Luis Enrique

While that all is probably correct and I agree with, we still have to separate the players motivation and abilities and Enrique's ability, at least in this discussion.

If you have come to this conclusion, if we agree with it, if others come to the same conclusion...Enrique has come to this same conclusion. Im sure Martino knows this but is too nice of a guy to say it, even now he is gone. But in any event, Enrique I am sure if clued up enough to see what is right in front of him.

So how to navigate this to give the team the best chance?

Im sorry, but the answer cant be rolling out a weird, lobsided, unbalanced and un-tested 442 vs PSG.

You already know I totally agree with you about the fullback performances in that game, but again we have to separate this from what Enrique did. Those players cost us the game against PSG, but that wasnt all that was wrong, at least 50% of the loss was on that horrible defensive shape starting from the front and midfield.

Fast-forward to Madrid, what is his answer? What did he learn from PSG? STARTING, an unfit and ill prepared Suarez into a team and thus creating a totally new defensive questions we had to solve as the game progressed.

The same 442 in the defensive phase, but this time with our best performing CB as a leftback (against a team without a right-winger may I add) and stripping the little physicality which existed in the midfield (despite knowledge the chances of controlling the game were relatively low).

So, do we have personale issues? Yep, for sure.

Would De Boer being a coach over him make us better? Nobody knows, its probably unlikely and it certainly doesnt remove the personale issues.

But that wont save him from my criticism. Just like Martino (even worse personale issues) the decisions he is making lack logic and even worse, they arent even clear.

I too don't disagree with much of what you said. Except maybe the conclusions. For instance: If he can't test his 4-4-2 idea against PSG at the beginning of the season in the group stages of the CL - when should he? Maybe the concept itself is doomed to failure. But he has to test his ideas for sure. He might even try it 10 more times with mixed results until he finally gets it right. We might win 0 this season as a result. It's called transition.

Mathieu at leftback was a big failure in hindsight in the Clasico. But again. It was something EVERYONE wanted to see. At least to add height to the XI. Will most likely not happen again. Trial and error, how else to figure out what works and what doesn't? Don't tell me against lesser sides. Against Rayo Vallecano no one complaimed after the game. He actually has to get tested at a higher level. It's called transition.

Starting Suarez might have been a failure as well. But again not that strange when the alternative is Pedro. Even 50 % Suarez is a 500 % better player than Pedro. And if Messi doesn't shit the bed he gets 2 assists to his name. From 0-2 I doubt Madrid come back. Totally different psychological circumstances.

I'm not trying to find excuses for things he does wrong. I'm trying to excuse why he might get things wrong. He will have to get things wrong. There is no obvious starting XI, formation or tactics with this player material. Ask 5 Culés and you'll get 5 different CB partnership suggestions. Some will say Mascherano is the best CB Barca have, some will say Mascherano is awful, some will say Pique should start, some will say Pique should be sold, some will say Bartra is a big talent, some will say he is a Fartra. Midfield has become the same. Should Xavi start important games or not? Mascherano in midfield? Double pivot maybe? Some even want to fast-track Samper's career because it's looking so bleak. The only thing that is certain is the front 3 and they haven't even geled yet for obvious reasons regarding Suarez.

But people are already talking about sackings after 11 games, that's the patience of the modern football fan. As if another relatively untested guy like de Boer will come and immediately get things right. Again I'm not saying Lucho will or will not succeed. But how about waiting until end of the season at least and then judge whether he needs replacing or not?

He should have tested the 442 in any actual game....we didnt quite go 0 to 100 (PSG are really good but not THAT good, and as you point out its not exactly the CL semi final) but he could have started off against some La Liga fodder first at least. Individual performance assessments, I get why the results of La Liga fodder are meaningless, but actually trying a new system and having different defensive movements...how can you not try it first in an actual game?

