Not true at all, Barca’s tactics were to let Real press like crazy in th first half so they would get tired which they did. Barca owned that second half even prior to the red card. Barca has been doing this all season on purpose. Their second half stats are godly, they allow teams to press them in the jest half while Barca absorbs the pressure by design and then go all out against the opposing fatigued team in the second. EV knows what he is doing.
Barcelona 2017/18
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Not true at all, Barca’s tactics were to let Real press like crazy in th first half so they would get tired which they did. Barca owned that second half even prior to the red card. Barca has been doing this all season on purpose. Their second half stats are godly, they allow teams to press them in the jest half while Barca absorbs the pressure by design and then go all out against the opposing fatigued team in the second. EV knows what he is doing.
Messi is irreplaceable but in regards to Suárez, Griezman is coming this summer (they are saving the number 7 for him). Their defense outside of Pique should have them set for several years as Umtiti and Ter Stegen are fairy young
They weren’t doing that great a job, Real were just wasteful.
Their main problem last season was Luis Enrique, i've said this before
Valverde brought back defensive organization, Ter Stegen turned into Neuer, and that made everything easier for Messi. Then after a while with the wins they regained the confidence and began to play as well, Suarez got into form and now they're a machine. Tactically, half that team still plays by memory of what they did with guardiola anyways
Valverde brought back defensive organization, Ter Stegen turned into Neuer, and that made everything easier for Messi. Then after a while with the wins they regained the confidence and began to play as well, Suarez got into form and now they're a machine. Tactically, half that team still plays by memory of what they did with guardiola anyways
Pique-Busquets-Iniesta-MessiYou mean the 3 players remaining from his squad
Plus Jordi Alba who worked with Tito and with the NT. Plus almost the whole team spent at least one tear with Xavi as well
You mean the 3 players remaining from his squad
They just won't let go of the Guardiola thing. I mean if people think Messi, Iniesta, and Pique play the way they play because Guardiola coached them a few years ago, I just cannot explain the Guardiola hype. If Moyes got the players he got, he would be as successful.
Seriously? Guardiola taught them how to play football?
Forgot Busquets, but I just don't see it and think they look much different from the years of Guardiola except still having the best player of the world. We are talking about 6 years since he left, that's a long time in football. 2012 was the same year Di Matteo won the CL with Chelsea, that's how long it's.
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I’m not saying it will happen, but imagine if we won the treble again. That would be 3 trebles in 9 years.
We’ve enjoyed a ridiculous amount of success since 2005 and many of our fans have become spoiled. I’m just trying to enjoy these days as much as possible because it won’t always be this rosy.
I will be satisfied with the domestic double (that would far exceed my expectations at the start of the season). The CL would just be a sweet bonus.
We’ve enjoyed a ridiculous amount of success since 2005 and many of our fans have become spoiled. I’m just trying to enjoy these days as much as possible because it won’t always be this rosy.
I will be satisfied with the domestic double (that would far exceed my expectations at the start of the season). The CL would just be a sweet bonus.
No, Guardiola's tactical work with them simply stayed with them. Some of those concepts have become so ingrained in them they execute it by rote. It helps that they're academy products, so those concepts were no more than an expansion if what they'd been taught to do by rote since they were kids
Messi is an exception to this of course, since nobody's ever taught him anything tactically
I can see you guys doing it. Would be happy to see Messi win it tbh. PSG would be the only team standing in your way I reckon. I think you'd run over teams like utd and city.
They have at two to three players who start for them and were academy products.
They were absorbing pressure, yes Real was wasteful but Barca were on fire as soon as the second half started and never let up. It was by design as Madrid were exhausted.
Actually Barca even had a couple of good chances in the 1st half too, specially Paulinho's chance.
Actually 6 out of the 11 players who played the most minutes in La Liga for Barca this season are academy products (Messi, Alba, Busqets, Pique, Roberto, Iniesta). Of course that also has to do with injuries but considering we're talking about what has happened so far this season it's a fair point.
Good call, he was great in that match.
I forgot about alba, but I wouldn't consider iniesta as part of the first team anymore.
That just boils down to their ability to absorb tactical approaches of the coach and integrate into their playing style. This whole notion of how Guardiola ingrained tactical prowess into already superior players will be the biggest myth of this decade. Take Xabi Alonso for instance. Guardiola started coaching him when he was 34. I don't think he did anything to Xabi's brain to ingrain any philosophy. For Alonso, it was just another good manager that had specific instructions that he went and executed on the pitch. If there is such a thing as a superior philosophy in football, it should show despite the player's faults. The only coaches who did that were SAF and Klopp to some extent. They simply were able to create a system that worked despite the player's shortcomings. Pep's tactics fell absolutely flat the moment he didn't have a good enough team around him last year.
