Luis Enrique

[DonAK]

Rotations not a problem, but Lucho's rotating scheme sure as hell is. Can't change out so many players at once, but it's not just that. The team is simply not playing well recently. Rotations or the first choice XI. Not very convincing performances despite some impressive scores too.

 

[JamDav1982]

The first half was some kind of 4-4-2 formation with Ney and Suarez up top.

How many teams do you see playing possession football with a 4-4-2 formation? Barely any as the extra man up front leaves you light in midfield so it is hard to keep the ball as well and easier to counter.

The teams that play 4-4-2 are almost all counter attacking sides that sit deeper and hit on break. Less men commit forward and full backs dont both bomb on at all times. They have to play like that as give more space in middle of park.

Lucho tried to play some 4-4-2 possession in that half. Three attacking mids and Busi with two full backs flying forward. Just left Busi and defence totally exposed and no one in midfield or up front looking like they knew how to play the roles they were being asked to.

 

[Vlom]

I think this was a failed attempt to repeat the scheme from the last Bernabeu clasico.

Except Arda, Gomes and Rafinha are no match to Iniesta, Rakitic and Sergi Roberto in regards to defending.

That is taking this "experiment" as a stand-alone thing, if you add to it the last few games this season where Lucho has tried to play genius, it seems it's a deeper problem, overthinking rotations and/or trying to give everyone minutes and find the new signings a spot all at the same time.

 

[JamDav1982]

I think this was a failed attempt to repeat the scheme from the last Bernabeu clasico.

Except Arda, Gomes and Rafinha are no match to Iniesta, Rakitic and Sergi Roberto in regards to defending.

That game was still more or less 4-3-3 but Sergi Roberto put at RW to cope with energy of Marcelo who has dominated that left hand side vs Barca often as Messi wont/cant track back. It allows Ronaldo to go central more and get in dangerous areas.

That game Sergi Roberto never stopped chasing Marcelo and never stood still always looking to drag him inside when Barca had ball. Marcelo was confused as fuck and couldnt use his energy to dominate that side.

Could be another reason for Messi being tried more centrally as against top teams that take a risk they can dominate that side of park.

 

[FCBarca]

Naive

 

[utility73]

Lucho just doesn't seem to be learning from his mistakes.
He is always way overdoing it when he rotates.

 

[bismp]

We've been pretty mediocre and inconsistent for our standards the whole 2016 if you think about it...

 

[Alarcón]

We've been pretty mediocre and inconsistent for our standards the whole 2016 if you think about it...

Yes

 

[gasgas]

Perhaps his coaching abilities are skewed by the fact that he has quality players at his disposal

 

[KingMessi]

Perhaps his coaching abilities are skewed by the fact that he has quality players at his disposal

 

[DonAK]

I don't think Lucho is a great tactician, but not every coach is. He got other strengths.

 

[BBZ8800]

I wrote a few weeks ago about cycles.

History says that none Barca manager managed to keep the team at the high level for longer than 3-4 years.
Majority of coaches lost the lockerroom after 2 or 3 years.

Van Gaal, Rijkaard, even Pep had problems in his 4th season.

Imo, our current biggest problems:
1. Lucho's 3rd season, his cycle is nearing to a bad end, as with all managers
2. majority of our players won too many trophies and lack hunger (Pique, Masch, Busi, Iniesta, Messi, Alba, plus to some extent Neymar, Suarez, Rakitic)
New blood is very questionable in terms of quality. So, new players have hunger, but without quality it again means nothing.
3. we have too many players in this season, and Lucho will ruin the chemistry of a starting 11
4. Lucho is tacticaly lost again. Are we playing our classic 433, will Messi play in the middle, will Neymar play in the middle, are we playing 442 suddenly, are we playing 343 without a RB etc?

I have written also a few days ago that we won't win a CL and La Liga this year.
But, who knows, if Real will be poor, maybe we will have some chances.
In a CL, there is no chance that we will win it in Barca's style when we are superior to everyone, like in 2009, 2011 or 2015. If we'll win it, it will be in RM's style: we will be a total disaster in La Liga and meh in a CL and we will rise like a Phoenix in May and somehow (luckily) lift the trophy, in a not too deserved fashion.

Either way, I am expecting extremely chaotic season for Barca this season.
Lots of wtf defeats, lots of fights, lots of hot and cold displays within 3 days.
Lots of matches where we will ask: do these players even care anymore?

And if a season will end bad in terms of trophies, I am expecting a summer where either Lucho, Neymar or similar powerhouses (NOT Messi) will leave the club.

 

[DonAK]

@BBZ8800

You're such a pessimist. No doubt the team got problems right now, but we're still only in October. A lot can happen. We were not playing that well in Lucho's first season either until later.

I think one of the problems with Pep was that he experimented too much in his last season. Tried to fit in Cesc with a 3-4-3 that proved to be unsuccessful where we got caught on the counter way too much and lost several points that way in the league.

Don't even get me started on the game against Chelsea in the CL

Luckiest run ever.

That wasn't a case of loss of motivation, hunger or anything else. Just some bad decisions in hindsight and fine margins going against us(heck even Bayern in the CL final that year).

 

[ZenI]

Our midfield didn't control sh*t. I blame Lucho because we don't have the right players to control the midfield when Iniesta doesn't play. I really like Gomes, I think he will become a very good player, but not a mastermind like Iniesta, Xavi, Pirlo etc. We've relied on our attack many times, but we need our midfield to stabilise our play and keep feeding our attackers with passes higher up on the pitch. Now our plan was to just give Neymar the ball and look at him as he makes a fool of himself. Many teams have figured it out and just put 2-3 players on Ney and we're neutralised. Messi they can't stop, but Ney is a piece of cake - and he just gets more frustrated and fails even more as the game goes on.

 

[Bardh]

There will always be ups and downs for a coach, but statistically and trophy-wise, Lucho is the most successful Barca manager of all times. Full stop. It remains to be seen how his tenure will conclude.