Whew, man Lucho for a second it was really looking like Roma but finally we got the Celta Lucho!!
It's all starting to make sense now, and I'm glad he finally found some resemblance of a starting 11. People say that we are playing more direct but we are still bossing possession in the high 60s to low 70s which is remarkable considering how direct our attacks are. While Pep built this team more from the Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Busquets diamond and creating scoring opportunities through coordinated passing moves, Lucho's idea is to get the ball to the dangermen as quickly as possible and let the players use their creativity more is an interesting subtlety. I think this style, while less intricate and cohesive, is easier to allow players to express themselves (Neymar, Rafinha, Suarez, etc.) and easier to adapt to then Pep's.
Also, we are far from the most spoiled fans. It's just league play doesn't always equate to performance in Europe. What jaded me was having Bayern absolutely humiliate Barça despite us winning La Liga. So that's why people were bitching before when it wasn't looking cohesive at all, no more than a month ago. This is one of the quickest turn arounds I've seen from a team as far as rise in form and performance. So equally, Lucho deserved all the criticism he had when the team wasn't performing and he deserves all the credit for finally finding a dicernable style and player combinations.
It will be in the Ides of March that we will see ft it's trophy talk time. I think we have the potential right now to get a big result in the first leg against City, and with Real on the ropes right now, we can deliver the hammer blow to them at the Camp Nou and knock out City and come into the quarter finals with a reestablished fear factor throughout Europe.
Lucho just needs to keep the squad healthy, rotate wisely and keep us in form and in confidence. It really is staring to look real.
