Why are you insisting with this argument? A football cycle is 3-4 years. It's known. So, either all teams get figured out after that period, or teams simply decline with time in terms of motivation, tactics, work ethic, being injury-free etc.
You make it out as if this is a "Pep thing", like some anomaly. It's not. It's been a fact of team sports in general for many decades.
I do it because for 7-8 years we had to read things like: TikiTaka is not figured out, Pep's style is not figured out, Pep's style can not get figured out, it stopped working not because it is figured out but because we stopped executing it correctly.
For years people acted (especially those who started to watch football during Pep's Barca) as it is by far the best style/era in a history of world's football.
And almost as if it is Godlike/eternal style which can never be figured out or get neutralized.
Serghei, to make an analogy: you and I agree that Messi used to be a GOAT but that he is done and horrible today.
And then both you and I are pissed at users like Malvolio who write things as: no, this is just a dip in form, he will return, it's because of his bad teammates/bad coaches and similar nonsense.
Well, people who still think that Pep is a real deal in 2020, for me are as deluded as Messi's fanboys on this forum.
You, KingLeo and others have lately came down from the Pep's cloud and you have made some steps towards more realistic ground.
But still, imo, you are way overrating current Pep.
Imo, it is almost impossible that Pep will ever come even close to his great days.
Why?
1. Teams all over the Europe have figured out his style since 2009
2. He is insanely stubborn and he will never change. He will be trying the same shit till death with 2-3 small cosmetical changes, but realistically, he is playing exactly the same football for 12 years, the same as Mourinho.
This is why Mou more or less died as a coach.
He will offer a good season once in 7-8 years but otherwise it's the same, old, predictable thing.
3. Football has evolved. It is not 1992 or 2011 anymore.
We can read a lot on our forum how we have to go back to our roots and reinvent some of Cruijff's or Pep's ideas.
But what if nothing will help because we have to play against cyborgs today?
When Cruijff coached Barca, it was possible to have a short Cf like Romario or the lightest pivot ever: Pep himself.
Could you win CLs today with a short forward like Romario and players like Pep?
Lol, only if you'll play in women's competition.
So, original Cruijffs football can't work anymore.
Then, Pep's was just a modern version of Cruijff's football.
It worked for 3 years, with the best generation ever and with prime Messi.
But to show how flawed Pep's ideas are, even the best generation ever had like 20% of wins in away CL matches during Pep's 4 years.
And we lost almost every CL tie against any semi-physical team:
2009 robbery against Chelsea
2010 defeat to Inter
2012 Chelsea again
The only win is against Real in 2011 and wins against 442 naive Man Utd with 40 years old Giggs as one of two CMs playing against our 7-men midfield consisted of 3 midfielders, 2 wingers, false 9 drop deep Messi and false midfielder Alves.
Ferguson was naive and didn't know how to play against us back then.
7 vs 2. No wonder that we destroyed them for fun.
3. And then you have La Masia who are producing players like Riki Puig, as if they don't have clocks in that center and as if time has stopped in May of 1992 or 2011.
So, imo, it is harder and harder to execute Pep's type of football because everyone has figured it out plus other teams have moved towards cyborgs (Bayern, Liverpool).
And in spite what our dreamy fans think, in 2021 and onwards you won't be able to beat cyborgs with a fkng Riki Puig and Trincao type of players.
So, not only that I think that Pep himself will sank like a Titanic, but also it is highly unlikely that Barca's original DNA football will come back on top in the future without some MAJOR fundamental changes.
And then, our main candidate is Font who's main idea is to hire Xavi, probably the most stubborn, deluded and stuck in time person after Pep.
There is a strong reason why Brasil stopped winning WCs after 2002.
They won 5 out of 12 world cups from 1958 to 2002.
They are a Titanic since 2002.
Why?
Because football has changed.
Their soft samba style can't win against European cyborgs anymore.
From 1986-2002, in 5 WC finals in a row, we always had 1 South American team.
From 2006-2018, out of 8 finalists, 7 were Europeans and only 1 South Americans.
Why?
Imo, because Europeans have turned towards combination of technique-pace-strength-stamina-height.
And European teams are a combo of technique and physique.
Yet, Brasil and Argentina are stuck in 90s.
Brasil have Jesus, Coutinho, Arthur.
Argentina has Messi, Aguero, Dybala, Lautaro.
South American teams are still more about technique than about physique.
But not only that technique and a softer football are in their roots, but they also have problems with genetics.
Here is a list of average male height per country:
186 Dinaric alps
184 Bosnia
182 Sweden
181 Netherlands
180 Croatia
180 Denmark
180 Belgium
180 Norway
178 Germany
174 Argentina
171 Brasil
171 Colombia
167 Ecuador
And then, no wonder that South American countries rely mostly on possession football.
Since they can't cross.
On the other hand, when European teams play against South Americans, they have more options for both possession and crosses/corners/long balls/headers.
They have more options in defense and in attack.
What can Argentina do?
= play through the middle, try to dribble past 5 players and yet somehow not to concede 2-3 from taller and often better physically prepared European teams.
In today's world where all countries developed a decent footballing technique and reasonable tactics, the only other difference maker left is= physique.
And if you don't have physique due to genetics, like South Americans, you are dead in a modern-cyborg football.
Another example:
In 2010, Inter had 6 South Americans as starters in a CL final.
In 2015, Barca had 5.
Yet:
2016, 17, 18: Real 2
2019: Liverpool 2
2020: Bayern 1 (Thiago)
I don't have time and energy, but if I would check stats, I am quite sure that they would show how an average height of CL winners have gone up in recent years.
So, my point is= imo, football will move into NBA's direction, where it will be impossible to play without insane cyborg-ish physique in the future paired with very good technique.
And since both Barca, Pep, Spain and Brasil rely on less physical and more technical-smart movement ideas, it's no surprise that all of them suck in the last 10 years on the highest level.
Technique and smart movement alone can't beat teachnique-smart movement-cyborgs anymore.
So, Pep is stuck in 1992 with light link-up forwards and ball playing CBs.
Plus TikiTaka is figured out.
And the football world evolved.
So, yes, posts about overhyping Pep and his style are as bad as posts from Messi's fanboys who think that this is just a dip in form.