Mathieu...the decision itself isnt so bad, but its the combined errors of that game. He set out a team which looked like it wanted to dominate and take it to Madrid (Suarez starting, Xavi starting) but the actual gameplan wasnt reflective of that at all and it seemed like the only concession of the possibility of us not dominating the game was Mathieu adding extra defensive presence...a band aid solution if I ever saw one.

I disagree about Suarez. I dont care how good of a player he is compared to Pedro, he wasnt ever going to put in the type of shift Pedro was. Starting him was frankly, stupid or coward. And I would have said so before the game if I was on here.

As for the confusion of selection, thats to a degree understandable...however, he isnt a fan, he shouldnt have 5 different opinions on which is the best CB pair, which im sure he doesnt..but he should be a like less all over the place and clued up than the average fan. Anyway, Im not talking about his selections from game to game..I dont think its that big a problem, I am yet to get annoyed by his line ups. I have one problem with his selections, that was Madrid.

But thats just like Martino isnt it? His selections werent that bad..untill he chose to play 3 players out of position to to include Cesc.

As for sacking Lucho, obviously I agree he shouldnt be sacked. But if people believe that he is basically David Moyes (never good enough in the first place, never wanted him in the first place) then I cant blame them..because I said Moyes should have been sacked even before he was. When someone isnt good enough, they simply arent good enough and time wont make any difference. I am not there will Enrique, but I was with Moyes so I understand the idea of someone just being untenable.

The damning thing was that PSG was struggling back then... no Silva, no Ibra, no Lavezzi, a poor Cavani and WC guys that were off form (Matuidi, Cabaye, etc.).

Now that PSG has gotten everyone back and people are starting to hit form... it will be an even more difficult game. Enrique can absolutely not afford to get the tactics so wrong again even if the game is at Barcelona.

"Luis Enrique has lost twice the amount of points than Tata by this stage in the season: LE has lost 10 points in the first 15 matches whereas Tata only lost 5"

http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barca/luis-enrique-perdido-doble-puntos-que-tata-martino-3769521

Catalan media turning against the home man, I'm getting deja vu.

Next season: de Boer, Koeman, Ladrup, Paco Jemez with the exact same squad minus Xavi minus Alves + transfer ban. Rinse, repeat.

Its the same pattern with fusball every season.The new manager is the right man.He will get us back to the heights of Pep.After poor results,the manager is still trying to adapt and change and its all the players fault.Come second half of the season,and we are still poor,fusball goes revisionist mode claiming that the manager is all to blame and that he knew it all along.Then he joins the bandwagon of the next coach who has been appointed.
Face the facts fusball.Enrique is a scrub and a fraud who is not good enough to coach Barca B and Tata was far better.
A lucky win against PSG isnt going to change that.What the hell was that clueless formation anyway?Fraud thinks he is Pep trying out exotic formations in big games only to end up looking like an idiot.

That's kinda funny. Weren't you singing the same tune about Tata and his "hoofball" last season, asking for his head after the Rayo Vallecano game because of "un Cruyffish" playing style and loss of possession and whatnot? Topping it off with wanting Messi "the lazy bum" sold because Suarez is the best player in the world who should replace Messi? So far Suarez' touch is as heavy as my 2 balls. And they are very heavy.

Obviously my stance of believing that the coaches aren't complete retards but the key players on the pitch have declined severaly is totally outlandish compared to your explanations. Yes, I admit it. Lucho is a scrub. Next season de Boer, Koeman, Laudrup, Paco Jemez, Eusebio or whoever will definitely get this very squad back to competing with a Real Madrid team that is winning 20 games in a row. No doubt. Xavi will only be 36 by then and starting games because he will be better than Rakitic even with 40. If he doesn't leave and we're left with Sergi Roberto that is. I wish nothing more than Lucho getting sacked until next season with the transfer ban staying intact. Just for the lulz after results decline even further for obvious reasons and we go full revisionist mode how the previous coach was much better and the current one is a complete retard alexjanosik style.

