Quique Setien

Xaviniesta

Senior Member
In that video, they’re doing exercises where they turn their body to open up space once they receive the ball. Something Xavi was amazing at. Rakishit is finally learning the basics of being a good midfielder.
 

FCBarca

Mike the Knife
Fairly certain the sloppiest version of Barcelona was that under Valverde. Whether it was down to lack of intensity, physicality in training or simply lacking courage or whatever I expect Setien to course correct that in a way that will be plainly visible on the pitch
 

LeeRomeno

Active member
Setien has more or less been excellent first 6 months in a new job, so i hope he brings freshness to team. His teams have played nice football, but been also incredibly naive at times, seems that most of people care about CL, well that will hurt bad there. No need to be negative though, lets see what happens, this is totally new situation, especially with Suarez out most of the season as well, will be interesting to see how season progresses.
[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION], most of the times you have been voice of reason in this otherwise unreadable trash forum, but you what you are doing now is losing every bit of credibility. Decisions have been made and the least what fans can do is support the new coach and hope for the best. Otherwise you contradict yourself by saying that you only started supporting Valverde, after he started bringing results, well can you at least wait with the critique and see what happens?
But all you people who say playing nice is only thing that matters, what hypocrisy, i bet my balls majority of you jumped on Barca choo choo train after Pep and his incredible success, where we played nice, but also won shitload of trophies. If Pep would have gone trophyless all those years, majority of you would not be fans. Did anyone notice massive increase in Betis or Las Palmas fanbase when Setien was there? I highly doubt it, because they never won anything. So no, just playing nice will not do.
 

JohnN

Senior Member
Setien has more or less been excellent first 6 months in a new job, so i hope he brings freshness to team. His teams have played nice football, but been also incredibly naive at times, seems that most of people care about CL, well that will hurt bad there. No need to be negative though, lets see what happens, this is totally new situation, especially with Suarez out most of the season as well, will be interesting to see how season progresses.
[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION], most of the times you have been voice of reason in this otherwise unreadable trash forum, but you what you are doing now is losing every bit of credibility. Decisions have been made and the least what fans can do is support the new coach and hope for the best. Otherwise you contradict yourself by saying that you only started supporting Valverde, after he started bringing results, well can you at least wait with the critique and see what happens?
But all you people who say playing nice is only thing that matters, what hypocrisy, i bet my balls majority of you jumped on Barca choo choo train after Pep and his incredible success, where we played nice, but also won shitload of trophies. If Pep would have gone trophyless all those years, majority of you would not be fans. Did anyone notice massive increase in Betis or Las Palmas fanbase when Setien was there? I highly doubt it, because they never won anything. So no, just playing nice will not do.

About the last part. I don't really understand the problem if a fan becomes a fan due to a teams exciting football and success. Star players also draw a crowd. Good results too. Team philosophy. Many things..
For example I was drawn to Barca since ronaldinho arrived and have been a fan since.
I don't see any problems with people becoming fans during the Pep era. On the contrary, it means they appreciate good football and don't have blinders on.

Edit: Do you believe many people became fans during Valverde's reign?
 

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
Don't care how people become fans. I thought Stojkovic (former Yugoslavian player) played for Barca only to find out it was Stoichkov :facepalm:

But I saw Barca because of it and I liked it. Ronaldinho re-ignited my interest as well and that was the beginning of Barca forums and internet, streams, etc.
 

TheStig

Member
I'm reading everythig I can about Setien in the last couple of games. What I can't find is reports about his handling of youth and rotations in Betis and Las Palmas. That would give us an idea what to expect on that front. If anybody finds anythig or if someone closely followed his teams in the past please post it.

It doesn't mean he would repeat it at Barca, even EV gave chances to youth and played amazing pressing at Bilbao and we saw very little of that at Barca.
 

LeeRomeno

Active member
About the last part. I don't really understand the problem if a fan becomes a fan due to a teams exciting football and success. Star players also draw a crowd. Good results too. Team philosophy. Many things..
For example I was drawn to Barca since ronaldinho arrived and have been a fan since.
I don't see any problems with people becoming fans during the Pep era. On the contrary, it means they appreciate good football and don't have blinders on.

Edit: Do you believe many people became fans during Valverde's reign?

