At this time this has absolutely nothing to do with champions league, it's to early to drop 9p because you are saving breath for CL knock out stage in feb/mars. If so then EV is even more stupid. Point is that you try to gather 9p lead in Liga in fall to be able to drop points in spring during CL knock out stage by resting players and playing a "reserve" team in La Liga. Then you can afford to lose 9p or so in four games if it keeps you in CL. Now Barca can't afford to lose more points and when CL knock out comes then he'll play full force to remain in both competitions and tire the team and get knocked out flat by some average team in QF or even earlier. EV a genius coach! He can't even get the simplest things right.
I wouldn’t say it has nothing to do with CL. Resting Messi very likely led to 2 points dropped against Athletic, and he wouldn’t have been rested if not it for the midweek CL game. There were some rotations in the two league games before that too. Last night was different as it was a tough fixture and Barca played with their best team, so it had nothing to do with CL.
Well, I could kind of see what he's talking about. When you need a goal but already have your XI best players out there and putting the opposition under immense pressure, then there is some logic with keeping things the same.
Best players yes but tired best players won't win you games if they have tried to pass pass pass into goal and come up with nothing. Also you think Suarez is the best striker in form atm? He's in abysmal form even if he's fighting and giving 200% like crazy. He needs to score its sad seeing him so bad. This all always goes back to same issues, no contingency plans, just rely on Messi. If perhaps Suarez had another attacker with him in the area instead of trying same blunt passing approach. When you're stuck, you're stuck and if Messi magic or crazy Dembélé shot can't save you then you're stuck even more. Dembélé was in great form scoring in every game then he has a poor game and he's back on the bench.
There's definitely an argument that Dembélé should have been brought on 10 or 15 minutes earlier. Coutinho is super slow in general, so when he's not having a good match its a great time to give Dembélé some playing time since he's a totally different type of player. And of course Suarez is still the best striker atm, even on current form. His form isn't even bad right now and nobody knows that more than Messi himself. Suarez' dummies led to 2 simple goals for Messi in London.
watch carefully and i think dembele is not really fit barca play. his pass is not good, loses the ball too much when he dribbles. suarez, no longer at his peak but still the best striker, imo. his overall play is really good for the team
Yet he has saved more points than Suarez this season. Sometime you need players who break the useless tiki taka pattern, like Paulinho. Suarez has been immense but this season he's not as good as before and he loses alot more balls than Dembélé. When you have Munir, Rafinha and Craperto playing instead of Malcom, Vidal then something is wrong.
hmmm... it could be argued that Suarez saved points against Spurs, Valencia and Sociedad if you count direct contributions towards goals. So despite Suarez a mere shadow of his former self, he's still making an impact! In any case, Dembele started like 100 games in-a-row before the Spurs match (and dropping him totally worked). Its not like he's getting the shaft. He's not at the level yet where he should just be an automatic starter in big games IMO. Rafinha and Munir have barely played. Munir also plays a position where Barca have zero depth, so inevitably he's going to get more minutes than Malcom (but still not alot).
Imagine if Suarez and Dembele could both play in same game, together or subbing each other off when the other is coming up empty. I have not much against Suarez but he's past his prime, he loses more balls than a golf course does in a year. If you don't belive in youngsters then don't frickin buy them for 140M€.
Well, they did both start 3 games in-a-row and they all ended in dropped points. I guess we're not gonna agree on this because I think we really found something with starting Arthur in midfield and Coutinho as a hybrid MF-FW, which means Dembele is dropped. Valencia and Spurs both scored lucky, deflected goals otherwise we are probably talking about 2 pretty convincing wins last week. Though I do wish they would've brought Dembele on earlier in Valencia. If Barca were playing Sevilla away I would say keep Dembele on the bench again, but since its at Camp Nou maybe its time to bring him back since Sevilla will be more conservative.
Well then there is no point buying players if they are not going to be played or adapted into the squad. Also blaming Dembélé for Pique being shit or VAR ref card is unfair. True we won't agree. The stagnation is worrying. God forbid Messi is suspended or injured. There is even absolutely no backup plan for the tiki taka passing when Messi isn't playing let alone a pure plan B with different tactics.
Well you buy players to make your squad stronger, which Dembele does. That doesn't mean he should automatically start every match especially when going through a slump. Dembele still gets more playing time than any of the other recent purchases, with the exception of Coutinho who simply does more with the time he is given.
Dembele is more of a flowing game, counter attack player than passing about endlessly around a parked bus. He doesn't have the ball control or he's not comfortable with it. If you expect 95% pass accuracy with Xavi like ball control then you will get a Craperto who passes back every chance than going forward. Perhaps Dembélé and Malcom are great for a counter attacking game. When you're up a goal and under pressure they'll fit in perfectly. But we know Barca is a one tactic team.
Our team this year despite the worse results actually looks better than it did last year. That said, Pique is the worst CB on any top team and we should be looking at a replacement ASAP. I get loyalty but this club is loyal at the expense of the team letting over the hill players start when their performances don't warrant it. Another weakness of ours that hasn't been addressed is our almost total lack of aerial game. For that reason alone, Mina should have been kept and Vidal should get more minutes. We are almost a non-threat off of corner kicks and likewise vulnerable to opponents on defense. Dembele and Countinho add more pace from the wings. That's one area where we definitely look better. Arthur and Vidal have both shown the ability to stabilize the midfield as well. Last year, we were bossed around in the midfield by some mid-tier teams.