Ernesto Valverde - V1

Vilarrubi

New member
And you are wrong, have a look on cup winners since 2008 in top 4 leagues and you will find that vast majority is big clubs, and non play with all bench players, almost zero.
See if this is where you are basing your argument from, well you are wrong


+1

Us not making the CL final was nothing to do with those extra CDR games either, was down to poor tactics and lack of a good midfield.
 

Messi983

Senior Member
I have a bad feeling that Busi, Raki, Messi and Luis will be dead tired in the worst moment of a season, CL's 1/8 and potentially 1/4.

I don't like how we are losing energy for CDR each year in January and February.

For a few seasons in a row, we are losing too much energy in January and February, then get knocked out in a CL, and then we recover our energy in May, where we don't need it anymore.
Messi plays Wednesday-Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday all the time.

And he is 30+.

I understand your concerns but don't really think it's that big of a problem.

Messi has been rested in both games against Celta buy you can't really expect him to not play in every second game for a whole month. Anyway, how much did he really run (well, walk :D) yesterday? There was a stat he had 4,6 km at around 60th minute so I guess he maybe made it to 6 km until the end of the game. He can't get tired because of that even if he's "playing".

Let's say this is our best XI that will play in CL (if everyone will be healthy).

MATS (0 minutes played in Copa)
Roberto (146)
Pique (283)
Umtiti (0)
Alba (180)
Busi (270)
Raki (159)
Iniesta (63)
Paulinho (125)
Messi (149)
Suarez (121)

Clearly, injuries have also played a part that Umtiti and Iniesta weren't used much in Copa (or not at all in Umtiti's case). But at the same time Umtiti and Masche's injury could also be a blessing in disguise as otherwise Vermaelen probably wouldn't get a chance to prove himself as another (at least) very important squad/rotational player which will be especially important now that Masche will leave and Mina will need some time to adapt.

Because of those injuries Pique has played much in CDR but I think he'll get more rest when Umtiti will be back (especially if Vermaelen will keep a good form and stay healthy) and Mina will get some minutes as well, probably from the bench in easier home games at first.

And Busi has played because we don't have a real replacement for him. But also keep in mind that he probably also wouldn't have started first game in Vigo if he wouldn't be suspended for the league match against Levante 3 days later.

I think Valverde has managed Raki, Messi and Suarez's minutes good so far in Copa. With Coutinho and Paco coming back from injuries soon and with our good lead in La Liga we can also afford to rest them (and possibly Busi as well) in easier home league games against Alaves, Getafe or Girona that are coming over the next month.

I'm not saying EV should go full Lucho mode and start 8 backups in those games (or even worse, in a tough away match, lol) and risk to drop points. But play 7-8 starters and 3-4 backups and you can give rest to anyone.

When Coutinho will be back and if he'll show a good integration with the team we can even play him as "10" and keep Messi on the bench. Or in another game, start a strong lineup, kill the game in 1st half (now that Suarez is back in form and will probably score more that should be easier) and then sub off Messi like we did against Celta.
 
M

MessiCam

Guest
I would play a full strength squad against Girona and Getafe. They're having great seasons and are only a few points off Europa qualification. It's going to be a tough month...
 

FC433

New member
you're talking about other teams fans not being nice to use? because all pique is asking for us that barca fans don't throw crap at espanyol players... because he is upset they threw stuff at jasper and he is scared barca fans will retaliate
nothing to do with valverde

He is criticizing Espanyol's fans, not our fans.

Sorry what I meant is that our fans were not great in terms of support. The attendance is not great this season and the atmosphere yesterday was exceptional that is why I said that Valverde and Pique seemed a little disappointed/ wanted some support in the coming games.
 
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Kerrybai

New member
Too much talk of rest. We have some easier home games in the league coming up where we cn take it easy or rest players. When Coutihno joins the squad and Dembele hopefully recovers we will have more room to rest players.
 

henias

New member
We still lack abit of squad depth, to be honest, we should never be playing Gomes or Denis in the Champions League. Rafinha seems a little better but hasnt appeared much so I cant judge him just yet. We are lacking one quality midfielder as of now.
 

