The December break is fast approaching, giving us a chance to reshuffle the manager. I don't think anyone here is happy with Valverde's style or performance, but who could we get? Or is it better to wait until December (RM seem even worse, somehow)?

There is no one available who is better. I think we are doing fine with what we have. No more Xavi, Iniesta, Alves. Also Busquets, Messi, Suarez are 30+. What kind of football does everyone expect? At least we are still first in every competition. Could be worse, see Bayern or Real Madrid.

Dude he has officially hit the “lets play it safe instead of trying to win” stage. Todays set up and panic subs were a joke. We are Barca not a small club.

Rather we promoted Pimienta and try and get the Betis coach in the summer. Honestly I don’t think we would play any worse. Messi’s and Dembele’s late game goals have been carrying EV this season.

To hell with beta coaches like Martino, Valverde or Vilanova (no offence, RIP), lets get a real manager for once. I think we should go for someone like Allegri in the summer.

Quique Setien has a nice style & philosophy but again I'm not sure if he's fit to be coach of a star-studded team.

Fine, not saying it has to be him, I’m just saying I’d be down to wack Valverde now and use someone in the internm until the summer when we can get someone who isn’t a pussy.

futbol wrote:There is no one available who is better. I think we are doing fine with what we have. No more Xavi, Iniesta, Alves. Also Busquets, Messi, Suarez are 30+. What kind of football does everyone expect? At least we are still first in every competition. Could be worse, see Bayern or Real Madrid.

I agree that there is no one available who is better. People want us to play the Barca way. Well, a fluid possession based 4-3-3 is impossible right now. Not Valverde's fault. I would keep him.

Can wait a long time for 4-3-3. We don't have an elite rightback and we have a player who on paper plays on the right but in reality floats in the middle with 0 work rate and 0 off the ball movement but is asking for the ball non stop only to make the same pass to the left wing 9 out of 10 times.

As much as I want your club to drown in a sea of spit, I think your best bet is to stick with Valverde and not destabilize the club like we've been doing a few times by kicking managers left and right. Like us, you have a few players that are either not quite good enough for whatever reason, or going through the twillight years of their careers. It's not going to be smooth sailing until those issues stabilize. Neither Barca, nor Real Madrid can just hire any manager and let the ball roll anymore. Sacking managers at the first sign of negativity, just serves to temporarily appease fans and create a scapegoat for other problems.

Every single manager Real Madrid has had, has received criticism from fans, either for their choice of starting XI, substitutions (or lack thereof), formations, or tactical decisions. I believe this may largely may be a result of how little we know about the finer details pertaining to player fitness, strengths, discipline, and the general context to which these decisions matter. Neither of our teams possess the same quality that they had in the past, and the current market prices for top quality players makes it difficult even for the top clubs to do anything about it. I hardly doubt that kicking Valverde is going to fix that.

Thimmy wrote:Neither of our teams possess the same quality that they had in the past, and the current market prices for top quality players makes it difficult even for the top clubs to do anything about it. I hardly doubt that kicking Valverde is going to fix that.

Not really. Barcelona has been spending heavily and throwing prices that only PSG have been able to match or exceed so far. I wouldn't associate their overall drop in quality with the inflated market because they seem to be doing just fine in that department.

No, the main problem is that elite talent is very scarce at the moment and the players playing today can't hold a candle to those they replaced. Look around, do you see another Ronaldo or Messi coming up? Another Xabi Alonso? Modric? Xavi or Iniesta? The overall drop in quality in football is alarming and it is one of the many reasons teams like Barcelona aren't playing as well as they used to even though they're spending big.

Here's the big difference between them and us though:

1. They didn't let their standards slip and kept going after the best players in the market.

2. They don't let their best players leave because they know they won't be able to replace them with equally talented players. There's nothing they could do to stop Neymar from leaving after PSG met his release clause, but they weren't dumb enough to refuse Messi a contract extension, sell him for 100m to a CL rival and NOT replace him with anybody.

They have high standards and don't stand for mediocrity and I have nothing but respect to clubs like that. Their signings may not live up to expectations at times, but at least they're always trying, always relentless. And that's why they're league leaders and Madrid is sixth in the table.

Thimmy wrote:As much as I want your club to drown in a sea of spit, I think your best bet is to stick with Valverde and not destabilize the club like we've been doing a few times by kicking managers left and right.

