Ernesto Valverde

Zehner

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Quique Setien is free now... He plays the so called Barca style but i thing the current team actually is not suited to play this kind of football anymore:lol:
Dembele - Messi - Griezmann
de Jong - Artur
Busquets
Alba - Lenglet - Pique - Semedo
Ter Stegen

would be a perfect first eleven for the typical Barca style, IMO. They definitely sorted out their midfield problems, recently.
 

Peyroteo

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That's a much deeper question. Wherever I go online it's more or less a consensus that he's a fraud and that he should have been kicked out half an hour after the final whistle in Rome.

Now for some reason, Barcelona's board is absolutely hellbent on keeping him in like he's the second coming of Rinus Michels. It would make some sense to me if he was actually a progressive manager doing something with long term good prospects, but he's the absolute opposite of that. Do we have any local Barcelona fans here on the forum that could perhaps shed some light on this situation?

I know if I lived there and was a season ticket holder, I would be absolutely livid with the drop in overall level of play from Pep's heyday until now. It seems the socios don't care all that much.
Every single report said the board wanted him gone after the Liverpool loss and Valencia cup final. The key figures of that dressing room were the ones that convinced the board to let him stay. He’s very much liked inside that dressing room and that counts for a lot at a club like Barcelona
 

cyberman

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Part of his problem is how much people overrate Barca players. I was shocked at how they shit themselves under the pressing from the worst pressing side in Europe at OT last season.
Certain posters wet themselves over who they sign every summer and convince themselves they're generational talents because that's what big sides do, feck Woodward etc.Its Dembele v Mbappe as the new Messi v Ronaldoo over the next decade..
Reality is a lot different.
 

De Portago

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Every single report said the board wanted him gone after the Liverpool loss and Valencia cup final. The key figures of that dressing room were the ones that convinced the board to let him stay. He’s very much liked inside that dressing room and that counts for a lot at a club like Barcelona
Brilliant piece of decision making, that one.
 

Basso

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Barcelona didn't win the double!

They lost to Valencia in the final and he should have been sacked after that 1-2 Loss.
 
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MalcolmTucker

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Crazy world we live in when people want you sacked 1 game into the new season after winning the double, definition of spoilt.
They didn't win the double last season.

Barcelona have one of the most exciting squads in the world on paper but they play such dull football.
 

zkap

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Part of the board wanted Valverde out, they were the ones leaking rumours to the press about possible replacements. Most notably Roberto Martinez. It was an attempt to apply pressure on Bartomeu, maybe get the public excited so he’d sack the coward we have now. It didn’t work because of the players, they wanted Valverde to stay so he stayed because we have too many heavyweights in the locker room (Messi, Pique, Busquets to name just a few).

The problem is the board, not Valverde or the players. Valverde is a coward, a poor coach who has not and will not do anything progressive or exciting. This is a coach who plays boring, pragmatic football with Barcelona. In addition to lacking courage, we found out in May this year that he completely lacks anything resembling pride and dignity. But this is not Valverde’s fault, he is the way he is and he belongs to a team struggling to stay mid-tier in Spain. He doesn’t belong in Barcelona and he has no place coaching a team in the Champions League.

The players also aren’t the problem. We have a great squad, plenty of world class players who’d be doing wonders under a different coach. They are very comfortable and complacent now, Valverde is a great fit for a team of complacent players who see an ooportunity to tailor everything to their liking. I can’t blame the players for wanting to do less when they see they can still be successful despite lacking effort. No team can manage itself.

This is where the board comes in. Bartomeu should have sacked Valverde last season. Not sacking him was a vote of confidence and a favour to the team that blamed itself after Rome. When it happened the second time, not only was it absolutely necessary to sack that poor excuse for a coach, it was also time to clear out a part of the dressing room. The board should have seen that we have an incompetent coach “leading” a team of complacent players, and that’s a situation that needed to be remedied this Summer. It wasn’t, the bleeding didn’t stop, it’s just that a bigger band-aid was put in the form of De Jong and Griezmann. We are attempting to solve our problems by stacking world class names in the squad and hoping that football changes somehow so you can win titles simply by having a lot of great players. It would be hilarious if it weren’t sad, and it’s sad because we watched Real Madrid attempt that already and we laughed very hard at them. We laughed for years, and now look.

