Luis Enrique

[Aryagorn]

Nah it was real but he quickly changed his profile picture again.

Really!? An English phrase? Anyway, it is excessive pride I would say

 

[Total-Football]

Credit for the glorious night, still i firmly believe that the perfect foot-ball can only be played with a perfect 4-3-3. I also believe that the invisibility of our midfield is a much more complex issue than "lacking a world class midfielder" as because there is no way in hell " Alonso-Vidal-Thiago " are a better trio than " Busquets-Iniesta-Rakitic ", also the age factor is easily refutable because the bayern trio is also "old". I think the problem lays in the coaching, the tactics and the whole preparation of the team. The void that exists between the lines is too huge to pin it on a simple idea like "we need veratti" .

PSG played horribly, let's not kid ourselves, the attitude we showed was fantastic and we could have won against anyone last wednesday, But no way in hell we would put 5 or 6 passed a great team, that's simply undoable.

Having said that, of course credit to the manager for controlling damage, firsty by annoucing the departure, drawing away the intention from the team, and secondly by switching to a 3-4-3 which looks somehow like an acceptable temporary alternative until the new manager comes and hopefully takes us back to the origines.

 

[BBZ8800]

Not entirely convinced about the defensive dimension to our 3-4-3. We don't have a Kante and our players sure as hell ain't gonna run as they did against PSG every match. I think we should keep playing it though and see what patterns our midfield and Messi start picking up along the way.

We can have problems only against top teams.
Against crappy teams, they rarely attack us at all (especially at Camp Nou).
In home matches, a 4men defense is a total waste. 4 players covering for no one.

Plus, there are lots of variations to try and master.
For example, Alba in a 3men defense and Roberto in midfield at the same time.
In attack, that formation turns to 2 (Pique-Masch/Umtiti)- 5 (Alba, Iniesta, Busi, Raki, Roberto) - 3 (MSN).
In defense, that is a 442: Alba-Pique-Masch/Umtiti-Roberto, Neymar-Iniesta-Busi-Raki, Suarez-Messi.

Imo, 433 is done for now.
We played 343 and 442 in late 90s and 00s.
With Rijkaard we played 433, but we had Xavi+Deco and Xavi+Iniesta later, plus we had 3 workers upfront (especially Etoo-Guily).

So, in glory days of 433, we always had either Xavi+Deco or Xavi+Iniesta, plus at least 2 of front players worked a lot.
Today when we have Iniesta aged 33 (who can't run anymore), Busi (who can't run as 5-10 years ago), Raki (very slow player) plus MSN with Messi resting in attack during matches when we don't have a ball, it is easier to understand why 433 is not working anymore.

So, imo, it is a smart move to sacrifice some of defensive stability for more control in midfield and attack.
Once again, in 4 matches with 343, we won: AM 2:1, Sporting 6:1, Celta 5:0, Psg 6:1.

We can always switch to 442 or 433 in some matches.
Plus, 343 will surely click even better when players will adjust to it.
Currently we played only 240 minutes, and we already have 4 wins in a row (when was the last time when we had 4 wins in a row, for example in La liga, with 433? Answer=we didn't have it nor once in this season) with a goal ratio 19:3.

 

[Total-Football]

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION] 3-4-3 does allow more control to midfield, but it has some flaws : against top teams with fast forwards this line up become a liability. Yes Psg have fast forwards but they played cowardly .. If you really wanna grasp how dangerous is 3-4-3 against top teams i suggest you go back with your memory to those first 15 minutes against Pep's bayern (2015), we could have scored twice in those minutes, pep (who picked this formation for the same reason you mentioned: midfield control ) immediatly switched to 4-3-3 throwing all of his home preparation Under the bus because he knew it was a suicidal thing to do against MSN. Even against PSG you could see how dangerous it was once they were passed our midfield ( cavani and di maria). Once you are passed the first 2 lines you end up attacking only 3 players instead of the regular 4.

All formations obviously have pro and cons but the 3-4-3 is the most dangerous one in term of execution. But in this ongoing season, we pratically have no choice but to sacrifice a defender and go with 4 in midfield because our problems and difficulties in playing as a compact team.

 

[Yashar1899]

Credit for the glorious night, still i firmly believe that the perfect foot-ball can only be played with a perfect 4-3-3. I also believe that the invisibility of our midfield is a much more complex issue than "lacking a world class midfielder" as because there is no way in hell " Alonso-Vidal-Thiago " are a better trio than " Busquets-Iniesta-Rakitic ", also the age factor is easily refutable because the bayern trio is also "old". I think the problem lays in the coaching, the tactics and the whole preparation of the team. The void that exists between the lines is too huge to pin it on a simple idea like "we need veratti" .

PSG played horribly, let's not kid ourselves, the attitude we showed was fantastic and we could have won against anyone last wednesday, But no way in hell we would put 5 or 6 passed a great team, that's simply undoable.

Having said that, of course credit to the manager for controlling damage, firsty by annoucing the departure, drawing away the intention from the team, and secondly by switching to a 3-4-3 which looks somehow like an acceptable temporary alternative until the new manager comes and hopefully takes us back to the origines.

PSG played horribly -> But they were in great form and when Barca lost 4 - 0 to them, we werent in good form, therefore this win is greatest and the best win of Enrique's era, IMO.

 

[ManusXavi]

What if you train your 3-4-3 defenders to communicate well and drift sideways toward the side of the field the ball is on when the team is under threat from a counterattack. This forces the counter attack to make a time consuming/risky long ball across the field.

 

[Richard.H]

What if you train your 3-4-3 defenders to communicate well and drift sideways toward the side of the field the ball is on when the team is under threat from a counterattack. This forces the counter attack to make a time consuming/risky long ball across the field.

The problem with 3-4-3 is it essentially forces the whole team to defend. It'll tire out the team really fast, just look at how lazily we defended for the Cavani goal.

 

[JamDav1982]

The problem with 3-4-3 is it essentially forces the whole team to defend. It'll tire out the team really fast, just look at how lazily we defended for the Cavani goal.

The defending wasnt lazy for Cavani goal it was just risky as had to pour men forward.

Dont think any of the Barca players looked all that tired when scored three in last seven mins.

When they defend in this formation they switch to a 4-4-2 and the way they keep the ball better and move it so fast surely tires out other team more.

 

[Cool]

Pique decided to push up with the ball up the pitch and lost it, no one was there to cover for him.

That's how I saw it.

 

[xXKonan]

 

[TornAndFrayed]

so our deepest CB played further upfront than their striker.

 

[El Flaco]

Wenger on Lucho:

"It just sums it up that two weeks ago he was an idiot and everyone said you have to leave, so he said, 'OK, I go.' Today he is a hero. That sums up the job."

 

[Barcaman]

He has some point. But I can see how he wants to make this about himself. Lucho has been on a downward trend for a year while Arsene for a decade.

 

[Horatio]

Even if Lucho was doing really well at the time of his announcement, I am willing to bet he would leave anyway after this season.

 

[Messi983]

He has some point. But I can see how he wants to make this about himself. Lucho has been on a downward trend for a year while Arsene for a decade.

And Lucho has still won more during his down year than Arsene has in the last decade.