serghei
Senior Member
He's like COVID.
You think you've contained him, but you can't.
THE GOAT himself.
Right. He mutated.
This is new strain BBZ.
Ronald Koeman
- Thread starter barSELOna
- Start date
Right. He mutated.
This is new strain BBZ.
Messigician
Senior Member
Sergi?o Dest, via @samuelmarsden: ?It was a really tough match, we had chances, they had chances. Too bad that we lost. My first Clasico but I am pissed that we lost? #Clasico 🇺🇸
My Captain
My Captain
I'm not a fan like Messigician, I even wanted him out as well. I'm just saying Lucho had a better squad, prime MSN, and never performed the way Valverde did in the league. We were evidently far weaker in 17/18 than in 16/17, and yes the success then could be attributed to the quality of the squad, but I think Valverde should be credited for that as well. To me, in hindsight, that's not "sort of", it's immense.
To be fair, I don't think he would succeed here now either; the squad is horrible. But I don't think he would be as bad as Koeman, the latter is just completely tactically clueless.
snowy
Well-known member
Valv had a penchant for luge and late subs though. So many coaches actually. Like Lampard in the Sevilla game subbing in Tammy A and CHO at the 90th min. WTF
You're right that compared to Valv, Koemanlet hit the Jackpot in terms of squad quality. Why this dude is so stubborn with his man-management, I haven't got the foggiest
Yes please.
Messigician
Senior Member
🗣 ? Xavier Vilajoana (Board member responsible Bar?a B and youth football): "The game was a f*cking scandal. Munuera (the referee) can go take a sh*t."
Excuses FC
Excuses FC
te amo barca
Blaugrana al vent
Koeman and our players are delusional af. The old core was probably still blaming the refs after the game in the locker room. That pen was stonewall.
Toecrusher
New member
He's done some good things this season, but this loss in on him:
1. Plays all four attackers in wrong positions. Coutinho and Pedri are AMs not wingers, and Messi is a defensive liability at AM. Result? No runs from wide, no pressing up front, neutralise everything good that Coutinho has done this season
2. Starts Busquets. He is so far past it its embarrasing. He is not even good enough at what he used to be good at before. Not press resistant and misplaces simple passes constantly.
3. Brings subs on way too late. It was obvious things were not working with the lineup, why wait so long?
4. Too many attacking subs destroying team structure. It is counterintuitive to think that more attackers means more chances to score. With no midfield and defence the opposition can easily counter and this means the attackers have less time/opportunity on the ball. He did the same thing against Getafe with the same result. Ending the game with no LB and Coutinho / Messi playing CM is just laughable.
5. Subs in wrong position. Dembele is useful at RW, usually bad at LW. He is a bigger threat in this situation than Trincao so his positioning should have been prioritised.
6. Poor post match reading of the game. His comments are about VAR, how we played well, and how 2-1 or 3-1 didnt matter hence ok to throw on attackers. Well actually we played pretty bad, and in an end of season tiebreaker that extra goal makes all the difference.
Positives were starting Dest over Roberto, and having the balls to start Pedri (albeit in the wrong position).
1. Plays all four attackers in wrong positions. Coutinho and Pedri are AMs not wingers, and Messi is a defensive liability at AM. Result? No runs from wide, no pressing up front, neutralise everything good that Coutinho has done this season
2. Starts Busquets. He is so far past it its embarrasing. He is not even good enough at what he used to be good at before. Not press resistant and misplaces simple passes constantly.
3. Brings subs on way too late. It was obvious things were not working with the lineup, why wait so long?
4. Too many attacking subs destroying team structure. It is counterintuitive to think that more attackers means more chances to score. With no midfield and defence the opposition can easily counter and this means the attackers have less time/opportunity on the ball. He did the same thing against Getafe with the same result. Ending the game with no LB and Coutinho / Messi playing CM is just laughable.
5. Subs in wrong position. Dembele is useful at RW, usually bad at LW. He is a bigger threat in this situation than Trincao so his positioning should have been prioritised.
6. Poor post match reading of the game. His comments are about VAR, how we played well, and how 2-1 or 3-1 didnt matter hence ok to throw on attackers. Well actually we played pretty bad, and in an end of season tiebreaker that extra goal makes all the difference.
Positives were starting Dest over Roberto, and having the balls to start Pedri (albeit in the wrong position).
soul24rage
Senior Member
Agree with every single point.
