honeric01:


The man needed to tweak the team to his taste which he finally did even though noise makers wouldnt let him be.

they complained that he moved Messi to the left rather than give him free role.. today he still did what he was criticized to be doing and we can all see.

where in the team does he not tweak? apart from the forward line he has always maintained even during the early days, the other parts have always been tweaked.

So its not your noises that made him become a great coach overnight, rather it made him sustain his philosophy while hastening the result.

honeric01:


Now, some are even trying to exclude him from the successes the team is enjoying..

irritating!

i miss the old era where issues are discussed deeply and reasonably.. not this era of he did this, he did that, hes a mole bla bla bla

Chanchit:
. Bro, no body fit tell me say Barca no fix this match, apart from substituting Suarez, Messi was moved to top 9 where he was almost invisible and Barca played with no urgency. Someone somewhere is trying to do Pep a favour.

honeric01:


Thats the simple thing..

Some here hate him for no just reason, if you read their comments sometimes, you'd want to vomit..

Now, some are even trying to exclude him from the successes the team is enjoying..

irritating!

During pep's time, people praised him for keeping the team almost fit all through the season, the same fit is being done by Lucho, yet only few has made mentioned of this. before now, we were hit with injuries mismanagement, but now it seems all the players have some healing powers in them.. no one is mentioning what Lucho and his team are doing to achieve this.

i sometimes prefer to just zoom through the thread, shake my head at rants and petty talks, then zoom off.

i miss the old era where issues are discussed deeply and reasonably.. not this era of he did this, he did that, hes a mole bla bla bla

Johnpaul88:
It's easy to support a winning team or coach, as the case may be. But true test comes when things suddenly, are not going as planned.

homesteady:


Can you show me a post where anybody implied this? or keep your irritating self-pleasing lies to yourself!




yea... not this era of been pessimistic of beating another team even when their key players are injured just like you were doing!

homesteady:


I wonder where you bring out some of this statements!
did Suarez not start playing as a winger? was it not after much criticism that he was moved to the center

I don't even understand you anymore! are you trying to say Lucho was not under any pressure during that period?

homesteady:


Isn't it obvious? can't you see?
If you have little tactical knowledge, you would have known that We play entirely different from all those rubbish we were playing during the 1st half!

Eruditor:


What attributes?

Does he react to the opposing manager's on-the-spot tactics better now?

Do we defend setpieces better?

Do we score more from setpieces than ever?

dearpreye:
Congratulations for our making it to the Final. It's being a huge success so far, though NO cups are worn. There's NO denying the fact we shall win a few trophies.

Last night was great at Munich. We eliminated those who did the same to us just two years ago.

Just this afternoon, as I was pondering on our season, I aasked the question. What's responsible for our success? What factors can we say are largely responsible for our successful season? We weren't like this last season.

In your opinion, what factors contributed to this great season?

Cc All Cules.

mcdreeezy:
In my opinion:

1. The rotation policy of the coach has helped to keep the team fresh and less injury-prone. Although every player wants to play every game but as it is now, there's no player that wouldn't be impressed with how far we've come this season with a possible treble edging closer.

2. MSN have also been key as they've come to understand themselves better. On a normal day, they're three quality individual players but their combination, teamwork and selflessness towards each other is proving to become a great weapon against opponents.

3. The upgrade of Cesc Fabregas, Ivan Rakitic. He brings physicality to the midfield and he also has the quality to make the final pass just as we saw for Messi's second goal in the 1st leg of the semi-finals against Bayern.

4. The defense have also been key as we've shipped out fewer goals in our last six or seven matches bar the 2nd leg against Bayern. Pique is in form coupled with El Jefecito and jordi Alba.

5. Luis Enrique's direct approach. No much talk on this one. We now play a mix-up of tiki-taka and counter-attacking football. This has made us somewhat unpredictable.

honeric01:


We defend more from set piece than before, if you don't see this, then there is a problem somewhere.

We concede less arm ball in the are, we concede less PK in the area, we now press higher and deeper, the midfield has learnt how to cover up than before, the front line know understands eachother better, they are now fitter and sharper e.t.c

I can't help you see what you don't want to see. if you feel these aren't true, then what more can i say?

dearpreye:


Brilliantly captured. I'm particularly obsessed with point 3. Ivan Rakitic. He's a huge improvement on the lazy Fabregas. He's brought a lot of physicality to our midfield. He's also more of a box-to-box midfielder. I also think he's largely responsible for point 5. We have become more direct because of Ivan Rakitic.

Every other point is valid. It's hope we win another treble to cap what's been a fantastic season.

Thank you for your contribution.

Eruditor:


You missed my point. Lucho started out trying to fix these things (the emboldened) you are talking about and off late (apart from yesterday) we have seen the necessary improvements so that's not what we complained about.

He rotated the team endlessly and few times without need (especially the front 3). He was slow to react when other manager's changed their tactics and sometimes it worked against us. Yesterday and Sevilla come to mind.

