Certain events over the last week, indeed over the season, convince me that we are in danger of losing our place as the best team in the world if adequate care is not taken. For instance, today was the first day I ever saw our team look so clueless and devoid of inventiveness, especially from the moment Messi lost that penalty. We were just passing the ball around, hoping that a Chelsea defender would make a mistake or that we would win a set-piece. We lacked the cutting edge, our players (especially Messi) looked jaded, and our defending was shambolic.

For me, the events of the last six days point to an imminent crisis at the club if a summer restructuring is not undertaken. First, I think Pep should go. He seems to have lost the ability to motivate and energise the players (How do you motivate players that have won everything?). I also think we need at least one new world-class central defender (Thiago Silva should fit the bill), another defender as back-up, a new right-back, and a new centre-forward (preferably Van Persie). I also think Valdes is suspect as a goalkeeper, though the establishment is unlikely to permit a replacement.

Altogether, I think there are signs of a decline, unless we reinvent ourselves. Our style of play must be made unpredictable once more. (I mean, imagine Chelsea and Real Madrid hitting us on the break all the time). Our defending, especially from set-pieces as well as our man marking must be worked on. We need to work on the defensive side to our game as well.

Barca fans in the house, I don't know what y'all have to say, but I think the signs are clear. Change is needed, what worked for us in the past may not work for us henceforth. Let's put heads together and see how we can bounce back and reclaim our pride of place in world football. Barca: "Mes que un club.

Over to you guys.

HNosegbe:

Altogether, I think there are signs of a decline, unless we reinvent ourselves. Our style of play must be made unpredictable once more. (I mean, imagine Chelsea and Real Madrid hitting us on the break all the time). Our defending, especially from set-pieces as well as our man marking must be worked on. We need to work on the defensive side to our game as well.

Typical Knee Jerk Reaction. Loosing one game is not the end of the world.
You've just won three La Liga titles on the bounce and two of the last 3 champions league titles. A dip in your trophy cabinet is inevitable. It was always bound to happen. OR did you really expect to keep winning every La Liga and CL in sight?

Anyways you've already said it yourself. A lil bit of variety in terms of playing style is essential. Most especially against teams whose sole aim to park the bus and hit on the fast break. Do that and you'll b back winning more trophies

Trust me man, its not knee-jerk. When we lost in the semis two years ago, we didn't look as clueless and jaded as we did yesterday. Neither did we fail to win in three back-to-back matches, nor defend as shamefully as we have done recently. The problem is deeper this time, and we need a new plan. Everyone who is on top must constantly innovate and keep improving to remain on top.

We need a Vincent Company , we need a fernando llorente, we need at least 5 big guys in our squad. big guys to deal with set pieces. we dont need 8 five footers anymore. we need to shoot more from outside the box.

chic2pimp:

Typical Knee Jerk Reaction. Loosing one game is not the end of the world.
You've just won three La Liga titles on the bounce and two of the last 3 champions league titles. A dip in your trophy cabinet is inevitable. It was always bound to happen. OR did you really expect to keep winning every La Liga and CL in sight?

Anyways you've already said it yourself. A lil bit of variety in terms of playing style is essential. Most especially against teams whose sole aim to park the bus and hit on the fast break. Do that and you'll b back winning more trophies

I concur. . . Barcelona didn't do much wrong over the two legs - it just wasn't to be. The team needs a bit of reinforcement, but to change the style of play, I'd oppose that. Their dominance and success over the years is testament to how potent this their tradition is and ultimately, they'll lose a handful of battles here and there but in the end they'll always be victorious - because after all is said and done, love 'em or hate 'em, we all love to see football played the way they play it!