Raketa10
Senior Member
Regardless of the loss today, I have seen some good and some bad things so far this season. I'll try to summarize my thoughts by pointing out some positives and negatives and how I see things right now.
Positive things:
1. Today we had two 17y old players and one 19y old player in our starting 11. IMHO that's fantastic.
2. Fati is definitely a HUGE potential. He can play both on the wing and as a striker. While we are ll talking how great talent Halland is we should realize we have just as big potential in our squad.
3. I really like Dest and how he reacted. This kid is with us only for couple of weeks and he showed today that we can count on him for the future. I believe we finally bough a proper RB that suits our playing style.
4. Pedri didn't play so good today, but this kid has a bright future ahead of him. We need to be patient with this one and he might become a great AM player in the future. He definitely has something special, something you don't see so often in a player.
5. De Jong is still playing below his Ajax level but he showed that he can become one of the best midfielders in the world. He was OK today but he can do much better. This kid has great footballing IQ and I have no doubt that he might become "new Modri" in the future. Problem is that he is basically playing alone in the midfield. Busi is unfortunately done and Pjanic is far from his best level.
6. Alba raised his game and I honestly think he will be much better than he was last season.
7. Araujo is OK as a replacement
8. Apart from todays game, Coutinho is playing much better than during his first two seasons here. I only hope he will continue like that.
9. We have two great goalkeepers.
10. Koeman actually has balls to bench the likes of Griezmann and Roberto and play 17 and 19y old kids in their positions. That's something we all missed during Valverde's time here.
Negative things:
1. Our defense is absolutely horrible. Pique is done and Lenglet is a brainless player who should be our 3rd option at best. We need to buy a world class CB next summer together with Garcia.
2. Busi is done. He is even worse than he was last season. I can't understand why Puig can't get any minutes when Busi is playing horribly. Today he lost every single duel and he made numerous mistakes. We will definitely need to buy another midfielder in the future.
3. Griezmann is absolutely horrendous! With Messi here this guy has no place in our team, he provides nothing. FFS even Braithwaite looks better. IMHO he should be sold in January.
4. Dembele will probably never achieve his potential. Unfortunately this kid has no brain. All the talent he has is basically irrelevant. He should also be sold in January.
5. It's unfair to judge a player after few games but Trincao looks really bad. It looks like we wasted money on another average player. I hope I am wrong but things aren't looking good at all.
6. Koeman made some good changes in our squad but playing with 5 attackers is stupid as it gets. With this move he showed he had no plan. Moreover he simply improvised there. It's not the first time he did this. I sincerely can't comprehend how can anyone think that playing without midfield and with 5 attackers is a good idea? I hope he won't repeat that stupidity again.
7. In the end there is Messi. He is clearly far from his best form. It's clear he is declining but the way he is playing now is not about his decline. His head is not on the field. I sincerely doubt we'll get his best version this season. When player is declining at his age is understandable but he must be focused on his game and he clearly isn't. After that summer chaos, some players together with Messi are now fighting with the board because of the salary cut. With all that in mind he simply can't achieve his usual level. I sincerely hope he will raise his game soon but things are not looking good at the moment.
8. During the start of the season we showed intensity and we tried to press. It looked like our physical level is much better this season. Unfortunately that disappeared after first couple of games. This is probably the only thing I can't understand at all. How the hell did that disappear after only few games?
With all this in mind we can conclude there are some good and some bad things right now. We clearly made some progress by bringing in some great young talents. We also need to understand we started rebuilding this year so it will take some time. I don't expect anything spectacular for another year or two, but with the new board we might actually get there sooner than we all thought. I am also perfectly fine with signing Garcia and Depay for free this winter. Garcia will be a good cheap addition and Depay could maybe provide something that Dembele and Griezmann can't. Moreover, if we bring them for free we can always sell them and make some profit.
In the end, Koeman might be here for a season or two, but I sincerely doubt he will last longer. If he makes a transition from old to young squad I will be more than satisfied. We all know that Xavi is the coach all of our presidential candidates are hoping to sign. If Koeman leaves him a young squad, free of that old players, Xavi will have a great talented squad to work with. Maybe I am optimistic but future is not so dark after all.