Yes to the bolded, and it's not a myth about guardiola, it's not even about him. Any good manager leaves something of his ideas and philosophy behind to the players he's worked with. In cases like barcelona it's very noticeable because their playing style and phylosophy changes little between managers
If Moyes got those players he would've had some success, but he wouldn't have been as successful.
That's two different things entirely.
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There is an argument to be made that he wouldn't be successful at all. We're talking about Moyes, he'd make them cross the ball to Messi
Indeed. He lasted until April with United,....would he have seen Christmas in Barcelona though?
(I still can't believe he got the United job)
You can't be serious?!
This is just pure hating on Pep, he's at City I get it but that is just a ridiculous statement. The myth of 'anyone can manage Barca' has been dispelled, look at Tata Martino's season at Barca for exampleThere's some truth in what you're saying, he certainly re installed the Barca way to a higher level when he got there. From a tactical standpoint Barca have been the most consistent side since he went there. They never seem to change what they do or how they approach matches regardless of coaches or players. While most of his squad is now gone, he's lived on there for quite some time. It's not identical, but the similarities are still there. Imagine them parking a bus, that would be some day.
It's funny how Pep's first season is seen as an abject failure despite the fact that they were 12 points better off, with a +11 improvement in goal difference.
They've been playing like that since Cruyff was installed as manager and given full control of the football operation. The only exception somewhat was Bobby Robson, who had Ronaldo, and he was a 1 year stop-gap solution while they waited for Van Gaal
True, Pep however kicked it into overdrive.
You can't be serious?!
I may have gone too far with the Moyes claim. But here is the point. I don't have any hatred for Pep whatsoever. My point is rather on the claim that he invented a super footballing philosophy and he coached Messi and Iniesta towards footballing greatness. Zidane literally just proved that all it takes is a great tactician to put together a team of world-class players and make them play as a cohesive unit. It may seem like an oversimplification, but those things to fall into place is difficult for gazillion reasons and go much beyond a manager - draw of the club, history, money, existing group of players. The only greatness (or lack of braveness depending on how you see it) of Pep is that he ensures that he only takes jobs that make that seemingly impossible task as probable as it can get.
If there is anything I will give Pep credit for, it is the way he protected his legacy by picking jobs where he didn't have to struggle by those limitations. For instance, Pochettino has to navigate a tight budget while competing at the highest level. Is being frugal an essential part of managerial greatness, I don't know. All I know is that had Pep gone to Spurs or Liverpool and still won the league, then I would gladly admit it is not that he is a great manager, but he invented a superior footballing philosophy. This means any player who he coaches, and has a chance to absorb that philosophy will automatically be transformed into a better version than he could have possibly been playing under a different great manager. For so many reasons that I absolutely can understand he picked the jobs he picked. So for me, neither his greatness is any different than that of other great managers like SAF, Ancelotti, and Mourinho nor his philosophy is any superior to other winning philosophies. One way he has been superior is in his ability to navigate his career so far.
Meanwhile, Zidane is not put on the same pedestal for some reason. Real's counterattacking in the champions league was probably as breathtaking as the 'Tiki-Taka'. No one here will make a claim that Zidane taught Ronaldo how to shoot, Modric how to pass or Ramos how to defend 3 years from now. That is the kind of stuff that slightly irritates me
Tactics falling apart and season's success are independent things.
Booked the Friday/Monay off on the weekend of the Valencia game(14-15th)....seems games don't sell out online, so getting 2 tickets shouldn't be an issue, wheres cheap to stay by the stadium though?
Also is it true with Barca - you can mostly just go to Barcelona and stands are selling tickets outside for not so big games?
Also is it true with Barca - you can mostly just go to Barcelona and stands are selling tickets outside for not so big games?
Valencia is a big game so you'd better get tickets asap. Second ring is the best for quality-price
No it wasn't, Madrid had an awesome counterattacking but they also had a lot of cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross
Their 2016 run was a Europa league run up with one of the easiest paths of the past ten years. Last year was very good for them obviously.
But seeing how hard Zidane has fallen off this season whereas Pep is a game changer to the point Barca will be using him as a reference point for the next 20 years says it all. Zidane may even get sacked this season, in which case you commend him for the excellent 2 year run of CL's but who knows what he does next.
Pep has an entire philosphy that teams will be using for years to come. Zidane isn't in the same ballpark as Pep, not even close to him tactically.
My exact point. That kind of success is impossible to follow. What Zidane should have done is take a sabbatical and coach PSG next year, sweep the league and be regarded as the greatest manager of all time.
