Luis Enrique

[Icarium]

Bravo
Alves Bartra Mathieu Alba
Rakitic masch Xavi
Suarez Messi Neymar

for next match. Iniesta for xavi after some matches busi for masch and masch for bartra if bartra does not show physicality required for a defender. Pique Pedro never to be seen again.

 

[Kohe321]

Bringing pep might not be a good decision i just miss him. One more defeat in a big match i will lose hope in lucho. There are problems that can be seen very easily but the solutions are very hard for them. Transfer ban could not have come at worst time. Iniesta form, don't know how to solve it. CB pairing, nothing feels secure. RB no backup or future option if alves leaves who is also not that great. Xavi decline. Busi off form. Messi not that effective in scoring goals. Solving them will be very tough. I don't think any coach could solve all of these problems.

One of the reasons why bringing back Pep would feel good is that Pep understands when he does something wrong, and you can often understand his decisions and way of thinking. You can see that he has a plan, and even if it doesn't work you understand the ideas behind it, so it's easy to be hopeful that things will turn around because the captain of the ship is talented and knows where he wants to go and has clear ideas about how to get there.

I am pretty bewildered by some of the ideas behind Luchos moves tonight yet again (remember when he decided to debut Douglas in one of the toughest away games in the league against Malaga? Yeah, that kind of confused). Benching Alba to start Mathieu at LB while not changing the tactic or formation to a more defensive one, but use Mathieu just like you would use Alba? What, seriously? That's just a clear downgrade from the get-go, as Alba is better than Mathieu at this style. Also, starting Pique and Mascherano at CB together yet again. Sigh. We have seen how Benzema bosses Masch at CB before, this is nothing new. It's pretty much just a straight continuation of the indredibly poor CB lineup that we have used for so long now already, a duo that we have seen fail again and again, but yet Lucho keep using it even now that we have a shiny new CB to use in Mathieu (I know Mathieu knows the LB position, but he's a better CB by far). Lucho basically chose to play Masch and Mathieu out of their best positions and in the process sacrifice Alba from the game, when the better alternative would be Mathieu at CB, Alba at LB and Masch at midfield benching busquets. It just has fail written all over it, and we saw why tonight.

 

[Icarium]

Apparently tello gave 3 assists in 60 mins. Deulofeu playing well and tello playing well and afellay also playing well sanchez carrying arsenal while pedro playing worse than a segunda player. Keeping pedro and letting all of them go is very strange decision that i will never understand.

 

[Barcilliant]

Tata saw the team couldn't pressome like before and brought new tactics. It worked for some time and then the press got on his case and the board threw him under the bus. Tata had a poor squad, a ton of off field problems and we still did well in the big matches.

Everyone was high on Lucho but the bigger picture is becoming more clear now

 

[Icarium]

I will end with this last post for tonight. As much as we can blame lucho for fucking up i blame players equally both for this match and psg defeat. Individual mistakes are very high.

 

[Barcilliant]

Tata in the first half of his season was way more tactically astute than Lucho.

Signs are not looking good for Lucho. 2 big games and both times schooled big time. (Even by Blanc....). Couple that with idiotic decisions like MaTS in CL, Pique starting today, Mathieu as LB etc. I hope he proves me wrong but i dont think he's good enough for Barca.

Biggest problem is who to bring in?

I don't see any manager who can transform our situation in just one season.Pep was an exception. People still can't come to terms with that.

 

[DonAndres]

I feel like his managerial style, like Tata and Tito, just doesn't address the role required to get the best out of the team. Knowing how to mix and match individuals in a set-up only goes so far and is dependent on the uncertainty of individual form/motivation. It doesn't address the fact that the team tends to dwindle down as the season goes on from strong starts and that when our control of a match is broken, we look like a completely different team to the one that can thrash smaller sides who don't contest our dominance.

He knows how to make decisions and work with transfers or individuals. This can be seen in his stints at Roma/Celta where he brought key players like Lamela, Pjanic, Nolito, Fontas, Rafinha, etc. Many of his players also expressed delight at working under him and how he gave them chances to grow (like he is with Munir/Sandro now). He gave the foundation for both clubs to grow with the changes he made and the individuals he set up to succeed (like how Berizzo is expanding on Lucho's foundation with Celta to take them to 6th place).

That's the impact I feel he'll have on our club in his time here. He already made several important transfer decisions that I support (other than Douglas). He'll keep giving chances to Munir and co. which will firmly cement their places in the first team after he leaves. He set up the Neymar-Messi partnership properly to get the best out of their dynamic and Neymar especially is benefiting in terms of his scoring rate. Other than our defense, I really like our squad for this season looking at both short term and long term. He has built the foundation for the future in terms of personnel and all, but I don't think that he's the right guy to get the best out of it and turn it into a successful system.

This makes it easier for a good successor to come in and take advantage of the resources left behind. Someone who, tactically speaking, is well educated in how total football works. Right now the name on my mind is Paco Jemez but the idea is just to have someone who knows the value of having a unified system. The kind that allows Rayo to outperform their individual value by 10x over, the kind that brought Athletic to CL last season and Europa/CDR finals in 11/12, the kind that Bayern has now to be crushing a very capable Roma team 7-1. It's real total football with constant movement and technical play, not this static and rigid formation bullcrap we're running now.

