God Serena
New member
I don't know what the hell you're doing posing as a Barca fan when your favorite manager is in England.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
I think you quoted the wrong post.
God Serena
New member
Nah. He's advocating for parking the bus because we're too weak to even dream of taking on an attack like PSG's. That's a small club mentality. Or a Mourinho mentality.
Barcilliant
Senior Member
Both City and PSG have the fastest counter attacking sides in CL.
Birdy
Senior Member
Well, significant stats say Barcelona deserved approximately a 0-2 win and if you simulate the game with the same chances 100 times Barcelona wins 83% of the times..
https://twitter.com/11tegen11/status/925629272332603392
https://twitter.com/11tegen11/status/925629272332603392
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Well, significant stats say Barcelona deserved approximately a 0-2 win and if you simulate the game with the same chances 100 times Barcelona wins 83% of the times..
https://twitter.com/11tegen11/status/925629272332603392
Would be great to see those projections for other games too.
Sorin
Well-known member
These fucking stats again. Next thing you know people here will say CRonaldo is in Messi's league because he has similar stats.
Fluidity of attacks is not reflected in stats. Off the ball movement is not reflected in stats. Positioning of players are not entirely reflected by stats. And when Messi is majorly responsible for over half those stats on his own, it's misleading using stats to prove that we played fantastic.
I mean, sure we were better than Olympiacos but, no disrespect to them, they're fucking Olympiacos and we are Barcelona. And it's isn't even about this match only. The Getafe match, the Malaga match, Sporting and even fecking Las Palmas have dominated us for large periods of time. We were second best, often being reduced to defend in large numbers against these teams. We beat these teams by having superior talent, not from some masterclass teamplay and tactics by Valverde. The only thing that Valverde gets credit from me is that he fixed the defense. Everything else in attack is decided by our superior talent compared to these teams and Messi.
How the fuck should I be content with shit like the above? Fuck off with the stats, they tell only half the story. Go watch some Mourinho or Simeone match, or a baseball match if stats are your thing.
Fluidity of attacks is not reflected in stats. Off the ball movement is not reflected in stats. Positioning of players are not entirely reflected by stats. And when Messi is majorly responsible for over half those stats on his own, it's misleading using stats to prove that we played fantastic.
I mean, sure we were better than Olympiacos but, no disrespect to them, they're fucking Olympiacos and we are Barcelona. And it's isn't even about this match only. The Getafe match, the Malaga match, Sporting and even fecking Las Palmas have dominated us for large periods of time. We were second best, often being reduced to defend in large numbers against these teams. We beat these teams by having superior talent, not from some masterclass teamplay and tactics by Valverde. The only thing that Valverde gets credit from me is that he fixed the defense. Everything else in attack is decided by our superior talent compared to these teams and Messi.
How the fuck should I be content with shit like the above? Fuck off with the stats, they tell only half the story. Go watch some Mourinho or Simeone match, or a baseball match if stats are your thing.
Neimax
New member
It is true that we don't play our best football at the moment. But I think it's very unfair to blame Valverde that much. We are two months into the season, haven't lost a single game and already played three very difficult games (vs Juve, Atletico, Bilbao). And all that with the weakest squad we've had in recent years. You mustn't forget that our main signing is still injured. I think with a fast and creative player like Dembélé (even if he will need some time to adapt), our game will change a lot (remind the Juve game. Even though Dembélé wasn't really great, the pure presence of such a fast and creative player made our game look much more dynamic).
Another problem for EV is that one of our top guys (Suárez) is in his worst form ever. It's very difficult to handle this as a coach. I don't think that Suárez is finished, as most in this forum. I'm pretty sure he has still to good seasons in him and as a coach you have to trust him. In my opinion it's a huge psychological problem. He still has the chances to score one or two goals every game, but he simply can't finish them. That has nothing to do with fitness or something, that's simply a huge mental problem which he will overcome sooner or later.
Our main concern is the midfield, and even there it's very difficult with EV. I still think that the best option would be to be bold enough and let play our youngsters (especially Aleña) but it's not that easy. We have a overcrowded midfield with medicore players (bar ageing-Iniesta and Busquets). Maybe Roberto or Denis could step up if you give them a good run of games in the midfield, but that's not sure. But if he solely bets on one or two of the midfielders, there would be a disastrous atmosphere in the locker room as 4 or 5 players would be highly dissatisfied. If he would play Aleña all the time I think we could say good bye to our team spirit as some of the first team players (Rakitic, Gomes, Denis) would run riot. Before he can do that, we need to sell at least 2 of our midfielders (which I still hope will happen in winter). I'm pretty sure that Valverde will give a lot of game time to our youngsters if this happens, which will make our game much more fluid for sure. I think a midfield of Busquets (Roberto), Paulinho (Roberto, Aleña, Denis) and Iniesta (Aleña, Denis, Roberto) would be amazing and would give us the creativity which so many Fans here miss. But as already said, I don't think that Valverde cannot be blamed for our medicore midfield players at the moment and for not giving much chance to our younger players as our midfield is that stacked with medicore players at the moment.