He played Suarez on the right and the midfielders never tracked his run on many occasions or they simply went for the more conservative and safe pass. Remember when people wanted Daniel Alves gone by all means because of his failed crosses and putrid performances? He got his defensive pairings wrong in the group stage game against PSG. He changed from all these to the mix of counter-attacking and tiki-taka which we now enjoy and with a more predictable line-up. Not the early days when the Barcelona B grads like Rafihna and co were starting important matches.

The keyword is that he changed.

dearpreye:
Congratulations for our making it to the Final. It's being a huge success so far, though NO cups are
In your opinion, what factors contributed to this great season?

honeric01:


Suarez still plays on the right side, even yesterday he did when the formation changed, you need to look closely to see this.

that first goal should give you a better understanding.

on paper, hes seen as the CF, but when they play, he swaps position with Messi countless times..

When Messi drives in from the right to the middle, he immediately switches from middle to right.

what they had then was "gelling issues", now that they are through with gelling, you hardly see the "errors" you pointed out. tiny things changed!

logica:
Just as the first response your post pointed out; the major factor is the attack trident. Last time we had a free-scoring trident like this, we won a treble (sextuple).

dearpreye:


I agree. ...but there's more than just the trident!

Johnpaul88:
Really? Humour me more!
Enrique was always in charge even when some glory hunters here and indeed the majority of the media, branded him a mediocre coach because he was trying out a few things when it was still safe to experiment. He knew when he must get everything together and boy, did he get everything together! He even admitted he doesn't read the papers anymore because his wife advised against it on health reasons. I'm so delighted he has made some glory hunters and pointless critics here and in goal.com, to eat the humble pie. Most are just waiting for the slightest mistake to pounce but his cheer courage and will power has silenced them all.

dearpreye:


Brilliantly captured. I'm particularly obsessed with point 3. Ivan Rakitic. He's a huge improvement on the lazy Fabregas. He's brought a lot of physicality to our midfield. He's also more of a box-to-box midfielder. I also think he's largely responsible for point 5. We have become more direct because of Ivan Rakitic.

Every other point is valid. It's hope we win another treble to cap what's been a fantastic season.

Thank you for your contribution.

logica:
What else? Matter of fact, in Guardiola's first season, Barca had a much stronger defense - Puyol, Abidal and an eager Pique + Yaya who also fitted in the mid-field.

sebod:

Imagine Messi willing playing away from the CF to accommodate Suarez.

Eruditor:


Whenever Messi drops deep it always appears like Suarez is on the right but he is not- not anymore. He is now the registered CF. You don't expect a mobile team like Barca to have static players, that's why it appears like Suarez plays on the right. To check if your assertion is right watch the RM game at Santiago and the replay at Nou Camp. Suarez was the one tracking back to assist Alves to mark but in the reverse fixture and even yesterday, Messi was the one doing that.

And when you talk about little errors you need to realise that Barca since 2008 have only always had "little errors". Remember we had equal points with the La Liga champions last season and we lost by the odd goal in the CDR final. That was nearly a double

kradleber:


He's an average coach because he substituted Suarez who had a slight injury? Go sleep

sebod:

The coach!!!
Lucho too plays a major role in the success so far. His ability to keep the players fit, manage the dress room and keep the stars happy is a major key. Imagine Messi willingly playing away from the CF to accommodate Suarez, Xavi taking up a role from the bench without any issue, that must be a good job by the coach. The boys are happy, motivated and as such ready to give everything to the coach.

honeric01:


We had equal error last season yet we didn't get to the finals? 4points ahead of the La liga and in the cup final? you mean last season and the season are the same?

Like i said on the frontline, the only changes i see remain the gelling that finally came, there is nothing new at the front that hasn't been tried before. the gelling was what was lacking, hence the misunderstanding between the midfielders and the forward line.

logica:
You guys are funny. What position was Messi playing at the beginning of his career with Barca? This same position has been Messi's position ever since; until Pep saw a weakness in the Real Madrid set up. That was the first time Messi ever played from the center (according to the instructions Pep gave, he was to start from the wing as usual then shift to the center). This tactic worked so well, Barca beat Real Madrid 6-2 right in the Bernabeu. Ever since then, that tactic had been used and it worked for a while. So what you are seeing is simply status quo. Besides, neither Messi nor any Barca player is ever fixed as a false 9. At any point in a match, various people play the role: Messi, Neymar, Suarez, Pique, even Dani Alves!

sebod:

I am not sure you got my point sir. Ever since Messi started playing as CF (false 9), he had been playing fine and scored lots of goals. Can you remember the major issue Ibrahimovic had with Pep? Can you remember Tata also tried at a point to play Messi wide which did not work out well? My point? Suarez is able to settle well in the team because of Messi,s willingness to shift. And that's down to his good heart and the work of the coach. So my praise goes to the coach for being able to manage the players well without any dressing room issues.