Luis Enrique

Neymessi said:

He was bought as a sudden surprise and everyone here was really happy with the transfer.

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Neymessi said:

There is never a 100% chance that a player will do well when is bought. There are always chances. And right now browsing this forum one may get an impression that most were in dissaproval when he was bought and it was crystal clear how terrible he was,like douglas. He was bought as a sudden surprise and everyone here was really happy with the transfer.

You yourself used to say that he was a great transfer considering he is a proper CM, a hole never been filled since xavi left. He turned out bad but the blame should be for keeping playing him all the time even after playing so many bad matches in crucial moments.

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BBZ8800 said:

Also, I am personally tired of that Barca's DNA shit with players like Xavi, Iniesta, Denis, Fabregas and similar.
Slow turtles, weak in physical area and awesome in technique.

It worked once with prime Xavi-Iniesta-Messi and it won't work ever again in european cups.

Interesting stats to consider.
Let's say that teams with huge physical strength are: Milan, Juve, Bayern, Inter, Chelsea, Atletico

Let's see how we played against them from Pep till today in knockout rounds:
2009:
-- won: Bayern, Chelsea
2010:
-- Inter, KO
2011:
--
2012:
-- Milan, won
-- Chelsea, KO
2013:
-- Milan, won
-- Bayern, KO
2014:
-- Atletico, KO
2015:
-- Bayern, Juve, won
2016:
-- Atletico, KO
2017:
-- Juve, KO?

So, since Pep, we have:
6:6 (if we lose to Juve).

Our ALL CL KO's since Pep is the "same" type of teams over and over:
1. Inter
2. Chelsea
3. Bayern
4. Atletico
5. Atletico
6. Juventus

Teams who are weaker than us on technique, but who usually have taller, stronger, faster players.
We are usually outplayed in a middle, they run more than us, they are better and faster in duels, tackles, arial duels etc.

We are especially poor in away matches against these physically tougher teams.

Also, if we want to dig deeper in our past, it is repeating.
I personally had a feeling tonight: "Omg, I have watched this fucking match too many times in our history. We have the ball and we can't do anything, and our opponents are scoring a goal after goal from every shot and from every counter."

In 2008', we were knocked out by Man Utd, that is the only team which aren't as physical as other teams.
In 2007', we lost to Liverpool. The same old team who runs like crazy and has physically stronger players.
In 2005, we lost to Mourinho's Chelsea. Matches were the same as our away matches to Psg and Juve this season.
If you felt bad today, older Barca's fans are feeling the same way over and over all the time, and the same shit always repeats.

What I am trying to say: more or less, we CAN'T lose to any technical team in the world (except to Real from time to time).
If we'll play against technical teams like Arsenal, Roma, French teams, Man City and similar, we will usually eat them alive.

But when we face Bayern, Atletico, Juve, the same crap happens every time.
All matches are more or less the same.

For example, in the last 4 years when we had Messi+Neymar together:
2014 Atletico: Messi and Neymar were invisible against a physically tougher team.
2016 Atletico: Messi and Neymatr invisible, the whole team can't create anything.
2017 Juve: the same old story. Where is Messi? Where is Neymar? Plus, the whole team can't create anything.

My point is: Denis, Iniesta, Rafinha and other guys are obviously good enough for La liga and when we face Porto, Monaco, Man City, Psg, Arsenal, Man Utd and similar.
But when we face physically strong teams, we are losing in more than 50% of knockout matches in the last 15-ish years.

So, imo, in the future we will need to have at least one "different" midfielder (NOT Gomes) like Van Bommel, Cocu, even Thiago Motta in the past.

Today, Juve:
190cm Mandzukic
190cm Bonucci
189cm Khedira
187cm Chiellini
184cm Higuain
181cm Alex Sandro
180cm Pjanic
179cm Cuadrado
177cm Dybala
172cm Dani Alves
= average height 182,9 cm

Now, our guys:
194cm Pique
189cm Mathieu
184cm Rakitic
182cm Suarez
181cm Umtiti
178cm Roberto
175cm Neymar
174cm Mascherano
171cm Iniesta
170cm Messi

Their midfield+attack:
= 183,2cm

Barca's midfield and attack:
= 176,3

I am not saying that a pure height is everything (since we already have Busquets and Gomes).
But surely, playing with players who are physically weak like Xavi and Iniesta (but are not technically good like Xavi+Iniesta) is not the answer either (Denis, Rafinha, Roberto, current Iniesta etc).

This is one of the reasons why we can't have a plan B.
We ALWAYS (for 20-30 years) have only one gameplan: play our game. If it works=awesome. If it is not working=just try the same thing over and over and hope that it will start working (lol).

Again, I can't explain how many times I have been watching tonight's game through our past.
We always lose in exactly the same way against these teams.

We look like kids who pass the ball around, and who are easily pushed and dispossessed in every duel.
And they are just scoring... and scoring... and scoring... with head, with feet, from counters, from corners, in 100s of different ways.
While we can always score only with feet, from Barca's DNA Action.

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Behrox said:

I get what you're saying, but in our current squad that simply does not apply. Technical vs Physical in terms of balance or heavily favoring one over the other is a debate that has no end. In context of our current squad, only Busi, Iniesta (on form), Rakitic(?) and Roberto have the bare minimum technical level to possibly forego and overshadow physical deficiencies or vice versa. Gomes is neither technically proficient and despite his physical stature, he has the physicality of basically a toddler. Arda can't play in the midfield period. Rafinha and Denis would qualify as Atletico style wide midfielders/wingers(?) in a 442. And Masche for all his qualities is not a good fit to play in a style of midfield such as Barca.

It's my opinion that technical play outweighs physicality if pitted against each other like we saw the physical French midfield overrun by technical and physically weak Spanish midfield in the International break. What plagues our midfield is years of mismanagement, negligence and outright incompetence when it comes to tactics and planning.

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Sneer said:

No comeback this time.
I bet my forum membership on it!
This is game over.
We are going to face the great wall of China.
I'd be surprise if Allegri doesn't field an all defense team.

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God Serena said:

You have 25 posts, your membership here doesn't hold much value.

Put your avatar on the line like a real G.

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Devils said:

A comeback next week would more than likely mean a visit to Munich in the next round.

I know this is Barcelona and we don't back down from anyone, but in our current state, I would rather we not make that trip.

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serghei said:

Well, things are simple. We're not scoring 5 goals against this Juventus. We can score 3, and maybe force extra time were everything can happen. If we concede we're out.

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Neymessi said:

People said the same thing against PSG. We can definitely score 5 against juventus. Messi,suarez and our 4 midfielders were far from special and we still hit them for 6. If MSN have a really good game we surely can hit them for anything.

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