Quique Setien

[Sailor Mars]

There is a difference between being risk averse and being a fool; between not taking risks and not taking unnecessary risks

Bringing on Fati in the last 20-25 minutes would not have been a foolish move. And it would have been a good risk to get a 2nd goal and the win.

 

[te amo barca]

They ran and pressed more than they've done in a long time tonight, but playing a 4-4-2 with no width or pace up front is never going to work regardless of the players you have unless the goal is to be very defensive and snag one goal somehow.

While this team is not good enough to win the CL, there's no reason to make it worse by playing the lineup and using the tactical setup Setien did.

I think it is a given we will play 4-3-3 at home against Napoli cause we are running out of midfielders. Do you think that a 4-4-2 with Arthur instead of Rakitic is still a bad option for away games? We played okayishly in the second half, and Napoli were parking an epic bus - Liverpool struggled against the same. Other top teams will attack us.

 

[KingLeo10]

Pep said he talks to Valverde, so I have no doubt Setien also had a talk with him. There is no way Setien is this fucking blind and actually chose Rakitic over Arthur using his own brain, it's just not possible.

Are you saying Pep sabotaged us? Or I'm confused, in all seriousness.

 

[Raketa10]

We don't work in attack at all. Every player is literally standing still and waiting for Messi to do a miracle 90% of the time.

 

[DonAK]

I think it is a given we will play 4-3-3 at home against Napoli cause we are running out of midfielders. Do you think that a 4-4-2 with Arthur instead of Rakitic is still a bad option for away games? We played okayishly in the second half, and Napoli were parking an epic bus - Liverpool struggled against the same. Other top teams will attack us.

Yes, unless the goal is getting out with a 1-0 loss or a draw, but I don't trust that defence to not collapse under pressure. With no width or pace to threaten the opposition's backline you allow them to press higher up front.

Better teams will exploit that.

 

[JohnN]

All in all we tied in a touch stadium in a CL knockout where the mighty Liverpool lost in the group stages.
Rakitic instead of Arthur was criminal in my opinion. But it didn't cost us.
What will cost us is our small squad due to injuries.

 

[serghei]

This buys him more time to try to fix things. Let's hope he is the self-critical type and tries to fix his errors.

Imo he made some errors of his own, while being also a victim of current squad situation.

So:

- Rakitic can't play over Arthur against a team that sits back. Just doesn't have the passing capabilities to develop the game in tight spaces. Rakitic at the moment can't play effectively, except against teams who are naive enough to attack, but also not physical enough to press us on the ball. Not many teams like this one left at this stage in CL.

- Position of Messi needs to be more advanced. It's a bad idea to drop Messi and move a midfielder up, because if something happens and the ball is lost, Messi will be a non-factor in defensive transition, he will almost never try to recover the ball, or make a tackle or something. Ideally, Messi should play more and more advanced, because there it's not as much of an issue that he doesn't do much off the ball, defensively.

- Firpo is not good enough and is a disaster waiting to happen. We need Alba. If Alba is not fit, then Semedo LB and Roberto RB. If Roberto is out too, then just play Umtiti LB or something.

 

[clemente]

Are you saying Pep sabotaged us? Or I'm confused, in all seriousness.

I'm saying Setien talked with Valverde for advice about this match, because everything about this game was Ernesto-like

 

[serghei]

I'm just tired of nicking decent results away from home instead of just playing well and winning. This was exactly like EV vs United, Lyon, Chelsea and such. We all know what's coming soon .

 

[MagIX]

No coach in this world can raise this team again. This team is just over. They can't run, they can't press, they have no strength or desire to fight. They are just over and we have to accept that. Older players (Busi, Raki, Vidal, Pique, Suarez) need to leave the club in summer and we need to start from scratch. Messi probably also has a max of 2 good seasons left in him.

