 

[DonAK]

Big mouth indeed. Don't get why he had to talk about it. Luis Enrique moved on. Messi moved on. The team moved on.

 

[BBZ8800]

People are happy with the new-found counter prowess and directness, and that's understandable, but that first half still was a bit worrisome. Barca were pinned back and could not get out playing through the ground at all.

This could be a problem going forward as other teams surely saw how badly Barca dealt with getting their CBs pressured as they tried to play out the ball and midfield inability to support the distribution of the ball. I'm sure this will get exploited again by other teams.

It's good that they found how to play more direct and exploit the counters, this was needed, but they need to incorporate that to possession and control play, not replace it.

Ok, BUT, Atletico is a champion of Spain and finalist of CL league.
Barca, Real, Atletico, Bayern, Chelsea are top5 teams in the world.

So, basically, imo, only 4 teams (Real, Atletico, Chelsea, Bayern) can make such a pressure on us.
Arsenal, Schalke, Roma and similar teams won't be able to do that.

While I agree that we will need to improve in midfield and have SOME possession, this isn't a too huge problem.
Again, Barca was famous for dominating in midfield and in possession, during Pep's era where it went into extremes and there wasn't a single team in the world who could have more than 40% of Possession against us.
So, yes, in that era and in that system (possession), we were ALWAYS dominating.

But before Pep, when we hadn't play extreme Possession, there were always some teams and some matches where we were outplayed like yesterday in the first half.

So, yes, this would never happen in Pep's era and in Pep's system.
But since Pep's system is not working anymore, than the current system is the best, and yes, there will be some matches when our opponents will be 50:50 or slightly better than us.

But that could improve also over time. We are playing the current system only for a few weeks, and it is already awesome (we have 6-7-8 wins in a row, right?).

Look, we can't have BOTH domination in midfield all the time, against any opponent, and good results.
That was possible only 5-6-7 years ago with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta on their prime and while opponents didn't know yet how to defend against Pep's system.

So, today it is mostly either:
1. less possession, more counterattacks, some matches where we won't dominate possession=and usually more wins
2. more possession, less counterattacks, sterile and one dimensional football like in the last 3-4 Seasons

Again, I believe that we can improve in midfield.
But even if not, even the current level is much better than extreme-possession football from the last 3-4 years.

 

[Irish_Cules]

People are happy with the new-found counter prowess and directness, and that's understandable, but that first half still was a bit worrisome. Barca were pinned back and could not get out playing through the ground at all.

This could be a problem going forward as other teams surely saw how badly Barca dealt with getting their CBs pressured as they tried to play out the ball and midfield inability to support the distribution of the ball. I'm sure this will get exploited again by other teams.

It's good that they found how to play more direct and exploit the counters, this was needed, but they need to incorporate that to possession and control play, not replace it.

I dunno I think Lucho wanted us to play that way. The defence sat deep but we left the three attackers up front and the aim was to get the ball to them before Atletico could get back and into their shape. It mighn't be the purist Barca way but it's good to know the team can play like this. We aren't one dimensional anymore which was our biggest problem last season so credit to Lucho for this.

 

[Sumlit]

Every team can pressure our CBs like that. The only difference is not every team can do it AND remains compact and organized while doing so like the top teams. The way they pressured the back and took away Barca's distribution from the back is very worrisome. This is a weakness than can be easily exploited by good teams and I'd be surprised if it isn't exploited again several times this year.

I didn't say dominate possession, but Barca needs to still control play, have possession and be able to play from the back. Doesn't have to be slow and methodical like in the past, but quick-hitting, with more counters, the fact remains they cannot continue to get pinned and stifled as they try to play the ball out of the back. This team does not have the players to constantly absorb pressure for prolonged minutes and only hit on long-balls counters. They need to incorporate the counter and quick hits to control and possession play, not like before obviously, but a mixture of the two.

 

[putogusiluz8]

The early goal for Atletico was also such a blessing in disguise because Atletico are a team that feeds of the momentum and the energy from the fans and but they got way too arrogant if you watch Neymar's first goal wtf where they doing forgetting MSN and leaving a huge hole in the middle.