Saying that Tata is better than Luis Enrique and that Tata was playing a style you don't believe in are not mutually exclusive.

If you strictly formulate it like that - yeah, it isn't exclusive. But it was never formulated in a manner that he just didn't like Tata stylistically and everything else was fine. The search function of this forum is way too crap to find exact posts, my memory isn't that crap, so here is one post that should highlight what he thought about Tata:

alexjanosik wrote:

Stejo wrote:Sacking Martino is not overreacting in the slightest. The team has lost it's identity, been playing ugly hoofball all season long, scraped some lucky wins, won others due to the sheer quality of the players.

The coach however is clearly instructing a type of game that just doesn't suit the team's strengths. We don't have the height to win those deep crosses nor are particularily good in the transition game. As Pep once said we're a really bad team without the ball, so we should really try to be keeping it.

Who's fault is it when the defenders keep trying long range passes, bypassing our strongest players and everyone is making direct runs at the opposition regardless of poor dribbling skills? Under Pep and Tito the defenders were giving the ball to the excellent midfield who was patiently circulating it until somebody with actual dribbling skills (basically Messi or Iniesta) got free for a run.

We're not winning any second balls and even when we do (very rarely), instead of putting it into circulation to build up a new attack, whoever won it just runs up to a defender gung-ho and straight away loses it again. It's so frustrating to watch.

And those long diagonal balls... They could make some sense on the counter if we got a wide player free making a run I suppose. But right now, they're being done blindly, against organized defenses, aimed at marked players who are shorter than their marker. It boggles the mind.

As for "finished" Xavi, he doesn't seem that finished to me. I see him running just as much as he always was, still finding spaces. It's just that nobody passes the ball to him. It's ridiculous really. Just watch any game, focus on Xavi's movement in midfield. It's excellent. He's almost always unmarked, in open areas, ready to receive and supply. Does he receive? Hell no. Hoofball 60yards across.

Great post and I agree completely.Especially agree on Xavi.Barring the last couple of games he has played very well this season.Not his fault if the ball is sailing over his head all the time.

http://www.goallegacy.net/t33927p90-barcelona-athletic-2100-cet#1071619


This post by Stejo to which alexjanosik "agreed completely" was written in December 3th 2013 after the Athletic Bilbao away loss. Pretty much exactly the same time last season as now. Let's recapitulate what he "completely agreed" on.

Tata played ugly hoofball and wanting him sacked is no overreaction. He got lucky wins or got bailed out by quality of the players, the midfield gets bypassed, the ball is sailing over Xavi's head. If you follow that thread further he also says Barca isn't even a top 50 pressing team anymore. But now, a year later, Tata is supposedly >>>>>>>>>> Lucho despite all of that being said about Tata. Funny how that works.

Rinse, repeat, sack coach, hire coach, team looks mediocre until December and doesn't shape up to turn into a juggernaut => ask for coach's head (and randomly Messi's head).

Not to mention our squad currently quality wise is better then last season Enrique....

Fußball wrote:If you strictly formulate it like that - yeah, it isn't exclusive. But it was never formulated in a manner that he just didn't like Tata stylistically and everything else was fine. The search function of this forum is way too crap to find exact posts, my memory isn't that crap, so here is one post that should highlight what he thought about Tata:

alexjanosik wrote:

Stejo wrote:Sacking Martino is not overreacting in the slightest. The team has lost it's identity, been playing ugly hoofball all season long, scraped some lucky wins, won others due to the sheer quality of the players.

The coach however is clearly instructing a type of game that just doesn't suit the team's strengths. We don't have the height to win those deep crosses nor are particularily good in the transition game. As Pep once said we're a really bad team without the ball, so we should really try to be keeping it.

Who's fault is it when the defenders keep trying long range passes, bypassing our strongest players and everyone is making direct runs at the opposition regardless of poor dribbling skills? Under Pep and Tito the defenders were giving the ball to the excellent midfield who was patiently circulating it until somebody with actual dribbling skills (basically Messi or Iniesta) got free for a run.

