Ernesto Valverde

DonAndres said:

We should revisit the idea of Griezmann playing in midfield.

FDJ is clearly levels better as a CDM regista than he was at RCM or LCM, has way more influence on the game and the tone of our possessions from start to finish. He needs total field vision and the ability to build up a head of steam from deep positions. His best plays come when he is behind the main zones of buildup and pushing forward to support whenever/wherever he feels needed, like the guiding hand for our circulation of the ball.

Rakitic is a horrible, absentee partner at the RCM spot. Roberto is too inconsistent and a niche player that mostly performs in end to end games at home.

What people want is someone who is more offensive than FDJ and Arthur, a high level runner off the ball, creates chances, and attacks free space in the final third. Enter Griezmann, who does all of these things. He also puts in more than his fair share of defensive support. His best weapon as a player is linkup play and 1-2's, which he'll get plenty of if he's in close proximity to Messi/FDJ/Arthur.

It also allows a fluid system in which Messi can drop deep, move wide, or push up, and Griez can rotate to occupy the different empty spaces in response to Leo's movement. He'd be very complementary to Messi in that role.

Plus it seems like Suarez is definitely gonna be a starter no matter what, sadly.

Ansu-Suarez-Messi
Arthur-FDJ-Griezmann
Alba-Lenglet-Pique-Semedo

Dembele can rotate with Ansu or, if he manages to up his level and be truly productive, he can be the full time starter there this season.

This iteration of our lineup has the greatest # of high level runners off the ball and players with good defensive workrate. It also gives us a midfield where every single player is mobile and dynamic, not static like Busi/Rakitic.

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how about replace Suarez with GM?
Suarez is old. He doesn't defend much. A But we should try GM as attacking midfielder.

Barca is having some problem about attacking building up. I don't know though they have a lot of balls, they just push to the midfield, try to dribble and play short passes, and lose it. Even if the opponent parks the bus and crowd all the midfield ( sometimes there're 8 players there ) , they still do that. Why they don't use the width? They can overload one side then switch side using long ball down to the flank. It's a simple tactic which is used a lot. They waste a lot of attacking chances trying to attack through middle. Attacking through middle, through a bus with tight space and a lot of people is working well when Messi is on the field. He can move, dribble in tight space and pass through ball for forward. But if he's not on the field attack through middle is not easy.
https://twitter.com/footyanalytics2/status/1174413631464845313
https://twitter.com/footyanalytics2/status/1174420134494121984

DonAndres said:

We should revisit the idea of Griezmann playing in midfield.

FDJ is clearly levels better as a CDM regista than he was at RCM or LCM, has way more influence on the game and the tone of our possessions from start to finish. He needs total field vision and the ability to build up a head of steam from deep positions. His best plays come when he is behind the main zones of buildup and pushing forward to support whenever/wherever he feels needed, like the guiding hand for our circulation of the ball.

Rakitic is a horrible, absentee partner at the RCM spot. Roberto is too inconsistent and a niche player that mostly performs in end to end games at home.

What people want is someone who is more offensive than FDJ and Arthur, a high level runner off the ball, creates chances, and attacks free space in the final third. Enter Griezmann, who does all of these things. He also puts in more than his fair share of defensive support. His best weapon as a player is linkup play and 1-2's, which he'll get plenty of if he's in close proximity to Messi/FDJ/Arthur.

It also allows a fluid system in which Messi can drop deep, move wide, or push up, and Griez can rotate to occupy the different empty spaces in response to Leo's movement. He'd be very complementary to Messi in that role.

Plus it seems like Suarez is definitely gonna be a starter no matter what, sadly.

Ansu-Suarez-Messi
Arthur-FDJ-Griezmann
Alba-Lenglet-Pique-Semedo

Dembele can rotate with Ansu or, if he manages to up his level and be truly productive, he can be the full time starter there this season.

This iteration of our lineup has the greatest # of high level runners off the ball and players with good defensive workrate. It also gives us a midfield where every single player is mobile and dynamic, not static like Busi/Rakitic.

Click to expand...

I like the idea. It would be interesting to see it in play. It might be gold or Griezman might end up like Coutinho. Its hard to say. He would be surrounded with different midfielders then Coutinho was.

Can Griezman actually could adapt to the midfield role?
Our team must be like one of the hardest to team to play as a midfielder at. His touch, passing and stamina/press seem good enough(maybe) but im not so sure about the tactical part. From what i read he has played as a winger or forward during his whole proffessional career. Usally our midfield has consisted of players that played midfield all their career.

It would be fun to try though. I doubt it will happen this season though concidering how many midfielders we have.

Poor_Sunyol said:

Zidane is not a top manager or tactician. He was mighty lucky to win three on the bounce and that was mainly down to CR7.

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True. But neither was Lucho...

That said, they are master man motivators, something mr. Nose isn't.

I think that he has to bench Busi and Suarez.The thing is that we don't have great alternatives.

For Busi,the best I can think of is probably Vidal.Rakitic and Roberto are worse than Busi.Unless Alena or Puig have a breakout year...

