Quique Setien

Marshall D Teach

Well-known member
Still needs to make subs more quickly sometimes. We simply don't have the legs to play the full 90 mins with 11 players. Which makes subs extra important.

But he's a lot better than Valverde in this regard.
 

BBZ8800

Senior Member
Yea, but here comes the problems of the shorter squad. Very few options on the bench.

1. Old players
2. Players who were never natural runners but more about technique
3. A small squad
4. Playing in 3 tournaments
5. Players like Messi and Busi playing all the time

Let's see whether the players will improve or they will be dead by mid March.
 

Gnidrologist

Senior Member
Some of Valverde cultists must be mentally disturbed. Our typical Valverde match against someone like current Getafe would involve not being able to get out of our own half the whole game forcing Ter Stegen to hurl long ball over to midgets Greizman and Messi the whole time, but somehow that's better football than Kike 'the bum' Setien's lmao. It's really not the fault of the later that old farts like Pique, Alba, Busquets aren't world class anymore and make unforced errors after unforced errors, Umtiti has been killed by injury and too slow, likes of Roberto and Lenglet just mediocre overall Suarez and Dembele out and Messi out of form (even he made a lot of simple mistakes that lead to counters). Systemically his game is sound, we had no problem bypassing the press, creating/finding space for midfield movement, were getting into their final third effortlessly and creating plenty of danger even without direct involvement of Messi . Most of the bad shit was due to too much individual mistakes and seemingly shit fitness/complacency in the second half, not finishing off 100% chances. But ho, i have to believe that being pressed to death by any half decent liga team, while playing static positional football that leads to nothing and only being bailed out by Messi and Suarez golazos was better than current state. Kill yourself.
 

Vilarrubi

New member
Some of Valverde cultists must be mentally disturbed. Our typical Valverde match against someone like current Getafe would involve not being able to get out of our own half the whole game forcing Ter Stegen to hurl long ball over to midgets Greizman and Messi the whole time, but somehow that's better football than Kike 'the bum' Setien's lmao. It's really not the fault of the later that old farts like Pique, Alba, Busquets aren't world class anymore and make unforced errors after unforced errors, Umtiti has been killed by injury and too slow, likes of Roberto and Lenglet just mediocre overall Suarez and Dembele out and Messi out of form (even he made a lot of simple mistakes that lead to counters). Systemically his game is sound, we had no problem bypassing the press, creating/finding space for midfield movement, were getting into their final third effortlessly and creating plenty of danger even without direct involvement of Messi . Most of the bad shit was due to too much individual mistakes and seemingly shit fitness/complacency in the second half, not finishing off 100% chances. But ho, i have to believe that being pressed to death by any half decent liga team, while playing static positional football that leads to nothing and only being bailed out by Messi and Suarez golazos was better than current state. Kill yourself.

+1
 

serghei

Senior Member
1. Old players
2. Players who were never natural runners but more about technique
3. A small squad
4. Playing in 3 tournaments
5. Players like Messi and Busi playing all the time

Let's see whether the players will improve or they will be dead by mid March.

A trophy-less season is not a tragedy if we learn from it and plan better for next season in the summer. Sort of like Madrid did last year.

We can plan better for next season by:

- actually training hard in preseason
- signing players we actually need and ditch the idiotic galactico policy
- cut the players that can no longer help us and/or are too old to be integrated in the new cycle
- recall the loaned players who can help us even as squad options

I agree that we need faster and stronger players btw. Especially in attack.
 
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bismp

Well-known member
We were supposed to find some momentum against the likes of Getafe,Granada,Betis etc to prepare against the tough and decisive games against Real and Napoli and the sad truth is that this did not happen.We struggled a lot in almost every match + we actually went out in the CDR(although this could have been a blessing in disguise).

I am not saying this is Setien's fault.He is probably better than EV(certainly better than 3rd season EV),but he has an injured,old and unmotivated squad to deal with.I am sure if we still had Suarez and an in-form Messi we would probably win most games more convincingly,which would obviously just hide the real problems of the team.

This is probably not our year,everything is going shit like in 2014 or 2017(I cannot speak about 2008 as I was quite young back then).We'll probably qualify to the UCL QF IMO,but sooner or later we'll get eliminated by a better team.As for La Liga,we are the underdogs right now,but there's still hope.We need to get a good result in Sandiago Bernabeu though(at least a convincing draw).

The most important thing though is to make the right and bold decisions in the summer.Many dead weight like Rakitic or Roberto/Vidal need to go,while replacements need to be found for our old players like Pique,Busi and Alba,as long as they can accept a back-up role.

