Luis Enrique

[barcanuck]

Tito and Tata never made 9 changes to the starting line-up in September, particularly it being the first round of the CL. We've played with 4 different back line combinations over the last 5 games and have still yet to concede a goal. That shouldn't happen on any team, even Mourinho wouldn't expect to fiddle with his back line combination 4 times and not concede a goal. I understand your hesitation to sing his praises yet as it is very early still but I think credit should be given when its due.

It is much easier to sort out how to score goals than to sort out why you are conceding goals, especially the later the season goes on which is why I really think Lucho has this team performing at optimal level right now. Our defensive game is showing steady improvement each game and its much less of the headless chickens running around the box, looking for a marker that we got used to seeing the last few seasons. Our defensive transitions are excellent when we lose the ball and everyone shifts back with the ball as a unit and I cannot stress how important that transition is for the way we play. Its not operatic offensive football like Pep's game...(yet)...but its much more solid and methodical. He has really taken Pep's method of possession as a means of a defense and expanded more on that side of our approach than our attack. The only noticeable difference offensively is a much narrower front three which is why Messi and Neymar's link-up play magically looks better but other than, its pretty much the same. We just do our due diligence defensively much better and not conceding goals over the season will be more important than scoring them, particularly against better teams.

Real Madrid are the test we are waiting for and I think at least a month into the season, we are collectively at a better level than they are right now. Their attack is looking devastating at the moment but they are giving up a lot of weak goals with a much more open midfield. If we can shut them out at the Bernabeu, I will fancy us against any team in Europe.

The key with us as we all know is Suarez. With our defense showing a lot of signs of improvement, Suarez will be the final piece to Lucho's Barca and with our defense looking as solid as it is now and with a front line of Neymar-Messi-Suarez, I think there should be a lot to be excited about.

Well said here, Tito/Tata would never change more than 3-4 players per match. Tata got flamed for it though when he did vs Socieddad last year and we lost but that was a little too late since the guys playing that day barely played before that. Lucho has said he has a squad of 20+ players and intends to use it to his advantage.

 

[Povikas]

Inb4 you come here bashing and wanting him to leave. You can't judge him based on one off-game. Only when he has the time to learn from this game and void the mistakes that were made. If he doesn't - then you can question it.

 

[Deco 20]

It's far from the first time we've played poorly this season (we've been poor offensively in every game so far), but I agree that it's too soon to judge him.

 

[Icarium]

Barca is not clicking in attack. Levante were poor that is why we scored 5 goals. We are not playing attacking football, not a single shot on target this match. Never seen that happen in a barca match before. Defense is fine, do something with attack. This is no where enough for CL or even league for that matter.

 

[DonAndres]

Made a poor choice with Douglas but I can't blame him when the team has played so many games in such a dense time period. Fatigue was very evident today and tactical organization (defense) wasn't lacking. It was just poor ball circulation, movement, and intensity which can all be understood given the nature of our schedule. Needs to pick up the slack that we've seemed to acquire but a bump in the road was 100% to be expected with such a new team.

It does bring up an issue that will have to be addressed though: we'll obviously be playing many of these no-rest schedules this season even if they can be responsible for our losses. We need to rotate more safely (i.e backups should not screw up our play. Samper/Munir/Sandro/Bartra are great backups and didn't make us do worse but Douglas/Adriano/Roberto really dent our game). Also, fitness should be a priority as some of our players (Messi and Neymar) are looking down in the stamina department.

 

[Stric]

Inb4 you come here bashing and wanting him to leave. You can't judge him based on one off-game. Only when he has the time to learn from this game and void the mistakes that were made. If he doesn't - then you can question it.

And you can't judge him based on the first 5 games either. For all we know, tonight's game could be a better indicator than the previous 5. Tito and Tata also started with a bang, and their season gradually went downhill. Tata's Barca looked very promising early on. It's too early to tell anything. All I can say is that I dislike his borderline arrogant attitude. His stature as coach is nowhere near enough to warrant anything of the sort.

 

[reDIOS10]

So let me get this straight, he wins 5 games in a row with all clean sheets but draws one game and u bash him?

 

[Povikas]

IIRC we started the 08-09 season with a loss to Numancia, then we drew 1:1 home against Racing and went on to beat Gijon 6-1 who displayed atrocious defence.

 

[serghei]

If this is a sign of things to come, both the sales of Alexis and Cesc were a mistake. Alves needs a contract extension fast. Xavi needs to play more. Play the ball faster, the players run like they have their boots filled with lead.

We sold Alexis, to play with Munir, Sandro and Pedro.

 

[MagIX]

If this is a sign of things to come, both the sales of Alexis and Cesc were a mistake. Alves needs a contract extension fast. Xavi needs to play more. Play the ball faster, the players run like they have their boots filled with lead.

We sold Alexis, to play with Munir, Sandro and Pedro.

We sold Alexis and Cesc because we needed cash to pay Suarez.

 

[Doobs]

It's quite clear that the system is organised with the qualities of Suarez in mind. He's done a lot right and I think his attitude is the right one for these players, he's improved our defense immeasurably (so far) along with the fact that we're a threat from set plays.

 

[Stric]

We sold Alexis and Cesc because we needed cash to pay Suarez.

...who we didn't need because we had Alexis and other forwards to begin with. Suarez was a political/marketing signing, not a necessity. I'm sure he'll do great and we'll benefit much from having him, but let's not pretend we really needed to buy him. We did it to compete with other clubs' big signings.

 

[Doobs]

Luis Enrique is the first in history not to concede any goal in his first 6 games as Barcelona coach #fcblvie [via mrchip]

 

[Doobs]

...who we didn't need because we had Alexis and other forwards to begin with. Suarez was a political/marketing signing, not a necessity. I'm sure he'll do great and we'll benefit much from having him, but let's not pretend we really needed to buy him. We did it to compete with other clubs' big signings.

We needed a #9 and we got the best one on the planet. I hate this wretched board but i'm not going to complain.

 

[Icarium]

It is too soon to judge but it is pretty clear where he has to improve the team. Let us see if he can do that in coming games. I was hoping for 4 wins and 1 draw in the 5 matches before break. 1 win and 1 draw. If he can mange to win against PSG then it is actually very good. I am sure we can improve our attack with suarez introduction.