Luis Enrique

[BarcaOG]

I'll take a win vs Valencia at the weekend. Baby steps..

Same here. Us FCB fans have really been humbled these past two weeks. If you look at the Barca-Real match thread, you'll see plenty of posters expecting 3-0, 4-0 and eve 5-0 wins.

Look at where we are now.

Let's just hope we can deliver a good performance this weekend.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I don't know in which topic to post my thoughts, but now when we look back now, except in 2006, we failed miserably in EVERY SEASON when there was a World cup or Euros scheduled, and thus seasons were shorter and all top teams play too many games in March/April/May.

Check the pattern:
2009: no World cup or Euros, the season is longer and players aren't losing a focus=we won
2010: World cup coming, the season is shorter and crowded in last weeks=we lost to Mourinho's Inter
2011: no World cup or Euros, the season is longer and players aren't losing a focus=we won
2012: Euros coming, the season is shorter and crowded in last weeks=we unluckily lost to Chelsea
2013: Tito's season=we lost to Bayern
2014: World cup coming, the season is shorter and crowded in last weeks=Messi and some players "saving" themselves, we lost to Atletico
2015: no World cup or Euros, the season is longer=we won, lol
2016: Euros coming, the season is shorter and crowded in last few weeks=we lost to Atletico again and we are fatigued as fuck

One more interesting pattern, it seems that we also have higher chances to win La Liga in years when there is no World cup and Euros, since our usually "thin" squad gets more time to rest.
Look at this, lol:
2008' Euros=Real Madrid won a title
2009', no tournaments=Barca won
2010' World cup=Barca won
2011', no tournaments=Barca won
2012' Euros=Real won
2013', no tournaments=Barca won
2014', World cup=Atletico won
2015', no tournaments=Barca won
2016' Euros=??

So, in shorter:
1. we won CLs is=2009, 2011 and 2015, each year with NO World cup or Euros
-- so, we won in 3 out of 4 seasons when there are no tournaments (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
2. on the other hand, we won ZERO CLs in that time in years with World cup or Euros
= 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 0 out of 5, lol

It is somewhat similar with La Ligas:
1. we won them in years when there are no World cups and Euros:
= 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015=4 out of 4
2. we won them in years with World cup or Euros:
= 2010
-- and lost in 2008, 2012, 2014
= so we won in 1 out of 4 years

Some people will say that history means nothing, but it seems that some patterns are repeating.

It seems that we will have more chances in a CL in seasons 2017 and 2019.
Those are probably last Messi's years and our last chance with him in the team.
I hope that we will win at least one more CL with him somehow.

1-You don't fail miserably when you win La Liga .that is ridiculous .


2-You are ignoring tons of other factors .like how no one was able to retain CL for over two and half decades .may be that has something to do with it? may be in all of our CL winning years we weren't making trips for European supercups and frakin Japan trip?
Also why count 07/08 season and not the two seasons b4? if you want to start making those statement correctly let's start it from Pep era


3-We had our biggest loss in SF history (wasn't it biggest loss ever for any team in Sf) against Bayern with 7-0 aggregate .the biggest embarrassment in our recent history .what year was that? 2013

4-As I said in 2nd point ,you are ignoring ton of factors
In 2010 we won the League ,we lost a close games when the referee sucked in 1st leg ,the team had tough trip because a Volcano decided to fuck us over .we had a disallowed winning goal because the ball hit Keita hand instead of abdomen .we had every luck against us .in SF in 2009 we had the total opposite .referee missed many decisions against us .Chelsea missed ton of chances and we won the game .if anything we were as good in SF in 2010 comparing to 2009
Nevermind we had a horrible deal when we bought Ibra for Eto .this has nothing to do with WC year
-In 2014 we had to replace our coach in middle of the summer ,we brought the worst coach we had since Laporta era started .a coach who isn't only not good enough for Barca but also with an ideas that doesn't match the club ideology.a betrayal of our own ideas .we lost the league .but we were close of winning it .in fact we were as close as if the referee didn't wrongly disallow Messi goal in the final game we would have won it fair and square .
We lost it with a bad coach ,not signing a defender,or attacker or even a midfielder who were all needed .not because the WC curse

5-This year ,just like 2012 .we played enormous amount of games .7 games more than AM .12 more than RM .we have an average age of around 29 years and 5 months in the starting line up. we had a ban that fucked us massively even though people won't admit it .this awkward situation of Arda and Vidal has hurt us .we lost 3 players (Montoya,Pedro&Xavi) in the summer ,we lost Rafinha in September duo to injury .we were playing 2 games every week with only Roberto replacing those 4 squad players (ps,b4 you say we never used Montoya ,it was b/c of how bad he was .but we always needed at least a decent back up RB) nevermind Adriano turning into totally useless player
The fact that Arda & Vidal aren't productive so far didn't help
Even if it wasn't the Euro year I wouldn't have expected a different result under same circumstances of over playing ,ban,fatigue and lack of depth with old squad

History means something ,but it means something when you aren't trying to prove a point and looking for the truth solely

 

[ManusXavi]

Lucho got things wrong with authority over the team and the media. Fatique/poor squad rotation is what cost us this season. I personally think LA liga should be 18 teams and cops Del Rey single legs but things are what they are and Lucho mucked up.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Lucho got things wrong with authority over the team and the media. Fatique/poor squad rotation is what cost us this season. I personally think LA liga should be 18 teams and cops Del Rey single legs but things are what they are and Lucho mucked up.