 

[Sumlit]

I dunno I think Lucho wanted us to play that way. The defence sat deep but we left the three attackers up front and the aim was to get the ball to them before Atletico could get back and into their shape. It mighn't be the purist Barca way but it's good to know the team can play like this. We aren't one dimensional anymore which was our biggest problem last season so credit to Lucho for this.

That's not a good plan if it was intentional. Barca does not have the players to sit back and absorb pressure for prolonged periods. That requires a more defensive style. It might have worked this time because Barca was efficient with their chances, and Atletico missed a couple of good ones, but that doesn't mean it will always work.

They need to mix the two plays.

 

[Behrox]

That's not a good plan if it was intentional. Barca does not have the players to sit back and absorb pressure for prolonged periods. That requires a more defensive style. It might have worked this time because Barca was efficient with their chances, and Atletico missed a couple of good ones, but that doesn't mean it will always work.

They need to mix the two plays.

TBF despite their pressure Atletico never really got any clear opportunities at goal and if we can keep that up the lack of midfield domination would not hurt us too much.

 

[Qonny]

Mathieu confirmed messi had a fight with enrique on a 5v5 match. Messi lost his temper

The media were right

Wat?

 

[Gasgas]

Ok, BUT, Atletico is a champion of Spain and finalist of CL league.
Barca, Real, Atletico, Bayern, Chelsea are top5 teams in the world.

So, basically, imo, only 4 teams (Real, Atletico, Chelsea, Bayern) can make such a pressure on us.
Arsenal, Schalke, Roma and similar teams won't be able to do that.

While I agree that we will need to improve in midfield and have SOME possession, this isn't a too huge problem.
Again, Barca was famous for dominating in midfield and in possession, during Pep's era where it went into extremes and there wasn't a single team in the world who could have more than 40% of Possession against us.
So, yes, in that era and in that system (possession), we were ALWAYS dominating.

But before Pep, when we hadn't play extreme Possession, there were always some teams and some matches where we were outplayed like yesterday in the first half.

So, yes, this would never happen in Pep's era and in Pep's system.
But since Pep's system is not working anymore, than the current system is the best, and yes, there will be some matches when our opponents will be 50:50 or slightly better than us.

But that could improve also over time. We are playing the current system only for a few weeks, and it is already awesome (we have 6-7-8 wins in a row, right?).

Look, we can't have BOTH domination in midfield all the time, against any opponent, and good results.
That was possible only 5-6-7 years ago with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta on their prime and while opponents didn't know yet how to defend against Pep's system.

So, today it is mostly either:
1. less possession, more counterattacks, some matches where we won't dominate possession=and usually more wins
2. more possession, less counterattacks, sterile and one dimensional football like in the last 3-4 Seasons

Again, I believe that we can improve in midfield.
But even if not, even the current level is much better than extreme-possession football from the last 3-4 years.

 

[Gasgas]

This aint 2010 anymore. I hope yesterdays model will be used in big games this seasons

 

[BBZ8800]

I didn't say dominate possession, but Barca needs to still control play, have possession and be able to play from the back. Doesn't have to be slow and methodical like in the past, but quick-hitting, with more counters, the fact remains they cannot continue to get pinned and stifled as they try to play the ball out of the back. This team does not have the players to constantly absorb pressure for prolonged minutes and only hit on long-balls counters. They need to incorporate the counter and quick hits to control and possession play, not like before obviously, but a mixture of the two.

We won 7-8 matches in a row since Lucho-Messi problem and since we moved to counterattacking system.

First half yesterday, against one of Top5 teams in the world was the first time that someone created problems to us.
And it was away at Calderon, against Cl finalist.

Our defense and midfield can improve. But imo, when a team attacks Barca this hard, whenever the ball gets to Messi, then MSN will be in 3 vs 3 or in 3 vs 4 in their half.

So:
1. our defenders and midfield will surely improve in controlling (under pressure). Because this is something new for them. We never played this way. They usually played and passed the ball against a parked bus, without any pressure.
2. the opponent attacking us so high is playing a risky game, because if we create a counterattack, you have MSN in 3 vs 3 or in 3 vs 4
3. plus, I am not sure how many teams will be able to pressure us at all