Luis Enrique

[snowy]

.. But if our tactics stays the same: no real defending, hoping for last second great tackle and then magic from MSN we are in for a rough season..

With Messi and Ney in midfield play-orchestators mode and Raki as stop/liaison with defense, passes could be quicker and faster. Not likely to happen as it would be a radical shift but would be definitely be interesting.
Sevilla is gonna be a definite test. Looks like the consensus here is to play a tighter game, along the center and down the hatch into the belly of zze beast... brrrrr

 

[snowy]

I think the key to this is drop two of the MSN lower and form more of a 4-5-1 against very good teams. Preferably Messi and Neymar have to occupy the wider position, and our 3 midfielders need to play more inside the field than outside.

Basically I want a tighter midfield. And I want two of the MSN to actually help us create superiority in midfield, especially when we see we are being outplayed there. In this way teams won't be able to cut service to MSN anymore, because MSN would be now part of the midfield battle.

Ney and Messi would definitely agree with you. Did you notice how they almost instinctively often dropped back (Ney all the way to defense) in the last few games - as there was no supply up front. Folks keep ranting about Suarez being invisible but it's not like he could use a 3-D printer right in the middle of the pitch to finally get a ball to play with

 

[gasgas]

Some guys here think our problem is Alba, Iniesta, Pique Injuries

Even they would be exposed by these tactics.

We aren't compact enough in possession and when defending.

Our players play too far from each other.

See man city's 4-1-4-1
They pack the midfield and the wingers are much closer to central mids to associate



With us MSN stay upfront waiting for the ball

 

[kilian]

He could defo do it. Folks say he's lazy but me thinks he's just good at preserving himself.

Of course he can do it. He is one of the most talented players ever. But at what cost would be his inclusion in central midfield? You get his creativity, but your defensive stability is much worse, because of his workrate. He`s preserving himself just like many other world class attackers. They conserve energy, so they can burst into speed when they get the ball. But, you can`t play like that in central midfield.

Only way I can see him in midfield is in some trequartista role with two holding midfielders behind him - Busquets and Rakitic/Gomes. Rafinha could then occupy right flank and play as a forward, but come back all the time, to protect the flank and balance the midfield when Messi does his walking defending.

I don`t know if that would work, just throwing ideas...

 

[snowy]

With us MSN stay upfront waiting for the ball

c'mon gasgas, that can't be right Ney and Messi specially, and Luisito to an extent, have been forced to help out the midfield and were seen more around the center-line than in the strike zone as of late.

 

[snowy]

Of course he can do it. He is one of the most talented players ever. But at what cost would be his inclusion in central midfield? You get his creativity, but your defensive stability is much worse, because of his workrate. He`s preserving himself just like many other world class attackers. They conserve energy, so they can burst into speed when they get the ball. But, you can`t play like that in central midfield.

Only way I can see him in midfield is in some trequartista role with two holding midfielders behind him - Busquets and Rakitic/Gomes. Rafinha could then occupy right flank and play as a forward, but come back all the time, to protect the flank and balance the midfield when Messi does his walking defending.

I don`t know if that would work, just throwing ideas...

I like it, let's DO IT!

 

[Gaudi]

Since we have a consensus here and we are right I often wonder do coaches see that as well? I mean saying and seeing something of course is not enough, I don't know how would I transfer that knowledge to players....so I'm not claiming to be better coach than professional football coach but I do wonder does Lucho sees the problem? He and the team always say we need to learn form mistakes...now, I know Pep watches recorded matches like crazy but I do wonder, for example in this case, is Lucho aware of problem?

 

[serghei]

Well, I think we can fine-tune some things, but things can work very well with the same tactic if players don't make that many mistakes. Lucho was right in the presser, a good part of what went wrong vs City is just down to individual mistakes.

There are rewards too by playing like we tried to do vs City, and in the first half we could've easily been 2-0 up or even better by the time Roberto made those errors.

