Luis Enrique

[DinhoR10]

I'd like montoya to be given more time, simply because unlike Alves he'll run back so Rakitic can spend more time trying to link up with iniesta.

 

[Hamzah]

One of the points of Ursegor's formation was to limit Alves coming up and giving crosses. Having Iniesta there will only encourage that behavior while an actual winger like Pedro will limit it. Iniesta will also unnecessarily crowd the midfield while not providing as much defensive work rate as Pedro. When the team switches to a 4-4-2 in the defensive phase, I think Iniesta on the right would be a terrible idea, and not just because he would slow down the counter-attacks.

And tbf Pedro's crossing is also 10x more dangerous than Alves'.

I would be really surprised if any of that 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 happens though

Good points

 

[Alarcón]

Barca19stats 49 min
In which game did the 3rd loss occured for every barça manager:

Enrique: 13th game

Tata: 36th

Tito: 33th

Pep: 24th

Rijkaard: 15th

Fact that Tito and Tata are so high up the list gives me hope

 

[linetty]

I'm very curious to see if he manages to fix this mess. So far it looks like he has no clue and the tactics are to hoof the ball and count on luck or individual genius

No improvement over Tata in short

 

[Ursegor]

I would be really surprised if any of that 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 happens though

Obviously. 4-3-3 or any other variant with 3 midfielders is untouchable at Barca. Expect more crossing from the best number 9 in the world to 5.5 ft. midgets as the main gameplan going forward.

 

[Icarium]

He is inferior to tata that is for sure. After some thinking i think it is better to stick with him for this season as they are not many good managers who would come. If by the end of December we don't have a proper plan then we should think of sacking. Until then i still believe in the team and coach. Bad patches happen for every team (RM had it in the start of the season) lucho made some mistakes trying to fit suarez in. No clear directive yet but to get one soon might not be that easy. I can't think of a single coach who could come in now and make the team world beaters in one match. The messi neymar combination is no more. Defense lost its confidence. It is not all him, players also fucked up. We are not out of title race yet but if we don't improve we might be.

At the end of the year i want entertaining football. That is all i ask, i don't mind another trophy less season as long as we get our shit together and set a clear directive for next season. Lucho said he will play entertaining football so far team looks shit. It is like watching classic west movies in 0.5x speed, so damn slow.

 

[Hamzah]

We don't play entertaining at all. Anything good comes from the players not the system giving good footy.

 

[Icarium]

We don't play entertaining at all. Anything good comes from the players not the system giving good footy.

True dat. We as a team did nothing more than a mid table team. It is all messi and his passes and with neymar finishes in middle. But everyone still blames messi for our defeats. It is so hard to be messi i guess.

 

[serghei]

Lucho messed up, and that needs to be said. He started with the plan and that plan is f...ing stupid. I've seen that and became convinced by that early, after the game on La Rosaleda. The problem is he made his squad and bought the players for that tactic, playing the midfielders as cover for the fullbacks. Once we get rid of that tactic, we simply lack viable option for two positions. The DLP, or creative midfielder, the one who needs to play next to Mascherano, and the RW.

For me, Rakitic next to Mascherano is going to fail, because Rakitic is not a great playmaker. Busquets might be better there if he recovers, he's still young. So, for me, it's Mascherano - Busi with what we have now. Mascherano - Fabregas would've been the best pair, but Mascherano - Busquets comes pretty close. Please, no Mascherano - Rakitic. That pair is not going to create anything.

Now, the RW problem, because after the sale of Alexis, our right wing has became a problem. We simply rely on Alves to cross the brains out of every ball that is distributed in that zone. Pedro there? Could work, but it's a downgrade from last year. Massive downgrade that is.

I'd go with 4-2-3-1, the only system that can protect the backline. And that system demands a RW with good workrate, and more effort from Neymar. Messi doesn't track back. Suarez playing as a 9 won't either. We can't afford 3 players to do that.

Ths is the best we can do with the current squad. But I can make a better line-up with last years players. That's also on Lucho.

 

[Irish_Cules]

I was half thinking that maybe he'd try 3 at the back the end of the last game but now with Mathieu out I can't see that happening. You need either him or Vermalaen for that left centre back spot.

 

[Kasperroed]

Lucho messed up, and that needs to be said. He started with the plan and that plan is f...ing stupid. I've seen that and became convinced by that early, after the game on La Rosaleda. The problem is he made his squad and bought the players for that tactic, playing the midfielders as cover for the fullbacks. Once we get rid of that tactic, we simply lack viable option for two positions. The DLP, or creative midfielder, the one who needs to play next to Mascherano, and the RW.

.........

Really nice thoughts!

However, i don't get why you don't think Mascherano/Busquets + Rackitic could work? I mean, Rackitic was a master of long-range-pases last season for Sevilla. Why should'nt he be capabale of that now, like distributing the ball to Pedro, Neymar etc.? Obviously he is no Xavi, but i think that Busquets has some of those tiki-taka skills as well - how about a Busquets - Rackitic pivot? I think that could work. Also, Mascherano is a much more reliable CB than Pique at the moment.

 

[serghei]

Really nice thoughts!

However, i don't get why you don't think Mascherano/Busquets + Rackitic could work? I mean, Rackitic was a master of long-range-pases last season for Sevilla. Why should'nt he be capabale of that now, like distributing the ball to Pedro, Neymar etc.? Obviously he is no Xavi, but i think that Busquets has some of those tiki-taka skills as well - how about a Busquets - Rackitic pivot? I think that could work. Also, Mascherano is a much more reliable CB than Pique at the moment.

I welcomed Rakitic, but the more I see him, the more I think he's nothing special. Real have Modric, Bayern have Schweinsteiger/Alonso, City have Yaya, Chelsea have Fabregas, Arsenal have Wilshire, Dortmund have Gundogan, PSG have Matuidi.

Rakitic won't make the starting eleven as a CM in any of these teams IMO.

 

[Barcaman]

We've seen some improvements. Less goals conceded, more chances for youngsters, more rotations.
Remember we missed all those things in last few years.
Team also works harder so Lucho is doing something right.

There's hope yet guys.

 

[jairzinho]

We've seen some improvements. Less goals conceded, more chances for youngsters, more rotations.
Remember we missed all those things in last few years.
Team also works harder so Lucho is doing something right.

There's hope yet guys.

Yes all these positive things are happening, but to what end ?. More rotations and playing time for youngsters are great, but only when we have built a solid and cohesive platform. You can't put in the windows and doors before the foundation. Right now we don't have that. We don't even know how we should play and what players to use. We've done well and kept the clean sheets against the smaller teams, but against difficult opposition we get found out. Lucho needs to get his tactics right first. We need to have a proper platform, and by that i mean tactics, formation, knowledge of what our strongest eleven is. when that knowledge and system is established, the players need time to gel and build cohesiveness. Only when that is established, can we think about giving the youngsters chances and also rotations.

 

[instinct]