Luis Enrique

[StarLord]

Ok. But "we" weren't the minority. Sure about half the forum wanted him gone, but the other half was pretty much in deep doubt and troubled at the lack of progress through november and december, with every reason to be so. I didn't ask for Lucho's head but december and the montoya situation ended up convincing me that our season was likely to turn to shit. Then january happened.

I don't even think we were bad in the first few months either. Sure we were not awesome, but nothing truly disturbing.

Like I said, that Celta defeat was sheer bad luck, we pummeled them that game only to leave the stadium with zero points. Losing to a great RM side (let's be honest) at their home ground should not have been a great shock either. In that game we found for certain that Xavi and Iniesta could not play together anymore, something which is almost impossible for a Barca fan to swallow. We could even have won that game, if Messi scored his sitter. It was also Suarez's first game for several months, and the Pique penaldo was just bad luck, I mean what could Pique have done there? He went to the ground to stop the ball being squared in our box and the fucking ball hit his arm. Our defeat away to PSG was also not that bad. 3-2 away against a top side is never a disaster (nor is it good) but it was a couple of individual defensive brainfarts that had us undone. Still, the team had a lot of time to improve (as I argued at the time) which is exactly what happened.

People were extremely eager to write us off from the word go. Anyone with some patience though could have easily foreseen the extreme likelihood of massive improvement. Our front three on their own were a guarantee of that. I still can't fathom how people thought that MSN would have a tough time clicking together

What was surprising to me though was the level of fitness the team has displayed since the turn of the year (playing shitload of tough and super-tough games and winning almost all of them) and also our defensive solidity. I mean Pique becoming world class again! Not conceding a set-piece in several months? That seemed impossible even to my optimistic predictions. And this causes me to probably give some credit to our manager, which is something I very rarely do.

 

[Vlom]

Can someone help me with the stats of goals conceeded and scored by barça from set pieces this season ?

Also stats for goals from crosses would be nice.

About Lucho, I'm amongst the ones that doubted him a lot, mostly because of the excessive rotations in the first half of the season (26 games, 26diff lineups!), and some tactical/subs mistakes here and there, but I have to admit that we're now seing the fruits of that, our fitness is great, and he managed (with Unzue) to actually make a treat from set pieces!

I like the fact that he's a barça legend player, and here's to hoping he has a chapter as sweet as guardiola's still to write as a barça manager

 

[Icarium]

8 games.

losers.

Dammit... 8 finals it is then.

 

[mssarm]

I was reading the old posts...Man,lots of people hated Lucho for his every breath, he was getting hammered for everything he did right or wrong.
When I think we could win the treble this year, I realize it would attract another wave of plastic fan base with their Wikipedia wisdom and annoying comments. How long it's going to take until that generation realizes that they know shit about professional football

 

[Ustari]

+1

 

[Hamzah]

We had come off some bad times probably the worst since 2007. Lucho came in and was making strange decisions and we were dropping points, its normal that people were mad. But as soon as Lucho sorted his tactics out and stopped his weird stand off thing with the players I forgave him quickly.

 

[mssarm]

We had come off some bad times probably the worst since 2007. Lucho came in and was making strange decisions and we were dropping points, its normal that people were mad. But as soon as Lucho sorted his tactics out and stopped his weird stand off thing with the players I forgave him quickly.

There was no stand off, it was a newspaper article. Those "strange decisions" were necessary to develop the current play, we are all amateurs here, we can't understand what he was doing, but we make comments with such a confidence as if we trained 3 world class teams. Go back and read the comments you made in December. That would be a humbling experience for you.

 

[StarLord]

I was reading the old posts...Man,lots of people hated Lucho for his every breath, he was getting hammered for everything he did right or wrong.
When I think we could win the treble this year, I realize it would attract another wave of plastic fan base with their Wikipedia wisdom and annoying comments. How long it's going to take until that generation realizes that they know shit about professional football

Many of them were also certain that teams like Chelsea were better than us. It made me a bit frustrated then, it now makes me cringe.

There were also several people vehement that Suarez and Neymar were bad transfers and that we should have gone for players such as Gundogan, Reus, Benatia, Verratti, Hummels etc...

 

[Flavia]

There was no stand off, it was a newspaper article. Those "strange decisions" were necessary to develop the current play, we are all amateurs here, we can't understand what he was doing, but we make comments with such a confidence as if we trained 3 world class teams. Go back and read the comments you made in December. That would be a humbling experience for you.

