Ernesto Valverde - V1

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
Would think we'll have it easier from New Year as we'll have most tough away games behind us plus we will be stronger for Dembele.

Key is to pull through in next 2 months.
 

Stoichkov1

New member
He is lucho 2.0

People will throw facts at me about how good we have been this season but stats are meaningless without context and close inspection.

He has done really not much tactically and his lineups are bizarre to say the least. I wouldn't call someone wrong if he said his lineups are worse than lucho.

We are winning because we are relatively fresh at the start of the season and messi. The big teams we have won against was due to a lot of luck (juventus was missing a huge chunk of their starters). Our overall play sucks ass and individual performances from messi, umtiti and mats are bailing us out every match.

It is better to see the reality that we aren't really all that and not be shocked if we fall apart in the second half of the season than think we are WC and fall on our face.

I disagree completely, this year the defence is much better compared to Lucho' last season.
Overall play sucks not because of Valverde but because we have good but not world class players in midfield except Busquets and sometimes Iniesta. Rakitic and Gomes are average/bad players.
 

Keikoku

Cabbage
We tried 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, and 3-5-2. Looks like he still trying to find best formation and players position. Transition time him and the team. He even tried Gomes as winger lol.
 

Neymessi

Active member
Dont think he is anything like Lucho and he is finding ways to get results with a fairly limited squad at moment.

It is not all because of Messi. Could very well have beat Atletico yesterday and Messi was average, beat Getafe away with Messi being fairly average, same with Girona away and Sporting.

I like the way Valverde has team playing far more than in Luchos last season.

The only thing he doesn't have right now is dembele. Its not a limited squad

I didn't say messi is doing it alone. I said messi, and because the team is relatively fresh, we are winning. Overall play isn't that great.

I wouldn't ask of him to improve our overall play so soon but I am criticizing him for his lineups. If someone can choose such lineups then I don't think he is tactically sane enough to improve us. Those lineups and subs were atrocious.

You can easily pick out moments from luchos period where we were playing great. Just because we are doing fine by winning matches right now doesn't mean we don't have many flaws.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
The only thing he doesn't have right now is dembele. Its not a limited squad

I didn't say messi is doing it alone. I said messi, and because the team is relatively fresh, we are winning. Overall play isn't that great.

I wouldn't ask of him to improve our overall play so soon but I am criticizing him for his lineups. If someone can choose such lineups then I don't think he is tactically sane enough to improve us. Those lineups and subs were atrocious.

You can easily pick out moments from luchos period where we were playing great. Just because we are doing fine by winning matches right now doesn't mean we don't have many flaws.

He doesnt have Dembele or the creativity in midfield that they clearly need.

Overall play has been fine. The performance away to Atletico better than many when have gone there and got out fought.

I think Valverde is doing a good job so far and can clearly see how he differs from Lucho.
 

Total-Football

Senior Member
he is definitely cooking formations in the lab, that alone sets him apart from dumass enrique. Now whether the formulas would work or not, only time can tell.
 

xXKonan

Senior Member
Considering the drama during the summer window where it seemed like everything went to shit in some ways It's a pleasant surprise how well Valverde is doing considering the circumstances. We brought in Semedo,Deulo,Dembele,Paulinho.

But we also lost Neymar which in turn we brought Dembele. the whole summer was a mess in general, and I feel bad for Valverde in that regard. other than those additions and the loss of Neymar, He's working with a squad that Lucho built with some players who are getting older and who are in awful form and some that don't fit what Valverde may want out of a player for his system.

make it worse Dembele got injured and will be out until at least January. Valverde had to beg for more signings before the window close because he knew that he didn't have all the players he needed in order for things to work.

I see it all the time on Barca twitter especially this season where you get people going "Pep needs time and the players in order for his vision to work" which is fine but when it comes to Valverde though some of those guys are so quick to give him the benefit of the doubt and want him gone so quick.

Second half vs Atletico was encouraging and I felt like that was one of the better halfs we played vs Atletico away in awhile. we managed to squeak out wins with Lucho in the last couple of seasons but the performances at the time though weren't really as convincing and we got lucky on some occasions as well.