Positive things:
1. Today we had two 17y old players and one 19y old player in our starting 11. IMHO that's fantastic.
2. Fati is definitely a HUGE potential. He can play both on the wing and as a striker. While we are ll talking how great talent Halland is we should realize we have just as big potential in our squad.
3. I really like Dest and how he reacted. This kid is with us only for couple of weeks and he showed today that we can count on him for the future. I believe we finally bough a proper RB that suits our playing style.
4. Pedri didn't play so good today, but this kid has a bright future ahead of him. We need to be patient with this one and he might become a great AM player in the future. He definitely has something special, something you don't see so often in a player.
5. De Jong is still playing below his Ajax level but he showed that he can become one of the best midfielders in the world. He was OK today but he can do much better. This kid has great footballing IQ and I have no doubt that he might become "new Modri" in the future. Problem is that he is basically playing alone in the midfield. Busi is unfortunately done and Pjanic is far from his best level.
6. Alba raised his game and I honestly think he will be much better than he was last season.
7. Araujo is OK as a replacement
8. Apart from todays game, Coutinho is playing much better than during his first two seasons here. I only hope he will continue like that.
9. We have two great goalkeepers.
10. Koeman actually has balls to bench the likes of Griezmann and Roberto and play 17 and 19y old kids in their positions. That's something we all missed during Valverde's time here.
Negative things:
1. Our defense is absolutely horrible. Pique is done and Lenglet is a brainless player who should be our 3rd option at best. We need to buy a world class CB next summer together with Garcia.
2. Busi is done. He is even worse than he was last season. I can't understand why Puig can't get any minutes when Busi is playing horribly. Today he lost every single duel and he made numerous mistakes. We will definitely need to buy another midfielder in the future.
3. Griezmann is absolutely horrendous! With Messi here this guy has no place in our team, he provides nothing. FFS even Braithwaite looks better. IMHO he should be sold in January.
4. Dembele will probably never achieve his potential. Unfortunately this kid has no brain. All the talent he has is basically irrelevant. He should also be sold in January.
5. It's unfair to judge a player after few games but Trincao looks really bad. It looks like we wasted money on another average player. I hope I am wrong but things aren't looking good at all.
6. Koeman made some good changes in our squad but playing with 5 attackers is stupid as it gets. With this move he showed he had no plan. Moreover he simply improvised there. It's not the first time he did this. I sincerely can't comprehend how can anyone think that playing without midfield and with 5 attackers is a good idea? I hope he won't repeat that stupidity again.
7. In the end there is Messi. He is clearly far from his best form. It's clear he is declining but the way he is playing now is not about his decline. His head is not on the field. I sincerely doubt we'll get his best version this season. When player is declining at his age is understandable but he must be focused on his game and he clearly isn't. After that summer chaos, some players together with Messi are now fighting with the board because of the salary cut. With all that in mind he simply can't achieve his usual level. I sincerely hope he will raise his game soon but things are not looking good at the moment.
8. During the start of the season we showed intensity and we tried to press. It looked like our physical level is much better this season. Unfortunately that disappeared after first couple of games. This is probably the only thing I can't understand at all. How the hell did that disappear after only few games?
With all this in mind we can conclude there are some good and some bad things right now. We clearly made some progress by bringing in some great young talents. We also need to understand we started rebuilding this year so it will take some time. I don't expect anything spectacular for another year or two, but with the new board we might actually get there sooner than we all thought. I am also perfectly fine with signing Garcia and Depay for free this winter. Garcia will be a good cheap addition and Depay could maybe provide something that Dembele and Griezmann can't. Moreover, if we bring them for free we can always sell them and make some profit.
In the end, Koeman might be here for a season or two, but I sincerely doubt he will last longer. If he makes a transition from old to young squad I will be more than satisfied. We all know that Xavi is the coach all of our presidential candidates are hoping to sign. If Koeman leaves him a young squad, free of that old players, Xavi will have a great talented squad to work with. Maybe I am optimistic but future is not so dark after all.
Last edited:
FC433
New member
Total-Football
Senior Member
I think the unit of manager evaluation is half season. Game by game or early on in the tenure is not a realistic evaluation.
Richard.H
Senior Member
This was a very valverde like game from koeman. Late subs which is strange since he?s been utilizing at least 4-5 by minute 70 in previous matches. Some things should be established now, like busquets not being able to play with FDJ, lenglet-pique cb pair being mediocre, and coutinho on the flank will not work period.
Home of Barca Fans