Enrique changed some things he was doing. Not even about the rotation, but the way Barça plays now. It's not like he was doing everything right, and changed nothing. Midfield positioning being the most notable, as he stopped bypassing it. The team started playing well again because he made adjustments. But according to Suarez, he playing as a 9, and Messi as rw was Messi's idea.
And LE still makes strange decisions, like subbing Neymar vs sevilla. He's still a young and inexperienced coach.

Many changed their minds, like I did, because he showed not to be as intransigent as he was looking to be.

 

[Vlom]

New coach, no pedigree, failed lamentably in Roma for being stubborn, 26 different line ups in the first 26games, Ney+Messi on the bench and crazy rotations up until early january .. i'm glad people were mad and there was that Anoeta meltdown episode, since he clearly changed his behaviour since then, and we started improving gradually and winning almost every game.

Still makes some silly mistakes, but nothing worth screaming for the sack, I hope he continues to improve.

Next season will be even more EPIC !

 

[Aryagorn]

Oh the heroes coming in saying, "See? I told you so!"

Hold your horses people.... The team has yet to win anything! For all the shit we have seen the last 2 years, and the first half of this very season, we would have done well just to win Copa del Rey... We should consider ourselves very lucky the team has the CHANCE to go for a treble. Now don't go be cocky about this situation!!

 

[Hamzah]

There was no stand off, it was a newspaper article. Those "strange decisions" were necessary to develop the current play, we are all amateurs here, we can't understand what he was doing, but we make comments with such a confidence as if we trained 3 world class teams. Go back and read the comments you made in December. That would be a humbling experience for you.

You need humbling yourself

 

[StarLord]

Oh the heroes coming in saying, "See? I told you so!"

Hold your horses people.... The team has yet to win anything! For all the shit we have seen the last 2 years, and the first half of this very season, we would have done well just to win Copa del Rey... We should consider ourselves very lucky the team has the CHANCE to go for a treble. Now don't go be cocky about this situation!!

Well, the doom-mongers need to acknowledge their wrongs, or at least that is my opinion. If you go back to the threads in the early part of the season you had some real nonsense being posted there. Many of those that posted them are now MIA. I expect them to fully re-emerge if we lose against Bayern.

And yes, even if we only win the Copa del Rey, this season has been good for us. The team has definitely taken a step forward and is on the right track and we have beaten lots of tough opponents playing some awesome football along the way.

Having said that, we are in a very good position for the domestic double, which on its own is good enough considering the circumstances. The CL is always the best and hardest competition to win and considering the quality of the opposition, anything can happen. I feel that we are in with good chances in that competition as well.

New coach, no pedigree, failed lamentably in Roma for being stubborn, 26 different line ups in the first 26games, Ney+Messi on the bench and crazy rotations up until early january .. i'm glad people were mad and there was that Anoeta meltdown episode, since he clearly changed his behaviour since then, and we started improving gradually and winning almost every game.

Still makes some silly mistakes, but nothing worth screaming for the sack, I hope he continues to improve.

Next season will be even more EPIC !

He was changing the line-up every game for two reasons:

a) Rotations keep the players fresh and reduces the chances of injuries.

b) He was trying things out. There is no other way to do that except the actual competitive games themselves. Simple as.

Being new and without distinctions is why we should have supported him through the rough patch (if there ever was one) Pep was new as well, with better players overall and lower competition. People tend to forget that.

Messi and Neymar were on the bench that day because the club (not Lucho) gave them a leave to stay in Latin America until the 2nd of Jan. The game was on the 4th. Not his fault I think.

 

[Flavia]

He was changing the line-up every game for two reasons:

a) Rotations keep the players fresh and reduces the chances of injuries.

b) He was trying things out. There is no other way to do that except the actual competitive games themselves. Simple as.

Being new and without distinctions is why we should have supported him through the rough patch (if there ever was one) Pep was new as well, with better players overall and lower competition. People tend to forget that.

Messi and Neymar were on the bench that day because the club (not Lucho) gave them a leave to stay in Latin America until the 2nd of Jan. The game was on the 4th. Not his fault I think.

He's yet to find a balance with his rotations, dalitis. I mean for the 1st part of the season. His mistakes there could had put the team out of la liga. There's no "simple as"(though I know you love to post "simple as").
But the biggest problem wasn't even the rotations, but the wide midfielders leaving Busquets alone in the middle, which he fixed, gladly.

And that last observation of yours is wrong. Enrique authorized the extra days for Messi and Neymar. His lack of dialogue with the players was probably the problem there. He doesn't speak to them(Mathieu recently said so), so it makes it harder. That's his style, but that call of his was wrong. Hindsight is great and all, but there was a very clear bad patch. The crisis was real, and I'm actually glad it happened, because it made early elections possible, and also made Enrique change.

 

[Hamzah]

Dalitis?