Not sure what is happening on Griezmann deal. Feels like somethng has already been agreed with him.
Question remains why though? maybe with Suarez slowing down a bit (he's still a beast) Griezmann can be a long-term and relatively cheap option. Mind you we have't still used any of our 2 most expensive signing yet. Our best formation is 4-4-2 now with rakitic-busi double pivot along with semedo-roberto on right side. Then we have Iniesta/Coutinho on left. On top Suarez-Messi. So if we get Griezmann, both him and Dembele will be on bench. That's the reality. I expect Arthur to come by next summer. I guess I don't see any other position we need to do much. Expecting wonderful season next year. I am happy how this season is going even without utilizing the new signings so far. I should mention that Semedo has been a wonderful signing.
Question remains why though? maybe with Suarez slowing down a bit (he's still a beast) Griezmann can be a long-term and relatively cheap option. Mind you we have't still used any of our 2 most expensive signing yet. Our best formation is 4-4-2 now with rakitic-busi double pivot along with semedo-roberto on right side. Then we have Iniesta/Coutinho on left. On top Suarez-Messi. So if we get Griezmann, both him and Dembele will be on bench. That's the reality. I expect Arthur to come by next summer. I guess I don't see any other position we need to do much. Expecting wonderful season next year. I am happy how this season is going even without utilizing the new signings so far. I should mention that Semedo has been a wonderful signing.
I didn't expect the season to be like this at all so I'm really happy with the way it has gone. Coutinho & Dembele are like two massive luxuries. I do expect next year to be the team in full flow, and I feel they'll be playing even better football. Valverde will have had a whole season plus the signings will have integrated better. I'm not sure what will happen if Griezmann comes, but Valverde has been good at fitting people in so far, and yep Semedo has been great, I'm a big fan, I see him and Sergi Roberto forming a good partnership on the right in the future. Hopefully see Coutinho's full debut tonight!
Griezmann IMO would be a very bad signning. First of all he has no space in the squad. Suarez has at least this season and 3 more as our main 9. By then, Griezmann would be 30 and pissed as he would not be able to best Suarez. Also I don´t think he is that good, not much consistency. And his attitud with Atletico and respect for his fans had been awful always winking other teams for them to sign him. I do not see the point on signing him
The squad without our top 2 signings is working great. Messi-Suarez have 3 seasons as our forward reference. We have Dembelé as a young prospect and even near present. Our midfield is more than well covered with. Busi-Rakitic. Coutinho is coming for Iniesta. We have Sergi Roberto and Paulinho. Messi is in and out there. Our defense is well covered with Piqué and Umtiti, Alba is a joy combining with Messi and Semedo resulted in a very low key signing with excellent results. Vermalen lasted longer than expected this time having a great level and Yerri Mina has a good word still to be tried though. Sergi Roberto can play as a RB too (well, he can play well everywhere). Maybe Digné is not enough as a sub for Alba. and our keeper is top 3. All and all good competition for midfield and forward (Not that I see Suarez and Messi out of hunger ever, specially the first). With that we can transition from 442 to 433 depending on the needs. Maybe we don´t have enough quality for the subs in our defense. Along the seasons we will see what it needs to be twitch, but Griezmann? absolutely don´t want this signing. Don´t see the point
The squad without our top 2 signings is working great. Messi-Suarez have 3 seasons as our forward reference. We have Dembelé as a young prospect and even near present. Our midfield is more than well covered with. Busi-Rakitic. Coutinho is coming for Iniesta. We have Sergi Roberto and Paulinho. Messi is in and out there. Our defense is well covered with Piqué and Umtiti, Alba is a joy combining with Messi and Semedo resulted in a very low key signing with excellent results. Vermalen lasted longer than expected this time having a great level and Yerri Mina has a good word still to be tried though. Sergi Roberto can play as a RB too (well, he can play well everywhere). Maybe Digné is not enough as a sub for Alba. and our keeper is top 3. All and all good competition for midfield and forward (Not that I see Suarez and Messi out of hunger ever, specially the first). With that we can transition from 442 to 433 depending on the needs. Maybe we don´t have enough quality for the subs in our defense. Along the seasons we will see what it needs to be twitch, but Griezmann? absolutely don´t want this signing. Don´t see the point
Coutinho fitting in beautifully
I wouldn't stay close to the stadium. If you haven't been to the city before you'll really want to stay closer to Las Ramblas than Camp Nou.
Tickets won't be an issue at all unless it's Real Madrid or a big Champions League game.
He was always going to. Technically he is unbelievable and now i get to enjoy him play ha.