if u don't stop all your fraudulent ways of winning, no matter how much you try to restructure the team, you will be the enemy of the masses. even in the presence of all barca winnings, they ended up making more enemies than friends. your team in the past few years has been a subject of controversies both in la liga and uefa.
i see the downfall of a team made up of divers and cheats who are super stars but cannot concentrate on playing football but rather choose to win in dramatic fashions destroying every ref they see or meet along the line.
the first move in your suggested restructuring will be KILLING THE CHEATING SPIRIT IN THE TEAM.
have u ever asked yourself why barca is still high on debt even with all and everything they win?
the fear of what mourinho will say next brought in complex in the team and they lost self confidence.
barca has the best players you can ever think of but they want to cheat when they can beat teams easily with their qualities and class.
look at madrid, even when u hate them, u can't point to controversies or cheating when they win.
if man u fans are around, let them take this same massage to their club because very soon, i mean very very soon or sooner than we can imagine, they will experience their downfall because to a typical nigerian, two teams are called pdp and they include; barcelona and man u.
my massage to these two teams today is; REPENT OR U PERISH.

1025: if u don't stop all your fraudulent ways of winning, no matter how much you try to restructure the team, you will be the enemy of the masses. even in the presence of all barca winnings, they ended up making more enemies than friends. your team in the past few years has been a subject of controversies both in la liga and uefa.
i see the downfall of a team made up of divers and cheats who are super stars but cannot concentrate on playing football but rather choose to win in dramatic fashions destroying every ref they see or meet along the line.
the first move in your suggested restructuring will be KILLING THE CHEATING SPIRIT IN THE TEAM.
have u ever asked yourself why barca is still high on debt even with all and everything they win?
the fear of what mourinho will say next brought in complex in the team and they lost self confidence.
barca has the best players you can ever think of but they want to cheat when they can beat teams easily with their qualities and class.
look at madrid, even when u hate them, u can't point to controversies or cheating when they win.
if man u fans are around, let them take this same massage to their club because very soon, i mean very very soon or sooner than we can imagine, they will experience their downfall because to a typical nigerian, two teams are called pdp and they include; barcelona and man u.
my massage to these two teams today is; REPENT OR U PERISH.

you're wrong brother! only nairaland haters, motor park touts, beer parlour discussants, agrieved madrid and man u fans hate yhis barca team. seasoned football pundits, ex players, current players, football columnists call this barcelona the best football side in history. they say this barcelona side plays the best football ever seen in a long time. so go bury yourself hater!

HNosegbe: Trust me man, its not knee-jerk. When we lost in the semis two years ago, we didn't look as clueless and jaded as we did yesterday. Neither did we fail to win in three back-to-back matches, nor defend as shamefully as we have done recently. The problem is deeper this time, and we need a new plan. Everyone who is on top must constantly innovate and keep improving to remain on top.

Nah it's knee jerk....When you lost in 2010 to inter you looked as clueless until Pep altered his tactics by sending Pique upfront. The only difference this time around was Pep's refusal to change tactics and unexplanable substitutions made.

If Pep did not stupidly experiment with the Back 3 formation(might suit other teams but not Barca)then you would probably still would not defend shamefully. Your defence then wasn't much better. Also I don't recall you playing three tough matches in a row as you have done this season(chelsea-Madrid-Chelsea)so failing to win three matches is not as big a deal as you make it.
The problem is not any deeper. You will still win 95% of your matches next season but a plan B must be found against teams whose sole and only aim is to pack the Train.

RuuDie:

I concur. . . Barcelona didn't do much wrong over the two legs - it just wasn't to be. The team needs a bit of reinforcement, but to change the style of play, I'd oppose that. Their dominance and success over the years is testament to how potent this their tradition is and ultimately, they'll lose a handful of battles here and there but in the end they'll always be victorious - because after all is said and done, love 'em or hate 'em, we all love to see football played the way they play it!

I never said they should change their style. That will be stupid of them.
I think it is a big credit to their team that sides feel the only way to beat them is to pack the train,lorry,bus and house in front of their goal.
What I said is that a variety in style of play is needed against these types of teams. Nothing drastic is needed.
They definitely will be back next season. After all it's not like they got eliminated in the second round.

ddippset: you're wrong brother! only nairaland haters, motor park touts, beer parlour discussants, agrieved madrid and man u fans hate yhis barca team. seasoned football pundits, ex players, current players, football columnists call this barcelona the best football side in history. they say this barcelona side plays the best football ever seen in a long time. so go bury yourself hater!

