Luis Enrique

Barcelona B assistant Joan Barbara (47), who also was Luis Enrique's assistant at Barcelona B, will become his second assistant. [md]

sanchez04 wrote:I dont think it was a good idea.half of the squad will feel they are bigger than enrique

Wat? That's exactly what will NOT happen with Enrique. Club legend and former captain. Guy has more authority than Puyol.

@fusball, was he bigger than guardiola? Pep himself said that team didnt listen to him anymore and he left. How can they listen to Enrique? They love and respect Pep more than anyone still there were problems after they became bigger and successfull

About authority, Messi Xavi and Iniesta have more authority than any Barca legend in the past. Nobody can force them anymore

False hopes, i dont see Barca playing better than this season in future. Only thing that can improve Barca is defense. Tata or Enrique no difference for me

There is not a lack of motivation by Messi or Iniesta or Xavi. They are top professionals. Pep just made an arbitrary comment, not everything he says to the press is 100 % true. The main problem this season was Tata's ancient training methods. It's actually the opposite of "Messi, Xavi, Iniesta not caring anymore". Messi has just bemoaned the "lack of energy" this year.

I was already suspicious when I saw the open training session this year compared to last year. Was nowhere near as intense. Lucho will fix that. Add a couple important signings, especially in defense, Messi getting the WC out of the day, Nerman adapting better to Europe and we're rolling again. We were 40 minutes away from winning La Liga even in our worst ever year with Alves crossing balls to Messi.

sanchez04 wrote:@messixaviesta i think in pep's time they were school boys with no success and fame. But now half of the squad won 2 world cup, 2 CL, 6 la liga, 4 ballon dor. With all these success they are not school boys anymore and nobody can make them play like that anymore. This was the reason Pep left

Are you saying this purely speculatively or do you have any links that suggest this was the case?

neuro11 wrote:
i don agree with madrid getting weaker teams in CL though. Them beating Bayern is enough which i doubt we could have done....

I will say this though that at this point in time there is no "best team in the world". We lost that label some time back, Bayern has just dropped it, Madrid can't get it even if they win UCL because not winning the league title and losing a few times to us doesn't suggest best team qualities and then there is Atletico who if they win the UCL could make a claim but given that the vultures are swooping around this team will break up very soon - even faster than Inter Milan degraded after 2009-10.

Fußball wrote:There is not a lack of motivation by Messi or Iniesta or Xavi. They are top professionals. Pep just made an arbitrary comment, not everything he says to the press is 100 % true.

What exactly was this comment by Pep? Links please???

@messixaviesta, there was a book by graham something, he mentioned it there

Anyone else watch the press conference today? Quite a few things covered.

Sanchez04 is writing some good posts, I noticed it in some other thread as well

Not saying he's necessarily right all the time, but expresses some interesting & knowledgeable views.


As for Enrique, hopefully he is ready for the job. Had it been my decision, I would have chosen someone else, someone with more experience. Although Enrique will surely be super-motivated in what must be his dream job, so I'm sure he will leave no stone unturned to bring success to Barcelona.

sanchez04 wrote:@fusball, was he bigger than guardiola? Pep himself said that team didnt listen to him anymore and he left. How can they listen to Enrique? They love and respect Pep more than anyone still there were problems after they became bigger and successfull

About authority, Messi Xavi and Iniesta have more authority than any Barca legend in the past. Nobody can force them anymore

False hopes, i dont see Barca playing better than this season in future. Only thing that can improve Barca is defense. Tata or Enrique no difference for me

Come on now we all know 75% of the reason for Pep departure had to do with our board/president then it did with the players. He said the team didn't respond to him because of how long they've been together, its like being in University/College if you had the same professor for 4 years straight you'd get fed up of him too and wouldn't listen to him as much as you did in the first year or two.

Rijkaard and Pep both had literally nothing when they came to Barcelona yet won the league and CL, even Eto'o showed attitude towards Pep as a nobody, so why can't Enrique succeeded if they did? I'm not saying he'll do it as we don't know the answer to that till the season begins. Obviously changes need to be made, so will see what he does.

The new Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has asked not to be compared to Pep Guardiola – at least not until he has won a few trophies – and has pledged to give youngsters a chance.

The former Barça player was introduced to the media on Wednesday after being appointed as Tata Martino’s successor on Monday. “Please don’t compare me with Pep [Guardiola] now,” he said. “I hope it happens in future because that will mean we are winning titles. Am I apprehensive about the Barça task? Not at all, this is one of the happiest days of my life.”

