alexjanosik wrote:I am not the biggest Enrique fan but I dont think he deserves the sack. I have even felt he has evolved a bit from the hoofball to Suarez tactic.
Definitely think he deserves to stay atleast one more reason. That said I do wish he has the guts to go to the president and demand that Messi be sold. But he wont as that is the easiest way to get himself fired. Enrique is a smart man and surely realizes that Messi is a liability and hampers the team. But he also realizes that at Barca, Messi comes before everybody. So he will keep his mouth shut. Or he will go the Pep way and bow out on his own terms(seeing the writing on the wall before everybody else).

For argument's sake, what's the best case scenario out of this?

If you're Enrique, you obviously can't sell Messi BUT you still want to succeed at the club. How do you 'counteract' Messi's 'behavior'?

Well we can play the way Atletico play with a 4-4-2 with Messi one of the two. But then it would be a more counter attacking style and even then I doubt he can pull it off. For one, he is poor on the counter. Secondly it is not our style.

The only way I can think of to keep our style, keep a defensive structure and Messi not being a liability is play a 3-4-3 with him at the tip of the diamond 4.
Pique middle of the back 3 but we need more mobile wide CB's. Alba cannot play there as he is not good enough and Alves is old(he could have if he was younger).
Busquets at the tip of the diamond, Rakitic right midfielder, get Pogba for left midfield, Messi tip of diamond.
Neymar wide left, Suarez center and a new right winger.

3-4-3 is my favorite formation. I think such a structure could really work. We hide Messi's deficiencies as much as possible and he actually gets to play in the ideal setting for him. He gets to play in the middle but he also has Suarez in front of him to do the dirty work and give him space.
Trouble is finding 2 wide good mobile CB's.

Thats the way I would play it if Messi is kept. But I doubt Enrique has the vision to pull it off.

Interesting you would say that. I also think a 3 man back line would be the best in the current Barca setup but I was thinking 3-5-2 (really a 3-5-1 with Messi given a free role). Neymar and Alves would be on the flanks which eliminates Jordi Alba from the team. Also allows for a third center back that can step into the midfield and provide an extra man, something that would've helped tremendously against Atletico. You do need more mobile CBs though that is a limitation.

I still disagree Messi is the root cause of your current problems, I think it's down to fatigue and a poor midfield. Having said that a 3 man back line might still help and it would be interesting to see.

I talked about style and philosophy too. I am a Cruyffist through and through.You have the great mans username. 3-4-3 was his system. As he said, a triangle is the best geometric shape to pass and advance the ball up the field.And the 3-4-3 system creates natural triangles all over the pitch. It is one of the reasons why it is imo the most beautiful system.3-5-2 doesnt create triangles to the same extent. Plus it is a more defensive and counter attacking system while 3-4-3 is the ultimate Cruyffian system.
Even if I were otherwise inclined, Neymar as a wingback is not ideal. It would restrict him too much and put too much of a defensive burden on him. If it is a 3-5-2 then only 2 of MSN can play. And I would prefer Neymar and Suarez for the two up top as Messi isnt mobile enough for such a role.

alexjanosik wrote:I talked about style and philosophy too. I am a Cruyffist through and through.You have the great mans username. 3-4-3 was his system. As he said, a triangle is the best geometric shape to pass and advance the ball up the field.And the 3-4-3 system creates natural triangles all over the pitch. It is one of the reasons why it is imo the most beautiful system.3-5-2 doesnt create triangles to the same extent. Plus it is a more defensive and counter attacking system while 3-4-3 is the ultimate Cruyffian system.
Even if I were otherwise inclined, Neymar as a wingback is not  ideal. It would restrict him too much and put too much of a defensive burden on him. If it is a 3-5-2 then only 2 of MSN can play. And I would prefer Neymar and Suarez for the two up top as Messi isnt mobile enough for such a role.

you undestimate how important width is today. it's impossible to play with fullbacks at the moment. they are very important no matter if you Simeone, Mourinho or Cruyff. Just watch how much a great fullback like prime Alves or Marcelo bring to a team.

it was fatigue problem.team will get in top form in useless games tough

Valkyrja wrote:

futbol wrote:We were tremendously unlucky with the schedule. Literally more than half the team (Bravo, Alves, Mascherano, Neymar, Messi, Suarez) went to the other side of the world to play official and competitive games and immediately after returning had to face Real Madrid (who were saving themselves for this game all season after the 0-4, Ronaldo tracking Alba ), Atletico Madrid (twice) and Real Sociedad away (which is an automatic loss no matter what). A different schedule, some La Liga fodder teams after the intl. break instead of Real, Atletico and Real Sociedad, and the situation would look very different now. The tactics that have worked the past 1 1/2 years haven't suddenly stopped working after about 4 games so there is no need to change the manager.

futbol wrote:Very good draw. Would have prefered Bayern, playing against same league teams is a bit boring, but overall I'm happy we always draw proper teams and not garbage like Wolfsburgo or Benfica. Makes for good viewing for the fans. When it was 6-0 against Getafe last week after not even an hour I couldn't be bothered to watch beyond 60 minutes and turned off after key players got substituted. No one cares about such onesided encounters, especially not in the CHAMPIONS League. It also helps the team to keep playing against tough opponents to get better. Doesn't turn into a culture shock like Bayern playing against 3th division level opponents (everyone in Bundesliga apart from Dortmund) and then suddenly facing elite teams in Europe.

Next games:

Villarreal (away)
Real Madrid (home)
Atletico Madrid (home)
Real Sociedad (away)
Atletico Madrid (away)
Valencia (home)

Now that's how a proper champion's schedule looks like.

I predict easy 6 out of 6 victories.

No hard feelings. Easy 2 out of 6 victories is enough taking into consideration the pretty hard schedule

1 out of six. Too easy

Calma. We got this. Just taunting you by giving you a bit of hope which we will crush from next game on. Pls. As if we're going to drop points against Deportivo, Betis, Granada, Espanyol or Sporting.

How cute of Valk to become a regular poster in our section when we dip in form LOL