Quique Setien

[Sorin]

Yeah, but Valverde shouldnt be the benchmark. We look even more chaotic under Setien right now. Still early days though... at least theres hope. Thats the only improvement for now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not absolving Setien for the performance tonight, just that these kind of away games are the norm and not the exception this season. The difference is that one manager had 2.5 years of coaching these players and one has 2 weeks. Here's hoping Setien can right the ship but I have my doubts that he has the capability to do so.

 

[kattanib]

He needs to adjust his tactics to fit Messi .. Messi will always fall back to CAM and thus the formation should be:

Defending:

X - X - X - X
—X - X - X
——-M
-—-X - X


Attacking (CDM drops to CB)

—X - X - X
X - X - X - X
——-M
-—-X - X

 

[malvolio]

And veterans were in awe of Valverde, because he kept things lax, didn't make a fuss, and gave them plenty of days off. Look where that got us.

So what? Worked for Zidane

 

[Andrew M]

And veterans were in awe of Valverde, because he kept things lax, didn't make a fuss, and gave them plenty of days off. Look where that got us.

They were not in awe of him. They just found his temperament and coaching style too comfortable.

 

[serghei]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not absolving Setien for the performance tonight, just that these kind of away games are the norm and not the exception this season. The difference is that one manager had 3 years of coaching these players and one has 2 weeks. Here's hoping Setien can right the ship but I have my doubts that he has the capability to do so.

One of the problems we have is we loaned or sold some players who could have helped. Alena, Todibo, Coutinho, Malcom. And 2 of the main players in offense, Suarez and Dembele, are injured. So, all of a sudden, we are kind of short of options as far as AM, winger and striker positions are concerned.

 

[JohnN]

The formation looks week in defending. We struggled to keep a clean sheet with 4 at the back, so going with 3 is too risky.
Arthur and FDJ took no risks and when Vidal entered we were much better. Also, fati is like playing with 10 men. Offers literally nothing. That's my take. I feel we were unlucky today not to score AT LEAST 2 goals but many problems detected.

 

[El Gato]

I mean it's not as if your defending looked great any time since Puyol and Alves departed. 17/18 was an exception where damage control style steadied the issues at the cost of 'oomph', but that also rubbed off once you flopped at the Olimpico and then lost the invincible title for no reason.

 

[serghei]

I mean it's not as if your defending looked great any time since Puyol and Alves departed. 17/18 was an exception where damage control style steadied the issues at the cost of 'oomph', but that also rubbed off once you flopped at the Olimpico and then lost the invincible title for no reason.

True. We more or less outscored teams with Messi, Suarez, and Neymar (until he left), while relying far too much on Stegen and Pique occasionally, while also using our possession skills negatively to shield our defense. Now all that is left is Messi and even he is not playing too well at the moment.

We never had actual defensive ability since Puyol, Mascherano, Alves, Abidal retired or left.

 

[Sorin]

One of the problems we have is we loaned or sold some players who could have helped. Alena, Todibo, Coutinho, Malcom. And 2 of the main players in offense, Suarez and Dembele, are injured. So, all of a sudden, we are kind of short of options as far as AM, winger and striker positions are concerned.

Agreed and all of this is the doing of Valverde, maybe except Coutinho since he should've been a certainty at 25yo but alas he has the mentality of a 5 year old. Everyone of the others stagnated under Valverde and the board being the morons that they are simply started to get rid of the players instead of the main culprit which was the long nosed mediocrity. The fact that there's no player that has improved under that ugly mf speaks volumes about his ability as a coach.

 

[kattanib]

he needs to adjust his tactics to fit messi .. Messi will always fall back to cam and thus the formation should be:

Defending:

X - x - x - x
—x - x - x
——-m
-—-x - x


attacking (cdm drops to cb)

—x - x - x
x - x - x - x
——-m
-—-x - x

this is the solution

 

[serghei]

Agreed and all of this is the doing of Valverde, maybe except Coutinho since he should've been a certainty at 25yo but alas. Everyone of the others stagnated under Valverde and the board being the morons that they are simply started to get rid of the players instead of the main culprit which was the long nosed mediocrity. The fact that there's no player that has improved under that ugly mf speaks volumes about his ability as a coach.

Yes, but the issue is not only did he fail to do anything with them, he also deprived other managers from having the chance to maybe use these players differently. It's a major setback to have to play a 17 year old kid away on Mestalla of all stadiums, a place where all big 3 suffer every season almost.

 

[Laplacian]

By the way, is Barca the only top team in the World without a World Class winger? Or a LW/RW that can play at that level. Can barely count Messi as a RW these days.

It's absolutely bizarre how much little recruitment we've done with wingers in the past 2 years, considering just how integral wingplay is to the modern game. One of the biggest reasons our play is so insipid and slow.

 

[El Gato]

You've got Bumbele don't ya.

 

[serghei]

You've got Bumbele don't ya.

Let's see him fit first and hope he lasts a few months at least, until he gets another muscular injury.

 

[El Gato]

At this rate you might start to wonder if he'd rather just stay at home and play PS4 rather than doing a Setien fitness sesh.

[MENTION=15376]DonAK[/MENTION]
It's a decent team. But we both know it won't happen and never in one window. And if it doesn't happen in one window then what's the point of doing it at all when Messi's 34 next year?