Was moving for LE a smart move or should we have kept Tata?

What do you think of each new signing - are they meeting your expectations?

What do you think of the players we have sold/loaned out - do you wish we had kept any of them?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Was moving for LE a smart move or should we have kept Tata?

What do you think of each new signing - are they meeting your expectations?

What do you think of the players we have sold/loaned out - do you wish we had kept any of them?

Should have kept Tata for continuity. He says in hindsight he would have done things differently and I'm certain he would have improved in his 2nd season. He is a smart man. Narrowly losing out on major titles against boths Madrid clubs with Pinto in goal and Fartra in defense during the business end of the season and Messi saving himself for bottling another WC game against Germany isn't something to be ashamed of.

All signings are meeting my expectations nicely. They are either average players (Rakitic, Mathieu) or not Barca quality at all (Douglas, Vermaelen). Bravo surprised me, good goalkeper. Suarez and ter Stegen are 2 exciting additions but one of them doesn't even play regularly and the other hasn't quite found his form yet.

Should have kept Cesc. While it's true that he had flaws and was never going to replace Xavi or Iniesta adequately he remains a superior player than Scrubitic.

All signings are meeting your expectations nicely. In the next line, you call him scrubitic.

Didnt Tata want to leave as much as we wanted him out, I dont think it was a possibility. I dont think he was happy with the way the club did things anyway.

So I cant answer first one.

The majority of signings cant all reach my expectations because they either dont play or I dont have expectations for them. Im getting basically what I expected from the ones who are (Rakitic, Mathieu and Bravo). Good to decent role players and play basically how I thought. Only real negative is Mathieu has proven he isnt a real option at leftback (I didnt outright expect him to be but I would have guessed he could do it) and Rakitic isnt getting in goalscoring position.

All the guys we sold were sold for good reason and would not change any of it..expect for Alexis and Deulofeu. Still think we should have kept Alexis instead of Pedro..but ofc the Barca boys club cant have thar. Now looking at it, its starting to show in my eyes our best balanced line up may actually include Pedro, Messi, Neymar AND Suarez..Alexis is and was obviously better than Pedro and can do alot more.

Munir is starting to fade and starting to show that jumping over the B team isnt so easy. Deulofeu was more ready and could play a more adaptable role, as Munir can only really play one position.

Dont know how smart Tata was. the guy could not win a single game after meeting the same team 6 times in a season. may be that team was League winner and CL finalist but still  Madrid destroyed them twice at least. For me, Tata would not be that much upgrade. Also he certainly needed to do some changes in style which we were/are not ready to accept. So the possibility of Tata remaining even does not exist.
Surprised with Bravo, knew him a good keeper, at best. Mathieu is an upgrade from previous years, thats all. Rakitic, is a downgrade in that sense. Last year midfield was far better overall.
would have still sold Alexis. No matter what, a winger failing to beat his man every time and passing it back is not a great to watch. The guy would still be playing on the right side and would be of no use to us. dont want to be fool of him firing for Arsenal.
Cesc, i have a mixed feeling for, often i think he could have stayed, sometimes the feeling he really was useless for us. in ny case its bad though to see him playing well for a team i hate so much (after madrid ofcourse).
Defo... is ok to be loaned. dont think he would have got enough mins yet at barca. its better he gets regular playing time in other teams

neuro11 wrote:
Defo... is ok to be loaned. dont think he would have got enough mins yet at barca. its better he gets regular playing time in other teams

Which he hasnt been getting. Before Suarez came from suspension, Munir played more for us than Deulofeu at Sevilla.

The thing is suarez isnt getting another 10 match ban anytime soon.

Deulofeu looks like a dud. Hasn't translated anything he did in Barca B to first division football. Sat on Everton's bench, got sent away by Lucho after Lucho obviously wasn't impressed by his preseason and now sits on Sevilla's bench. Might still turn it around, he's 20, but if he can't even force himself into Sevilla's and Everton's XIs he wouldn't help Barca right now. Dribbling non-stop into defenders might get results in Segunda football and youth levels, not necessarily in first division football. Denis Suarez is far more impressive and should have been the one to stay instead of Roberto.

sorry, i had not been following Defo. So his situation at Sevilla is same as in Everton? Is this his arrogance or its just that someone else performing better than him which is difficult to accept that both Everton and Sevilla have better player than him. In that case i agree that if the guy sits on the bench of Sevilla and Everton, he must have serious problem and dont see how he could have been an improve for us unless any of our front four are out.

I agree we should of kept Suarez over Roberto. I've NEVER been big on Sergi, never. Dude isn't Barca level. D. Suarez on the other hand stepped in for Rakitic at Sevilla and stepped in right way and has made a clear difference and impression.

Alexis, I wasn't big on him but having a line up of Alexis-Messi-Neymar makes more sense than having Suarez running all over the place from the right to the center and to the right again. Suarez is obviously a better player, but in OUR system, we need a true winger, not a player like Suarez. We could of used the Suarez money on another defender and maybe a midfielder (and a proper right back)

Want to also chime in on how shitty our right back situation is going to be next year...good lord. Alves and Montoya gone will leave us with JUST Douglas? give me a *bleep* break. So Zubi gets the biggest F of all the mid season grades, for *bleep* up such a wonderful team we had, for years now just shitting all over us.

After his newest statements I take back what I said about Tata.

Tata Martino: "In any place in the world, you're a phenomenon when you finish second. In Spain, you're the worst."

Seems like he still hasn't realized that he was coaching Barca.

He wasn't saying that he did a great job, only that Spain is a weird league. The full statement was something like "Mourinho said that La Liga is the hardest league and he may be right. It's an unusual league. If you're second that is like being the worst but if you're third you're the best of the rest - well maybe fourth now with Atleti. You could lose 3 points vs Almeria halfway through the season and think "we have 20 games to make up for this" and then the other team goes on a 15 match winning streak."

@borrilete lol, especially with the 15 match winning streak ish. So true. But, hey, how is this even suppose to be possible? Such a weired and funny league. I remember in 2004 when madrid were topping the table by 4 points with 5 games to go, but guess what? Ronaldo goes injured, and Mehrid go on an amazing 5 game loosing streak, including defeats to albacete and an epic 5 - 1 drubbing at the hands of mallorca at the barnebeu, to end the league in 3rd place behind winners valencia and "u know who". With fre****g 5 games to go..LoOoOoOoOoL. In real life real/barca would be militants.. Anyway..
"WELCOME TO THE SPANISH LEAGUE WHERE EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!"

Still dont understand how this statement holds ""In any place in the world, you're a phenomenon when you finish second". That completely depends on the team you are coaching. Do you think finishing second is phenomenon for Man U?? or Byern or Chelsea (right now). It can be for Arsenal,Liverpool, Dortmund , Valencia etc. what this has to do with the spanish league...For a top team being second is ofcourse the worst in anywhere in the world.

Actually he was humble in that interview. He said he did nothing good for barcelona and he failed. He said Barcelona is the team that winning supercopa is nothing for them. I came to the best team and did nothing to improve them

This is what he meant. Knowing Tata he would never be arrogant.And thats why he lost the league