Hamid7:

The team had poor character throughout the season. Most fans knew this, but kept silent until the the Anfield embarrasment. That night their lack of chacter became clear.
If coutinho can't press, then why is he there?
While many Cules including me think our aged, less productive players should be sold, sadly they wouldn't be. Barca player transfer is a mess, signing players now involves endless hassles. Selling them is near impossible,that's why the midfield is choked up with too many bench warmers. Barca have been poor with the signing of players since Tixik Begristain left as sporting director. He is in Manchester City signing the right players for pep's team wihout too much noise.
However, the coach and President are our greatest problem. The coach with his conservative football can't win UCL. conservative teams rarely win UCL. The last time it happened was Chelsea in 2012, atletico madrid another conservative team played two consecutive finals and lost both to an attacking side. Bartomeu is the only club president who continually backs a failed coach. If it were some other clubs, he would feel the bitterness of the president. But here, no way, he feels relaxed since he has Bartomeu's backing.
Barcelona will just be a near average team and we will keep getting bullied in UCL because of those men.

IKON360:

My brother don't give yourself stress, that's how fans were complaining that Guardiola doesn't have plan B that's why Chelsea and Inter knocked us out, that's also how fans were complaining that we are to reliant on our forwards under Enrique that's why we never won UCL again. That's also how Debroslink and some others complained that the reason we lost this UCL is because we are too reliant on Messi, some others blamed Valverde and you are blaming Valverde, Bartomeu and Rakitic. There are so many people to blame but how about the players that chances were created for them to score yet they didn't, chance upon chance?
Well, the most important thing right now is getting a finisher, a very good one. Goals win trophies, we can still win the league next season but to win UCL you must score. And if you watched Barcelona matches, you will know that Valverde isn't conservative, in fact he is very far from conservative. Our exposure to counter attacks is more than enough proof that we are not conservative. And if you watched Liverpool vs Tottenham you would also see that Liverpool were conservative, very conservative, they had just 3 shots on target yet they won. Conservation is wisdom and it depends, sometimes it's necessary, some other times it isn't. And we didn't lose cos we were conservative, we lost cos we couldnt finish off our chances

Kimbeast:
Barcelona should never be reliant on one player, to think people are saying they need to get a messi heir is just a complete slap in the face to Barcelona’s own Philosophy, they need to get back to being a well oiled machine and get back to the passing and pressing teams of old where every player is important in their own sense. Barca need pep Back.

IKON360:

My brother don't give yourself stress, that's how fans were complaining that Guardiola doesn't have plan B that's why Chelsea and Inter knocked us out, that's also how fans were complaining that we are to reliant on our forwards under Enrique that's why we never won UCL again. That's also how Debroslink and some others complained that the reason we lost this UCL is because we are too reliant on Messi, some others blamed Valverde and you are blaming Valverde, Bartomeu and Rakitic. There are so many people to blame but how about the players that chances were created for them to score yet they didn't, chance upon chance?
Well, the most important thing right now is getting a finisher, a very good one. Goals win trophies, we can still win the league next season but to win UCL you must score. And if you watched Barcelona matches, you will know that Valverde isn't conservative, in fact he is very far from conservative. Our exposure to counter attacks is more than enough proof that we are not conservative. And if you watched Liverpool vs Tottenham you would also see that Liverpool were conservative, very conservative, they had just 3 shots on target yet they won. Conservation is wisdom and it depends, sometimes it's necessary, some other times it isn't. And we didn't lose cos we were conservative, we lost cos we couldnt finish off our chances

Hamid7:

Pep definitely had a plan B, he didn't approach every game same way. Enrique had Ney and Messi in his squad, you can't have such players and not rely on their speed and skills. Every team have their strength, they have players they rely on, Valverde has just Messi, If he doesn't score, we are domed.
Valverde's Barca may not be the most conservative, but they are the most conservative Barcelona side of the past 10 years. They now sit deep and await opportunity for counters.
This team doesn't look capable of wining UCL
Pique: Slow, unnecessarily overlaps
Lenglet: Good but equally slow
Alba: Fast, technically good but panicks
Sergi Roberto, doesn't panick, good going forward but defensively not so good
Busquets: Slow, error prone
Arthur, controls midfield well, almost zero creativity and vision
Rakitic: Not as creative as a CM should, poor vision, sometimes walks around without contibuting anything meaningful
Coutinho: Loses the ball often, lacks everything except, maybe his trademark long range suprises.
Suarez: Good connection with Messi, misses the easiest of chances, dives too often
Messi: Good creativity and vision, good finishing, Manages to deliver even when heavily marked, Not as fast as in his prime, but isn't poor either, walk on the pitch sometimes, but does well when he gets the ball.
Dembele: Fast, fair creativity, poor decision making
Now tell me if liverpool is as weak as the team above. Worse, there is a coach who turns every player into a weakling.
If you are the CEO of a multinational, will you keep staff members who failed in their duty for two consecutive years? How long will you endure before you realise your investment is vanishing?.
I have been a cule for at least, 12 years. If you became a cule after 2010, or you ported from an EPL team you will think it's okay to win only the league or go trophyless( yeah, english teams can retain a failed manager or player for several years.)
Having a finisher won't solve our problens. We signed expensive wastes, thinking, they will solve our problem, no they made it worse. These board doesn't now the right players to sign.
Ending our misery should start from getting another coach, everything else can come after that.