Nah, its his second season and I see no point in him staying past summer even if he wins La Liga seeing as its not a big achievement currently with other competitors in laughable shape and form. He has shown that there is no improvement from here, we've been playing same boring feces and nothing will change. Fussball, you said this yourself that Valverde couldn't motivate you to get out of bed to shag a supermodel, you know damn well he isnt the right coach for our team.

A fitting coach makes all the difference in the world. We should bring back Pep once ManCity hopefully sack him in the summer lol

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

Thimmy wrote:Neither of our teams possess the same quality that they had in the past, and the current market prices for top quality players makes it difficult even for the top clubs to do anything about it. I hardly doubt that kicking Valverde is going to fix that.

Not really. Barcelona has been spending heavily and throwing prices that only PSG have been able to match or exceed so far. I wouldn't associate their overall drop in quality with the inflated market because they seem to be doing just fine in that department.

No, the main problem is that elite talent is very scarce at the moment and the players playing today can't hold a candle to those they replaced. Look around, do you see another Ronaldo or Messi coming up? Another Xabi Alonso? Modric? Xavi or Iniesta? The overall drop in quality in football is alarming and it is one of the many reasons teams like Barcelona aren't playing as well as they used to even though they're spending big.

Here's the big difference between them and us though:

1. They didn't let their standards slip and kept going after the best players in the market.

2. They don't let their best players leave because they know they won't be able to replace them with equally talented players. There's nothing they could do to stop Neymar from leaving after PSG met his release clause, but they weren't dumb enough to refuse Messi a contract extension, sell him for 100m to a CL rival and NOT replace him with anybody.

They have high standards and don't stand for mediocrity and I have nothing but respect to clubs like that. Their signings may not live up to expectations at times, but at least they're always trying, always relentless. And that's why they're league leaders and Madrid is sixth in the table.

From what I can tell, Barca have mostly been purchasing semi-established talent that aren't too young, yet not exactly experienced or at their peak. The likes of Malcom, Marlon and Arthur are old enough that they are expected to show their true potential in the near future. They also bought Coutinho, Semedo and Umtiti in recent years, as well as Dembele. Coutinho and Semedo have, at the very least, added solidity to their team, and they're still relatively young. Dembele didn't have an immediate impact and his future is still uncertain, but he's only 21. There's still time for him to improve, and it's still possible that they might turn a profit from his sale to a club like, PSG.

Overall, I think they've done some good business, and they had to replace more players than us since they initially had a stronger core of players like, Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol that eventually needed replacement. They're still stuck with Pique and Busquets, who are clearly in decline. I think they've done a decent job of patching up the positions left by arguably some of the best players in recent history. Considering the talents they had to replace, I think they've looked far better prepared than we seem to be, now that we're in a somewhat similar situation.

You may be right that elite talent is scarce nowadays, but Barca have managed to bring solidity into positions that really needed attention. Umtiti and Semedo may not be elite talents, but they have plenty of years left of their careers, and with purchases like those two, they've definitely succeeded in softening the departure of the old guard, and at the very least, added some much needed width. R. Madrid didn't seem to expect that any of our players would decline. We've hardly participated in the transfer windows over the past few years, and we even sold the width that made us such a tireless force during Zidane's first two seasons at the club. Now, we have several players that are in need of replacement, a limited bench, and it's never been more expensive and difficult to acquire solid, let alone elite talent. We only have ourselves to blame. The acquisitions of Vinicius, Courtois, Odriozola, and all of the kids we've brought in, might pay off in the long term, but over the past 3 years we've sold more useful players than we've bought.

Myesyats wrote:

Thimmy wrote:As much as I want your club to drown in a sea of spit, I think your best bet is to stick with Valverde and not destabilize the club like we've been doing a few times by kicking managers left and right.

Nah, its his second season and I see no point in him staying past summer even if he wins La Liga seeing as its not a big achievement currently with other competitors in laughable shape and form. He has shown that there is no improvement from here, we've been playing same boring feces and nothing will change. Fussball, you said this yourself that Valverde couldn't motivate you to get out of bed to shag a supermodel, you know damn well he isnt the right coach for our team.

A fitting coach makes all the difference in the world. We should bring back Pep once ManCity hopefully sack him in the summer lol

Good luck with getting Pep back. I hope you sack Valverde and bring in some numpty who coaches your B team. Actually, that's not too farfetched a scenario

I would give Xavi a chance tbh. He talked the talk, now he needs walk the walk.

Xavi came out and said he will coach in Qatar a few seasons after he retires at the end of this season. He apparently wants to start off coahing in Qatar to get ready before be moves to Barca or whatever.

