Ronald Koeman

[JohnN]

I wouldn't say a great job to be honest while we sit close to the bottom of the la liga table.

Surely, it would help if Messi was young again, but as always, it would mask our other problems. He can't mask our problems now, but going as far as saying he is amplifying them, I am not so sure.

We have proven against betis that our defense is crappy with or without him so someone else has more blame than him in that department.
In yesterday's match, we played a different midfield and a different defensive lineup and it seemed better, but surely not that great, as even dynamo had many clear cut chances but were wasteful.

Puig got some minutes and he shows such quickness it's astonishing he hasn't gotten a single minute till now. All the young guys that played seemed on a decent level.

What's missing is the guys with the top level.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I think that's the biggest difference between EV, Setien and Koeman. Prime Messi, motivated one. I dont rate any of them particularly high. Koemans team is clearly the weakest though.

 

[Porque]

Koeman is absolutely fearless in his selections compared to the other two as well. He is not afraid to give big minutes to youth (bar Puig which will take some time as he simply doesn't rate) nor to experiment when something is not working.

I liked him giving Firpo CB minutes for example. Firstly because Firpo is never going to make it here at LB, and secondly because Mingueza was having a good game, we were away in Ukraine and K4 still kept him on.

 

[malvolio]

Koeman is absolutely fearless in his selections compared to the other two as well. He is not afraid to give big minutes to youth (bar Puig which will take some time as he simply doesn't rate) nor to experiment when something is not working.

I liked him giving Firpo CB minutes for example. Firstly because Firpo is never going to make it here at LB, and secondly because Mingueza was having a good game, we were away in Ukraine and K4 still kept him on.

he's working with what he has. if he got his way and we would have signed depay and wijnaldum, two youngsters would have shined the bench.

he's so "fearless" that he doesn't even know his strongest 11 yet.

 

[fergus90]

Koeman is absolutely fearless in his selections compared to the other two as well. He is not afraid to give big minutes to youth (bar Puig which will take some time as he simply doesn't rate) nor to experiment when something is not working.

I liked him giving Firpo CB minutes for example. Firstly because Firpo is never going to make it here at LB, and secondly because Mingueza was having a good game, we were away in Ukraine and K4 still kept him on.

I'd actually say he's too slow to react when things aren't working and ends up throwing on random subs in the last 10 minutes and the formation and shape becomes somewhat of a mess. Almost like a 3-1-6 against Getafe and Alaves chasing that game where he could of reacted to the problem much sooner. He does need to be given credit for giving the youngsters valuable playing time though bar Puig.

 

[serghei]

So far, not impressed at all. The team is underperforming in the league big time. Even if we declined, we shouldn't be outplayed by fecking Getafe.

 

[Birdy]

His subs and their timing when we are chasing a result are terrible. Truth is to be said.

But, look at the whole picture and what he is trying to do. He is the first who is trying to change things after Pep.
Put every coach into perspective

Not fair to compare him with Ernie, who was just managing (with awful football) and had Messi younger and motivated. If you remember the starts from 19/20 and 18/19 under Ernie, we had similar bad away results vs teams like Alaves and Getafe.

 

[serghei]

His subs and their timing when we are chasing a result are terrible. Truth is to be said.

But, look at the whole picture and what he is trying to do. He is the first who is trying to change things after Pep.
Put every coach into perspective

Not fair to compare him with Ernie, who was just managing (with awful football) and had Messi younger and motivated. If you remember the starts from 19/20 and 18/19 under Ernie, we had similar bad away results vs teams like Alaves and Getafe.

Valverde arrived in a time where he was still able to keep going with the old core (most of them were in their late 20s back in 2017, very different from 33-34 like now), and the temptation was pretty high to do that when the old core had full backing from the board. So he went along with that even if it was very damaging for this club in the medium term. Sort of like Setien said "if the board and the players like these things, who am I to go against the flow"?

If EV would come in now, we'd see him doing different things as well. I'm not sure either EV or Setien were free to express themselves at this club. EV was luckier to have a better team and did a better job adapting to the situation than Setien.

I see little differences between Valverde and Koeman.

 

[kattanib]

Rumor has it he is willing to take 30% salry reduction

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

What about January transfers? Can we afford any?

 

[Andresito]

What about January transfers? Can we afford any?

Only if we sell.

Garcia has been dropped to being 5th choice CB at City, so I doubt they'd ask for much in January. This is of course if all the others CB's are fit.

Maybe we can make some kind of loan deal where with an obligatory buy option at the end of his contract just to delay the payment, like PSG did with Mbappe.

Let's hope Txiki and the guys are bros so we can have him for a symbolic sum of 1-2m, like when we sold Munir.

 

[Birdy]

Val

If EV would come in now, we'd see him doing different things as well. I'm not sure either EV or Setien were free to express themselves at this club. EV was luckier to have a better team and did a better job adapting to the situation than Setien.

I see little differences between Valverde and Koeman.

I am not sure about that.
Character and personality plays a huge role here. EV was a coward, who would not sacrifice anything for safety.
And that was the best recipe for disaster back then. Maybe if Koeman was asked to just manage like Ernie in 2017 he would have achieved less and fared worse.

But that's the point. I don't think Koeman would have accepted that role. His Ego is not diminished. Until today, he seems to be bending only to Messi, and commanding the rest.
I like that, and rebuilding can never start without authority in the coach restored. Once Messi is gone, it will be fully restored.

On the contrary, If Ernie was brought in now and asked to rebuild squad, do you think he would have given minutes to Pedri, Dest, and Trincao? Do you think he would have conducted proper training session that he never did in 3 years? Do you think he would have made the team run again? No way.
Even without Messi, he would have bent over to Pique's (or even Busi's, Alba's) wishes.
Barca is too much for Ernie to handle in a different way, other than cowardice and bending over to player power.

 

[JamDav1982]

I am not sure about that.
Character and personality plays a huge role here. EV was a coward, who would not sacrifice anything for safety.
And that was the best recipe for disaster back then. Maybe if Koeman was asked to just manage like Ernie in 2017 he would have achieved less and fared worse.

But that's the point. I don't think Koeman would have accepted that role. His Ego is not diminished. Until today, he seems to be bending only to Messi, and commanding the rest.
I like that, and rebuilding can never start without authority in the coach restored. Once Messi is gone, it will be fully restored.

On the contrary, If Ernie was brought in now and asked to rebuild squad, do you think he would have given minutes to Pedri, Dest, and Trincao? Do you think he would have conducted proper training session that he never did in 3 years? Do you think he would have made the team run again? No way.
Even without Messi, he would have bent over to Pique's (or even Busi's, Alba's) wishes.
Barca is too much for Ernie to handle in a different way, other than cowardice and bending over to player power.

EV played an attacking team at Anfield and Barca went there to score.

Missed chances and individual errors at back were main reason lost nothing to do with EV being a coward.

Messi played well that return leg other than off the ball.

 

[Birdy]

EV played an attacking team at Anfield and Barca went there to score.

Missed chances and individual errors at back were main reason lost nothing to do with EV being a coward.

Messi played well that return leg other than off the ball.

You are somewhat off-topic here.
I am not discussing only about Anfield.
EV was a coward in many respects, but on the tactical front he was also constantly afraid of taking any risks.
He preferred not trying to press high, but rather having the whole team bar Messi-Suarez pinned back by sides that were much much inferior.

 

[JohnN]

If we are going to discuss anfield, we should remember that he started with the lineup of the first leg's first half in anfield. That lineup got heavily outplayed until the subs came on.
And he did it again. It's not about him being a coward. It's about him being stubborn, just like koeman.