For Suarez,one of Dembele,Fati,Perez have to step up big time.Fati is too young to expect of him to become a world class starter,Perez is probably not good enough and Dembele is injured half of the time.


Maybe we could try a 3-5-2

MAtS

Pique-Lenglet-Todibo/Umtiti

Semedo/Roberto-Vidal-FDJ-Arthur-Alba

Messi-Griezzman

bismp said:

I think that he has to bench Busi and Suarez.The thing is that we don't have great alternatives.

For Busi,the best I can think of is probably Vidal.Rakitic and Roberto are worse than Busi.Unless Alena or Puig have a breakout year...

For Suarez,one of Dembele,Fati,Perez have to step up big time.Fati is too young to expect of him to become a world class starter,Perez is probably not good enough and Dembele is injured half of the time.


Maybe we could try a 3-5-2

MAtS

Pique-Lenglet-Todibo/Umtiti

Semedo/Roberto-Vidal-FDJ-Arthur-Alba

Messi-Griezzman

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3-5-2 with acient Pique is a no go. Especially with rapid wingers nowadays.

Valverde: Granada? "It's a difficult game for us.

Messigician said:

Valverde: Granada? "It's a difficult game for us.

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yeah yeah , even if we played against espanyol u16 valverde ( disgusting piece of shit ) would say it would be a really hard game.

DonAndres said:

We should revisit the idea of Griezmann playing in midfield.

FDJ is clearly levels better as a CDM regista than he was at RCM or LCM, has way more influence on the game and the tone of our possessions from start to finish. He needs total field vision and the ability to build up a head of steam from deep positions. His best plays come when he is behind the main zones of buildup and pushing forward to support whenever/wherever he feels needed, like the guiding hand for our circulation of the ball.

Rakitic is a horrible, absentee partner at the RCM spot. Roberto is too inconsistent and a niche player that mostly performs in end to end games at home.

What people want is someone who is more offensive than FDJ and Arthur, a high level runner off the ball, creates chances, and attacks free space in the final third. Enter Griezmann, who does all of these things. He also puts in more than his fair share of defensive support. His best weapon as a player is linkup play and 1-2's, which he'll get plenty of if he's in close proximity to Messi/FDJ/Arthur.

It also allows a fluid system in which Messi can drop deep, move wide, or push up, and Griez can rotate to occupy the different empty spaces in response to Leo's movement. He'd be very complementary to Messi in that role.

Plus it seems like Suarez is definitely gonna be a starter no matter what, sadly.

Ansu-Suarez-Messi
Arthur-FDJ-Griezmann
Alba-Lenglet-Pique-Semedo

Dembele can rotate with Ansu or, if he manages to up his level and be truly productive, he can be the full time starter there this season.

This iteration of our lineup has the greatest # of high level runners off the ball and players with good defensive workrate. It also gives us a midfield where every single player is mobile and dynamic, not static like Busi/Rakitic.

Click to expand...

See, I agree with like 95% of this but it is for these reasons that I’d say the player who makes the most sense in the “Iniesta” role at LCM is Aleñá, not Greizmann.

First off, with Greizmann, he simply needs to be our starting 9 this season. We are already asking a lot of him by having him play all over the forward line, while expecting him to produce and develop chemistry with Messi and co. Trying to play him in MF is just asking for trouble in my opinion: it opens us up through the middle inevitably, we have made very similar mistakes with new signings in the past (Cesc, Alexis etc.) and we cannot afford to risk him being another Coutinho. I just feel like asking him to play in midfield as well as all over the forward line will be really confusing for him and he won't really know how to be himself in this team since his position in the squad is so nebulous. This is precisely what we did to Cesc and its why he never really looked comfortable here.

In addition, the sooner we realize that Luis Suarez is no longer capable of being a productive starter for us, the sooner we will be better off. There is no question that our failures away from home have been collective ones but when your starting striker hasn't scored away from home in the Champions League in over 15 games, that is sure to be a contributing factor. This reason alone is why Greizmann needs to be in the 9 position for awhile so he can adapt and find himself in it. We need Greizmann's pace to help us actually be able to get in behind defensive lines quickly. Being able to have someone who forces defensive lines to retreat will open up space for Messi and our midfield to create and this is really important for us to have any sort of success this season. Quite frankly, Luis just can't do this anymore and save for an occasional flash of brilliance once or twice and his link up play, he just isn't doing enough out there to merit him starting. I've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly Greizmann is learning how to link-up as a 9 and while it isn't perfect right now, with an extended run in the role, I think he can get close to Luis in these terms, which is really the only thing he has over Greizmann at the moment.

Regarding Aleñá, I think out of all of the midfielders we have, he has the most natural qualities physically as a player and in terms of how he plays with the first team to play in the Iniesta role. It'll be very hard for anyone to reach the Don's level but if we have a midfielder with these core qualities, I think we can at least make our system work more effectively:

1. Mastery of the ball in tight spaces with the ability to break and get between lines off a dribble
2. A responsible passer in possession who can keep a move going from deep but also create goal-scoring opportunities in the attacking third from a pass
3. An occasional goal-threat

Obviously Iniesta had so much more than this to his game but these are the key traits needed for our style of football to work and how we should be evaluating future players for this role in the squad.