The team is just too comfortable. We have the best goalkeeper in the world and the best player in the world, that alone is enough to accumulate most of the points we need with the other players doing average work. When you add a flash of brilliance here or there (Suarez, Dembele, now Griezmann and De Jong), Barça have enough to top the Madrid clubs. This is why I expect us to win the league this season, there’s too much individual quality upfront that we’ll score goals even without any coherent play, while Ter Stegen will keep most of the chances out despite the shortcomings in our defensive system. All in all we’ll likely end up as champions again, through Messi and boring, uneventuful, sad football by Valverde. I just hope something else happens during the season that gets Valverde sacked. Maybe if we meet Real Madrid in the CL and they whoop us, that could do the trick.
 
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Adam-Utd

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Barcelona didn't win the double!

They lost to Valencia in the final and he should have been sacked after that 1-2 Loss.
It’s similar to us with mourinho getting 2nd.

Yes he achieved it but we could have done so much more. The team clearly isn’t playing up to 100%
 

HisDudeness

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"It’s not messis absence it’s simply the style all I saw was 90 mins off back and side passes what on earth is grizmann doing in left wing if u watch mAn Utd old matches from 2007 to 2009 you’ll realise how dead attacking football is guadilola was right when he said he destroyed football managers only use one style of play now days which means if a world class player comes if they don’t suit that kind of system they won’t do well we’re as back in them 2007 days sometimes teams would defend or play counter attacking football they would adapt to the game rather than approaching it with a strict style r.i.p football"

if guadilola had become barca manager again they would have dominated this game and won 6:0... with or without messi. then people would accuse them of doping again.
 

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With Cou gone, and Messi, Suárez and Dembélé injured, I won't be surprised if Ernie plays with a 4-5-1 (with two false L/RFWs)

Griezmann+
Rafinha-Arthur-De Jong-Rakitic-Roberto
 

Basso

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With Cou gone, and Messi, Suárez and Dembélé injured, I won't be surprised if Ernie plays with a 4-5-1 (with two false L/RFWs)

Griezmann+
Rafinha-Arthur-De Jong-Rakitic-Roberto
It will be 4-4-2 with Messi and Griez up front.
 

De Portago

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Rubbish manager who cannot make De Jong play as good as he does with Holland.

Buy an immensely talented deep lying playmaker who excels in the center of the pitch and then convert him to a carthorse left midfielder whose main job is covering for Alba's overlapping runs. Another Valverde tactical masterstroke.
 

Casanova85

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Hope Barça finishes 2nd/trophyless so Uncle Ernie gets the focking boot already (and Suarez). Then build the 20-21 season around De Jong, Neymar, Grizzy and Messi.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Buy an immensely talented deep lying playmaker who excels in the center of the pitch and then convert him to a carthorse left midfielder whose main job is covering for Alba's overlapping runs. Another Valverde tactical masterstroke.
:lol: He plays De Jong on the left?
 

VJ1762

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Hope Barça finishes 2nd/trophyless so Uncle Ernie gets the focking boot already (and Suarez). Then build the 20-21 season around De Jong, Neymar, Grizzy and Messi.
Bro, how come you support both Barcelona and Utd? Most(if not all) Barcelona fans hate United and love City. Even the footballing philosophies are different. What is your story?

I am curious because you are the only Barcelona fan I know who also likes United.
 

ZAKU-RED

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Valverde has been playing the CMs further up the pitch this season close to the attackers, I think this is an attempt to try and get the CMs more involved to reduce the burden of not having Messi around.