Kimbeast:
Barcelona should never be reliant on one player, to think people are saying they need to get a messi heir is just a complete slap in the face to Barcelona’s own Philosophy, they need to get back to being a well oiled machine and get back to the passing and pressing teams of old where every player is important in their own sense. Barca need pep Back.

Hamid7:

Pep definitely had a plan B, he didn't approach every game same way. Enrique had Ney and Messi in his squad, you can't have such players and not rely on their speed and skills. Every team have their strength, they have players they rely on, Valverde has just Messi, If he doesn't score, we are domed.
Valverde's Barca may not be the most conservative, but they are the most conservative Barcelona side of the past 10 years. They now sit deep and await opportunity for counters.
This team doesn't look capable of wining UCL
Pique: Slow, unnecessarily overlaps
Lenglet: Good but equally slow
Alba: Fast, technically good but panicks
Sergi Roberto, doesn't panick, good going forward but defensively not so good
Busquets: Slow, error prone
Arthur, controls midfield well, almost zero creativity and vision
Rakitic: Not as creative as a CM should, poor vision, sometimes walks around without contibuting anything meaningful
Coutinho: Loses the ball often, lacks everything except, maybe his trademark long range suprises.
Suarez: Good connection with Messi, misses the easiest of chances, dives too often
Messi: Good creativity and vision, good finishing, Manages to deliver even when heavily marked, Not as fast as in his prime, but isn't poor either, walk on the pitch sometimes, but does well when he gets the ball.
Dembele: Fast, fair creativity, poor decision making
Now tell me if liverpool is as weak as the team above. Worse, there is a coach who turns every player into a weakling.
If you are the CEO of a multinational, will you keep staff members who failed in their duty for two consecutive years? How long will you endure before you realise your investment is vanishing?.
I have been a cule for at least, 12 years. If you became a cule after 2010, or you ported from an EPL team you will think it's okay to win only the league or go trophyless( yeah, english teams can retain a failed manager or player for several years.)
Having a finisher won't solve our problens. We signed expensive wastes, thinking, they will solve our problem, no they made it worse. These board doesn't now the right players to sign.
Ending our misery should start from getting another coach, everything else can come after that.

Hamid7:

Pep definitely had a plan B, he didn't approach every game same way. Enrique had Ney and Messi in his squad, you can't have such players and not rely on their speed and skills. Every team have their strength, they have players they rely on, Valverde has just Messi, If he doesn't score, we are domed.
Valverde's Barca may not be the most conservative, but they are the most conservative Barcelona side of the past 10 years. They now sit deep and await opportunity for counters.
This team doesn't look capable of wining UCL
Pique: Slow, unnecessarily overlaps
Lenglet: Good but equally slow
Alba: Fast, technically good but panicks
Sergi Roberto, doesn't panick, good going forward but defensively not so good
Busquets: Slow, error prone
Arthur, controls midfield well, almost zero creativity and vision
Rakitic: Not as creative as a CM should, poor vision, sometimes walks around without contibuting anything meaningful
Coutinho: Loses the ball often, lacks everything except, maybe his trademark long range suprises.
Suarez: Good connection with Messi, misses the easiest of chances, dives too often
Messi: Good creativity and vision, good finishing, Manages to deliver even when heavily marked, Not as fast as in his prime, but isn't poor either, walk on the pitch sometimes, but does well when he gets the ball.
Dembele: Fast, fair creativity, poor decision making
Now tell me if liverpool is as weak as the team above. Worse, there is a coach who turns every player into a weakling.
If you are the CEO of a multinational, will you keep staff members who failed in their duty for two consecutive years? How long will you endure before you realise your investment is vanishing?.
I have been a cule for at least, 12 years. If you became a cule after 2010, or you ported from an EPL team you will think it's okay to win only the league or go trophyless( yeah, english teams can retain a failed manager or player for several years.)
Having a finisher won't solve our problens. We signed expensive wastes, thinking, they will solve our problem, no they made it worse. These board doesn't now the right players to sign.
Ending our misery should start from getting another coach, everything else can come after that.

Kimbeast:
Barcelona should never be reliant on one player, to think people are saying they need to get a messi heir is just a complete slap in the face to Barcelona’s own Philosophy, they need to get back to being a well oiled machine and get back to the passing and pressing teams of old where every player is important in their own sense. Barca need pep Back.