I'm pretty sure our team will play a lot better in he second half of the season, and I don't think that anyone thought that we have a 9-1 record in La Liga (8+ from Real) and lead our CL group 3 points clear of Juve at the start of the season (and at this point of time we didn't even know that our most important signing will miss 3-4 months due to injury). So I think it's very unfair to blame Valverde that much already, give him time at least until the end of the season
.
Another problem for EV is that one of our top guys (Suárez) is in his worst form ever. It's very difficult to handle this as a coach. I don't think that Suárez is finished, as most in this forum. I'm pretty sure he has still to good seasons in him and as a coach you have to trust him. In my opinion it's a huge psychological problem. He still has the chances to score one or two goals every game, but he simply can't finish them. That has nothing to do with fitness or something, that's simply a huge mental problem which he will overcome sooner or later.
Our main concern is the midfield, and even there it's very difficult with EV. I still think that the best option would be to be bold enough and let play our youngsters (especially Aleña) but it's not that easy. We have a overcrowded midfield with medicore players (bar ageing-Iniesta and Busquets). Maybe Roberto or Denis could step up if you give them a good run of games in the midfield, but that's not sure. But if he solely bets on one or two of the midfielders, there would be a disastrous atmosphere in the locker room as 4 or 5 players would be highly dissatisfied. If he would play Aleña all the time I think we could say good bye to our team spirit as some of the first team players (Rakitic, Gomes, Denis) would run riot. Before he can do that, we need to sell at least 2 of our midfielders (which I still hope will happen in winter). I'm pretty sure that Valverde will give a lot of game time to our youngsters if this happens, which will make our game much more fluid for sure. I think a midfield of Busquets (Roberto), Paulinho (Roberto, Aleña, Denis) and Iniesta (Aleña, Denis, Roberto) would be amazing and would give us the creativity which so many Fans here miss. But as already said, I don't think that Valverde cannot be blamed for our medicore midfield players at the moment and for not giving much chance to our younger players as our midfield is that stacked with medicore players at the moment.
I'm pretty sure our team will play a lot better in he second half of the season, and I don't think that anyone thought that we have a 9-1 record in La Liga (8+ from Real) and lead our CL group 3 points clear of Juve at the start of the season (and at this point of time we didn't even know that our most important signing will miss 3-4 months due to injury). So I think it's very unfair to blame Valverde that much already, give him time at least until the end of the season
.
Sorin
Well-known member
I acknowledged that we were better than them, however Olympiacos are also largely one of the worst teams we have faced this season. Saying that we'd win 83% of the time is not surprising or even something we should be proud off. That's expected. But get this, we didn't win. So guess we just managed to bring to fruition those 17% where we draw or lose. They are 4th in their league with 3 loses from 9 matches.They have dominated the park for the last decades with ease. Their form is not the greatest at this point.
Also, I'm more referring to our overall display both in La Liga and CL. We are inconsistent as hell. We have times when we play good football and the team hits a good level, but then we retreat completely and we are reduced to defend like a mid level team. And it's not even that that is worrying but we do it in almost every match and for a half at a time. Not 5 or 10 minutes here and there, but half the duration of a game. That's worrying and simply unacceptable.
Also, the team not being as good as in the past is a crock of shit. We have played teams with way less talent than us but sometimes we looked like we fought for relegation and they were fighting for the 1st spot. That's the infuriating part for me. You can have a fluid team with way less talent. Sporting proved it, Betis proved it, Bilbao also proved it. Napoli also. That's worrying and simply unacceptable.
Whatever, I want to see him given time until the end of the season. No manager should have less than a season to show what's he's capable off. Unless you're van Gaal that is. That said, the signs are not good.
JamDav1982
Senior Member
What are you saying that Sporting, Bilbao, Betis and Napoli have proved?
Sorin
Well-known member
That you can play beautiful cohesive team football with lesser players than ours in general. Sure they're not gonna win as much as us in the end because, like I said, ultimately the talent disparity is still big between the teams but their team play at times has been beautiful. Especially against us.
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Bilbao have not played that type of football and didnt against Barca, neither did Sporting or Betis.
Napoli have played good football in Italy then concede 6 over two games against first good attacking team they played this season. Betis got hammered at home by Valencia and have not played all that amazing football.
Sporting never did much v Barca and Bilbao are struggling this season.
Sporting second in Portugal having scored 22 in 10 games, Bilbao tenth in Spain having scored 10 in 10, Betis 8th having scored 19 but conceded 18 and took a tanking at home to likes of Valencia as said.
Not sure how these are teams to look to as any example.
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M
MessiCam
Guest
I always check up on the stats but I don't let it fool me. After the Olympiacos game I stated in this very forum that Barcelona have played a lot worse and come away with a favourable result just to piss off the results matter crowd. Nobody took the bait though...
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