Luis Enrique

[Stric]

Lucho seems to be stubborn and overly proud of his I-don't-explain-myself attitude. He also seems to like making questionable and illogical decisions and act like he's a badass for making them, without thinking what's going to happen if he fails. I hope I'm wrong, but from what I've seen of him so far, I don't have hopes of him implementing any smart decisions or working the team efficiently, and most importantly, I don't see him as the kind of coach who will learn from his mistakes and move forward when he fails.

 

[serghei]

^It'll be sch a shame for his stubborness to get in the way of him succeeding at Barca as a manager.

 

[Behrox]

Of course not. That's the main reason Cesc was sold. Lucho plays Messi in Cesc's best position. That won't work because Messi, as brilliant as he is, doesn't have the required workrate to be a midfielder. He is going to overplay Messi and he will probably fail. If Messi has an off day, based on this arrangement, we are in deep trouble, because there's no one else creating or making plays besides Leo.

But, if he changes this arrangement, and makes the midfield look like a trio again, he's gonna find he needs a playmaker. He brought in Rakitic specifically for this type of midfield formation: Busi covering the DM alone, Raki and Iniesta providing cover for the fullbacks and Messi taking care by himself of the whole AM area. When he finds out that Rakitic isn't a playmaker, and our recent performances seem to suggest we need just that, he will regret having sold Cesc. That's my prediction based on how things stand right now.

Let's hope that Suarez is good at finnishing crosses, because from this kind of tactis, we're gona see a lot of them.

Rakitic was the base of Sevilla's attack last season when he was given a license to attack instead of trying to babysitter Alves like he is for us. Rakitic may be less of a pure playmaker than Cesc but he is a more composed and complete midfielder whose main attributes are workrate and attacking.
Lucho needs to stop tweaking the formation and starting XI every single game and pick his starters by now especially in central defense. Plus he needs to bench Busi and Don who are atrociously off form for better options in Xavi,Masch,Rafinha, even Roberto and stop with the fullback babysitting shit. Make the fullbacks manage their runs and actually let the midfielders play and do something instead of passing to the wings

 

[KingMessi]

I know it's premature, and I still think he'll be a success here, but what if, God forbid, Lucho fails here? Who do we turn to next? De Boer? Roberto Martinez? Xavi?

 

[mazp]

I know it's premature, and I still think he'll be a success here, but what if, God forbid, Lucho fails here? Who do we turn to next? De Boer? Roberto Martinez? Xavi?

If Lucho fails, then so do Barto and Zubi. Because that's their guy. Their stuck with him.

 

[linetty]

He will not fail. Just needs time.

The team looks sharp and it's only start of the season. With Suarez joining in a few weeks and correcting a few details we will be good.

Iniesta and Busi need to get their shit together as well. We can't lose the midfield because it's suicide.

 

[amircule]

I know it's premature, and I still think he'll be a success here, but what if, God forbid, Lucho fails here? Who do we turn to next? De Boer? Roberto Martinez? Xavi?

Koeman .

 

[Behrox]

Iniesta and Busi need to get their shit together as well. We can't lose the midfield because it's suicide.

Lucho needs to wake up too either he changes the formation completely to accommodate wide midfielders to improve our linkup play or play with a standard 4-1-2-1-2 with actual CENTRAL mids instead of fullback babysitters. You can't expect to win after destroying the core and base of the team (i.e, Barca's midfield). Our current formation is a bad mix of tactics from the 4-1-2-1-2 and 4-3-3 and also too rigid for our style

 

[instinct]

We should trade him for 2 horses and a cow.

Even they would realise that Alves is past it lol

 

[Barcaman]

Lucho seems to be stubborn and overly proud of his I-don't-explain-myself attitude. He also seems to like making questionable and illogical decisions and act like he's a badass for making them, without thinking what's going to happen if he fails. I hope I'm wrong, but from what I've seen of him so far, I don't have hopes of him implementing any smart decisions or working the team efficiently, and most importantly, I don't see him as the kind of coach who will learn from his mistakes and move forward when he fails.

I think it's too early to label him stubborn but I noticed too that he's a bit brazen towards media. Van Gaal was an ultimate douche when dealing with the press and that certainly contributed to his downfall at Barca.
Barca are fan owned club and symbolizes a lot to people of Catalonia so he ought to add a bit of sugar when doing interviews.

We'll see where we are after group stages and Clasico.

 

[El_e8]

I know it's premature, and I still think he'll be a success here, but what if, God forbid, Lucho fails here? Who do we turn to next? De Boer? Roberto Martinez? Xavi?

Moyes obviously

 

[Toecrusher]

In the big games, we need to play either a double pivot, or swap one of Alves and Alba for a defensive fullback. We just HAVE to.

We have been sticking with this "lightweight midfield and both fullbacks attacking" strategy since Pep's time now, and despite counter after counter in the big games Tito, nor Tata, nor Lucho seem to see the light. Is it really that hard to see for top level coaches when the even the most average fan can pick up on this?

We can argue that they are just trying to follow Pep's model, but what has gone on for the last 3 seasons is not Pep's model. Pep had Abidal as a defensive LB, and/or Keita as a second defensive CM. He never, if ever (before his final season) went with the two attacking fullbacks and a lightweight midfield at the same time.

Even when we won the CL with Rijkaard, in the later knockout games we used to play with Edmilson and Motta as two DM's, so its not unheard of for Barca.

So basically the options are:
1) Replace Alves or Alba with one defensive fullback and keep Busquets Rakitic Iniesta in midfield. This will also allow the midfielders to play more centrally and be creative.
OR
2) Keep both Alves AND Alba as attacking fullbacks, but have Mascherano and Busquets/Rakitic as two DMs, and Iniesta as more attacking CM.

Unless one of the above is done, we won't be winning the CL anytime soon. Period.

The other thing we have to do is get Mascherano out as CB and start swapping with Busquets at DM. We are fortunate now to have 4 tall CBs in the squad, and we should make use of them.

The rest (goalkeepers, attack) will take care of itself.

 

[Howlgrana]

To be a little pedantic, I wouldn't call Vermaelen 'tall', which a few people seem to be indicating. He's only 5'11, although he does have a good leap on him.

 

[dakt]

Any trophy this season would be great.

 

[Ini8]

I know it's premature, and I still think he'll be a success here, but what if, God forbid, Lucho fails here? Who do we turn to next? De Boer? Roberto Martinez? Xavi?

Rudi Garcia.