Luis Enrique

[Alik]

If you are shortsighted everything is simple for you.

And who says we'd win with Messi and Ney starting? Sociedad are very tough and beat Madrid at Anoeta and we did lose 2 games playing at home even with Messi and Ney starting. So stop speculating.

War is not won (or list) in one battle. Lucho rotated a lot and it's paying off. As proven by results.

Sociedad being a tough match is all the more reason not to bench your most in form players. An extreme example would be benching Messi and Neymar against Madrid for the sake of rotation.

I'm all for rotating, but also having in mind the importance of the match. That match particularly important given that it was a chance to catch up on Real.

 

[mssarm]

I don't think it was rotation though. It was related to the fact that Ney and Messi just got back from vacation and missed the training.

 

[Flavia]

If you are shortsighted everything is simple for you.

And who says we'd win with Messi and Ney starting? Sociedad are very tough and beat Madrid at Anoeta and we did lose 2 games playing at home even with Messi and Ney starting. So stop speculating.

War is not won (or list) in one battle. Lucho rotated a lot and it's paying off. As proven by results.

That game could have ended differently, had they started. It wasn't like previous years. Sociedad didn't play well. But parked a he'll of a bus after that unlucky alba own goal.

 

[serghei]

So stop speculating.

I don't need to speculate. We lost the game, that's the proof right there. If you make an important call -- like not starting your best players -- and you end up losing the game, it's called being wrong in the normal world. But sometimes the normal world does not intersect with Bojan's world, if you really want to talk about short-sightedness.

 

[Barcaman]

Stop playing smart. You are speculating that had Messi and Neymar played, Barca would have won.
Do you read posts?

 

[Barcaman]

That game could have ended differently, had they started. It wasn't like previous years. Sociedad didn't play well. But parked a he'll of a bus after that unlucky alba own goal.

"Could" is a key word. We also "could" have won all games had various factors turned out differently.
And as the guy previously said, it's not even about rotations ad much as arriving back late and avoiding injury (as Lucho said).

 

[Flavia]

"Could" is a key word. We also "could" have won all games had various factors turned out differently.
And as the guy previously said, it's not even about rotations ad much as arriving back late and avoiding injury (as Lucho said).

That was a key game, to not start Messi. LE shouldn't had granted them extra days to begin with.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

That was a key game, to not start Messi. LE shouldn't had granted them extra days to begin with.

He brought him on in the 2nd half and he did nothing though.

 

[Vlom]

Difficult team or not, it was the first time in months that RM droppped points, so it was 100% wrong to go out with Xavi - Iniesta - Pedro - Munir .. it had to be the absolute best 11 to take the lead of the table, even in the rotation system, it had to be a fucking exception to take the lead !

 

[Vlom]

He brought him on in the 2nd half and he did nothing though.

Yeah sure "here you go, go save us with a hat-trick please Messi, even though i've been a jerk to you" .. this wasn't gonna work

 

[serghei]

Stop playing smart. You are speculating that had Messi and Neymar played, Barca would have won.
Do you read posts?

I'm not speculating anything. Playing your best players gives you more chances to win. But nevermind, feel free to think resting Neymar and Messi was an excellent decision. Don't let logic stop you.

 

[Leo_Messi]

Given the circumstances of that evening (RM losing beforehand) then Lucho should have at least played with 1 of them from the start. He could always have substituted one of them off at the half time or early in the second half depending on the result. Also 1 game more or less would/won't make a big difference in the wider picture. Especially not as both Neymar and Messi were given longer Christmas holidays than everyone else in the squad.

Anyway this is the past. There is little point discussing it. The most important thing is that Lucho has learned from it. Not only this episode but dozens of others that occurred before Anoeta. That's all that matters. He has evolved. Regardless of his nonsense claim of "nothing having changed" which we fans, so-called experts etc. can clearly see is a wrong claim.

 

[Flavia]

He brought him on in the 2nd half and he did nothing though.

It was already 1-0. And sociedad was defending for their lives, plus that pitch. No way to know how it'd had been with Messi on the pitch from the start.

And Messi's "nothing" was still better than what Suarez did. But Luis was still adapting. It was a risk to start a game, in Anoeta, with Munir and Pedro. A bad calculated one. Another mistake was not playing Rakitic there. He didn't even get subbed in.

 

[Alik]

We knew before hand that the match was probably going to be tough. You don't rotate your most important players in the tough matches (not so many at once). It was a risk. If it had paid off, then everything would've been fine (although there might not have been the catalyst to change our entire dynamic for the season).

To be honest, in my opinion, with the squad we fielded we shouldn't have lost anyway. But since we did, Lucho should take blame. He took the gamble, it didn't work. At the very least, one cannot say that he was "100% correct".

 

[linetty]