We're not winning any second balls and even when we do (very rarely), instead of putting it into circulation to build up a new attack, whoever won it just runs up to a defender gung-ho and straight away loses it again. It's so frustrating to watch.

And those long diagonal balls... They could make some sense on the counter if we got a wide player free making a run I suppose. But right now, they're being done blindly, against organized defenses, aimed at marked players who are shorter than their marker. It boggles the mind.

As for "finished" Xavi, he doesn't seem that finished to me. I see him running just as much as he always was, still finding spaces. It's just that nobody passes the ball to him. It's ridiculous really. Just watch any game, focus on Xavi's movement in midfield. It's excellent. He's almost always unmarked, in open areas, ready to receive and supply. Does he receive? Hell no. Hoofball 60yards across.

Great post and I agree completely.Especially agree on Xavi.Barring the last couple of games he has played very well this season.Not his fault if the ball is sailing over his head all the time.

http://www.goallegacy.net/t33927p90-barcelona-athletic-2100-cet#1071619


This post by Stejo to which alexjanosik "agreed completely" was written in December 3th 2013 after the Athletic Bilbao away loss. Pretty much exactly the same time last season as now. Let's recapitulate what he "completely agreed" on.

Tata played ugly hoofball and wanting him sacked is no overreaction. He got lucky wins or got bailed out by quality of the players, the midfield gets bypassed, the ball is sailing over Xavi's head. If you follow that thread further he also says Barca isn't even a top 50 pressing team anymore. But now, a year later, Tata is supposedly >>>>>>>>>> Lucho despite all of that being said about Tata. Funny how that works.

Rinse, repeat, sack coach, hire coach, team looks mediocre until December and doesn't shape up to turn into a juggernaut => ask for coach's head (and randomly Messi's head).

As BC already explained,my stance isnt contradictory.Be believing Tata was bad and me believing Tata to be far better than Enrique are mutually exclusive opinions.
If you can dig up my quotes about Tata playing hoofball,then surely you can also dig up my quotes about us becoming Crosselona under Enrique.The quality of football was/is garbage under both.But Tata was not clueless like Enrique tactically and atleast got us results.
And it is hilarious that you complain about the squad that Enrique has got,when Tata had a worse squad with more injuries.

Regarding Messi and Suarez,yes I still firmly that the Messi who walks around as if he owns the pitch is a liability to the team and needs to be sold.
Suarez was the best player in the world last season and has been quality for us so far.And its hilarious that after praising Suarez and his completeness,you now take a swipe at him.
Regarding our uncreative midfield,is Madrid's midfield that much more creative?
Kroos isnt a final pass player and neither is Modric.Pound for pound and player for player,our team is more creative than Madrid's.Only one person to blame if we cant create enough and insist on useless crosses.
And if the midfield personnel arent good enough,why doesnt he call up Samper who is ready to start?

Tata had a worse squad? Only a paper argument so far. Fabregas had 13 assists at this point last season compared to Rakitic's 2 (pls let's not pretend now that such a huge gap in direct output is irrelevant because Rakitic is sooooo much superior in buildup play or has other intangible qualities that put him ahead - which he doesn't) and Alexis had 8 goals at this point to Suarez' 0, Xavi was a year younger etc. The only player who added something this season that another player didn't last season is Mathieu but apart from aerial ability he is defending worse on the ground than Mascherano at CB so that's another paper argument.



And you're having a jiggle with that Real Madrid argument. Even Kroos who isn't a pure final passer has 7 assists. That's almost twice as much as Xavi this season and last season combined. Let that sink in for a second. James has 5. Isco has 5. At Barca Xavi has 2, Rakitic has 1, Iniesta has 0. And stop blaming tactics when Xavi doesn't make the most obvious passes anymore.



Do you think he made that pass? Obviously he didn't.

