Ernesto Valverde - V1

Aryagorn said:

Roberto didn't perform so well yesterday though.

Click to expand...

Aryagorn said:

Roberto didn't perform so well yesterday though.

Click to expand...

Zincubus said:

I flamin well hope Erneste was watching the performances from Liverpool last night against the all mighty ManCity and Arsenal tonight - just to get an idea what decent football looks like ..

Those two Ramsey goals tonight reminded me of the football we used to play ....

Click to expand...

Zincubus said:

I flamin well hope Erneste was watching the performances from Liverpool last night against the all mighty ManCity and Arsenal tonight - just to get an idea what decent football looks like ..

Those two Ramsey goals tonight reminded me of the football we used to play ....

Click to expand...

Devils said:

There seems to be this expectation with some fans that we need to play similar or follow the same principles that gave us such success in the past. i.e. midfield fluidity we had with Xavi and Iniesta and the hammer attacking force of MSN.

In reality, we don't have the players for that anymore and if we tried to tactically play like that, I think we would be in for a VERY rude awakening.

I do think we can still play better though. The 442 system we played in Dec/Jan was great and we were playing at a level and intensity above that we are at now. Think those should be the levels we strive to get to again before the semis.

Click to expand...

Aryagorn said:

You were watching Liverpool rather than us - That's enough. Why would you want the coach do the same too!?

Click to expand...

SKS- said:

Liverpool played very defensive, almost bus-like in the second half and Arsenal played god awful in defense despite having success going forward.

I agree the performance of Barcelona needs to improve, especially putting in a good performance for 90 minutes, but I wouldn't quite look in that direction in regards to standards.

Click to expand...

MessiCam said:

Liverpool play an attacking brand of football with a midfield of Milner, Henderson and a fucking Ox. We have Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic and Messi dropping deep and yet we’re to believe we can’t play an attacking brand.

This is the type of football that Valverde wants to play. It’s not that he doesn’t have the players. It’s exactly like Bilbao under his management.

Slow, lethargic cycling of the ball with heavy emphasis on defensive shape instead of hard pressing. That’s just how he goes about his business. People who thought he’d turn this team into some sort of attacking juggernaut were way off. He doesn’t have an ounce of Barça blood in him... He played all of 20 games for Barcelona.

I have seen all sorts of excuses for Valverde... Midfield is too old, don’t have the players etc when the truth of the matter is any manager would want players like Iniesta, Busquets, Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Suárez, Messi, Dembélé and Alba. In terms of pure talent Barça’s starting 11 can go toe-to-toe with any side in the planet.

Click to expand...

snowy said:

something seems to work since we've been conceding so few goals...

Click to expand...

MessiCam said:

Liverpool play an attacking brand of football with a midfield of Milner, Henderson and a fucking Ox. We have Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic and Messi dropping deep and yet we’re to believe we can’t play an attacking brand.

This is the type of football that Valverde wants to play. It’s not that he doesn’t have the players. It’s exactly like Bilbao under his management.

Slow, lethargic cycling of the ball with heavy emphasis on defensive shape instead of hard pressing. That’s just how he goes about his business. People who thought he’d turn this team into some sort of attacking juggernaut were way off. He doesn’t have an ounce of Barça blood in him... He played all of 20 games for Barcelona.

I have seen all sorts of excuses for Valverde... Midfield is too old, don’t have the players etc when the truth of the matter is any manager would want players like Iniesta, Busquets, Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Suárez, Messi, Dembélé and Alba. In terms of pure talent Barça’s starting 11 can go toe-to-toe with any side in the planet.

Click to expand...

MessiCam said:

Liverpool play an attacking brand of football with a midfield of Milner, Henderson and a fucking Ox. We have Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic and Messi dropping deep and yet we’re to believe we can’t play an attacking brand.

This is the type of football that Valverde wants to play. It’s not that he doesn’t have the players. It’s exactly like Bilbao under his management.

Slow, lethargic cycling of the ball with heavy emphasis on defensive shape instead of hard pressing. That’s just how he goes about his business. People who thought he’d turn this team into some sort of attacking juggernaut were way off. He doesn’t have an ounce of Barça blood in him... He played all of 20 games for Barcelona.

I have seen all sorts of excuses for Valverde... Midfield is too old, don’t have the players etc when the truth of the matter is any manager would want players like Iniesta, Busquets, Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Suárez, Messi, Dembélé and Alba. In terms of pure talent Barça’s starting 11 can go toe-to-toe with any side in the planet.

Click to expand...

vlad said:

From your comment it seems like you didnt watch liverpool this season that much, or you were picky, liverpool looks motivated vs big ones, where they have that underdog aura above them, otherwise, they are comical at blowing up 2, 3 goal leads, their defence was bad, and still is, their performance vs city few days ago was great, but their fans cant be relaxed even with 3:0 lead because they can blow it easily, they dont have stability, they are going all out and then what happens happens, teams that plays open football does suit them, so my point is valverde doesnt need to make things similar to liverpool, because barca are not underdog vs nobody, every team would counter them easily with that kind of tactic, like other teams are doing same to liverpool, and with klopp tempo players burn out easily

Click to expand...

Devils said:

It's not a question of if we can play an attacking brand, it's a question of whether it is a wise decision to do or not...

Liverpool's midfield playing attacking football, but they've also been exposed many times during the season. Okay they lost to United, Spurs and City, that can happen to anyone when two top teams face off against each other. But they've also dropped points against Watford, Burnley, Newcastle, Everton, WBA etc...and were defensively shambolic for parts of this season.

There's been big trade-offs to their style, which has essentially left them out of the running in their domestic competitions. It's been easy to see that teams who have been able to sustain their press have been able to hit them on the counter and break them down.

Not hard to see that if we had the likes of Rakitic and Iniesta high pressing opposition, we'd be very vulnerable on the counter as well with Busi getting overrun and our defensive line left open to attack.

Click to expand...

Joan Laporta said:

EV's Bilbao did press, pretty hard. Comparison is not good.

Click to expand...