I also dont think its a problem how people become fans, i became fan because 92 CL was the first CL competition i saw on TV as a kid. What i do think is problem is people suddenly saying that winning is not important, only playing nice is, while forgetting how they become fans in the first place, but liking a team that played nice, but also won.
I do not think many people became fans during Valverde's reign. You can go look yourself from google trends for example if you look at FC Barcelona keyword. First peak was with Ronaldinho and CL win in 2006, second peak in 2009 with Peps squad. Next peak in 2015 with Luchos treble. There is also peak in 2017, but i think its more related to the attacks that happened in Barcelona. Last peak is also in 2017 late summer with Neymars drama probably having its part. After that it has been steady and slow.
So winning CL is what really boosts your fanbase, most of people globally probably dont care much La Liga, even less for Copa. You start caring about local league wins after you have already become a fan. Only expection being Premier League that has marketed itself very well.
 

MTL_Barca

Well-known member
On this level, with these players, "playing nice" and success will most likely go hand in hand. "Playing nice" for most people means attacking football, possession, creating chances and if you do that with a team that has players like Messi and Griezmann it should also win you games unless you fail horribly when it comes to defending. At least for the league, but we shouldn't really talk about the CL after the last 2 tries with pragmatic football failed miserably. When fans say they don't care about titles it probably for the most part means it's okay to let's say have 5 points less and not finishing at 5th place.

Also we mostly talk about adjustments here, and after all it's not like Valverdes Barca had an unbreakable defense for the most part. Many games were won by relying on ter Stegen and scoring more than the opponent. No matter how defensive the lineup is/was on paper, this team can't properly sit back and defend. We saw that time and time again, no matter if it was a 4-4-2 with 4 CMs or whatever.

With Valverde Barca had pretty average league runs point wise compared to prior years, or at least nothing too spectacular. So it's not that far fetched that similar results could be achieved with a few adjustments that could result in more enjoyable football because Messi is Messi. It's true that no manager could get away with constantly losing but at the end of the day a coach that delivers attractive football and maybe even integrates some young players will have more credit than someone like Valverde getting to the same result. I mean just look at it, the sacking of Valverde was celebrated like a CL win by many fans despite the team winning la liga back to back. That says everything about the football really, and the way the CL games were lost of course. The quality of play definitely is important for the fans especially at Barca and keeping the fans happy should also be a priority for the club.

But that's just my take on it. In the grand scheme success and maybe even more importantly star players (especially Messi) is probably what brings most foreign fans in.
 
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gregorrin10

Senior Member
I also dont think its a problem how people become fans, i became fan because 92 CL was the first CL competition i saw on TV as a kid. What i do think is problem is people suddenly saying that winning is not important, only playing nice is, while forgetting how they become fans in the first place, but liking a team that played nice, but also won.
I do not think many people became fans during Valverde's reign. You can go look yourself from google trends for example if you look at FC Barcelona keyword. First peak was with Ronaldinho and CL win in 2006, second peak in 2009 with Peps squad. Next peak in 2015 with Luchos treble. There is also peak in 2017, but i think its more related to the attacks that happened in Barcelona. Last peak is also in 2017 late summer with Neymars drama probably having its part. After that it has been steady and slow.
So winning CL is what really boosts your fanbase, most of people globally probably dont care much La Liga, even less for Copa. You start caring about local league wins after you have already become a fan. Only expection being Premier League that has marketed itself very well.

Winning trophies comes with playing nice, most times. There are some examples where defensive teams have some success too, but in general teams who win trophies, also play nice. Now playing nice isn't just one way, teams play nice their own way, but they do play nice. Atletico, by many considered the best defensive team in the past 10 years, have won jack shit, other than that one lucky La Liga title.

I became a Cule in 1999, and I became one because of the way we played and its values, not because of the results, which had the club fighting for CL qualification, and I had to wait until 2006 to see the team actually winning a CL.
 
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devo901

New member
All games I remember in the last 12 months showed that Barca ran LESS km than the opponent, despite playing possession! So, it is good to see training intensity is high - enough of these lukewarm rondo-marathons.
I hope Setien finds the right dose of trainings stimulus .... :D

The fact that I saw Busi in full galopp is a good sign!
 

Kul_z

Senior Member
Winning trophies comes with playing nice, most times. There are some examples where defensive teams have some success too, but in general teams who win trophies, also play nice. Now playing nice isn't just one way, teams play nice their own way, but they do play nice. Atletico, by many considered the best defensive team in the past 10 years, have won jack shit, other than that one lucky La Liga title.

I became a Cule in 1999, and I became one because of the way we played and its values, not because of the results, which had the club fighting for CL qualification, and I had to wait until 2006 to see the team actually winning a CL.