Enrique represented the Catalan club for eight years and won two league titles, two Spanish Cups and one Cup Winners’ Cup. Asked whether he would continue to play 4-3-3 he said Barcelona would deploy “a system which suits the players we have and gets the best out of them”. He also said he would be delighted to promote young players into the first team.

“I love to support young players but I demand that they show hunger and ambition. The door is open to all B players, and all the players in the youth teams.”

sanchez04 wrote:@messixaviesta, there was a book by graham something, he mentioned it there

I suppose you mean his book on Barca. I own a copy of that and have read it not all that long back. If you have taken those words verbatim then they are very much open to interpretation. Maybe all Pep meant was he had already taught them everything he could. It cannot be straight away taken to mean that he couldn't control them any more or they weren't listening to him any more. In that sense it may be difficult for Luis Enrique but players respect other great players and hence they will give him an initial chance. After that it's all about impressing upon them and proving himself through results and the day to day interactions he has with them.

The Franchise wrote:Anyone else watch the press conference today? Quite a few things covered.

No. Let me see if I can find a video of it.

Art Morte wrote:
As for Enrique, hopefully he is ready for the job. Had it been my decision, I would have chosen someone else, someone with more experience. Although Enrique will surely be super-motivated in what must be his dream job, so I'm sure he will leave no stone unturned to bring success to Barcelona.

Can you suggest any names for the kind of profile you said you would prefer? I think the problem is that there is also a dearth of suitable candidates.

The Franchise wrote:Anyone else watch the press conference today? Quite a few things covered.

Have any updates on some of the things he covered?

windkick wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Anyone else watch the press conference today? Quite a few things covered.

Have any updates on some of the things he covered?

Luis Enrique: "I thank the club for believing in me. It's a very special day for me. Today we start to build a new Barça, an exciting Barça"

Luis Enrique: "I never thought about becoming first team coach at Barça. If you think about it, it won't happen."

Luis Enrique: "This afternoon we'll start to make important decisions."

Luis Enrique: "I'm already looking forward to hear the Barça hymn at the Camp Nou."

Luis Enrique: "How do I define myself as a coach? Handsome, tall, likeable, Asturian... (smiles) More than a coach, one should be a leader."

Luis Enrisue: "Being a coach is more than putting together a line-up. It's managing a group, players' personalities, motivating them..."

Luis Enrique: "Today I thought: how great is this, I'll coach Barça...."

Luis Enrique: "I informed Celta weeks ago that I would leave, I didn't have any offers at that time."

Luis Enrique: "Messi? I'm delighted to have world's best player in my squad. It's a motivation. He's still impressive, adds more than goals"

Luis Enrique: "How will Barça play? We will attack, play the attractive football that millions of people around the world liked to see..."

Luis Enrique: "Xavi? He's a friend and an ex-teammate. We'll sit down and talk about what he wants and what we want."

Luis Enrique: "There will be changes this summer, we'll strengthen the team, if possible in all lines."

Luis Enrique: "Mascherano? A bit similar situation as Xavi. He has the profile of a captain. There's time to make decisions."

Luis Enrique: "Playing 4-3-3? We'll see, we want a system that is best for the players we have."

Luis Enrique: "Bad relation with Totti? That's a myth. We get along great. When I left, he was one of the few players at press conference."

Luis Enrique: "Staff? Assistants Unzué and Moreno, Pol physical coach, Valdes psychologist. And Barbera [assistant B-team] also joins."

Luis Enrique: "Rafinha and Deulofeu? No one has a guarenteed spot in the team, they will have to fight for it. They have to be ambitious."

Luis Enrique: "I like to use players from the academy, the door is open, but they will have to work very hard. The future is in their hands"

Luis Enrique: "I'm aware there will be comparisons with Pep. I admire him and we're in touch. He has adapted great at his new club."

Luis Enrique: "De la Fuente will continue as goalkeeping coach. Psychologist? That's for me. If journos needs him, we'll give business card"

Luis Enrique: "Cesc? No need to ask for individual names. We won't talk now. Decisions will be made later."

Luis Enrique: "If you want to defend, there's nothig better than having the ball. And if you have it on the opponent's half, even better."

Luis Enrique: "The idea will stay the same, but we have to evolve, improve, so we can surprise the opponent."

Luis Enrique: "Neymar? He's one of the most important players in the team. I'm delighted to have him here."

Luis Enrique: "Social media? I think it's something wonderful, I usually don't limit their use, except when the players are at the club."