The ones who are quite clearly scrubs, more than Lucho, are Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets who got exposed in 4 different competitions under 3 different managers in the past 3 seasons. Tito didn't prevent them from getting humiliated in the CL, del Bosque didn't prevent them from getting humiliated in the Confeds as well as the WC, Tata didn't prevent them from bottling everything and Lucho didn't prevent them from getting their asses spanked in the Bernabeu. But hey, you believe Alves is still a GOAT so obviously you also believe if only Pep came back Xavi and Iniesta could rule the world again and there is just a managerial problem.

Stats are only stats. They don't tell the tale of the actual game/opponents/tactics/what they were instructed to do etc

For example you are saying Kroos is better than Xavi cause he has more assists. Xavi's game isn't about creating goals it's about controlling the tempo of the game. I don't know, I have to give more thought about it but I do believe Tata had a better squad, but I believe if Lucho was in charge last season we would of still struggled because Lucho doesn't know how to get the best out of his players. So regardless of the squad at hand, Lucho is the problem with us because at the end of the day...he has a VERY good squad to work with. Does it have some obvious holes in it? Yes of course, but it's stuff that can be worked around if the team has a set game plan and way of playing. We are halfway through the season and Lucho is still clueless as to who our best 11 are. He's a joke.

Madrid's midfield is far superior to ours. There's no comparison. Our midfield is non existent. That's why Messi has to drop deep and receive the ball from the defenders. It's pathetic. He's the only player with any  idea how to playmake.

I believe our midfield will cost us the league, not our defense. Without a good midfield you won't create enough chances to win every away game and we will drop points there, and that'll be our demise. The defense isn't to blame.

But this part isn't Enrique's fault. He's got a deteriorating iniesta, xavi, and busquets as midfielders. Rakitic has been totally useless so far, and the young blood haven't proven themselves yet. So you can't blame him there, he just doesn't have the players.

Where you CAN blame him is the idiotic line-ups he picks. Such as starting Pedro today. The guy only has an impact as a sub (after 2 years of being shit) when his runs stretch out the tired opposition. Any time he needs to control it or be creative/decisive, he loses the ball. So why play Pedro for almost 90 minutes? It makes no sense to me.

We have a fairly versatile squad. If we're missing a striker (Neymar) we can easily field Sandro, Munir, or even Iniesta. It's an important game after all, Iniesta is worth risking. I don't want to play "armchair manager" but that was unacceptable. Enrique took this game too lightly. It's a crucial league game and he treated it like a copa del rey. He also didn't react at half time either. That shows how little understanding he has. He'll never be a top coach like this. And this team needs a top coach because the squad is very versatile, but the system is fragile. You can’t tinker with it too much.

I was gaining faith in him after the PSG formation which I (somewhat) liked, but he needs to find a way to stop this trend of us not creating enough chances in away games, and thus dropping 2 points each time. The key problem lies in the midfield for now. We desperately need Andres to get back to form. Not to say the defense is fixed, but these last few games where we dropped points and showed zero creativity, it was because of the midfield.

Lucho, i agree and said it before is no where near the top coaches when it comes to reading the opponents strategy and setting owns. But our squad has a big problem as well. the blame needs to be shared. And people saying Madrid mid is not better than us are simply joking. Look at Busquet and iniesta....no where near their quality...looks like they are finished. bad performances after bad performance. sloppy touches,loosing ball far too easily in the buildup, mistakes...i dont want to loose hope but i am completely upset. i don blame Xavi, its his age. he has his limit. but for that reason our mid also has become very limited.

Fußball wrote:Tata had a worse squad? Only a paper argument so far. Fabregas had 13 assists at this point last season compared to Rakitic's 2 (pls let's not pretend now that such a huge gap in direct output is irrelevant because Rakitic is sooooo much superior in buildup play or has other intangible qualities that put him ahead - which he doesn't) and Alexis had 8 goals at this point to Suarez' 0, Xavi was a year younger etc. The only player who added something this season that another player didn't last season is Mathieu but apart from aerial ability he is defending worse on the ground than Mascherano at CB so that's another paper argument.



