Luis Enrique

[ebc_99]

People are overreacting again, we are only 12 games into the season and it was always going to take time to get it right. Real are the finished product and are in top form at the moment, this time last year we beat them pretty easily because they had yet to gel, same as us now. By the end of the season they were fantastic, we have the player's to win La Liga and I think we will. The Champions league is about hitting form at the right time and getting the tactics right. Bayern in the semi's last year were out of form and Pep got the tactics wrong and they were easily beaten.

Lucho made bad mistakes last night which was disappointing but the goals we conceded were individual errors that can be eradicated with good coaching. There is still a long way to go this season and we have made a good start, Lucho will learn from his mistakes just like Ancelotti did last season.

The players we signed are great, Rakatic is a better player than Modric and Kross in my opinion and he should have started. Suarez will make a big difference in attack and our defence is better but for some reason he changed it last night hopefully he has learned his lesson.

 

[linetty]

People are overreacting again, we are only 12 games into the season and it was always going to take time to get it right. Real are the finished product and are in top form at the moment, this time last year we beat them pretty easily because they had yet to gel, same as us now. By the end of the season they were fantastic, we have the player's to win La Liga and I think we will. The Champions league is about hitting form at the right time and getting the tactics right. Bayern in the semi's last year were out of form and Pep got the tactics wrong and they were easily beaten.

Lucho made bad mistakes last night which was disappointing but the goals we conceded were individual errors that can be eradicated with good coaching. There is still a long way to go this season and we have made a good start, Lucho will learn from his mistakes just like Ancelotti did last season.

The players we signed are great, Rakatic is a better player than Modric and Kross in my opinion and he should have started. Suarez will make a big difference in attack and our defence is better but for some reason he changed it last night hopefully he has learned his lesson.

I agree but Rakitic being a better player than Modric is completely false and wrong. Modric is the best CM out there at the moment.

 

[serghei]

Edit: Same goes for the players we buy for specific purposes: It's always the same routine. Players come here for the different qualities they add to the standard cadre, are then miused and ultimately thrown under the bus for being different and not living up to an unrealistic benchmark set years ago. Cesc comes here accompanied with the proodigal son saga and is expected to tiki-taka, which he can't, and is then shipped out but doing well somewhere else where he's played to his strengths. Song could have been used as a player to put the midfield in lock-down; everyone knew he was limited from the get go yet we expect different. Now he's actually doing well with his new-team. And don't even get me started on Alexis who more and more becomes the focal point of Arsenal. Rakitic was added because he adds physicality in the middle, and yet he's benched when we need physicality and finds himself occupying the wing with Alves most of the time. What are we doing, do we have a plan ?

We do. Our situation is like the movie Vertigo by Hitchock. We're like a man whose wife died, and when he meets other women, he tries to dress them up and make their hair so that they could resemble his late wife. Maybe this way he could imagine she never died.

So glad you made that comment, because I am 100% of the same opinion. And many people here blamed everything on Alexis, Cesc and Song, these 3 were, all of them, the usual suspects when we lost something, because they were different and weren't part of the tiki taka era. In fact, after 2013, what we should have done is keep all the players that could allow us to take a different route with this team (the good ones at least). Instead, we sold Cesc and kept Iniesta, who's 3 years older and way of form. We kept Pedro, who's barely Malaga level now, and sold a world class winger in Sanchez. Instead of playing Song, we play Roberto, who's not even half the player Song is, but he' catalan and reminds us of a young Xavi maybe. 2008-2012 was Pep (firstly) and Tito's (secondly) project. That way of playing left/died with them.

 

[jamrock]

lucho is now not so good?

 

[Devils]

Refuse to call it quits on Lucho now, but he seriously needs get some stuff sorted out ASAP.

1) His tactical approaches have been horrid in big games.
2) Has to drop Pique and Alves. Especially Alves who is playing nearly every game and will likely burn out later on and become even worse.
3) His GK rotations are the biggest worry, if he keeps Bravo for Liga and TS for CL we will get killed in the CL.
4) The decision to loan out some players have been completely baffling, it's depressing to see Deulofeu, Tello and Suarez putting on class performances for their respective teams while we still carry the likes of Pedro and Sergi Roberto.

He should know better than this, he's been through the Barca ranks as a player, a captain and a manager. I really hope he learns quick because Barca is the last environment where someone is given lots of time.

 

[Flavia]

Also it was evident after just 2 minutes that Barca was going to lose this game. Even after the Neymar goal. No one else seen the ridiculous distance between the lines right from the start? Reminded me of Tito's first Clasico in the Bernabeu in the Supercopa. Was never going to survive this for 90 minutes. Not for a minute did I feel save defensively. Can't understand the "we had it under control until the penaldo" talk. And that's clearly on the coach, although individuals also failed. But spacing between the lines and pressing is on the coach.