But like usual under Valverde, it's poorly thought out. De Jong vs Betis was playing somewhat as an LW/AM without enough touches of the ball and we won that game due to the sheer fact Betis was just awful.

He used the same idea and formation vs Osasuna and in the first half, it failed and our Midfield only started to function when Arthur was finally subbed in the second half as he provided better build-up quality and combinations with De Jong and Busi and also adding more to the attack from the Midfield which included a goal and he should have had an assist if Perez didn't fumble the ball.

Valverde is a clueless individual who believes if Messi is around everything is okay and that's all he needs. He also relies a lot on the Pep/Tito/Lucho era players even if a number of them are no longer the players they once were as a crutch because he cannot develop his own set of players himself.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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Buy an immensely talented deep lying playmaker who excels in the center of the pitch and then convert him to a carthorse left midfielder whose main job is covering for Alba's overlapping runs. Another Valverde tactical masterstroke.
A clown of a manager.

I'd play him over Busquets(who I think has declined a good amount).

Arthur-Rakitic
De Jong

I'd go with that, though I think Rakitic's time is also up. They lack a 'needle' player. Someone who's able to create openings through dribbling in midfield and equally press resistant. Arthur is press-resistant, but don't think he can really take players on and drive with the ball forward.

Maybe Alena can fill that role.
 

kouroux

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Bro, how come you support both Barcelona and Utd? Most(if not all) Barcelona fans hate United and love City. Even the footballing philosophies are different. What is your story?

I am curious because you are the only Barcelona fan I know who also likes United.
If he is a Barca fan, he's a weirdo. Wishing a trophyless season ? I mean, really ?
 

Cait Sith

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He was tried in the left CM role to try out whether he can also play further forward with more positional freedom and not only limited to a DM. Which is logical given his ability to burst forward.

If he is a Barca fan, he's a weirdo. Wishing a trophyless season ? I mean, really ?
Uhm, most Barca "fans" are like that. I think I've seen a good chunk on their forums saying they wouldn't watch Barca anymore after last season because they didn't win the treble. 80 % of the fanbase, especially internationally, joined from 2008 onwards and 50 % will probably "lose interest in football" once Messi is done in 2 years or so.
 

Casanova85

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Bro, how come you support both Barcelona and Utd? Most(if not all) Barcelona fans hate United and love City. Even the footballing philosophies are different. What is your story?

I am curious because you are the only Barcelona fan I know who also likes United.
Fan since 1993. I still own the shirt. (Trip there, an ex of my sister an irishman living in Manchester-long story). Cracking 90s UCL games (those 3-3 at OT and CN). SAF a likeable legend. Beckham and Rivaldo my late 90s heroes. Utd champions at CN in 1999 vs arrogant Bayern. That sealed my fandom by 2000 (15 years old). And my fav PL club by far.

None of the Barça fans I know hate Utd. They hate Chelsea and currently Liverpool. City? That state-backed oil club run by the traitors Pep and Begiristain?
 
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Casanova85

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Uhm, most Barca "fans" are like that. I think I've seen a good chunk on their forums saying they wouldn't watch Barca anymore after last season because they didn't win the treble. 80 % of the fanbase, especially internationally, joined from 2008 onwards and 50 % will probably "lose interest in football" once Messi is done in 2 years or so.
Then you only know "plastic" fans. Proper Barça fans want Valverde out because he's a Top4-8 "4-4-2" joyless manager unfit to win the UCL.
 

Inter Yer Nan

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He was tried in the left CM role to try out whether he can also play further forward with more positional freedom and not only limited to a DM. Which is logical given his ability to burst forward.



Uhm, most Barca "fans" are like that. I think I've seen a good chunk on their forums saying they wouldn't watch Barca anymore after last season because they didn't win the treble. 80 % of the fanbase, especially internationally, joined from 2008 onwards and 50 % will probably "lose interest in football" once Messi is done in 2 years or so.
You've really summed up my impression of most Barca "fans" I've encountered.