Went back and finally watched all of the first half against City so I have a fuller picture of the game now.
This whole midfield argument is nothing new here. We've been complaining about our lack of control from MFs here since day one of Lucho getting here. He simply has a different interpretation of midfield play than previous Barca coaches, not just Pep. Someone, can't remember who, made a really good point in saying that Barca controlling the midfield has been a part of play for a very long time, that extends before Pep's era as a coach and to his time as a player here. For decades, we've always looked to have a true maestro, tempo-controlling, playmaking MF, from Laudrup, Pep, Riquelme (even though he didn't turn out the greatest, example of the type of player we had), Deco to Ronaldinho. These are all silk MFs. Lucho is about the steel and for his top-heavy approach, it makes sense.
His positional shape of keeping MSN high with overlapping FBs is all about being able to exploit space as quickly as possible and it works provided either A) the MF has control of the game enough to keep teams pinned in their half or B) we are defensively cohesive enough to drop deep and absorb pressure for MSN to explode on the counter. Point B is why Lucho likes steel and why he has gone for MFs like Rakitic, Arda, and Gomes while Rafinha has a lot of steel in his game for how quick and skilled he is. Recently, our failure and Lucho's failure has been the inability to do either strongly enough and I think like 70% of it is due to personnel problems and injuries.
As we all know, Iniesta or Rakitic must be on the field for A to happen. As soon as either come off, any replacement is just not going to be able to control games like they do so if that is the case, we need to phase into B and this is precisely what we aren't doing. In games in previous seasons, there were times were for 15 mins, possession would be like 55-45 but our MF would tuck in deep, we'd have two walls of 3 and 4 and that would allow MSN freedom to find space and counter. Recently, we have not been reactive in knowing when to drop off nor has our pressing been the greatest so we caught between the two and that's not a good place to be tactically. You either drop off deep or you press high collectively but one of the two must occur. Arda, Denis, Rafinha aren't really suited to dropping deep and when they come on and MSN aren't pressing, there is too much space between lines for teams to attack as you all have mentioned previously. That's why he really needs to field like with like much better in MF and find the right combinations and tactics that fit the players he fields. Playing with Denis and/or Rafinha in MF can work, it just requires MSN to do a bit more defensive work in pressuring the ball. Gomes in MF can work for us, it just requires Busi and Raki to tuck in more and play from deeper positions.
Lucho's problem during this dip has been him not using the right tactics for the right players, not to mention that its been difficult for players to get consistency in roles and systems with the injuries and him wanting us to try 3 back systems (which I'm ALL for). With Iniesta gone, we have lost a key player who allows us to be more flexible tactically on the fly because he is really the only MF who can function doing both (his defensive game has quietly improved under with his time with Lucho) so until we get him back, Lucho just needs to pick one emphasis or another based on the team we are playing.
This why I just think its short-sighted and forgetful to criticize Lucho's tactics for not having enough MF control. Granted there are times when we are numerically disadvantaged in MF, but those sort of characteristics aren't as pronounced in a more direct and defensively sound approach. So while at times it might be 5 v 3 in the MF, if we can break their pressing line with a long pass, a quick 1-2 or a dribble, then its a 4 v 3 with MSN. The idea of having Neymar and Suarez dropping more to cover defensively works fine, Real do the same thing with Bale coming deep for Ronaldo, but it sacrifices our numerical advantage on counters and it tires out Neymar/Suarez more, meaning they have to be subbed more or risk injury.
Plain and simple, its a trade-off that Lucho chooses, less control for more space to attack and in some ways, kinda shows that he is bringing a bit of Madrid to us from his experiences with them. I just don't understand how people can so assuredly state that Lucho's tactics are broken when we just hammered the same team a fortnight ago. ANY team is going to suffer in quality with injuries like we have and the times our defense has looked stretched with Pique and Alba back were largely games when Vidal or Mathieu were playing. So yeah, any coach's tactics will be exposed when they are without key players who make their system more feasible.
I'm not saying I wholeheartedly agree with Lucho's viewpoint. Anyone of you know actually follow my posts will know I'm much more of a purist and would prefer a more possession-heavy style. But to choose to levy this argument against him now seems unfair to him, considering the circumstances of both the team and the game itself. At full strength against City, whom I rate as probably the 3rd strongest team in Europe atm, we walked them and they really only had half chances, provided they made them well. City should be the toughest team we play until the quarter-finals (provided we get that far) and there were times last night where we were in the same groove. If Lucho's tactics were really that exposed and damaging, we wouldn't have been able to do that against Pep fucking Guardiola, the guy who made about half the players playing for us atm.
So to conclude, while I'd love a tiki-taka with MSN too, the only real MF who could really pull that off are Iniesta and kinda Rafinha/Denis. Denis has the passing vision and playmaking ability, Rafinha has some playmaking abilities (not as good as Denis tho imo) but is the strongest and quickest dribbler and is excellent at playing 1-2s but neither have the poise and experience yet to dominate games. Outside of them, none of our MFs have the quickness in mind or the vision to really flourish without Iniesta in a tiki-taka like system.
So going forward, I think a more direct and defensive system should be our way until Iniesta is back with Messi central as a 10 instead of on the wing and we shift into a diamond 4-3-1-2. I think with a steely MF of Raki-Busi-Gomes sitting deeper and just allowing Messi to roam through the center would work but the MF has to sit deeper than they play now and Busi would need to step up his defensive game too. But it puts less pressure on Rakitic to have to cover Messi's space wide, puts Messi in a more creative role that we need without Iniesta and would make the counters come off easier too.
Lastly, Bob probably had his worst game at RB for us last night. Its like his first bad game in a year and half and his mistake really flipped the game. We were in control against them until then and if we are up 1-0 at half time, the likelihood of them beating us, even if they had still outplayed us in the 2nd half would have been much lower. That and Rakitic's departure really gave them a chance to get into the game.
Big picture, I thought we were doing alright until we lost Iniesta. I always expected us to be weaker defensively this year without Dani but there is plenty to be optimistic and hopeful about. Umtiti looks fabulous here, Digne has been a solid signing and Denis and Gomes show a lot of promise so overall, once we get back at full strength, I think this spell will make us stronger and more resilient this season. We don't need a full on revolution from Lucho's tactics, we just need to do some tweaks, work it out in training and remember some of the things that brought us success. Pizjuan will be tough, tough, tough but the boys will have a point to prove and hopefully that extra fire will help us fight that little extra harder you have to in away games.
Besides, Real look FAR from convincing right now and look like they are in much bigger trouble than we are. I think we will beat them in December and a big win like that obviously will put us top but will be vital for us psychologically down the road.
. This is Barca and we need "THE COACH"!
(memorized that for a date once...) 
) said Lucho was smart to give a lot of free rein to MSN. Now that they're used to all that freedom, not sure our mustangs would enjoy a tighter hold 