I remember seeing Lucho making gestures for the team to be compact. I hope he'll have a serious talk with them, and bench who needs benching.

4) The decision to loan out some players have been completely baffling, it's depressing to see Deulofeu, Tello and Suarez putting on class performances for their respective teams while we still carry the likes of Pedro and Sergi Roberto.

Denis could be of so much help now. Tello instead of Pedro as well.

 

[Ursegor]

Biggest mystery is why he didn't adjust his formation. These are the sort of things that make me doubt him, not the end result. Madrid was killing us from the wings because Suarez and Neymar didn't track back. It's not possible to play 4-3-3 with the wide forwards playing centrally and not tracking fullbacks. What's weird is that the midfielders weren't even split to cover for the fullbacks like they used to so far, seems like he abolished that idea. Or Xavi and Iniesta simply didn't do it. Anyway it was Marcelo and Ronaldo vs. Alves all alone the entire time. He has too see that and react. He didn't. The entire 90 minutes.

Mathieu also didn't play as a 3th centerback. He attacked more than Alves. In that case using Mathieu in that position doesn't even make sense.

I also don't see any progress in the way the team plays in general, even if we ignore this Clasico for a moment. Fullbacks already positioned high up, 2 strikers upfront, Messi behind, 2 split CMs playing deep. Basically the idea going forward is just Messi passing to Neymar. No overlaps, no midfield runs, no triangulations, no intricate passes, no nothing. Struggling a lot to create chances and putting teams to the sword even in normal La Liga games. How many times did the opening goal come late after the 60 minute mark against teams of the caliber of Eibar?

I will be mightily impressed if he gets this right soon. His learning curve would have to be beyond amazing.

 

[Flavia]

Biggest mystery is why he didn't adjust his formation. These are the sort of things that make me doubt him, not the end result. Madrid was killing us from the wings because Suarez and Neymar didn't track back. It's not possible to play 4-3-3 with the wide forwards playing centrally and not tracking fullbacks. What's weird is that the midfielders weren't even split to cover for the fullbacks like they used to so far, seems like he abolished that idea. Or Xavi and Iniesta simply didn't do it. Anyway it was Marcelo and Ronaldo vs. Alves all alone the entire time. He has too see that and react. He didn't. The entire 90 minutes.

Mathieu also didn't play as a 3th centerback. He attacked more than Alves. In that case using Mathieu in that position doesn't even make sense.

I also don't see any progress in the way the team plays in general, even if we ignore this Clasico for a moment. Fullbacks already positioned high up, 2 strikers upfront, Messi behind, 2 split CMs playing deep. Basically the idea going forward is just Messi passing to Neymar. No overlaps, no midfield runs, no triangulations, no intricate passes, no nothing. Struggling a lot to create chances and putting teams to the sword even in normal La Liga games. How many times did the opening goal come late after the 60 minute mark against teams of the caliber of Eibar?

I will be mightily impressed if he gets this right soon. His learning curve would have to be beyond amazing.

Yeah, Alba for Pique at ht, at least, was a must. And Rakitic for Iniesta, not Xavi. I'm trying not to be hopeless this soon, I expect him to surprise us all.

 

[Kohe321]

Biggest mystery is why he didn't adjust his formation. These are the sort of things that make me doubt him, not the end result. Madrid was killing us from the wings because Suarez and Neymar didn't track back. It's not possible to play 4-3-3 with the wide forwards playing centrally and not tracking fullbacks. What's weird is that the midfielders weren't even split to cover for the fullbacks like they used to so far, seems like he abolished that idea. Or Xavi and Iniesta simply didn't do it. Anyway it was Marcelo and Ronaldo vs. Alves all alone the entire time. He has too see that and react. He didn't. The entire 90 minutes.

Mathieu also didn't play as a 3th centerback. He attacked more than Alves. In that case using Mathieu in that position doesn't even make sense.

I also don't see any progress in the way the team plays in general, even if we ignore this Clasico for a moment. Fullbacks already positioned high up, 2 strikers upfront, Messi behind, 2 split CMs playing deep. Basically the idea going forward is just Messi passing to Neymar. No overlaps, no midfield runs, no triangulations, no intricate passes, no nothing. Struggling a lot to create chances and putting teams to the sword even in normal La Liga games. How many times did the opening goal come late after the 60 minute mark against teams of the caliber of Eibar?

