Ernesto Valverde - V1

serghei said:

You have to be blind not to see that at 1-0 vs Atletico we played exactly like Mourinho does, basically having a defensive manager like Simeone liking your game because it was so much like his own football.

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I must have lost my sight then, this had nothing to do with Mourinho, we were attacking and dominating them until it was risky, that isn't Mou or Simeone approach by any mean.

serghei said:

You have to be blind not to see that at 1-0 vs Atletico we played exactly like Mourinho does, basically having a defensive manager like Simeone liking your game because it was so much like his own football. Look at the away scores in CL. We scored 1 goal vs Sporting (own goal), 1 vs Chelsea (massive blunder from one of their players), and 0 vs Olympiakos and 0 vs Juventus. 2 goals in 4 games and those two goals were not even well planned attacks

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We aren't doing well outside of home in CL? well it seems EV is bringing Pep days back

JamDav1982 said:

Barcelona were impressive away to Atletico in league, one of most best performances there in while despite winning in past.

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The first half performance was a shit show... Second half was a whole lot better when he brought the attacking players on.

Impressive at home to Atletico even if players looked jaded a few days after Las Palmas. Created more chances that game than City did the same day v Chelsea that some folk were purring over.

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I wouldn’t really equate Atletico’s performance to Chelsea’s against Man City. Chelsea didn’t even attack the ball. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve seen from a big team in while and even then City mustered 3 shots on target against our 5 against Atletico. But in all honesty the performance against Atletico is not what I’d call impressive maybe from a defensive point of view. They had more of the ball in the second half...

Impressive away to Juve without Messi in being able to control a game that a draw was good enough in a way Barca teams have not often done in past.

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How can you call this an impressive performance. Aimless possession against a team that was equally happy with a draw...

Chelsea games were not great to be honest but going up 2-0 early to a team that wanted to break the whole game it was right thing to sit back a bit from there but personally dotnt like the approach of leaving Messi and Suarez centrally up pitch but it worked Barca won 3-0.

Barca have had more impressive and controlled performances than people let on.

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For me the only impressive performances have been Juventus at home, Madrid away and the Valencia game in the Copa.

Vilarrubi said:

Surely you’re not using the Espanyol game as an example of a poor game. Did you see the weather in that game??? The pitch was unplayable, even more for a team like us who like to pass. That’s why the two goals in the game were from crosses and headers.

I never mentioned the unbeaten season, but as i said in another post about it I’m not bothered about it at all.

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Yes, the conditions are the same for everybody. We didn’t play on a drenched pitch while they played on dry pitch...

Having seen Man Utd's tie with Sevilla, it boggles my mind how on earth anyone can compare Valverde's Barça with Mou.

But yeah, blind man checking in here as well apparently.

Winning 3-0 vs Juve, Madrid and Chelsea. But yeah, result-driven. It is not black and white. There are more shades between attacking right into a trap and playing result-driven.

MessiCam said:

Yes, the conditions are the same for everybody. We didn’t play on a drenched pitch while they played on dry pitch...

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Worst logic ever. Read what I put again. The two goals (scored by both teams) were headers from crosses, so it affected both teams. But when have we ever been a crossing team? Of course it would affect us more.

Also since when has “shots on target” been a more important stat than shots total. We had 12 shots in total which isn’t bad in that weather.

Trickykid said:

Having seen Man Utd's tie with Sevilla, it boggles my mind how on earth anyone can compare Valverde's Barça with Mou.

But yeah, blind man checking in here as well apparently.

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The principles are similar. The quality of the players is not. Mourinho has had big success with conservative - defensive tactics. He won Champions League two times with that.

khaled_a_d said:

I must have lost my sight then, this had nothing to do with Mourinho, we were attacking and dominating them until it was risky, that isn't Mou or Simeone approach by any mean.

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We never dominate Chelsea in this tie. We were clinical, and defended well (although too many last ditch effort tackles after we already failed to block them from getting into dangerous positions), and we had Messi. This is exactly the sort of win Mourinho football would bring if he had a player of Messi's class.

khaled_a_d said:

We aren't doing well outside of home in CL? well it seems EV is bringing Pep days back

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A lot of times Pep lost games away in which his team dominated but failed to covert the chances. Inter away, Arsenal away two times, Chelsea away. Should have won all these games. Vs Inter the ref made a mess out of that game, and vs Arsenal and Chelsea, I don't know how we managed to not score at least 3-4 goals.

With Valverde we're just not creating many chances, but we do a better job at getting better results. Again, it is an increase in pragmatism and good defending, and a decrease in chances created. And again, these are the pros and cons of Mourinho football (when it's working).

I don't even know why you guys are getting so mad at comments regarding Valverde's Barcelona being the most defensive Barca in a long time. It's basically a consensus these days. Most of the pundits covering the CL games have been saying the same thing. It's pretty obvious this team is more defensive than the old one, with a lot of similarities with Mourinho and Simeone's views on defending.