SerVik:
Where do you guys get the strength to type these long essays ffs?

IKON360:

Very astute write up, but all your complaints about Valverde and the board etc won't have come up if we had scored in that match against Liverpool, when I joined this thread, so many fans were complaining about Valverde and how he was killing the team how Dembele should always start matches despite his earlier glaring flaws like he never gave either Alba or Roberto or Semedo enough cover, he never tracked back or how Valverde persisted with Suarez despite having Boateng on the bench and so many other complaints, then we went on a 20+ game winning streak turning out excellent performances against Athletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Man utd, Liverpool 1st leg, Lyon and other numerous games, I was pro Valverde and every Valverde complaint seized cos he was doing well. Immediately we lost the match to Liverpool, see anger and hating directed on Valverde and myself because we didn't qualify against Liverpool. And it seems you are in the same boat too. Prior to Guardiola and Enrique, no Barca coach had ever won the treble, Ronaldinho virtually brought Barca to its glory days yet he never won the treble, saying the winning of only league is nothing is an insult to the hardwork of those players. Valverde turns every player to weakling, wow!! So Ter Stegen, Pique, Dembele Messi, Suarez, Vidal are all weaklings?! Wow. As at our match against Liverpool, only two CBs were better than Pique, Van Dijk and nobody else. Barca finished UCL as one of the least conceding sides, Pique and co were exceptional. You have good analytical skills but they are extremely unfair when brought into the general picture. Busquets is old, but you can't call 5 DMs better than him, just 5. Even Suarez that I love, is past his prime, so I agree that he needs a replacement yet its hard to even find a player like him that will allow Messi thrive because until Messi leaves he remains the most important player in that team.
And my brother, a finisher will solve 90% of our problems, even conservative sides need to score goals so do the most non conservative of sides need goals. Liverpool scored 4 goals, we needed just 1 and due to our not scoring that one, we couldn't qualify for UCL finals and due to our not qualifying for the finals, you feel( and so do numerous) that we need a new coach and a new board of directors...
.
The signing of Dembele and Coutinho were due to the departures of Neymar and Iniesta, however Coutinho can't be consistent enough for one to rely on him and Dembele is to injury prone for one to rely on him. Are they flops? Coutinho most likely, should they be replaced? Well spending over 250m on two players well, those players must recoup like 50% of the money o( that's for me).
I feel Coutinho plays better when Messi isn't on the pitch, like was obvious during a few matches at the end of the season.
Basically I don't think Valverde needs to be sacked yet, give him his last season and if no UCL, he can carry his wahala and go but we need a new DM and a new 9.

Hamid7:

I was never pro Valverde. I never liked him for his disorganized gameplay. He can't get his players to perform at their peak, the ones doing doing well were established players left hehind by Enrique. The players signed under him haven't really justified their price.
I know you are hoping that Barca will do better next season, but reality has not given us any sign to sugest there will be improvements, and If I'm to pick between hope and reality, I will chose reality.
Let's wait for next season.

Awesome01:


Same way we waited for this season.

Hamid7:

I was never pro Valverde. I never liked him for his disorganized gameplay. He can't get his players to perform at their peak, the ones doing doing well were established players left hehind by Enrique. The players signed under him haven't really justified their price.
I know you are hoping that Barca will do better next season, but reality has not given us any sign to sugest there will be improvements, and If I'm to pick between hope and reality, I will chose reality.
Let's wait for next season.

HIRAETH:

IKON360:

I agree with the 1st part of your post but you spout it by saying Barca need Pep back, since man left Barca he hasn't lift UCL what will his appointment add to this team?

IKON360:

We were just one goal away from qualifying against Liverpool, one goal. ONE GOAL... if we had scored that goal and qualified for the final and maybe won UCL, would you still complain all these your complaints?
.
Did you watch Coutinho in Liverpool? Shey you know of all their other super forwards, Coutinho pressed the least; in Barca everybody must press unless you are a certain Messi. So I feel this pressing affected Coutinho's energy levels Coutinho is no Mane and if you watched some of our matches we may have counter and you will see Messi, Vidal and Suarez, no, Coutinho. If get a more energetic DM, maybe Coutinho won't have to press so much and then he could be more useful in matches...
.
Busquests had a good season even if he wasn't in La Liga team of the season, Frenkie De Jong can play that DM well however what we need is creativity in the middle, more goal scorers from midfield and a deadly striker to complement Messi's creativity. Suarez scored harder goals than cheap goals, yet we kept creating easy to bury chances.
So for me if Rakitic is to be sold, then a midfielder like Pogba, Bernardo Silva or De Bruyne or even Erickson should be signed and then a more energetic DM like Idrissa Gueye or Ndidi or Ndombele and Griezman. However money is the problem