I'm no fan of Setien but at least he doesn't limit himself to being the players bumboy
We need to bring Valverde back. For real.
We need to bring Valverde back. For real.
We need to bring Valverde back. For real.
This, I think about it everyday what could have been had a few players not messed up his plan.
His plan to play like Atletico while in the lead was destined to fail. You need proper defense and hard working forwards to absorb pressure amd play on the counter.
He wanted to play like Simeone did vs Liverpool. The difference is that between 3-2 and 0-4.
Not really, it's on the players for not being able to execute his vision, it's clear to everyone what his tactics were why aren't the players responsible?
Eto'o went from playing Tiki Taka under Pep to the opposite brand of football playing fullback under Mourinho, did he shit the bed and complain? No he got on wIth things adapted and won back to back trebles.
Too many people on here simp for players and make excuses. It's not a new concept to defend a heavy lead away from home if our players are incapable of doing so it's time for them to leave
Well, he should've been able to tell as a manager that the team we had can't sit back, absorb pressure and defend. We were never very good at that. He simply tried to play a brand of football that is not how we play. With players who can't implement it.
This made him an average/bad Barca manager. But a potentially good manager for teams that play on the counterattack. Don't know why you insist with Valverde. Man was responsible for some of our worst defeats since Ronaldinho era. You can't erase that.
That's exactly what they did. Arthur was benched in favor of Rakitic for more defensive solidity. This caused us to lose the battle in midfield, and it resulted in Liverpool hammering us and us caving under the pressure of having to defend most of the game.
Valverde approached both the Roma and Liverpool game trying to defend the 3 goal leads form the first leg. Against Roma he had Dembele who was a great counter player and didn't even use him until it was too late. Against Liverpool he left his only passer under pressure on the bench and used Rakitic instead. Hilariously bad defensive decisions.
It's simple really, if you want to score away goals you don't leave Dembele out (Roma). If you want to have any chance to keep the ball in midfield with that intense Liverpool pressure, you don't leave Arthur out for Rakitic. He took those decisions because he thought more about what Liverpool and Roma will do, than what we will do. That's textbook defensive mentality.
The players and Valverde are all to blame. The manager always has the biggest single blame in defeats like that.
Valverde tried to play the type of game Simeone played. Exactly the same gameplan. The difference is Someone's team can defend, and Barcelona can't. Atletico is equipped to play that football, Barcelona aren't.