I will be mightily impressed if he gets this right soon. His learning curve would have to be beyond amazing.

Agree. The hype of a new coach is washing off quickly with Lucho, some of his wrong decisions and oversights are absolutely beginnerlevel mistakes. And he doesn't seem to understand what doesn't work during the game to make the right adjustments. I hoped to see improvements in the second half after he had 15 minutes to sort out the glaring issues, but we went out to play even more horrendously bad after the break. His tactical reaction and his subs showed no understanding of what was happening. Like playing Mathieu for 90 minutes with the orders of attacking as much or even more than Alves, and leaving Alba on the bench etc.

What happened to his pre-season pressconference where he answered "Mascherano is a DM" without missing a beat when asked by the press? It's easy to talk the talk, but so far he's not walking the walk.

 

[BBZ8800]

I have gave up on our 433 yesterday after another defeat.

Basically, I tried to remember some games from the last 2-3 Seasons and it turns out:
1. our 433 and standard formation/style is awesome/good enough against 90% of La Liga teams and against 90% of Champions league teams (where we need to attack and risk all the time)
2. but our 433 is a total crap and we are so easily neutralized and punished against strong teams like Real, Atletico, Bayern, Chelsea, Psg etc

-- 433 and our style is good enough against Malagas, Levantes and similar teams. And we should stick to it against all smaller teams because it usually brings 4 victories out of 5 matches.
-- but against stronger teams, we are lately winning 1 out of 4 matches

-- stronger teams park the bus in their half
-- we are attacking like crazy, but we can't do anything neither through the middle, neither through wings
-- we push them in their own half, but we can't produce anything and the playing field is so small in those situations
-- and we do lose the ball, we are trashed with 10 decent counterattacks in every match
-- and there isn't any option anymore to fix that

-- big teams have figured out how to play against us, and how to easily trash us whenever we lose the ball, and we will lose it, no matter what we do

For years, we had 1000s of excuses like we don't run enough, we don't press enough, our defenders are bad, yada yada yada

433 is dead against top teams.
It is time for 442 or any other formation.

This isn't funny anymore and there is no way that our 433 can work anymore against top sides.
-- two Fcs are on the wings, and they can't do anything
-- two fullbacks are on the wings and they can't do anything
-- central Fc looks lost and extremely alone in the center
-- and our 3 midfielders play virtually against 8 opponent's players

433 is currently outnumbered in all areas, and yesterday I felt like as if we are playing 9 vs 11, or something like that.
This is how horrible and toothless our 433 has become on a larger sample against stronger teams in the last few years.

 

[SocalBarcaFan]

Way too much overreacting in here. I should expect it by now. That's why I usually stay away from barcaforum after a big loss until the next game. There are some worrying signs but it's still early in the season and we are still ahead of of madrid in the standings.

 

[linetty]

433 is currently outnumbered in all areas, and yesterday I felt like as if we are playing 9 vs 11

Perfect summary.

 

[mazp]

I'm giving him atleast until the PSG game. That will tell if he learned from the first game mistakes. If he fails there again,then I'm afraid he's not the right man for the job. I don't care if we can beat the minnows of La Liga.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Way too much overreacting in here.

Ya think?

Actually, I think much of what Lucho was trying in the first half will rip apart most teams. We may start to see much more lopsided wins for Barça in the league games to come. Very few teams, if any, can defend, press and counter all game like Madrid did yesterday.

 

[blaugrana1987]

All he needs is to find STANDARD ELEVEN. He is not doing that. When he regulary puts players on the stands (Raki, Bus, Masch etc.) to "rest them" after a month of season in I want to punch him in the mouth.

We could be soooo much better. Put Bravo on goal for CL/Liga. Put Mathieu and Bartra(btw he should put some pounds on him) as CB pairing until Vermaleen gets back. Pique should get court order restriction not to get in close proximity to CN.

Put Abla as starting LB and Alves/Montoya as RB. Push Masch on fucking DM where he is currently the best in the world. Infront of him put Rakitic-Iniesta/Rafinha pairing. Semper should be included in 1st team more often and should be aimed to replace Xavi as soon as possible.

Attack should consist of Neymar - Messi - Suarez and they should play EVERY SIGNLE MATCH. That would do it for now. You cant expect defense to be solid against tough sides when you change CB pairing in EVERY SIGNLE MATCH. Thats the thing that makes me seriously think all that sun from thriatlons is melting his brain.

Anyway...I seriously doubt Lucho will do what everyone sees. He will just start Munir Messi and Pedro next game so he can "rest" inform Neymar and Luis Suarez. Hopefully this gets through his thick scull although I doubt it.