Same here. Became a fan because of rivaldo and kluivert. We were playing attractive football, rivaldo was the best player in the world and we were the only team in europe week in week out where you could see us scoring golazos and receveing ones. We were the most entertaining team and i didnt give a jacking shit about trophies because i could only see the standing on teletext and some sport newspapers reporting here and there about situations around the club, not click baits and shitty journalism.
 

LeeRomeno

Active member
Winning trophies comes with playing nice, most times. There are some examples where defensive teams have some success too, but in general teams who win trophies, also play nice. Now playing nice isn't just one way, teams play nice their own way, but they do play nice. Atletico, by many considered the best defensive team in the past 10 years, have won jack shit, other than that one lucky La Liga title.

I became a Cule in 1999, and I became one because of the way we played and its values, not because of the results, which had the club fighting for CL qualification, and I had to wait until 2006 to see the team actually winning a CL.

I think there is a general misconception of what attacking football is. Attacking football does not mean tiki taka, those are 2 different things. I dont know anyone who would not enjoy attacking football among my friends (who are fans of various clubs), but i know alot of people who consider tiki-taka extremely boring, not to mention not that efficient those days. Football evolves constantly.
I have an issue with being possession possessed. If you look at teams who have won CL in recent years, Liverpool, Real etc, none of the clubs care about possession, but they are all attacking teams. Klopp can easily allow his team sit in defense, but once they get the ball (which they often do due to excellent pressing), they are like chasing dogs after rabbit. I have stated this before and i am stating it now as well. Luchos treble winning side was for me the most enjoyable football Barcelona has played, not Peps Barca. Because they were direct, hungry, packed with speed and lots of skill and with only 1 goal, to score and win games. They are not afraid to shoot the ball from distance, they are very quick in transition from defense to attack if needed and they dont necessarily need to walk the ball into goal. What you need for this to actually execute though, is correct combination of youth and experience and technical and fast players. All those teams i previously mentioned had the same quality.
Klopps team has attack trio in their prime years (25-28), who are all gifted technically but also fast and great on ball. Very similar to what Luchos Barca had in MSN, then mixed energy and technical ability in midfield and endlessly energic full-backs, packed with strong defenders, who could pass the ball under pressure.
Now lets look at our squad. Only forward we have who would somewhat go under this category is Griez, rest are too young and unexperienced (Fati, Dembele, Perez) or too old (Messi, Suarez). 4 out of our 6 midfielders are 31-32 and probably not capable of pressing entire game and then we have Arthur who obviously has some fitness health issues and De Jong, who seems to be overplayed, etc. I do not see how we can expect glorious things from this squad unless a dramatic reshape is done, lets hope Setien is the guy who can deliver it.
 

MagIX

Senior Member
I think there is a general misconception of what attacking football is. Attacking football does not mean tiki taka, those are 2 different things. I dont know anyone who would not enjoy attacking football among my friends (who are fans of various clubs), but i know alot of people who consider tiki-taka extremely boring, not to mention not that efficient those days. Football evolves constantly.
I have an issue with being possession possessed. If you look at teams who have won CL in recent years, Liverpool, Real etc, none of the clubs care about possession, but they are all attacking teams. Klopp can easily allow his team sit in defense, but once they get the ball (which they often do due to excellent pressing), they are like chasing dogs after rabbit. I have stated this before and i am stating it now as well. Luchos treble winning side was for me the most enjoyable football Barcelona has played, not Peps Barca. Because they were direct, hungry, packed with speed and lots of skill and with only 1 goal, to score and win games. They are not afraid to shoot the ball from distance, they are very quick in transition from defense to attack if needed and they dont necessarily need to walk the ball into goal. What you need for this to actually execute though, is correct combination of youth and experience and technical and fast players. All those teams i previously mentioned had the same quality.
Klopps team has attack trio in their prime years (25-28), who are all gifted technically but also fast and great on ball. Very similar to what Luchos Barca had in MSN, then mixed energy and technical ability in midfield and endlessly energic full-backs, packed with strong defenders, who could pass the ball under pressure.
Now lets look at our squad. Only forward we have who would somewhat go under this category is Griez, rest are too young and unexperienced (Fati, Dembele, Perez) or too old (Messi, Suarez). 4 out of our 6 midfielders are 31-32 and probably not capable of pressing entire game and then we have Arthur who obviously has some fitness health issues and De Jong, who seems to be overplayed, etc. I do not see how we can expect glorious things from this squad unless a dramatic reshape is done, lets hope Setien is the guy who can deliver it.

I totally agree (except that i preferred Pep than Lucho).
 

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