BBZ8800

Senior Member
And you are wrong, have a look on cup winners since 2008 in top 4 leagues and you will find that vast majority is big clubs, and non play with all bench players, almost zero.
See if this is where you are basing your argument from, well you are wrong

Imo, that only shows that even if Barca/RM played with squad players or with a combined squad of 4-5 starters and 5-6 squad players, they are still better than the rest and they will usually win the trophy.
Cillessen, Semedo, Masch, Verma, Digne, Busi, Raki, Gomes, Messi, Luis/Paco, Denis could easily win against more or less all opponents.
This is a team with 3 or 4 starters.

If this team win a copa, does it prove that big teams play with passion or that even a mixed lineup is good enough to win a trophy?

I am not saying that we should playing with 11 squad players all the time, but wasting Messi against Celta and Espanyol in a CDR with 20 matches in January and February is beyond crazy, imo.

I understand your concerns but don't really think it's that big of a problem.

Messi has been rested in both games against Celta buy you can't really expect him to not play in every second game for a whole month. Anyway, how much did he really run (well, walk :D) yesterday? There was a stat he had 4,6 km at around 60th minute so I guess he maybe made it to 6 km until the end of the game. He can't get tired because of that even if he's "playing".

Let's say this is our best XI that will play in CL (if everyone will be healthy).

MATS (0 minutes played in Copa)
Roberto (146)
Pique (283)
Umtiti (0)
Alba (180)
Busi (270)
Raki (159)
Iniesta (63)
Paulinho (125)
Messi (149)
Suarez (121)

Clearly, injuries have also played a part that Umtiti and Iniesta weren't used much in Copa (or not at all in Umtiti's case). But at the same time Umtiti and Masche's injury could also be a blessing in disguise as otherwise Vermaelen probably wouldn't get a chance to prove himself as another (at least) very important squad/rotational player which will be especially important now that Masche will leave and Mina will need some time to adapt.

Because of those injuries Pique has played much in CDR but I think he'll get more rest when Umtiti will be back (especially if Vermaelen will keep a good form and stay healthy) and Mina will get some minutes as well, probably from the bench in easier home games at first.

And Busi has played because we don't have a real replacement for him. But also keep in mind that he probably also wouldn't have started first game in Vigo if he wouldn't be suspended for the league match against Levante 3 days later.

I think Valverde has managed Raki, Messi and Suarez's minutes good so far in Copa. With Coutinho and Paco coming back from injuries soon and with our good lead in La Liga we can also afford to rest them (and possibly Busi as well) in easier home league games against Alaves, Getafe or Girona that are coming over the next month.

I'm not saying EV should go full Lucho mode and start 8 backups in those games (or even worse, in a tough away match, lol) and risk to drop points. But play 7-8 starters and 3-4 backups and you can give rest to anyone.

When Coutinho will be back and if he'll show a good integration with the team we can even play him as "10" and keep Messi on the bench. Or in another game, start a strong lineup, kill the game in 1st half (now that Suarez is back in form and will probably score more that should be easier) and then sub off Messi like we did against Celta.

Problem is not minutes, but the thing that we have 6 copa matches in the first 45 days of a New year.
From January 1st to the end of February, we are playing Wednesday-Saturday all the time (6 copa matches, some La liga matches on wednesday and then 2 CL matches. That is 8, 9 or 10 matches on Wednesday in the first 60 days of a New year).
Basically, this is the most crowded part of a season.
And then, since Busi, Raki, Messi, Luis, Iniesta are 30+, it is quite predictable that they will lose their breath sooner or later (most often in February, March and April when we need them the most).

If a player from a RM plays 50 matches per season and Messi plays 60, there is a reasonable fear that in April/May in CL semis, Messi will be 5-10% more tired and that he will lose a valuable 1-2 meters advantage in the 86th minute counterattack against RM.
And these are the moments which decide 1:1 or 2:1 matches.

During Lucho, MSN had to play all the time, and we were always dead tired in March/April (partly because of 6 CDR matches also and because of playing for 90 minutes in every 5:0 La liga trashing to pump up their individual stats).

I am in particular worried about: Iniesta, Messi, Luis, Busquets, Rakitic. That they will be dead tired in CL 1/8s and 1/4s.
 
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