And you're having a jiggle with that Real Madrid argument. Even Kroos who isn't a pure final passer has 7 assists. That's almost twice as much as Xavi this season and last season combined. Let that sink in for a second. James has 5. Isco has 5. At Barca Xavi has 2, Rakitic has 1, Iniesta has 0. And stop blaming tactics when Xavi doesn't make the most obvious passes anymore.



Do you think he made that pass? Obviously he didn't.

The ones who are quite clearly scrubs, more than Lucho, are Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets who got exposed in 4 different competitions under 3 different managers in the past 3 seasons. Tito didn't prevent them from getting humiliated in the CL, del Bosque didn't prevent them from getting humiliated in the Confeds as well as the WC, Tata didn't prevent them from bottling everything and Lucho didn't prevent them from getting their asses spanked in the Bernabeu. But hey, you believe Alves is still a GOAT so obviously you also believe if only Pep came back Xavi and Iniesta could rule the world again and there is just a managerial problem.

No matter how you spin it,Tata had a far worse squad.Why dont you mention that the Messi Tata had was 3,4 levels lower than the one this season,not to mention injured a lot.
Why dont you mention that Neymar was also clearly struggling to adapt and also injured?I dont believe Neymar and Messi played a lot last season together,certainly not to the level and chemistry they have played at this season.
Alexis better than Suarez
I like Alexis a lot but there is no way he is better than Suarez.
Suarez is a couple of levels above Alexis.So the forward line Enrique has is much better than the one Tata had.
Coming to midfield,Fabregas had better stats in offense but Rakitic is a much better defender and adds some defensive presence which Fabregas didnt.Both are/were scrubs who arent good enough for us.I dont see how Tata had a better midfield available to him.

Coming to defense,Mathieu has been brilliant and is the best CB we have had in years.Will you please stop with the revisionism in claiming Masch to be as good as Mathieu.Besides you,there isnt a single person who will believe it.Mathieu has had some trouble with clearances in a couple of games but still the best CB we have had in years.
Bartra is a year older and better.So a much better backline than the one Tata had.
Tata also had worse goalkeepers.Lets not forget that Tata almost won us the league with Pinto in goal.By comparison, Fraudrique has Mats and Bravo,two great keepers.
So please stop with the revisionism.Tata had a far worse squad.Claiming otherwise makes you look ridiculous.

On midfield creativity,you mention the assist numbers Kroos has, how many were from setpieces?Why do you mention James?He isnt a midfielder.He is a 10.
I said player for player our team is more creative.Not the player's fault is Fraudrique still insists on making us play like Crosselona.

Agreed with Alex with the squad strength argument, and I would add that LE had a say in the transfers and worked together with Zubi to bring in quality players that he wanted (Bravo for instance was a LE signing who has been doing great for us). When Tata came it was so late in the transfer season he did not really have any chance to ask for players.

alexjanosik wrote:

No matter how you spin it,Tata had a far worse squad.Why dont you mention that the Messi Tata had was 3,4 levels lower than the one this season,not to mention injured a lot.
Why dont you mention that Neymar was also clearly struggling to adapt and also injured?I dont believe Neymar and Messi played a lot last season together,certainly not to the level and chemistry they have played at this season.
Alexis better than Suarez
I like Alexis a lot but there is no way he is better than Suarez.
Suarez is a couple of levels above Alexis.So the forward line Enrique has is much better than the one Tata had.
Coming to midfield,Fabregas had better stats in offense but Rakitic is a much better defender and adds some defensive presence which Fabregas didnt.Both are/were scrubs who arent good enough for us.I dont see how Tata had a better midfield available to him.

