Ernesto Valverde - V1

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
This is the guy for us.

garcia-pimienta-dirige-actualmente-juvenil-1428431881736.jpg

Too green and he's more valuable as a B team manager where he can do his best work: Develop young players
 

serghei

Senior Member
Unfortunately World Class managers don't grow on trees. Don't like Valverde and I don't like Setien and Machin is too green and has a steep learning curve ahead of him. Marcelino will at most only be a slight improvement over Valverde, if at all.

Who are even our alternatives? It's pretty bad out there. Not sure what we can expect. Sure we could throw Xavi or someone like that in there and pray it works, but far from a guarantee...

I'd go with Koeman. Maybe a legend like him knows Barcelona doesn't defend a 2-2 at home vs Valencia, be it 'in form' Valencia or not. I'd rather have a legend than someone like Valverde who is a non factor almost, up until he makes his presence 'known' with the subs.

Bring Koeman, maybe we take De Ligt too, with De Jong coming in in the summer.
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
I'd go with Koeman. Maybe a legend like him knows Barcelona doesn't defend a 2-2 at home vs Valencia, be it 'in form' Valencia or not.

Questionable past experience and he's turned very conservative in such moments in his career before too. Koeman will get the job for sure in the future, but cannot see him getting it just yet.

A lot of flawed managers out there. I want to know what Xavi's actual plans are.
 

El Gato

Villarato!
Maybe you should try forming a full sentence, if you expect people to understand your posts. Was it a weak attempt at irony?

How do you know what I was being ironic about since you apparently don't see the link? Haha.

Lol, glad to see you're finally seeing the light - quality squad is not exactly as quality and capable of winning the CL on merit of their ability alone.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Questionable past experience and he's turned very conservative in such moments in his career before too. Koeman will get the job for sure in the future, but cannot see him getting it just yet.

A lot of flawed managers out there. I want to know what Xavi's actual plans are.

I'd take any improvement. We'll keep the same form in the league, I'm sure about it. We've got nothing to lose from dropping Valverde.

How do you know what I was being ironic about since you apparently don't see the link? Haha.

Lol, glad to see you're finally seeing the light - quality squad is not exactly as quality and capable of winning the CL on merit of their ability alone.

I'm lazy. Don't want to do too much 'decrypting' after a Barca loss. Indulge me...

Quality squad is exactly that: quality. Maybe you've missed the rankings in La Liga and the past few years of football.
 
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DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
I'd take any improvement. We'll keep the same form in the league, I'm sure about it. We've got nothing to lose from dropping Valverde.

Get ready to be disappointed then as the latest report is that Valverde is planning to continue for a third and presumably final season.

But he does know the system/philosophy.

Pep was green once too, you know.

Pep, Lucho were different. Club legends and captains. They commanded respect from everyone because of their history as players.

In that respect Koeman could be a good choice, but as a tactician he's questionable IMO.
 

Jakabor

Active member
Get ready to be disappointed then as the latest report is that Valverde is planning to continue for a third and presumably final season.



Pep, Lucho were different. Club legends and captains. They commanded respect from everyone because of their history as players.

In that respect Koeman could be a good choice, but as a tactician he's questionable IMO.

I see what you're saying. The players seem to like Valverde even though he is not really a legend but just a player with a short stint at Barca though.

Respect could be achieved and trust could be earned by actually proving to be true to the philosophy and getting results that way.
 

serghei

Senior Member
If Atletico beat Madrid shit's gonna hit the fan. We need 6 points vs Bilbao and Sevilla away. We're playing Madrid away too in about a month.
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
This would be my team for the Champions League.

I know some people here would prefer Roberto because he adds more in possession, but teams in the CL will punish Barcelona severely if both FBs push up high and one of the flanks is basically useless. Therefore I would prefer a more balanced approach with one WB and one FB.

Messi naturally goes towards the middle so I would use Dembele on the RW where he's probably at his best and Suarez start out slightly to the left and then to his CF position. He goes a bit wider to support Alba when he needs it. This way you won't have the right side of the field being empty and useless or fragile defensively in the case Roberto plays and pushes too high up.

You need someone to then cover up for Alba bombing forward so being realistic it'll prob be Rakitic, but Vidal due to his mobility and energy should be a legit option in away games IMO. We're not going to win playing this style of possession-based football as those teams will press us and Busquets and Rakitic being unable to cope with it could bite us in the ass.

Nothing you can do about the CB pairing although I would prefer Umtiti due to his pace. He's simply faster and better than Lenglet so hopefully he can recover to be there from the QFs. Pique is going to start regardless of how he does so again being realistic, nothing you can do about that.

Semedo has not been very good as a RB for Barcelona, but he can play a role similar to what Abidal did. Be a more defensive RB with his great recovery pace to provide width when needed and act as a 3rd CB as cover on counters.

I might try to convey my thoughts about this lineup in a longer post tomorrow before the Super Bowl, nothing BBZ style, but simply more detailed on why and my thought process behind it. Or I might not and this could be my last here one, we'll see.

Anyway, here's the lineup:

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