[MENTION=12215]Ursegor[/MENTION], I'd be interested to discuss the pros and cons of Ernesto Valverde in a serious topic here on Barcaforum, without ironies like Cowardverde and such. I'd be all for that.
Just a discussion about the things he does well, the things he doesn't, aspects which are out of his control, problems in the team that aren't likely to change under future managers. State of the young players in the team.
I personally believe he is a middle of the ground manager for us. Somehwere between Lopetegui and Zidane, if we keep the Madrid comparison.
First we would have to reach an agreement over what should be the responsabilites of the manager of FC Barcelona. Do we blame him the most for disasters like the Roma away game? Do we think that the squad is built in such a way that it would be impossible to steer the ship in a different direction at this stage no matter the manager? Do we make too big of a fuss about things that are normal during a season, demanding too much from a team which, despite new signings, is still not as good as in the past?
Everybody throws ironies, names and insults, without addressing any of these issues in elaborate posts.
Valverde is a 7/10 good coach on par with the likes of Pochettino or any other good but not special coach. Right now there are only 3 coaches who could be considered a tier above (who are all not available): Pep, Simeone and Klopp. But Simeone plays eye cancer football and Klopp has won jack shit, not even a tiny Cup at Liverpool, managed to lose a final to Sevilla. But that's okay because he gets teams like Dortmund and Liverpool into CL finals and that in itself is a huge achievement even if he wins nothing at the end.
Other than that there is no one who is a tier above Valverde. Pure delusion if anyone thinks Setien will come and we'll play mindblowing football with superb rotations, great results and all the favourite B players getting playing time.
Lopetegui comparisons are a joke. Valverde succeeded in all his jobs. He took Athletic Bilbao to CL places, he took Espanyol into the EL final, he won the first title in over 30 years for Athletic Bilbao by beating Barcelona 4-0 and he won the double with Barcelona, could have gone unbeaten as well if not for rotations against Levante.
To even come up with Lopetegui's name in the Valverde thread is pure madness. The man did not manage to win jackshit with Porto, a team that had won 7 of the previous 8 league titles and did not last 2 months at Madrid. Even if Valverde lost 0-10 to Roma you can't compare to the clown that is Lopetegui.
Aspects that are out of his control: Now we can have a discussion.
First of all this squad has 2 major weaknesses and the second one amplifies the weakness of the first one.
First of all: We have no elite rightback. Roberto and Semedo are both average at best. Maybe Semedo will turn into something in the future, there are some glimpses.
And the second one: Messi does whatever he wants and 90 % of the time what he wants is roam in the center of the pitch but definitely not keep his position on the right (let's not even talk about his defensive duties). So when you have Messi and Suarez in the team, both prefering the center, who plays on the right? The only solution to this is a 4-4-2 shape (or 3-4-3 but we do not have the defenders for that at all) like Valverde did last season or 4-3-3/4-4-2 hybrid with Coutinho playing LW offensively/LM defensively.
This is completely logical, right? Unless someone thinks Suarez must be benched for Malcom and then we go 4-3-3 with Démbéle and Malcom on the wings and Messi won't be stiffled alone on top without Suarez' movement infront of him, then what I just said makes sense, correct? Yes, correct.
So I mentioned 2 major problems: No elite rightback and Messi can't be put on the right which forces us to employ a 4-4-2-ish shape.
There are more structural problems though. Coutinho is not a central midfielder. He dribbles, cuts in and and shoots all the time. There is no way you can put Coutinho in the middle 3, alongside Busquets no less who is awful in transition plus Dembélé up top who is lazy at defending and misses training sessions and expect results. No way. So one of our 100+ million Euro signings sits on the bench most of the time, mostly Dembélé, the one missing training sessions.
Tactically and formation-wise Valverde has it spot on, fans can bitch how they want, if you take 3 minutes to think about it, his formations and tactics are spot on.
He only did 1 huge mistake so far. He banked on a 4-1 lead against Roma and that by sitting back surely we would get at least 1 counter attack goal without conceding 3. He failed. Even though half the blame goes to the squad as well. Players who have won so much should show some character. Madrid were on the verge of elimination many many times but players like Ramos came up with those last minute goals to save their asses.
There are some more things but for now I leave it at that as I have to go out.