Thumbs up - Telling the journalists on their faces that some of them invent stories once in a while.

Thumbs down - Hardly a ringing endorsement of the maestro Xavi. Talked about him as if he was just any other player and let his position remain as uncertain as ever.

Overall came off as a person who can very easily teach a lesson or two to anyone trying to act smart with him.

why would you consider that a thumbs down..
Xavi needs to at one point in his life slowly get replaced. At 34 he needs to accept that and i'm sure he will he seems like a one club type of player.

Yeah but its not "similar to Mascherano" like he said. Mascherano isnt and never was good enough to play for us at the back, Xavi was and still is.

Next season is surely one to look to forward to.
I do hope that we do some smart buying this summer, rather than buy another square peg to fit in round holes(Cesc) or someone useless(Song)...
Recalling the likes of Deulofeu and Rafinha is a good start as well as the 2 GKs. Hopefully, it continues well enough.

larisano_is_back wrote:Next season is surely one to look to forward to.
I do hope that we do some smart buying this summer, rather than buy another square peg to fit in round holes(Cesc) or someone useless(Song)...
Recalling the likes of Deulofeu and Rafinha is a good start as well as the 2 GKs. Hopefully, it continues well enough.

I clearly remember how annoyed I was at the Song purchase. As for Cesc dani and some others had voiced their displeasure very clearly stating that there wasn't any chance of him ever adapting to the Xavi role. Our board has made too many mistakes in the past few years. Even last night when I was watching Zubi in the press conference I couldn't help think how cooly this man behaves in spite of having committed blunder after blunder and how easily his position was renewed when poor performance in high pressure roles such as his is otherwise very seldom tolerated.

Donuts wrote:why would you consider that a thumbs down..
Xavi needs to at one point in his life slowly get replaced.  At 34 he needs to accept that and i'm sure he will he seems like a one club type of player.

dani already answered this but let me elaborate some more. In order to slowly replace Xavi we must find someone capable of replacing him which we are nowhere close to yet. So till then it does not make even logical sense to question his position. If at all that is done then considering the legend that he is, he should at least be treated with much more respect. Also we must not forget that as soon as Puyol stopped stepping on the pitch Xavi has been our captain. Considering all that Enrique talking about Xavi as if he was no different to a Mascherano and Cesc annoyed me to say the least. In comparison the much maligned Martino when asked a similar question last year said that he feels nervous having to talk about such a great player. Enrique should have said something like he is a cornerstone, he is our leader, he is a legend, he is an absolutely integral part of this great team, etc. Instead he just talked as if it was one other player. In comparison Messi must as always get the special mention. Even if that is acceptable why give the same to Neymar. So suddenly Neymar means more to Barca than Xavi? Make no mistake Xavi can still play a very important role for us for two seasons at least. No he shouldn't be playing every game or even 90 minutes always but used intelligently he still has a lot to give. However if he is made to feel like he is not really wanted he will leave sooner than later. He's never been the sort of touchy guy to immediately react to small little things said here and there. So no harm done but they need to be careful when they actually sit down and talk to him. As of now I am likely more annoyed with this than Xavi is.

I can see your point but i don't know, maybe we are reading far too much into a sentence but my opinion from this is neymar and messi get that special mention because they are essentially the certain future of the club.
becides Messi and Neymar need that security to have confidence, Xavi doesn't seem to require it as much as the rest just like Puyol or Iniesta haven't.

Xavi like you said has a one or two seasons left at best and should stop being looked at as necessary, despite being the only real option we have currently for our current play style.

it's still far too early to know what will happen this summer but i have a gut feeling we are prioritizing Xavi's replacement heavily (maybe even more then a defence) we need to buy his replacement or have a certain one by the end of august because after the transfer ban Xavi will be 36 and practically dead for us.

i'll only judge after the transfers.
right now the mood seems positive, but I'm reaelly keen for him to take hold of the transfer policy.
Zubi is just clueless

I would not mind if he only said this :
Luis Enrique: "Xavi? He's a friend and an ex-teammate. We'll sit down and talk about what he wants and what we want."

but kind of disrespectful saying his situation is a bit similar to Mashcherano which is truly nowhere near.

Overall his reply looked smart. so it seems Cesc is on the transfer card otherwise why would he say decisions will be made later.... He din say similar with mashcherano which means Mashcherano has more chances to stay than Cesc. Thats a good indication.

I dont want both Alexis and Pedro to be sold. i wish its pedro though leaving. wondering why no one asked about Alexis....