Messi's and Neymar's form didn't just come out of the blue. The team setup changed after the Real Sociedad match and we played much better as a unit, to the benefit of our attackers.
He subbed on Rakitic at the 62nd minute (the only change that would actually work in our benefit). It's not like he waited late. 3-3-4 would not have made a difference. Malaga played to keep us on the wings and crossing in. They crowded the box. Us pushing Alba/Alves up as wingers would've led to even more retarded crosses. They chose the right setup to combat our style and also had the fortune of shitty refs and really poor individual performances (not to mention a gift from Alves). The loss was NOT down to Lucho 'not playing a 3-3-4' or 'subbing Pedro on earlier', changes that I really fail to see the supposed benefit of. At most, the only tactical thing I can fault Lucho for was playing Rafinha. The individual performances aren't down to him as well considering that we did play well early on but the players started collapsing individually one by one after their goal (except for Busi and Pique).
Can you really scrutinize the guy when the game would've been extremely different if not for variables that he can't control? You blast him for not making visionary in-match changes to completely counteract the forces of refs, luck, individuals, etc. and change the momentum of the match, a bit unrealistic no? I can't think of any manager in Europe right now who isn't struggling. Ancelotti just recently suffered his worst ever loss, Pep has had a series of poor results in the Buli and CL that make it questionable whether he can lead Bayern to any real success, Mourinho as well has not been one bit convincing recently. Lucho losing one match after 11 wins, albeit at home, against a team of brutally lucky cunts who picked the tactical setup that weakens us the most is not reason to discredit him for our recent successes.
