Ronald Koeman

[jairzinho]

We came into this game on a 19 match unbeaten streak no? We just can't win big games man. The quality, tactics and especially the mentality is missing in these fine margin games. Really thought we would at least get a point.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

And he wants to add Wijnaldum and Depay to this shitshow?! Get lost.

This is a great point. We would be the slowest top team in the world. terrible idea!

 

[Rory]

I feel like our team plays pass the responsibility on and no one wants it for themselves. Only Pedri and Messi are willing to hold the ball in a tough position in the hope of gaining an advantage. Others want the obvious pass to open up so that they can pass the ball on. Koeman should take a look at his bench and see that Ilaix, Puig and Trincao are all players willing to take this same responsibility on.

 

[te amo barca]

His 3-5-2 decision cost us the game imo. Very slow build-up with Araujo's non-existent ball-playing abilities.

 

[Barcaman]

He needed to make changes after 20 min. Choked the game.

Common, who makes subs after 20 mins. We've seen many nervous starts in the past, was expected with this much at stake and with many players playing their first or second Clasico ever.

We were unlucky to lose, that's the bottom line and even with that they needed that nudge from their favourite ref.

 

[FC433]

I am just a little bit concerned that he:
1- does not utilise other players (hard to tell if this is the case since our squad does not give him a lot of options) just like Klopp who has been playing the same fullbacks for about 4 seasons every single game.
2- and most importantly, ignores the midfield when he is trying to score.

 

[Birdy]

Yea, Tackle, but as a Barca manager, you need more. He's ok as a stop-gap, clear the deadwood type of manager. Some sort of a Barca version of Solskjaer. Not good enough though to get a shot at rebuilding this team.

I don't see how we go long-term with him. Maybe 1 more season and that's it. See his contract out.

You were the one in favor of 'transitioning' and 'building' a new Barca,
but now you hold Koeman to standards of an already built team.
Why?

Would you do the same if Xavi was in charge?

And bottom line is as I_Bleed said above that we didn't play badly.
We were the better side, and the counter-attacking risk we take is the price any team that plays attacking football has to pay

 

[henias]

Big games tactics simply arent there, he's not cut for it. The 3-5-2 was a clear disaster to begin with.

 

[serghei]

You were the one in favor of 'transitioning' and 'building' a new Barca,
but now you hold Koeman to standards of an already built team.
Why?

Would you do the same if Xavi was in charge?

And bottom line is as I_Bleed said above that we didn't play badly.
We were the better side, and the counter-attacking risk we take is the price any team that plays attacking football has to pay

I am, but don't feel Koeman should be in charge of the project, long-term. Look at him out there, man is trial and error, he doesn't really have a plan and is figuring it out on the fly, while it's happening.

I'd have more faith in Xavi due to him being an all time great payer in a key position on the field.

 

[Rory]

We weren't the better side, don't give us that credit. Madrid completely controlled the tempo of the game. We were allowed to play whatever tempo Real were comfortable with, they knew we couldn't create much so sat back. As soon as Koeman saw this was going to be their tactic he should have made subs for players that can play in between the lines, Puig, Trincao, Ilaix. Not Griezmann, Roberto and Braithwaite

 

[serghei]

We weren't the better side, don't give us that credit. Madrid completely controlled the tempo of the game. We were allowed to play whatever tempo Real were comfortable with, they knew we couldn't create much so sat back. As soon as Koeman saw this was going to be their tactic he should have made subs for players that can play in between the lines, Puig, Trincao, Ilaix. Not Griezmann, Roberto and Braithwaite

Exactly right. You need players to take the ball and penetrate their lines, not just pass to the open man, who was deliberately left open by Madrid's traps to direct us where they wanted.

Ilaix was good as a goal threat, because the kid can shoot and is a better natural attacker than even someone like De Jong imo, but even him is not great at moving and finding spaces to advance with the ball in.

The only player of this profile in midfield other than Messi (who is aged and slow) is Puig. But then Koeman is very conservative in this respect. Much like EV and Lucho, he will not try to play into traffic, but will just advance the game in the open areas. The problem with this is that open areas are by default left open because they are of lesser danger for the opposition.

The only manager that schooled Zidane in the big games was Guardiola. For this specific reason. Guardiola will not play to the open man all the time but will make sure his players move and have the quality and the intent to play between the lines in more difficult scenarios, thus generating an open man in more dangerous zones (centrally, or in half-spaces, not as much near the sideline).

 

[JamDav1982]

It was an even game.

Barca had more of ball, more chances, hit woodwork twice and could have had a penalty.

Real were scrambling towards the end and not in control that second half bar punting it long to try and expose Barca defence pushing right up park.

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

I don't know how many games for Madrid Koeman watched, because his decision was as if Madrid play like City, with many passes in the middle to control possession and play from inside out. When in fact Madrid is very direct and plays on the wings a lot, they don't have a very midfield-centric style at all. So, the narrow 3 in the middle, and 3 at the back instead of 4 meant it was free traffic for Madrid on the wings.

Alba and Dest were left to do all the wing on their own, vs 2 each by Madrid, Vazquez + Valverde, and Mendy + Vinicius on the other side. Zidane schooled him in the first half, and that's how Madrid won this clasico.

Thing is with Zidane and you could credit it for him, he is very flexible systematically. They do like to attack vertically so I am not saying you are wrong in noting his wing play but I would not say they exclusive play this way and the 3 back system from Koeman handed it to them. I have seen Madrid dominate games through the center plenty of matches under Zidane and against us, especially during the EV days.

On paper, that 352 gives us the MF overload and allowed us to pin them back which is exactly what happened, that was not a blunder either.

I think if you are going to criticize Koeman in this match, it should be for not starting Greizmann and playing 352 instead of 343. I think keeping de Jong in a super Libero role with Araujo supporting him with Benz could have handled things better when Real broke and we really needed better runs in behind. Too much of that burden was placed on the wingbacks and they crucially did not deliver. We also really needed Dembele to show up tonight and he was invisible yet again.

I see this as 80/20 on the players though. Not everyone played poorly (Pedri just looked tired to me) but Dembele and Dest really sold in that first half. When you have a player in each line not playing optimally, any system is going to fall apart.

 

[Rassvet]

We felt like a worse version of 13-14 team with all that possesion but almost no threat of scoring. Braith is badly needed against these low blocks

 

[JamDav1982]

Exactly right. You need player to take the ball and penetrate their lines, not just pass to the open man, who was deliberately left open by Madrid's traps to direct us where they wanted.

That was problem in first half. They shuttled ball out to full backs and Barca dont have anyone that switches play early like a Kroos. Too easy just ti shuffle across.

At least in 2nd half their was wide players and full backs to double up and that where chances came from.

Seen Barca play worse and win V Real overall but need to better in big moments.