Coming to defense,Mathieu has been brilliant and is the best CB we have had in years.Will you please stop with the revisionism in claiming Masch to be as good as Mathieu.Besides you,there isnt a single person who will believe it.Mathieu has had some trouble with clearances in a couple of games but still the best CB we have had in years.
Bartra is a year older and better.So a much better backline than the one Tata had.
Tata also had worse goalkeepers.Lets not forget that Tata almost won us the league with Pinto in goal.By comparison, Fraudrique has Mats and Bravo,two great keepers.
So please stop with the revisionism.Tata had a far worse squad.Claiming otherwise makes you look ridiculous.

Are you having reading comprehension problems? Sanchez is not better than Suarez in general, no one said that. Up until the 15th matchday, the point where we are right now, the only compareable situations, he wasn't banned in 8 games and trying to adapt in the other 7. He was fully fit, in the form of his life and firing.

Up until 15th matchday, not in general:

Sanchez: 8 goals
Suarez: 0 goals

Buying Suarez hasn't added more quality SO FAR in the first 15 matches. Fact.

Messi was injured? Okay, fair enough. He only missed 4 games in the first 15 games though. Iniesta so far this season missed more games and unlike Neymar and Sanchez stepping up in place of Messi no one is stepping up when Iniesta is injured because Rakitic can't add anything except intangible made up qualities that he doesn't possess and Xavi should be in the MLS by now. Rafinha is as injury-prone as his brother. Tata had Fabregas contributing. Again midfield hasn't improved this season. Fact.

Mathieu the best defender? Are you having a giggle again? Dude is the worst of our defenders. Got raped by Lucas worse than Alba, was shit in the Clasico, fell for Cavani's same feint in Paris every single time and to top it off his passing sucks, he sends it straight to the opponent's feet under slightest bit of pressure.

Yes, on paper, if Mathieu did something useful, Rakitic proved to be an upgrade over Fabregas and Suarez found his feet we can talk about a better squad. None of that is the case so far.

windkick wrote:

For example you are saying Kroos is better than Xavi cause he has more assists. Xavi's game isn't about creating goals it's about controlling the tempo of the game.

No, I'm not. I'm saying that Kroos, who isn't a pure creator and playing even deeper than Xavi, has still double the assists this season that Xavi had in the last 2 seasons combined and if we additionally consider that Rakitic is also adding 0 creativity and Iniesta has missed half of the season so far with injury (and even if he didn't he is playing below his level for 1 1/2 years anyway), we have a midfield with 0 penetration. Is what I'm saying. Which is irrespective of tactics. Rakitic at Sevilla only got assists from set pieces and Xavi had 2 assists under Tata last season in the entire season. Only Iniesta can theoretically play the ball forward in a creative way these days but he is injured and has shown signs of decline. With Xavi and Rakitic the ball goes wide to the fullbacks, no creative balls through the middle. Obviously Barca is Crosselona now with such a midfield. I have noted since the very first day that Rakitic's passing map is way too conservative.





I was hoping that he was merely settling in though, not that this is his game even 4 months later where he prefers the easy outlet pass to Alves all the time.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Agreed with Alex with the squad strength argument, and I would add that LE had a say in the transfers and worked together with Zubi to bring in quality players that he wanted (Bravo for instance was a LE signing who has been doing great for us). When Tata came it was so late in the transfer season he did not really have any chance to ask for players.

Tata had the january transfer and he said he does not need any CB. i can remember i felt crying out loud after he said this......Tata also refused to get a replacement after Valdez injury that allowed us to sign someone from La Liga. So having pinto in post and weak defense cant be used as the excuse in the argument that Tata had a worse squad to work with because he had no say on transfer....

http://www.sport.es/es/encuestas/barca/20150104/luis-enrique-maximo-responsable-derrota-del-barca/67650.shtml

95% of polled people belive the loss against Moyes FC was predominantly his fault

Rumors in the twittersphere stating that he will be sacked soon. I don't like him but hope this is not true.

Messi is getting him sacked obviously with the stunt he is pulling right now. alexjanosik in a dilemma who to support now.