So what now, should Valverde be fired?

I'm sure Alena would have done a MUCH BETTER job. But yeah lets hope Coutinho finally wakes up and play him in a semifinal without any merit based on previous games. Fantastic team selection.

windkick wrote:http://www.barcelonafootballblog.com/27300/valverde-romance-and-the-audacity-of-hope/

I love the author's style of writing, good reads. This one I am gonna post, in particular, makes the Pool come back something I don't think any Barca fan would be getting over anytime soon.

http://www.barcelonafootballblog.com/27294/why-this-one-is-different/

What do we as supporters have? Doubt. Because we can’t know what they know, can’t know what they see when they look at each other in training, before each match. All we know is our own fears, our own worries, and we ask, “What if Rome happens again?” It won’t. It can’t. And if you think that it can, you have watched Barça this season, but you haven’t really seen Barça this season.

Stupid CL obsession, since when are we like Madrid when they chased their Decima for years? Oh, wait, since 90 % of the fanbase joined from 2009 onwards.

We were never a CL force, even at our best we wouldn't have won shit without Övrebo, van Persie sending off, Bendtner toe poke rescue from Mascherano, Pepe sending off and Messi slaloming entire Madrid team on his own from the center circle. And that was Barca at its best in its entire history. So why should we demand "treble or bust" now with a squad that is 3 or 4 tiers below?

3-4 against best Liverpool team in Premier League era isn't that bad. 4-4 against Roma isn't that bad either. It's typical Barca pre golden generation era.

Because you have the best player in the world.

Not to mention the manner in which you collapsed. Disastrous matches against Bayern (2013), Juventus (2017), Roma (2018) and Liverpool (2019) are why even long term fans are unhappy with the recent CL form.

danyjr wrote:Because you have the best player in the world.

That's why the Argentina trophy cabinet is so full in the last decade or so, right? Having the best player in the world totally guarantees Cup competition success.

futbol wrote:Stupid CL obsession, since when are we like Madrid when they chased their Decima for years? Oh, wait, since 90 % of the fanbase joined from 2009 onwards.

We were never a CL force, even at our best we wouldn't have won shit without Övrebo, van Persie sending off, Bendtner toe poke rescue from Mascherano, Pepe sending off and Messi slaloming entire Madrid team on his own from the center circle. And that was Barca at its best in its entire history. So why should we demand "treble or bust" now with a squad that is 3 or 4 tiers below?

3-4 against best Liverpool team in Premier League era isn't that bad. 4-4 against Roma isn't that bad either. It's typical Barca pre golden generation era.

I agree. The fan base is behaving ridiculously right now. Calling for heads to roll from the management to the manager to the entire team barring Messi. It is hilarious and way overboard. We are still league champions and that counts as a successful season trophy wise imo. Football quality has been dire but that is a separate discussion.

There is a middle ground however. You are right that we were never a CL force. An argument to consider however is that our success over the past decade and a half means that expectations have changed. We have steadily truned ourselves into a football powerhouse and one of the top 2 teams in the world. We now have winning pedigree, especially domestically but also in CL. We have 5 now which is equal with Bayern and Liverpool. Point being that expectations have risen, current hilarious meltdown from entitled fans notwithstanding.

Not winning things is one thing, being outplayed and embarrassed is another.

In terms of Argentina's success we have had arguably the best track record in South America in the last decade despite being coached by Maradona in 2010 and having the worst squad in four decades in 2018:

World Cup 2014 runner up.
3 times Copa América runner up.
Olympic gold medal 2008.

That is a very successful track record despite mismanagement all the way from federation level to coaches, and lack of talent in key areas of the pitch. Just to give you an idea, our starting GKs are 2nd choice keepers for United and Chelsea. Our starting right back is not the first choice RB for Sevilla. The list goes on.

Now let's look at Barcelona's performances, specifically the second part of my post which you omitted. You have spent €300 million on two players alone to be thrashed by Roma and Liverpool. Key word: thrashed. I would argue that this is why Barça fans are unhappy. There was no shame in losing to Chelsea and Inter in CL. You didn't get outplayed. You weren't dominated. Shit happens and you can hold your head up high the next day. But to get routed by Roma or a Salah and Firmino-less Liverpool, with (to quote yourself) "donkeys" Henderson and Milner playing in midfield who already played a match 4 days prior, is downright embarrassing. You have the best player in the world, with funds to build a fantastic team around him (which Argentina don't), and yet you get embarrassed in global stage like that for two seasons in a row, and you come up with excuses like "we were never a CL force" like some magic DNA makes you a CL force. It is mismanagement from top to bottom which has caused this, much similar to what has happened for Argentina when we got embarrassed (Germany '10 and Croatia '18).

There is no chance you have a better track record than Chile winning back-to-back Copa Americas but regardless - your comparison is off. Romero might be your goalkeeper (who isn't even bad, just because DDG is better) but the same goes for most international sides and certainly South American sides. Uruguay's captain in 2011 Copa America victory was Diego Lugano from Turkish League, some midfielder from Botafago who no one has ever heard of before started all games with washed up Forlan upfront alongside Suarez. And don't tell me Oscar Tabarez is a coaching genius.