We are scoring more goals than anyone (bar City or QSG maybe) and have more possession than anyone.

Stop comparing Barca with Mourinho because you aren't making sense.

Eventually Valverde will return to the 4-3-3. Be patient guys.

MessiCam said:

The first half performance was a shit show... Second half was a whole lot better when he brought the attacking players on.


I wouldn’t really equate Atletico’s performance to Chelsea’s against Man City. Chelsea didn’t even attack the ball. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve seen from a big team in while and even then City mustered 3 shots on target against our 5 against Atletico. But in all honesty the performance against Atletico is not what I’d call impressive maybe from a defensive point of view. They had more of the ball in the second half...


How can you call this an impressive performance. Aimless possession against a team that was equally happy with a draw...



For me the only impressive performances have been Juventus at home, Madrid away and the Valencia game in the Copa.

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You seem to pick and choose the halfs that suit your argument.

The first half away to Atletico was not a 'shitshow' and again Barca were as good across the 90 mins there as have been for a while.

Yes we can compare City v Chelsea who were being talke about as some swashbuckling attacking perfomance while Barca 'played like Mourinho side' v Atletico...when Barca actually had more shots on goal and shots on target.

Yes Juve away was impressive as Barca rested Messi and controlled the game barely giving Juve a sniff.

MessiCam said:

Yes, the conditions are the same for everybody. We didn’t play on a drenched pitch while they played on dry pitch...

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You should tell that to Pep and Xavi who clearly know that a poorer pitch will suit the side who want to play less football.

That is fairly obvious that bad weather and pitches can become a leveller. Not even sure whu would argue that.

Barcaman said:

We are scoring more goals than anyone (bar City or QSG maybe) and have more possession than anyone.

Stop comparing Barca with Mourinho because you aren't making sense.

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Mourinho's Madrid didn't have a problem with scoring goals, scored a lot of those. He was still defensive in the top games. Same situation here. When people say about Barca being defensive, they don't mean they are defending vs Eibar (although even in that game we kind of sat back and invited them to attack us, resulting in them having more positional attacks than us). It means that in the important games, vs the strong teams, the emphasis is on defending well, with doing what we can on the counter which is mainly to give the ball to Messi on the run, in a situation that can be decisive.

I'm not saying this is good or bad, but that's the reality. Valverde has turned us from a team that is looking to dominate even in the strong games, a team that sits back a lot, trying to absorb pressure and score on the break on the back of Messi being lethal in space. Let's see how well it will work. But even if it does work, make no mistake about this, this is the kind of football Mourinho played and won with it. It just looks a bit better because it's hard to make a team that has Messi and several other world class players look bad no matter what tactic you use almost.

serghei said:

Mourinho scored a lot of goals when he managed Madrid. He was still defensive in the top games. Same situation here. When people say about Barca being defending, they don't mean they are defending vs Eibar. It means that in the important games, vs the strong teams, the emphasis is on defending well, with doing what we can on the counter which is mainly to give the ball to Messi on the run.

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EV Barca play nothing like Mourinhos sides approaches to games and did not in Atletico game.

Any time a manager decided to sit back and defend a lead more is not them going all Mourinho and it is something Barca should look to do if best way to defend a lead.

Origami said:

Eventually Valverde will return to the 4-3-3. Be patient guys.

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Let's hope he doesn't or we will get trashed

Stoichkov1 said:

Let's hope he doesn't or we will get trashed

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I was talking about next season.

Origami said:

I was talking about next season.

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I don't know why we should return to the 4-3-3 even next season if with the 4-4-2 we have the best defence in Europe, we are undefeated in the league, in CDR final and probably in the semifinals of CL.

JamDav1982 said:

You seem to pick and choose the halfs that suit your argument.

The first half away to Atletico was not a 'shitshow' and again Barca were as good across the 90 mins there as have been for a while.

Yes we can compare City v Chelsea who were being talke about as some swashbuckling attacking perfomance while Barca 'played like Mourinho side' v Atletico...when Barca actually had more shots on goal and shots on target.

Yes Juve away was impressive as Barca rested Messi and controlled the game barely giving Juve a sniff.

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Why are you bringing me into this Mourinho thing? I have absolutely nothing to do with it.

And yes, I will use half’s as an example because this current Barcelona pats itself on the back for better possession and passing stats over 90 mins against a defensive, counter attacking team that had the better of the game for a whole 45 minutes. What comes next? Yay, we had more possession than Eibar...

And City did have a swashbuckling attacking performance against Chelsea. Nearly 80% of the ball, 900 passes against a team that parked the biggest bus I’ve seen in a long time and yet they fashioned just 2 shots less on target in total and 3 overall than us who played against a team that opened up in the second half.

That game against a Juventus was a spineless performance for lack of a better word. Messi or not, we managed a grand total of 1 shot on target over 90 minutes as opposed to 3 from Juventus despite having 65% possession. You call it a controlled game while I call it a performance bereft of any audacity. It’s the type of game Bilbao would play.