Football wise that makes sense ,unfortunately it hurts team economically .in era where you need every penny to compete with EPL ,Bayern,Oil clubs etc

 

[ManusXavi]

I'd have loads of questions for lucho.
Why do you let the media pressure you into overplaying your best players. Why do you not have combo's with our sub's so that they can build a team chemistry such as a Samper with Roberto or a Arda with Munir team chemistry. Why don't you have the balls to be hard on some players like Messi? Such as benching him even if he has a hissy fit. Why do you treat every game as a must win?

 

[mazp]

I'd have loads of questions for lucho.
Why do you let the media pressure you into overplaying your best players. Why do you not have combo's with our sub's so that they can build a team chemistry such as a Samper with Roberto or a Arda with Munir team chemistry. Why don't you have the balls to be hard on some players like Messi? Such as benching him even if he has a hissy fit. Why do you treat every game as a must win?

Aren't most games must win? Especially in La Liga.

 

[ManusXavi]

Aren't most games must win? Especially in La Liga.

Why do we not use games against the lower third of teams to build and use a Munir/Arda chemistry or a Samper/Roberto Chemistry? Do we not have faith that it would actually be good enough? Instead there are cases where he actually uses all 3 players of MSN against weak teams.

 

[ManusXavi]

I would have enjoyed taking off two players of MSN during matches in our season in order to put the Arda with Munir chemistry on the pitch. People underestimate the value of team chemistry toward an individuals confidence and performing at their capabilities.

 

[BarçaBarça]

Why do we not use games against the lower third of teams to build and use a Munir/Arda chemistry or a Samper/Roberto Chemistry? Do we not have faith that it would actually be good enough? Instead there are cases where he actually uses all 3 players of MSN against weak teams.

Have you watched La Liga this season? So many surprising results against the lower third - it would be suicide to not play the best players in some of those games. We only have this lead in the league because he has played the best players so much. Right now we are paying for it, but else we could easily be points behind ATM or RM.
I'll give you, that it is a problem if MSN can't be benched other than when suspended, but we haven't really had a good sub to put in. If we got Nolito i January, as Lucho wanted, I think we would have seen him rotate MSN more. Surely some games Suarez could be rested, but Lucho has not been given what he asked for, which is kind of embarrassing actually, as it is not ridiculous demands. But right now even a 60 %-Suarez or Neymar is better than a 100 % Munir.

 

[ManusXavi]

Have you watched La Liga this season? So many surprising results against the lower third - it would be suicide to not play the best players in some of those games. We only have this lead in the league because he has played the best players so much. Right now we are paying for it, but else we could easily be points behind ATM or RM.
I'll give you, that it is a problem if MSN can't be benched other than when suspended, but we haven't really had a good sub to put in. If we got Nolito i January, as Lucho wanted, I think we would have seen him rotate MSN more. Surely some games Suarez could be rested, but Lucho has not been given what he asked for, which is kind of embarrassing actually, as it is not ridiculous demands. But right now even a 60 %-Suarez or Neymar is better than a 100 % Munir.

I personally would easily take a 100% Munir over the current MSN for the smaller games. You are correct in saying that Lucho did not get what he asked for however Munir has not been managed well. That is clear. We have seen his potential in bursts. With proper management as far as team dynamics and chemistry goes with other players he would have been a useful player. Football is a team game and an individuals potential is often improved with improved team work. I therefore believe that it would not have been suicidal to play some of the subs in some of those games because the team dynamics would be there (created by letting the combinations have time together) that would be good enough to compete with most of the lower league teams. You certainly wouldn't get such a huge league lead but at the season its a huge payoff when the top 11 are not fatigued.

 

[Altomonte]

What has happened to Barça is similar to what Ancelotti was accused of with RM: Playing best team all the time, producing a long win streak, but ending up with a collapse of form. The International break was the final straw: we have 6 players in first team that play for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay in leading roles - Captains of their NT's.
They all returned tired and had to play RM that had not a single player traveling to South America (James was rested).
Even Bravo was jetlagged, he did not perform at his best. Only Mascherano seems to be able to deal with all that, but he is also the one least chased by media, fans etc.
Lucho should have played a B team in the Clasico, but of course he could not...
Don't know what's wrong with Messi now - but in match ARG-Bolivia - 3 days before Clasico - he was superb.
Margins are small, in particular when playing an aggressive and hard working team like Atletico.
Let's see if we can find our form this weekend and bounce back.

 

[Jamie Cal]

It's gonna be real interesting next season how he deals with resting MSN, if he does at all. If we buy a young forward then I doubt we'll see much change in how they're rested. If it's Nolito/Gameiro etc, then surely they'd be brought in with view to produce now and not down the line as a prospect like Munir.

We badly need Lucho to have the balls to tell MSN to pipe down when they're complaining about being subbed/rested.

 

[Barcaman]

We basically went out of CL because club couldn't afford a backup forward Lucho asked for.

Next year will be different though (if we get a sponsorship deal that is) and Lucho will have more hand and authority in rotations.
Neymar will probably get his new huge deal too so there will be no fear of benching him/throwing tantrums/leaving elsewhere.

 

[FC B]

Barca went out of CL because of the very poor management of the squad and players starting with the failure to buy enough good replacements for the transfer ban period and finishing with playing with the same players over and over again.

The players peaked too early and got exausted in the begining of the crucial part of the season. Lucho is also to blame for what happened.

 

[Barcilliant]

Lucho is partly to blame but we might as well appoint Messi player manager since his authority seems to supersede everyone else's.

Lucho should be able to rest Messi without fear of some backlash like last season.