Meanwhile you had Zabaletta, Di Maria, Mascherano, Cambiasso, Banega, Higuain, Agüero and Messi. And you went out in the groups. Talk about embarrassment.

Imagine saying this + getting rekt by Götze in the most important game of all time is a successful track record but winning every domestic trophy out there + CL semis = embarrassment.

Bring Laporta back

So dany is just gonna ignore the domestic success in Spain. The sheer dominant domestic success with the occasional deep runs/wins in Europe. But for what can only be described as ultra bias tendencies goes on to say Argentina has had "arguably the best track record in South America". I like it when you're criticizing Dembele tbh.

What happened to the is valverde the most underrated manager in the world thread

futbol wrote:Masia didn't produce anyone of note since Thiago. Which player who left turned out class? No one. Sergi Roberto is La Masia and no one wants him (rightfully). He's actually the best Masia prospect since Thiago. Deulofeu, Munir, Sandro, Tello, Bartra.

Please do tell me how Jeremy Matheu was better than sticking with Bartra, financially of football-wise?

It appears that Koeman is set to replace Valverde.

If it were up to me I'd try and enquire about Pochettino.

Unique wrote:What happened to the is valverde the most underrated manager in the world thread

What a difference one game made....

eelir wrote:

futbol wrote:Masia didn't produce anyone of note since Thiago. Which player who left turned out class? No one. Sergi Roberto is La Masia and no one wants him (rightfully). He's actually the best Masia prospect since Thiago. Deulofeu, Munir, Sandro, Tello, Bartra.

Please do tell me how Jeremy Matheu was better than sticking with Bartra, financially of football-wise?

It was better as Mathieu barely cost anything (I think 15 million was his fee) and he was about 3 levels better than Bartra who is the worst CB who is allowed to play first division football. Declining Suarez made him fall flat on his ass with dribbling, go back and watch the Betis game this season.

Myesyats wrote:It appears that Koeman is set to replace Valverde.

If it were up to me I'd try and enquire about Pochettino.

I think he'd respond you in this way

I don't speak whatever language this is

Myesyats wrote:It appears that Koeman is set to replace Valverde.

If it were up to me I'd try and enquire about Pochettino.

You might as well hire some random kid off the street if you're going to hire Koeman tbh.

I think Fussball would make a great manager with his witty insights and dry German humor he could make Messi work like a coal miner.

Vote futbol 2020.

Valverde is not the main issue. The Fartomeu is!

That loss was Valverde's fault. Barca never was a defensive team, they never knew how to defend. Valverde tried to park the bus with Barcelona which is ridiculous. In last decade Barca's defense looked good because they were dominating every team, not giving them the ball. opponents always were scared of barca, they were under so much pressure that instead of scoring they would kick the ball into the stadium. This is how barca's defense saved their face in the last decade. Trying to play defensive with this Barca always was a failure. Instead they should have attacked Liverpool from the start

With L.Enrique Barca would defeat both Roma and Liverpool

Kebab wrote:That loss was Valverde's fault. Barca never was a defensive team, they never knew how to defend. Valverde tried to park the bus with Barcelona which is ridiculous. In last decade Barca's defense looked good because they were dominating every team, not giving them the ball. opponents always were scared of barca, they were under so much pressure that instead of scoring they would kick the ball into the stadium. This is how barca's defense saved their face in the last decade. Trying to play defensive with this Barca always was a failure. Instead they should have attacked Liverpool from the start

With L.Enrique Barca would defeat both Roma and Liverpool

Can you elaborate how Luis Enrique lost 0-4 to PSG, 0-3 to Juventus and 0-2 to Atletico?

futbol wrote:

Kebab wrote:That loss was Valverde's fault. Barca never was a defensive team, they never knew how to defend. Valverde tried to park the bus with Barcelona which is ridiculous. In last decade Barca's defense looked good because they were dominating every team, not giving them the ball. opponents always were scared of barca, they were under so much pressure that instead of scoring they would kick the ball into the stadium. This is how barca's defense saved their face in the last decade. Trying to play defensive with this Barca always was a failure. Instead they should have attacked Liverpool from the start

With L.Enrique Barca would defeat both Roma and Liverpool

Can you elaborate how Luis Enrique lost 0-4 to PSG, 0-3 to Juventus and 0-2 to Atletico?

Losing happens but bottling 3-0 lead happens only with Valverde. twice in a row
Because of defensive approach. This gives opponent huge self confidence to destroy you. If you act as a prey, your opponent becomes a predator

Barto announced earlier today, they are sticking with VV, putting an end to speculations about his future with Barca.

I know, that Fart has 100% backed EV so we can expect the same crap again next season..however just for fun...

I noticed a lot of people on line want Tuchel, should EV leave and the Ajax coach isn't available

What's everyone's thoughts on Tuchel?

Yeah, getting a hipster coach who bottled a 3-0 lead to Man United's U17 team and managed to bottle the French Cup final is the way to go for sure.

There are no coaches who are above Valverde's level bar Pep and Klopp and neither is available. Think about it. Most big names coaches are pretty much Valverde tier at most bar the 2 mentioned (and with Pep it's still not clear how much of a fraud he really is given that he did not make a single CL semi-final in 3 years with 1 billion Man City team).