Luis Enrique

[Neymessi]

I see most of us blame lucho here and rightly so. He used to rotate like crazy in his first season but after the drama and criticism, he turned into a new leaf and wouldn't rotate even against weak teams. His ideal approach in easy games would be to sub players after leading. Dunno what made him do this and to that extent. Too many reasons to blame him for resting so many starters and giving so many first timers a start like it was a friendly.

That being said, the players were atrocious and completely failed us. Even with those players it should have been a win even though lucho made it a bit riskier. Terrible stuff from backups and after spending that much money they should be doing enough to win against a relegation side at home. On paper it looked really good the backup signing we made but in reality they haven't shown the worth yet.

 

[Barcaman]

Most of the new players have barely trained together. How can you expect them to play well together? So on this circunstance, it was Lucho's mistake. He rotated too much. Only 3 starters today. Resting Messi and Suarez was understandable, but Pique and Roberto wasn't. Or even Alba. And Vidal has showed he's not good enough vs any team.

You're underestimating Alaves too. They drew with atletico in the calderon, and now beat us.

They aren't supposed to have to play great to see Alaves off.
Neymar played, he sucked. Mascherano made 2 crucial mistakes. Busi and Rakitic were off too.

 

[BBZ8800]

this is not the premier league .. Real Madrid lost the title while collecting around 100 points so let's not kid ourselves .. until Laliga cluelss officials get their shit together this will always be the case .. short version : dropping points like this is very bad for business .. Luis Enrique is the sole reason of this defeat .. Playing Messi and suarez in those circumstances means one thing : they were both ready .. there was no need to rest both of them . the coach ruined my week end

True.
We will drop a lot of points this season with so many new players and probably too many rotations all the time.
Real will lose points, but so will we.
The question is: who will lose less points?

On the other hand, we need to remember that in the current relation of strength Barca:Real:
-- Real won 10 points more than us in a spring 2016
-- they won a Champions league also
(Majority of people here will say that it was a pure luck, but...)

So, if for a moment, we remove our Barca-glasses, Real is an in-form and a team on a hot streak currently, not Barca.
So, starting a campaign with a defeat at home against Alaves, when our main rival is on a hot streak since March, surely isn't a good thing.

One more question: if Lucho will play the best 11 (bar injuries) against Celtic, then seriously: wtf?

Lucho, we aren't playing a CL semifinal against Bayern or Real this Wednesday so that you need to rest 5-6 starters against Alaves.
We are playing against a f***ing Celtic (at Nou Camp We don't even need to travel), and the world won't end if we'll draw that match with 2-3 key players on the bench.

The same happened in Lucho's first season, when on some matchdays it seemed that he has zero knowledge about WHICH match is more important and which match will be A HARD ONE.
Even in 2014, on some matchdays he played the strongest starting 11 against Mickey mouse opponents, while 3 days later, he would play with 5 new players against a potentially much tougher opponent.

Lucho is somewhat lost in rotations, especially when he has too many players to chose from.
I am afraid that we will see too many: wtf moments this autumn (or this whole season) in Lucho's lineups.

Maybe it will turn out in the end that it is better to have a 17-18-19 men squad, than a 22 men squad where each of these 22 players want to play as much as possible.

 

[Flavia]

They aren't supposed to have to play great to see Alaves off.
Neymar played, he sucked. Mascherano made 2 crucial mistakes. Busi and Rakitic were off too.

Well, they clearly had to play great to see them off. Barça is the second big club they took points off, away from home. Playing Masch instead of Pique was one of lucho's mistakes. One played vs lichestein, the other vs Uruguay and Venezuela, not mentioning the long flight and jet lag.

 

[PhilS]

Gotta rotate, but you don't gotta rotate that much in one game.

Playing guys is how you learn whom to trust. Digne was not bad. Umtiti surely moved way up. Rafinha and Gomes should get chances now.

 

[jamrock]

I agree with bbz, at times it since Luis has been our manager, he seems to prioritize the wrong match, rotating against the wrong team, when we have another easy match under much more favorable circumstances, the weekend after are something like that.

Yes the team he put out on paper should have been good enough, but they have no chemistry, start all our European players and rest the south Americans.

We can't be dropping points at home against a team like that

 

[bismp]

If we lose to Atletico,then we will be in trouble.Ofc 6 points is nothing so early on,but will be a blow to our morale

 

[xXKonan]

According to MD. Lucho and the players had a meeting inside the locker room this morning before training.

they state Lucho and the team, were analyzing the defensive problems and the lack of Fluidity in the attack In addition to individual errors.

 

[Topolino]

Let's just hope losing to Alaves gave them that extra motivation of proving themselves. La Liga is tight, but losing one game at the start of the season shouldn't be that decisive.

And what did he talk about defending I wonder? Did he just give a death stare to Masche and Aleix

Lucho: "Aleix i Javier!"

Aleix and Masche: "Si"

Lucho:

 

[xXKonan]

Here's sports take on it.

Luis Enrique has been in the reverse position before, so he knows just what to say and when to get a response from his players. On Sunday morning he could tell the squad was upset by the 2-1 defeat by Alaves on Saturday night. For many it was a true nightmare, like for debutants Jasper Cillessen and Paco Alcacer, for others a blow to their confidence, like Vidal or Digne, who replaced heavyweights like Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto.

Luis Enrique met with his men before training to calm them, highlighting that during the season there are always situations like this and he has not lost confidence in the men that started - to win titles he needs the whole squad. There was not a lot of tactical analysis nor did he want to highlight the numerous errors made, trying not to individualise. It was a summit in the most positive sense of the word, without looking for scapegoats.

In any case it's not the first time Lucho has used this tactic on his team after a defeat. The majority of players involved were new or with few minutes in the bank. He will try to raise spirits and remind the players they are all important as Barcelona go for the title, insisting that this is the best squad he has had as a coach in his career.

http://www.sport-english.com/en/new...s-barcelona-stars-after-defeat-alaves-5373478

A team talk.

 

[LordLichtenstein]

According to MD. Lucho and the players had a meeting inside the locker room this morning before training.

they state Lucho and the team, were analyzing the defensive problems and the lack of Fluidity in the attack In addition to individual errors.

He should apologize to the whole team. Such an average coach he is.

 

[BigBarcaBoy]

He should apologize to the whole team. Such an average coach he is.

yeah, we will never win anything with him in charge

 

[LordLichtenstein]

yeah, we will never win anything with him in charge

MSN, Iniesta and Busquets won us those titles, not him.

 

[Topolino]

 

[KingLeo10]

MSN, Iniesta and Busquets won us those titles, not him.

we had the exact same personnel minus suarez the year before and won absolutely nothing. enrique isn't a tactical genius, we can all agree on, but his ability to keep the squad motivated and fit (especially in the treble season) has contributed to our success. if you want an average coach, look no further than tata.