Luis Enrique

[dakt]

I'm still not convinced about him. After the pressure, he stopped rotating and we started winning.
I would love to see him experimenting with Rafinha in midfield against stronger opponents.

 

[Faceless]

I'm still not convinced about him. After the pressure, he stopped rotating and we started winning.
I would love to see him experimenting with Rafinha in midfield against stronger opponents.

I understand. It's not like he's a tactical genius, but you got to give it to him when he motivates his players and the way how he handles the press these days. Constant flow of positivity.

 

[CuleLife4Life]

The tactical model has improved vastly even with a major component of our midfield (Iniesta) underperforming. The fact that we can do this well without midfielders that are creative shows that this team is reaching a sort of 'ideal' state collectively. Iniesta/Rakitic have not done much better than before individually speaking (Raki has improved a bit, not too much) but their tactical roles help us play an awesome attacking game whether on the counter or in control.

This is Lucho's only area of concern tbh. He admires Rafinha and will probably groom him further in the near future. Still counting the days until Samper becomes a real fixture in the first team rotation. As much as I like Rakitic for his versatility, someone with better vision/technique/positional intelligence can help us play more attractive football in other areas than just our front 3. A truly great team is one that can dominate from all fronts.

Supports Eusebio though, so I still kinda hate him.

Great post. It hurts to say but I'm so worried about Iniesta. I'd hate for him to continue on being the weak link. Rafinha and Samper coming of age can't come fast enough.

 

[raki]

The improvement in set pieces is amazing. Training leads to improvement.

 

[Irish_Cules]

3 wins out of 3 against Atleti. He's doing something right.

 

[BBZ8800]

I am so glad that we are moving away from Pep's too-extreme possession game.

And it is working very, very well.

(I am starting to believe in Lucho.
We have a momentum now. With this way and some luck, we still have chances even in La Liga and in CL)

Even "stranger" things have happened in CL in the past...

 

[Ini8]

I am so glad that we are moving away from Pep's too-extreme possession game.

And it is working very, very well.

(I am starting to believe in Lucho.
We have a momentum now. With this way and some luck, we still have chances even in La Liga and in CL)

Even "stranger" things have happened in CL in the past...

Me too. It's refreshing to see we don't rely on extreme posession. It's no coincidence we've played against so many parked busses the last few years. Even Pep at Bayern doesn't play that way anymore.

 

[BBZ8800]

Me too. It's refreshing to see we don't rely on extreme posession. It's no coincidence we've played against so many parked busses the last few years. Even Pep at Bayern doesn't play that way anymore.

Exactly.

In the last few years:
1. did we play against parked buses because our opponent WANTED to play that way against us?
2. or did we play against parked buses because we were basically forcing our opponents to play that way, because honestly, what else can you do if we just pass the ball left and right till death for 90 minutes?

Xavi or Busi had a chance for a counterattack 1000s times in the last few years, but they had to pass the ball to safety and wait until our team takes our shape.
But on the other hand, while we are waiting for our players to take their positions (in order to NOT lose possession and in order to start a possession based slow attack), our opponent's players also take their positions and sit back/park the bus.

We were "asking" our opponents to park the bus.
That crap is finally over.

 

[raskolnikov]

I still feel it should be possible to combine things, Invincibles were perfect at it, razor quick counters but also being able to dominate in possesion, Real does it at times and so did Heynckens Bayern for example. With the way we currently play it looks like we will get to that level as well if midfield is able to step it up as well.

 

[BBZ8800]

I still feel it should be possible to combine things, Invincibles were perfect at it, razor quick counters but also being able to dominate in possesion, Real does it at times and so did Heynckens Bayern for example. With the way we currently play it looks like we will get to that level as well if midfield is able to step it up as well.

Of course.
Van Gaal's and Rijkaard's Barca were a mixture of Possession and counterattacks.
-- we had a lot of technically excellent players, but also physically fast and strong players (Rivaldo, Kluivert, Giovanni, Luis Enrique, Cocu, Sonny Andrerson and later Ronaldinho, Etoo, Van Bommel, Edmilson etc)
While Pep's Barca turned away from counterattacks and physically stronger and faster players
-- and we became a team obsessed with possession and a team full of 170 cm players who can play only in one-dimensional possession style

For some time, that system worked perfectly, but when it stopped working, it started to be one dimensional and poor, like in the last 3-4 Seasons.

Basically, Lucho hasn't invented anything new or spectacular.
He is returning to our roots and basics from the last 20 years.
The way how we play today in the last few weeks under Lucho is more or less how all Barca's teams played in the last 20 years.

For fans who watched Barca only during Pep's era, our current style may seem as something new and strange.
But this is just a good old Barca's style.

I have posted this once on some other topic, but just take a look at Barca in Van Gaal's era, for example 1998-1999' Season:

Most of goals are from counterattacks, after through balls, after long balls, crosses.
You won't see too many goals against parked buses, like in the last 2-3 Seasons.

It is because our team played Possession, but also we played a fast counterattack whenever we had the chance.

 

[Alik]

I am so glad that we are moving away from Pep's too-extreme possession game.

Me too. It's refreshing to see we don't rely on extreme posession. It's no coincidence we've played against so many parked busses the last few years. Even Pep at Bayern doesn't play that way anymore.

We had a 40% possession deep into the first half. I was wondering what the reactions would be.

 

[Icarium]

I also like the way the team reacts when they are a goal down. The energy and motivation is finally right. We are ending the games brilliantly in the recent games. I can see one or two great comebacks this season.

 

[Qonny]

I really like our new counter attacks.

 

[hamad138]

I really like our new counter attacks.

Mathieu confirmed messi had a fight with enrique on a 5v5 match. Messi lost his temper

The media were right

 

[DonAK]

Mathieu confirmed messi had a fight with enrique on a 5v5 match. Messi lost his temper

The media were right

What does that have to do with his post?

And where did Mathieu 'confirm' this?

You need to post the source too hamad. Always.