As a United fan,I'm tempted to say this summation is highly ignorant.
I respect and value the way Barca play,because it's the RIGHT way.
I have never said a bad word against the club on this forum or anywhere else.
So I wonder how you came to that conclusion.
Just my thoughts.

You are all right in your summations though you may have different opinions, How I hope Pep G. can read these things and learn a thing or two from them.

But one thing I know is that in life, every thing has its time and season, barcelona may lose now that does not mean it is the end of barcelona, every team in the whole world of football goes through such times, Man U, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Porto, Bayern, Inter, Ac Millan etc have at a particular time been at their peak in football & considered best in the world yet later they dip and come back again to their peak, now its barcelona, tomorrow it will definately been another club.

UP BARCA!!!

As a United fan,I'm tempted to say this summation is highly ignorant.
I respect and value the way Barca play,because it's the RIGHT way.
I have never said a bad word against the club on this forum or anywhere else.
So I wonder how you came to that conclusion.
Just my thoughts.

@starboard,
the most wonderful thing you did in your response is when u concluded by that's ur though. be free to say ur mind as the rant of a looser will do u no harm. the records are there and we can explore them at all times. visit any viewing centre and read sports articles and come back here with your findings.you are a man u fan and as such you have no moral justification to call another team fraud when you know it will be a case of kettle calling pot black. at europe levels, barca represents pdp and at epl, man u are not doing bad in representing pdp and i don't want to believe that you don't know what pdp stands for.
when messi in 2010 failed to make it to cl finals with barca and argentina team where no where to be found in sa2010 yet he won the world best player while sniejder won the cl with inter milan and made it to world cup finals with holland but was not among the top three players, the whole world shocked.
football under blatter and platini is fraud and we all know that.
when was the last time you watched barca win another team with 11 players per side?
last season, everybody saw barca players week in week out roll on the floor with one eye on the ref is the red card was out.
the shame of standford bridge last two seasons was more than obvious to all. very soon, barca will be reduced to the level of arsenal where good football yields no results.
did you watch madrid/buyern today and see officiating? will any team complain? abeg, ask urself why is barca another name for controversy? tell that man to google barcelona controversises in champions league and he will read from ppl who write in from all over the world.
na God catch them yesterday and madrid is on their way to la liga trophy breaking the goal scoring record of la liga even when their coach is accused of been a defensive master. how can a team be playing attack leaving our own torres to be their defender and when he scored fainting became their destinies.

1025:

@starboard,
the most wonderful thing you did in your response is when u concluded by that's ur though. be free to say ur mind as the rant of a looser will do u no harm. the records are there and we can explore them at all times. visit any viewing centre and read sports articles and come back here with your findings.you are a man u fan and as such you have no moral justification to call another team fraud when you know it will be a case of kettle calling pot black. at europe levels, barca represents pdp and at epl, man u are not doing bad in representing pdp and i don't want to believe that you don't know what pdp stands for.
when messi in 2010 failed to make it to cl finals with barca and argentina team where no where to be found in sa2010 yet he won the world best player while sniejder won the cl with inter milan and made it to world cup finals with holland but was not among the top three players, the whole world shocked.
football under blatter and platini is fraud and we all know that.
when was the last time you watched barca win another team with 11 players per side?
last season, everybody saw barca players week in week out roll on the floor with one eye on the ref is the red card was out.
the shame of standford bridge last two seasons was more than obvious to all. very soon, barca will be reduced to the level of arsenal where good football yields no results.
did you watch madrid/buyern today and see officiating? will any team complain? abeg, ask urself why is barca another name for controversy? tell that man to google barcelona controversises in champions league and he will read from ppl who write in from all over the world.
na God catch them yesterday and madrid is on their way to la liga trophy breaking the goal scoring record of la liga even when their coach is accused of been a defensive master. how can a team be playing attack leaving our own torres to be their defender and when he scored fainting became their destinies.

I won't go into who said-who didn't say ish.
What I'll tell you is mind your language,
There's no point arguing.
I've said what i said.I will never say anything bad about another side.
Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion but use it with facts