My hopes for Lucho's reign as manager are that he continues to build a foundation for the future with the individuals the way he has here and at Celta. If he could turn Fontas into a decent defender then I'm pretty sure he can get Bartra to a higher capacity. Getting MAtS, Munir, and Samper some momentum will be important as well. Doing that will fulfill his role of platform-setter and then, unfortunately, I think he'll have to go. That's how I see the trajectory as of now, that for Lucho's work here to be a success it'll have to come to fruit after he leaves.

Btw, brilliant post as usual DennyCrane.

 

[DennyCrane]

I will end with this last post for tonight. As much as we can blame lucho for fucking up i blame players equally both for this match and psg defeat. Individual mistakes are very high.

Indeed they are. But the unholy trinity of conceding from dumbass penalties, corners and counter-attacks is nothing new in Barcaland and at one point,seeing as this drags on for years now, one just has to ask whether these are individual flaws or structural ones. By now, I tend to opt for the latter which range from obvious shortcomings in training to bad communication (Iniesta-Masch situation for example).

 

[Devils]

Apparently tello gave 3 assists in 60 mins. Deulofeu playing well and tello playing well and afellay also playing well sanchez carrying arsenal while pedro playing worse than a segunda player. Keeping pedro and letting all of them go is very strange decision that i will never understand.

Glad I wasn't the only one to notice this.

Aside from Sanchez (who wanted to leave), our loaned out players are doing so goddamn well and could easily replace some of the crap we decided to keep on the team.

Deulofeu/Tello could easily displace Pedro and Dennis Suarez with Sergi Roberto.

Also does anyone have any idea why he dropped Rafinha for this match? I'm so baffled as to why he left both Rafinha and Sandro out of the squad.

 

[Flavia]

People seriously need to get this sorted out. It's not about criticizing posession-based foootball and it's not about Pep as it's figurehead.

What we saw on the field today isn't a system anymore, it's merely sequence of bad habits: Passing the ball around aimlessly and endlessly, mostly sideways and with zero off-the-ball movement is just that; leaving gaps between the lines one could fit an aircraft carrier in is that as well. The pressing, or lack thereof, is also a recurring theme for the contemporary cule: Mostly it's nonexistant, but when it's there it's so poorly executed that it only serves to instill exhaustion in the two or three players who actually bother to pressure the opponent.

But the absolute worst is that the positives of Tata's tenure have been discarded as well, namely the quality of transition after ball recovery, which by incident, was also one of the most important qualities of Pep's Barca, especially the 08/09 one.
This team was patient, Lucho's team is just slow. This team had the majority in posession yes, and they passed alot as well, but on the transition they killed fast and swift. They rarely made the mistake of trying to run against an organized defense over and over again. And in that peculiar aspect, Tata's Barca was a lot closer to Pep's Barca than the current one is.

Pep on the other hand actually evolved. The transition of Bayern is fast and they have aspects of a healthy physicality as well + all the little things like Neuer's impact on how far up the field the back-4 is positioned, overlapping wingers, fluidity instead of rigidness etc. All the while our team, the entire club in fact, is walking round in circles again.

Great post.

I think Lucho's plan is to have the midfielders mainly defending. And put the burden of creating and scoring on the forwards. That's why the midfield is so wide. I don't think it's the best solution. If he wants something like that, maybe a 4-2-3-1 is the way to go.

 

[Frodo_FCB]

I think Lucho is a bit lost..Too much rotation can kill the rhythm of a team. He has changed so many lineups since the beginning of the season. I read the comments here and i see so many different lineups before each game. He should clear some things in his mind, because the players look a bit confused on the pitch and seem like the dont have a specific plan.
He should keep Alba as LB and Mathieu with Bartra as CB. Move Masch to the DM position.

 

[SocalBarcaFan]

He got his tactics wrong for this match to be sure as well as the PSG match. Those just so happen to be the biggest games we have played this season and we have lost both. I still have faith in Lucho and will not grade him until all 3 competitions have been decided. Nothing ever goes perfect and I'm sure we even questioned Pep.

 

[Flavia]

Good read: http://jenfcb.wordpress.com/2014/10...-shadow-on-barcas-exquisite-attacking-talent/

 

[blaugrana1987]

I will only say what I said after couple of our games this season under Lucho. You. Cant. Rotate. Every. Fucking. Match.

Seriously...is he daft? Look at RM and Carlo and how bad they started and look at them now. Look ad Pep at beginning and look at them now. They are mean football machines that we SHOULD be with players we have.

Yes, Pique had brainfart but what kind of idiotic manager changes CB pairing EVERY match. These guys positioning is artocious beacuse of it. They have no selfesteem because of rotations that are occuring in our back. And our movement without ball is equally bad when compared to team like Bayern that plays very similar kind of football.

We were exposed badly second time this season but I reckon we could win a league because we have so much freaking class going forward. What we wont do is we wont win big games...that I dont expect. We will look like Brasil...winning every match with solid play then getting bullied against big guns.

 

[Barcilliant]

What were his comments to the press?

1)4-2-3-1

2)Get that fucking defence and midfield sorted out

3)Stop rotating so much. Find your best 11 and play them (except for CDR)

4) MASCH is nOT a cb.

5)Loan Pique and Pedro out.