Positive Thinking Cules
- Thread starter maz
- Start date
Have a feeling we are under an avalanche of critics lately. But we are doing well considering the circumstances. Win at Ceramica is important and deserved. We got Suarez back with scoring important goals and Valverde seeing the light of 4-3-3.
And still 8 points ahead of blancos
And still 8 points ahead of blancos
Xaviniesta
Senior Member
Rakitic is underrated. Deulofeu is one of the best dribblers out there.
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Windhook
Well-known member
5-6 months on and Neymar's departure seems like a blessing for our club. Jordi Alba has the freedom to operate in Ney's area and serves him good. Sergi Roberto step by step is becoming a key player for the club. Messi plays with wisdom, avoiding riskful dribbles, that could cause injury. Dembele and Umtiti return after New Year, we're 9 points clear at the top, we don't concede corner goals anymore, Ter Stegen is the best goalkeeper in the world atm. Most important is the squad plays as a team, no ego stunts involved whatsoever. Something that lacked back under Lucho. MSN was everything.
Horatio
You're welcome
We aren't playing well because of Neymar leaving. We are just lucky to have a coach that knows how to get the most out of the players we got.
With Neymar our midfield wouldn't be absolved of problems miracously so Valverde would have still worked on improving our defense.
George_Costanza
Active member
Did he get the most out of Rakitic?
Horatio
You're welcome
Quite honestly, Rakitic has been looking better.
Alik
Moderator
I don't know. I think Neymar leaving had a direct positive effect in Iniesta's and Alba's improvements.
edit: Don't mean to imply that Neymar leaving had an overall positive effect on the team. That's debatable.
Horatio
You're welcome
I agree on Alba. But if Neymar stayed in return we again would have Suarez and Messi getting more space again. So it balances out.
I think it's too easy to put the improvement on Neymar leaving. Neymar would have contributed in his own way.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
I think right now we are actually better without Neymar, but that isn't because of Neymar himself who is brilliant player for sure.
MSN tactically started to become a problem when Messi shifted back to the middle back in early 2016, this has made the team so unbalanced and it was a point of weakness as it hurted both midfield and defense even if all 3 of MSN worked great together. That is why many wanted either Messi to move back to RW or that we try 4231 with Messi as AM
The fact is that with the quality of MSN it was impossible to bench any of them, with Neymar leaving this allowed the team to build another system that is more balanced as there were only 2 player in attack which gave EV flexibility, Suarez being a player who is willing to help tactically was also good, which allowed us to us Gerard and Denis to their strength many games this season.
this has nothing to do with Neymar quality, and in later stage of CL we might see what we miss, but as it stands now the team is able to play more balanced with his departure
Ousmane Dembélé
Banned
Things look very good for us right now, probably the best start we could've ever hoped for.
Suarez looks to be finally returning to form, 14 point lead over Madrid and Dembele returning next week.
Suarez looks to be finally returning to form, 14 point lead over Madrid and Dembele returning next week.
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Exactly! I am pumped to see both in action again. It's good to have some depth again!
Horatio
You're welcome
The best start we could ever hope for? This is Barca's 4th best season start ever over 17 matches. Might go even higher with some 'easy' matches coming up.
I'm becoming repetitive but I'm still so happy we are where we are. Was never among doom and gloom but even us with positive outlook couldn't forsee this. Lost Neymar, failed to get a star midfielder, lost Supercopa convincingly, lost Dembele, all in 2 months.
Remember looking at schedule and thinking it's one of the toughest ever Autumns I can remember. Valverde slowly worked his pragmatist approach, Barca visiting tough ground after another...Atletico, Bilbao, Juve, Valencia, Villarreal, always getting out undefeated, 3 months later... 14 points, closed the year with 3-0 at Bernabeu.
We are not playing some great football but squad options were (are) limited and maybe the fact that we aren't playing great isn't so bad. There is plenty of room for improvement and to look forward to as we enter the 2018.
Thank you Barca for giving everyone yet another lesson never to give up hope for this team.
Remember looking at schedule and thinking it's one of the toughest ever Autumns I can remember. Valverde slowly worked his pragmatist approach, Barca visiting tough ground after another...Atletico, Bilbao, Juve, Valencia, Villarreal, always getting out undefeated, 3 months later... 14 points, closed the year with 3-0 at Bernabeu.
We are not playing some great football but squad options were (are) limited and maybe the fact that we aren't playing great isn't so bad. There is plenty of room for improvement and to look forward to as we enter the 2018.
Thank you Barca for giving everyone yet another lesson never to give up hope for this team.
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