Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Other Football - 2019/20


Recommended Posts

16 minutes ago, Josef Svejk said:

Their problem isn't that they're not as good as they were a decade ago. Or that they're not winning the Champions League. It's that they're getting humiliated in Europe every year. And they're broke. And their star player thinks he owns the place...


Isn’t that because they aren’t as good though?

 

IMO, they are still trying to do what they did under Guardiola but the game has changed. 
 

They still think their Tika-taka is new and side don’t know how to play against it. 
 

But teams do know how to play against it now - better pressing in better areas (like we do), higher tempos and exploring spaces behind full backs. 
 

See Spain in every international tournament since 2014 as well. 
 

They both revolutionised the way the game is played. But they’ve not evolved and other sides have surpassed them. They need another Cruyff or Guardiola visionary. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Josef Svejk said:

They're an embarrassment. Not relative to Guardiola's side. But objectively.


Apologies, I’ve significantly edited my post. 
 

I agree their capitulations in the last few years are embarrassing, but I’m not quite sure I follow the rest though?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Scott_M said:


Isn’t that because they aren’t as good though?

 

IMO, they are still trying to do what they did under Guardiola but the game has changed. 
 

They still think their Tika-taka is new and side don’t know how to play against it. 
 

But teams know how to play against it now - better pressing in better areas (like we do), higher tempos and exploring spaces behind full backs. 
 

See Spain in every international tournament since 2014 as well. 
 

They both revolutionised the way the game is played. But they’ve not evolved and other sides have surpassed them. They need another Cruyff or Guardiola visionary. 

Opponents have wised up, I'm sure. But they're just not very good anymore.

 

They need to hire a world class manager, have him oversee proper recruitment, and cut Messi down to size or cut him loose.

 

It amazes me how unambitious they've been with their managerial appointments...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Josef Svejk said:

It amazes me how unambitious they've been with their managerial appointments...


Yeah, it just feels like they’ve appointed people to keep Messi happy. 
 

IMO, Messi still has an important role to Barca. He obviously still has it and probably will do for a few years to come yet.

 

The issue is he they can’t play everything through him any more. IMO, they had a similar issue with Xavi.
 

They need to look forwards to great Barca side, but given the age of Suarez & Griezman and the lack of funds they have & the pressure that comes having to win every week and playing in front of 90k every other week, I don’t know where that player is coming from.
 

Demebele? Fatu? Whoever, it’s a big challenge for them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Scott_M said:


Isn’t that because they aren’t as good though?

 

IMO, they are still trying to do what they did under Guardiola but the game has changed. 
 

They still think their Tika-taka is new and side don’t know how to play against it. 
 

But teams do know how to play against it now - better pressing in better areas (like we do), higher tempos and exploring spaces behind full backs. 
 

 

They don't play Tika-taka any more. They play 4-4-2 and have fucking Vidal in midfield. Tactically they're an absolute fucking mess. It isn't about rigidly sticking to a playing philosophy, they simply don't have one at times.

 

They've bought appallingly, and appointed shit managers that rightly feel like they have very little power anyway.

 

They'd probably benefit from buying absolutely no-one for 24 months. Just gradually shift out the overpaid, overrated or over the hill shite, and give games to Fati, Puig, Alena, and Pedri.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

 

They don't play Tika-taka any more. They play 4-4-2 and have fucking Vidal in midfield. Tactically they're an absolute fucking mess. It isn't about rigidly sticking to a playing philosophy, they simply don't have one at times.

 

They've bought appallingly, and appointed shit managers that rightly feel like they have very little power anyway.

 

They'd probably benefit from buying absolutely no-one for 24 months. Just gradually shift out the overpaid, overrated or over the hill shite, and give games to Fati, Puig, Alena, and Pedri.


They still try to play a variation of Tika-Taka, it’s only the last few games this short-term coach has gone a bit rogue.

They were defintely 4-3-3 under Valverde.

 

Define bought badly? I’ve defintely overpaid but when you buy arguably the most important player from top clubs (ie Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman) they won’t come cheap. 
 

IMO, they haven’t bought bad players at all. They haven’t moved with the times a and somewhat tried to square peg these players into round holes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Scott_M said:


They still try to play a variation of Tika-Taka, it’s only the last few games this short-term coach has gone a bit rogue.

They were defintely 4-3-3 under Valverde.

 

Define bought badly? I’ve defintely overpaid but when you buy arguably the most important player from top clubs (ie Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman) they won’t come cheap. 
 

IMO, they haven’t bought bad players at all. They haven’t moved with the times a and somewhat tried to square peg these players into round holes. 

They were very direct under Valverde. Tika taka has gone.

 

They've bought with no idea of what to do with the players. They've bought with no idea of what their squad will look like in 12, 24, 36 months.

 

They're left with an unbalanced collection of old, hugely overpaid players. Alba, 31, contracted until 2024. Busquets, 32, 2023. Suarez? Vidal? What's the plan? They swapped a 24 year old Arthur for a 30 year old Pjanic. They have been utterly atrocious in the transfer market. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Scott_M said:


They still try to play a variation of Tika-Taka, it’s only the last few games this short-term coach has gone a bit rogue.

They were defintely 4-3-3 under Valverde.

 

Define bought badly? I’ve defintely overpaid but when you buy arguably the most important player from top clubs (ie Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman) they won’t come cheap. 
 

IMO, they haven’t bought bad players at all. They haven’t moved with the times a and somewhat tried to square peg these players into round holes. 

They were not. Valverde wanted them to play in a more rigid 4-4-2 and tried to implement that. They did revert to 4-3-3 at times because that's the club's "identity", but he wanted to move away from tiki taka. 

 

And as for their transfer strategy, yeah Coutinho, Griezmann and Dembele aren't "bad" but they're all disasters from a planning and style of play perspective.

 

Messi, Iniesta and Xavi used to work because Messi used to be a deadly forward who would be on the receiving end of service and he wouldn't have to drop deep so much because Xavi and Iniesta were obviously world class at building up the play. But as Messi has gotten older, he's less forward and more playmaker, so other offensive creative players like Coutinho and Griezmann are basically moot. They occupy the same positions as Messi and therefore get in his way. Now, Messi needs forwards ahead of him who make runs off the shoulder. Like Salah and Mane, for example. 

 

And as for Dembele, he's basically an immature kid who seems to have lifestyle and discipline problems that a world class footballer doesn't have. Basically, their most expensive signings were players they had no need for and they also bought a stupid kid. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, Aventus said:

Will be funny if City get knocked out and Barca are immediately on the blower to him to come back. 

 

 

He wouldn't go near them. 

Too much to lose. 

He inherited the bones of a brilliant young side and now would inherit a cluster fuck and not have the millions to spend he's used to

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...