There was an analysis on Croatian TV where we could clearly see how all our players are walking for more than 30 seconds in attack. Literally none of them didn't even walk fast. It was like watching 40y old veterans playing charity game.

the situation is worse than this.
Samedo is not barca material, Roberto is not a RB (btw since years we have a RB Problem, never solved, our first solution has been Douglas !!)
Junior Firpo is not barca material and Alba is getting old
Griezmann (120Mio) is not a winger and not a CF. I do not know why we bought him.
Couthino (160Mio) to Bayern, Dembele (140Mio) no comment. 300mio wasted. 420mio included Griezmann
Transfer market totally failed
Board without balls, vision and long term plan. Soccer changes and evolves but we are still stuck in 2012 when Pep left the team.

 

[Devils]

He was saved because Napoli were idiots or maybe Gattuso thought we would never be so stupid to start the same midfielders who got trashed in Rome and Ainfield for a third year.

Napoli parked the bus in their own stadium when all they needed to do was press an archaic Rakitic and Busi midfield and would have created so many more chances for themselves.

 

[KingLeo10]

He was saved because Napoli were idiots or maybe Gattuso thought we would never be so stupid to start the same midfielders who got trashed in Rome and Ainfield for a third year.

Napoli parked the bus in their own stadium when all they needed to do was press an archaic Rakitic and Busi midfield and would have created so many more chances for themselves.

Yup, got lucky. Could have been 1-3 or 1-4 if they sensed blood like PSG, Juve, Roma, and Pool did with geriatric Raki and Busquets.

 

[te amo barca]

I’m not so sure about that as you are guys. We are million times better at building from the back and breaking the press under Setien than we have ever been under EV. EV just had no conception of positional play. Lucho didn’t have one as well tbh. That’s why I think we’ll do much better against teams that press us with Setien than we did under EV. If we crumble, it will be down to psychology and lack of mental fortitude and not to tactics because we have no problems evading the press with Setien so far, and I don’t believe we will. If Raki doesn’t play, FdJ and Arthur play, we are good in that regard.

 

[serghei]

I’m not so sure about that as you are guys. We are million times better at building from the back and breaking the press under Setien than we have ever been under EV. EV just had no conception of positional play. Lucho didn’t have one as well tbh. That’s why I think we’ll do much better against teams that press us with Setien than we did under EV. If we crumble, it will be down to psychology and lack of mental fortitude and not to tactics because we have no problems evading the press with Setien so far, and I don’t believe we will. If Raki doesn’t play, FdJ and Arthur play, we are good in that regard.

Normally, yes, but today he got scared imo. Today was more EV than the Setien in the first games. A lot, like really a lot of negative possession.

 

[The Observer]

You are all lost on micro analysis. Arthur is not the Messi of midfielders, he instead of Rakitic won't make the biggest difference in the world to the overall game, even if he's the better option.

The bigger picture is that we're trying to bring back a style that will turn Barca into LVG's United once Messi is done. So far in 8 out of 10 games under Setien the team either lost, drew or won by 1 goal. Twice did Barca win 5-0 at home against garbage teams and one of those wins had Messi score 4 goals on his own. Today Barca's first (and only?) shot on goal came after 60 minutes. At Betis Setien faced the same criticism which eventually got him sacked. Lots of possession, little cutting edge.

Passing for the sake of passing is not a style. If you want to methodically pass and probe the opposition into oblivion, make sure to have much better players than what Barca currently has. Arthur and De Jong don't create enough either, they are only great at one aspect of the game (buildup and pressing resistance).

Same setup as Napoli today but with deadlier forwards on the counter and we're about to timetravel back to 2013 Allianz Arena. Even Serie A 6th place team with goal difference of +4 managed by Gattuso got it right, can't wait to face real elite teams like this. And be sure that Arthur instead of Rakitic won't be the major difference maker.

I rate this is as the final chapter in Barca's demise. The "yearning for the past". Bartomeu, Abidal, Setien are all toast this summer.