In other words,we need AT LEAST 1 CB,1 LB,1 CM and obviously AT LEAST 2 high-quality attackers,whether they are wingers or true 9s.

Unfortunately,it doesn't help that our board is not only clueless but also desperate to save their asses and that our finances are reportedly not very good.

It's also really unfortunate that Messi is not getting any younger.I still believe that he can easily get 30G/20A at his 33,34 but he can no longer consistently produce moments of magic.

In other words,we are kinda doomed...until the elections at least.
 

Havesaks

Senior Member
Sarri isn't even a good coach. He is worse than Setien. We need someone who is engaged not Sarri. When has he produced something of note.

Klopp is unreachable. Allegri isnt really in line with our philosophy.

Pep would be pretty good.
 

Nazario1985

Senior Member
Some of Valverde cultists must be mentally disturbed. Our typical Valverde match against someone like current Getafe would involve not being able to get out of our own half the whole game forcing Ter Stegen to hurl long ball over to midgets Greizman and Messi the whole time, but somehow that's better football than Kike 'the bum' Setien's lmao. It's really not the fault of the later that old farts like Pique, Alba, Busquets aren't world class anymore and make unforced errors after unforced errors, Umtiti has been killed by injury and too slow, likes of Roberto and Lenglet just mediocre overall Suarez and Dembele out and Messi out of form (even he made a lot of simple mistakes that lead to counters). Systemically his game is sound, we had no problem bypassing the press, creating/finding space for midfield movement, were getting into their final third effortlessly and creating plenty of danger even without direct involvement of Messi . Most of the bad shit was due to too much individual mistakes and seemingly shit fitness/complacency in the second half, not finishing off 100% chances. But ho, i have to believe that being pressed to death by any half decent liga team, while playing static positional football that leads to nothing and only being bailed out by Messi and Suarez golazos was better than current state. Kill yourself.

Against Getafe most of our play was in our own half !!! what are you smoking.

Not defending trashverde but saying this is better is being stupid not blind !!.

We should thank mediocre Getafe attacks in the first half and MATS overall for that win !!

We struggled to make two passes in the mid UNLESS Messi was doing it.

FDJ seemed way off but this can't excuse the whole schema & the team i mean just imagine watching Barca & Getafe without Messi & MATSn what a shit show
 
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Gnidrologist

Senior Member
You should put down the bong, when watching the game. Yes, we had to spend certain amount of time in our own half as is usual against high pressing teams that completely man mark every single of our players as soon as we get the ball. However if under Valverde we were mostly succumbing under such press, giving the ball away easily and having to revert to Ernie's favorite low block, now we maintain the control and for most part just toy around long enough to stretch the opposite team enough to have the room for advancement. It's obvious that inviting these pressing teams further up the pitch is part of the plan to get them break the formation and mostly it worked as many attacks started with line breaking passes or dribbles through space that opened up. It also helps that we play closer to each other, making triangles making sure no one gets overwhelmed under collective pressing. In first half i never felt even least bit of insecurity.
Second half showed problems that are probably beyond repair without major cleaning of the house. Bad physical condition and/or complacency. Lazily defending the narrow lead, trying to be too cute and lmaking unforced errors, lacking mentality. Still had great chances to put the game to bed. De Jong was certainly off, i agree and think that playing him in a role that he never ever played in his life is weird. It seems Biscuits is unbenchable for Setien too, which is a shame. But "We struggled to make two passes in the mid UNLESS Messi was doing it." is just patently untrue.
If you criticize Setien then at least go for actual problems, not what you heard in the church Valverde.
 

serghei

Senior Member
I wanna see a game where we don't finish our energy in min 60. Vs Levante and Betis we had great first half, scoring goals, creating chances. In the 2nd half we got tired and stop doing that, and allowed the opponents to score. We should've been looking at easy 4-0 wins if we kept the same intensity all game.

It is a major problem if we can play with intensity only half a game at this level.
 

Vilarrubi

New member
I wanna see a game where we don't finish our energy in min 60. Vs Levante and Betis we had great first half, scoring goals, creating chances. In the 2nd half we got tired and stop doing that, and allowed the opponents to score. We should've been looking at easy 4-0 wins if we kept the same intensity all game.

It is a major problem if we can play with intensity only half a game at this level.

Agree, under Valverde we’d play slow and lethargic in the first half, hardly any chances until the opponent got tired or Messi did some magic. Definitely think we’re playing more as a team now, but still some big improvements in the areas you mentioned needed.
 

FCBarca

Mike the Knife
Anyone expecting Barca to have dramatically improved fitness levels after a month of Setien considering 2 1/2 years of Valverde probably also believe in the Easter Bunny
 

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