 

[Umtitol]

lucho has no plan b. not a good tactician. subbing arda yesterday was the final nail in the coffin. he should learn from mistakes, but I don't see it. with this system of bypassing the middle, maybe he should field a double pivot, so busquest have help. the way it is, other teams will continue to exploit this weakeness.

 

[Ghostmaster]

If we are playing badly now, maybe we'll peak just at the right time next year? Lucho definitely can improve team's performance, he did it before.

 

[FC B]

We can't control games like we used to and we can't press like we used to. We need to accept that, and do what every team does, that is work hard off the ball to close teams down. We need to improve our off the ball game, even if it means MSN need to stay less advanced and need to actually get involved in helping in defence.

Why Barca's pressing and physical game is so weak in comparison to BVB, LFC or ATM for instance ? If this won't improve significantly Barca will be unable to work hard off the ball and thus improve its off the ball game.

 

[Devils]

If we are playing badly now, maybe we'll peak just at the right time next year? Lucho definitely can improve team's performance, he did it before.

It could very well happen.

The only issue is that we have such an incredibly tough schedule from now until mid december that by the time he get's us going we could already be too far behind the Madrid teams to salvage the league. then the pitchforks will really come out.

 

[FC B]

True. All we can do is wait and hope Barca won't lose contact with the first place and ofc that indeed the team play will significantly improve for the most crucial part of the season in spring.

 

[serghei]

Why Barca's pressing and physical game is so weak in comparison to BVB, LFC or ATM for instance ? If this won't improve significantly Barca will be unable to work hard off the ball and thus improve its off the ball game.

Barca in the last 2 seasons has won a treble and a double and more trophies on top of that as well. Atletico and Dortmund have won pretty much nothing of note. It's still early man. We might very well play amazing in february - may and win big again.

Patience is key. We have a very good squad minus 1-2 positions that need one more player. But this new players can't play like they've been at Barcelona for years, when they only have a few months, and not even in those months have played a lot.

For example, this was Gomes' first big game for Barcelona. Just to put things into perspective. There are some problems that need fixing, but Lucho has shown before he can fix things.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Two things need to be sorted out:
we tend to lose control after opposition goal, it happened many time now. We are champions team that won everything, shouldn't lose our heads this easy. We played a good first half, we looked better than them, like we'll score againg and then falling appart.
Second, and most important, thing is defence. But like some here I don't believe our problem is last 4, even though we of course suffer with injuries. But our defending as a team is bad. I thought Lucho had a plan in first season. In my opinion he wanted us to defend slightly deeper than with Pep and press on our half. Not a bad idea, we are compact, not so tiring and also leaves room for counter. But now we neither high press neither defend deeper. We have a high defensive line, our front 3 stands up high with Suarez trying some "suicide" pressing against 3 players, Ney and Messi standing, then our mid of course gets bypassed easily as we go 4+2 full backs against our 3 mids and then our last 4 needs to save the day. Every attack for them is a counter with players runnig in speed towards them, even if it wasn't counter but positional attack. It's impossible not to concede that way...and I'm affraid what teams that pack a punch can do.
No need for Messi to run much more, neither Ney or Suarez but we are either going back to high TEAM pressing or drop back. In that case Suarez and Ney must come to midfield line and form a line with 3 mids with Messi floating and lurking for a ball withoout too much commitment, then we can form 2 walls with defense that will be much harder to pass.

I thought you hit the nail in the head. MSN does very little defending and does not drop back, our 3 midfielders are very stretched positionally (standing too far away from one another often), outnumbered and are slow chasing the ball, our wingbacks provide very little cover to our two CBs and if Ter Stegen hesitates to react, BAM, goal conceded guaranteed. We have seen this too many times. I can't believe Luis Enrique and his coaches don't have a remedy for this, at least not yet. The most depressing part is to see us failing in the same spot over, over and over again with no signs of improving at all.