Valverde for me deserves a transfer window that isn't loaded with drama.
 

putogusiluz8

The Pale One
I enjoy our team more under Valverde than Lucho that's for sure. And whatever you say about the man our team spirit is exceptional under him. A lot of selflessness and unity out there especially from players who you'd expect the opposite, certainly feels like everyone is tugging together in the same direction, whether it is a small or big role that they have. The results show.
 

behindbrowneyes

Well-known member
I enjoy our team more under Valverde than Lucho that's for sure. And whatever you say about the man our team spirit is exceptional under him. A lot of selflessness and unity out there especially from players who you'd expect the opposite, certainly feels like everyone is tugging together in the same direction, whether it is a small or big role that they have. The results show.

This. What is more, you can't close all those construction areas we picked up in Lucho's last 2 years in one transfer summer. Semedo is class, Paulinho seems to be a great addition, Dembélé has potential to develop into something great and Deu is an option from the bench. Apart from that, the search for the (necessary) CM was a disaster. One cannot deny that we would be much better if we had gotten Coutinho.

Valverde definitely improved our defense game which is not that easy with an underperforming Piqué. It is hard to play impressive attacking football when the squad doesn't offer much creativity. Last year we had Neymar and Messi, now we have Messi. So we are one creative player short and still play better team football than we did with Lucho. It is hard to dominate the midfield with an aging Iniesta and a chilling Rakitic. We have many midfielders but none of them seems to be the real deal. None of our midfielders bar Busquets is on a level with De Bruyne, Thiago, Modric, Kroos, Pogba, Koke or Coutinho.
 

viper76

Member
He is lucho 2.0

People will throw facts at me about how good we have been this season but stats are meaningless without context and close inspection.

He has done really not much tactically and his lineups are bizarre to say the least. I wouldn't call someone wrong if he said his lineups are worse than lucho.

We are winning because we are relatively fresh at the start of the season and messi. The big teams we have won against was due to a lot of luck (juventus was missing a huge chunk of their starters). Our overall play sucks ass and individual performances from messi, umtiti and mats are bailing us out every match.

It is better to see the reality that we aren't really all that and not be shocked if we fall apart in the second half of the season than think we are WC and fall on our face.

100%
 

Neymessi

Active member
He doesnt have Dembele or the creativity in midfield that they clearly need.

Overall play has been fine. The performance away to Atletico better than many when have gone there and got out fought.

I think Valverde is doing a good job so far and can clearly see how he differs from Lucho.

Do you remember the start of the martino season? We were playing better than we are now that time. Came of a terrible end to the last season back then and it seemed the flaws had been filled. Took a good amount of time for our flaws to be exposed. Truth is we were very fresh that time and still are. Started with a 7-0 home win against levante and our overall play was quite good too.

The defence was shambles the last season then, and that season we rarely conceeded any goals with a very strong defence with everyone believeing the defence issue had been sorted out too. Come January and we shatterred completely.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Do you remember the start of the martino season? We were playing better than we are now that time. Came of a terrible end to the last season back then and it seemed the flaws had been filled. Took a good amount of time for our flaws to be exposed. Truth is we were very fresh that time and still are. Started with a 7-0 home win against levante and our overall play was quite good too.

The defence was shambles the last season then, and that season we rarely conceeded any goals with a very strong defence with everyone believeing the defence issue had been sorted out too. Come January and we shatterred completely.

Dont get why you are giving so much importance to team looking 'fresh'

Pique, Raki, Iniesta and Suarez have looked sluggish and past seasons have no relevance.

For me team is a lot different than last season and he is doing a good job with a squad that has a few obvious holes and an injury to major signing of summer.
 

LeeRomeno

Active member
He is lucho 2.0

People will throw facts at me about how good we have been this season but stats are meaningless without context and close inspection.

He has done really not much tactically and his lineups are bizarre to say the least. I wouldn't call someone wrong if he said his lineups are worse than lucho.

We are winning because we are relatively fresh at the start of the season and messi. The big teams we have won against was due to a lot of luck (juventus was missing a huge chunk of their starters). Our overall play sucks ass and individual performances from messi, umtiti and mats are bailing us out every match.

It is better to see the reality that we aren't really all that and not be shocked if we fall apart in the second half of the season than think we are WC and fall on our face.

I hope he is. Would not mind treble in first season and double on second.
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
Well, I hope he's not like Lucho.

If trophies are everything you might as well go out and hire Mourinho.

If we lose more promising youth players and load the squad up with more rubbish then this team is going down the drain when Messi retires and if you're just here until then......your opinion worth very little.

Would hope he's much better than Lucho.

No wonder socis keep voting Bartomeu in.
 
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