In my analysis:

-Rakitic: Barely #2
-Vidal: Barely #2 & Barely #3
-Bob: OK at #2 and Barely #3
-Arthur: Great at #2, decent at #3 but not exactly #1
-Frenkie: Great at #1 & #2, but not comfortable yet at #3

Aleñá has the strongest combination of all 3 off those qualities for me. He is far from the finished product, to be clear. He absolutely needs to improve on #2 but he has #1 & #3 in spades for me. He and Puig are the only hope I see in our squad for getting our midfield close to the level it used to be at. So I'd really like to see him get a real look in the role, like Ansu is getting.

Which brings me to fucking Ernesto. He has played him a whole 45 minutes this season, he hooked Aleñá after the first half in Bilbao, after being the player who setup like the ONLY decent half-chance we created the entire fucking half, like he was the sole reason why we were playing bad when it was clear the entire team was sleep walking. That substitution did absolutely bupkis in changing the flow of the game and he has not played since. Granted, he turned over the ball a few times but that was mainly due to him trying to make a penetrative pass to get the team moving forward. It's not like he was getting caught in possession or doing any of the silly shit Coutinho did in that position. Furthermore, he is still a young player adapting to this team and role. He puts up with Ansu giving up the ball and trying things because he knows he has the potential and talent and he will learn to correct those mistakes with time and experience. Aleñá has plenty of potential as well and its very frustrating to me that he won't afford the same sort of time and patience to Aleñá. Like honestly, I really get why he has been pretty vocal in the press at his displeasure of the amount of playing time he is getting currently. He really showed a lot last season in the few opportunities Ernie gave him last season and considering he really is the only pure attacking midfielder we have in the squad currently, he needs to getting more looks that he is right now, plain and simple.

I think the best chance we have this season is with this line-up:

MatS
Semedo-Pique-Lenglet-Firpo/Alba
Arthur-FDJ-Aleñá
Messi-Greizmann-Ansu/Dembele

Bring on Busi like we did with Xavi with Lucho: control games and slow it down in the last 20-30 minutes once we have a lead. Vidal and Roberto rotate & sub for Arthur and Aleñá, Rakitic is either sold or splits rotation time with Vidal. Luis comes on for Greizmann if we need something different up front against tired legs or to give him a rest.

I'd also be open to seeing a false 9 with Dembele and Ansu out wide for Messi to feed but we need to get better at controlling games first, which we all know isn't going to improve with good ole Ernie at the helm!

That is the sad thing, all of this is pretty apparent for me. We absolutely have to seriously shake up our squad and demand the old guard to either step up or be relegated to the bench/on the market. But none of this will happen. Ernie will continue to discard Aleñá, force Rakitic and Luis on to the field at some point and continue to play our MFs and FWs in less than optimal positions, just to appease the old guard that he is so fucking afraid of and kisses ass to. All because he is a spineless cuck who is incapable of taking any sort of risk.

Its going to be a lot of fun watching us waste another year of Messi's prime and waste another year of developing the talent necessary to keep us competitive post-Messi

catalinutzR80 said:

yeah yeah , even if we played against espanyol u16 valverde ( disgusting piece of shit ) would say it would be a really hard game.

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To be fair, according to Barcaforum last two seasons every La Liga game was going to be a tough game.

Horatio said:

To be fair, according to Barcaforum last two seasons every La Liga game was going to be a tough game.

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Fucking hookers and snorting cocaine in Medellín didn't change you at all. You are still the same boring person, pushing the same boring narrative, supporting the same boring manager, and enjoying the same boring football.

Can't wait for you and other cult members to disappear again when shit hits the fan.

George_Costanza said:

Fucking hookers and snorting cocaine in Medellín didn't change you at all. You are still the same boring person, pushing the same boring narrative, supporting the same boring manager, and enjoying the same boring football.

Can't wait for you and other cult members to disappear again when shit hits the fan.

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You are still a flat sitcom charachter smoking weed all day long. Sitting miserably in moms basement and Actually thinks all women are pest, or what was it?

Havesaks said:

You are still a flat sitcom charachter smoking weed all day long. Sitting miserably in moms basement and Actually thinks all women are pest, or what was it?

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*deep sigh*

I like it when people whose opinions I have zero respect fixate on me.

I get to be in their thoughts, and I couldn’t care less about them.

George_Costanza said:

*deep sigh*

I like it when people whose opinions I have zero respect fixate on me.

I get to be in their thoughts, and I couldn’t care less about them.

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What a lame punch line.

And respect - goes both ways, you still think eibar is better than Barcelona. 😂😂

Havesaks said:

And respect - goes both ways,

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bro, you are the one who is replying to my post addressed to another poster. I wonder why would you spend so much time and effort replying to a poster you don't respect Believe me when I say I never read any of your posts since you came back from hiding...dumb fuck!