Honestly I understand it’s a business and I’m sure they have treated him well and also paid him well, but I find his whole Qatar adventure annoying. If he’s serious about coaching he should coach a team in liga 1/2/3 first. The hell is he gonna get out of coaching in Qatar

futbol wrote:Can wait a long time for 4-3-3. We don't have an elite rightback and we have a player who on paper plays on the right but in reality floats in the middle with 0 work rate and 0 off the ball movement but is asking for the ball non stop only to make the same pass to the left wing 9 out of 10 times.

Glad someone else sees it for what it is. As great as he is, he stops us from playing the Cruyff way.

windkick wrote:Xavi came out and said he will coach in Qatar a few seasons after he retires at the end of this season. He apparently wants to start off coahing in Qatar to get ready before be moves to Barca or whatever.

Honestly I understand it’s a business and I’m sure they have treated him well and also paid him well, but I find his whole Qatar adventure annoying. If he’s serious about coaching he should coach a team in liga 1/2/3 first. The hell is he gonna get out of coaching in Qatar

I find it annoying too. He played 4 seasons there when he should have been getting his coaching certificates. And now this. They must be covering him in gold.

alexjanosik wrote:

futbol wrote:Can wait a long time for 4-3-3. We don't have an elite rightback and we have a player who on paper plays on the right but in reality floats in the middle with 0 work rate and 0 off the ball movement but is asking for the ball non stop only to make the same pass to the left wing 9 out of 10 times.

Glad someone else sees it for what it is. As great as he is, he stops us from playing the Cruyff way.

Tell me about the "The Cruyff" way when without the man we will competing for Europa league spots with Espanyol lol.

It's a team game and we have an elite squad. We would definitely qualify for CL and compete for the title even without Messi.

Its like you win jackpot once and dream about winning it again. you are not satisfied with anything less, you try everything but it never happens again. and you die with depression. Jackpot was young and motivated messi, xavi iniesta busquets and Pep in this example

After messi leaves team is going to turn into another milan or m.united. they will compete for 1-2 seasons at the top level, then everything will slow down. Arab Sheikh or someone like Perez needed to keep this team in the top. atm its Messi who pushes Bartomeu and Valverde to win everything, without that pressure Bartomeu will spend all the money on his Yachts and Houses instead of buying players like Coutinho and Dembele. and Pique will play like shit and get away with it. New egos will arise and someone or multiple players will act like he is owning the pitch. 4 games without Messi may fool you but that team still was Messi's team, there were no egos and everyone worked hard as a team, everyone knew that messi is still the boss here. without that feeling everyone will not work hard as schoolboys

R.Madrid is an example how without Zidane and Tapinaldo team doesnt give a shit, lack of a main player causes many problems, egos collapse, Ramos bullies Bale and Benzema and takes all penalties. There must be someone who is the boss and everyone accepts it and obeys him. it can be a player or a coach doesnt matter

So basically its Messi's barca. him leaving will not only change style of play, it will change everything in FC Barcelona and this current era will end, something new will start and its very difficult to predict what that new era will look like

At least, you bought Coutinho and Dembele. They may not be up to the standard you've come to expect, but they're both relatively young, and I'm pretty sure you'd be worse off if you had spent their transfer money on 1 or 2 unproven youngsters, while keeping the likes of aging Pedro and Iniesta as starters.

Ramos is the team captain. One may argue that he should hand his penalties over to the forwards, for whatever reason, but that's completely up to him. He's been scoring his penalties, so far, so I don't see what the problem is. His penalty miss against Bayern is still etched into my mind, but say what you want about Ramos, he has plenty of confidence and experience, and those are important traits for a penalty taker.

Arsène Wenger is available I've been told

Roberto is hurting semedos development. he has tons of potential but he isn't getting consistent minutes. I find sergi very overrated by barcas coaching staff

danyjr wrote:Arsène Wenger is available I've been told

We don't need another old fart who looks like he's about to drop dead any minute now

Stick with him till the end of the season and then decide his future.

However I must say we have a much better squad here then what the result and performance are showing us right now, so he isn't doing himself much favor.

Winter is Coming wrote:we have a much better squad here then what the result and performance are showing us right now

That sounds awfully familiar. Tell me when you find a coach that's able to disguise your weak links and convert talent into and equal amount of performance on a consistent basis, and I'll... introduce him to a really hot woman with big boobs