2nd to last Liga match, 3rd to last match of the season, last away match given Calderon is a neutral venue for Copa del Rey final. Another must win to try to keep pressure on Real, though they control their own fate and need to drop 3 points (out of their last 3 games) for us to have a shot. Slightly early game on Sunday: at their place: Spanish islands but way closer to Africa then any part of Spain: Lineup prediction:: MAtS Mascherano-Pique-Umtiti-Alba Raki-Busi-Ini M-S-N Alba gets a bit of a free role so it looks more like this on offense: ----Masch - Pique - Umtiti -----------------Busi Raki --------------Ini -----------Messi ----------Alba ---------Suarez-----Neymar Score prediction: we win 1-3. Card update: Roberto suspended with 5th Yellow Card Count: 4: Alba, Umtiti 3:/8. Gomes, Busquets (8), Suarez (8)
Well, earlier in the season Sampaoli was a name being thrown around here as the next successor, and look what happened. Imagine ForzaBarca as a Sevilla fan this season Point is, managers can look great on paper, but may not help achieve the desired results. To say that you rate him higher than Lucho is a little unfair given Valverde hasn't managed the type of egos that are on the team as yet.
On paper? why? what happened to Sampaoli? He is still rated very high and did a very good job given the limited resources. Can you name one world class player playing for Sevilla? 50% wins with limited resources and his first year in Europe is something belong to a resume of very top managers. Lucho got hired on 37% wins, not even sure why he was hired. As for Valverde, not my choice at all but like I said, I rate him much higher than Luis for sure.
Pique hasn't trained all week and is doubtful . Jese talking trash still trying to get RMs attention. They dump him and he is still kissing their ass.
Samir Nasri? My point wasn't necessarily against hiring Sampaoli or Valverde. My point is that on these boards there are usually wild claims and opinions (which are valid in most cases), in this case rating Valverde higher than Lucho. Yes, Lucho has his flaws, and he did lose a few matches with his bizarre lineups that made no sense, but he still won two (maybe a third, but not very likely) leagues, a Champions League and a treble. He loses a lot of marks for insisting on putting Gomes in so often too. You are quoting statistics such as Sampaoli winning 50% of his games this season compared to Lucho winning 37% of the games prior to coming here, but did you compare the squads or leagues? That would be pretty much impossible to do. Similarly, I could use statistics to say that Lucho is better than Valverde because he won all those trophies. Now, the argument against would be "well, Lucho had MSN etc", but so what? Next year if Valverde comes, the same star players will be here, and he may win trophies, but again Messi will have a big say. Let's say the team all of a sudden looks better and wins the league, then maybe there is a claim Valverde is better than Lucho. To make that statement now, seems a little far fetched, given we haven't seen Valverde in a similar role before. One of the sentiments around here being made a few seasons ago when Munir burst on the scene, was people being upset that we hadn't locked Munir up longer, or that he didn't have a higher buy out clause. Anyhow, I didn't want to get into this long of a discussion, because I don't want to argue, but I do respect the fact that you have an opinion and even if I find it odd, it doesn't mean it's wrong. Thanks for reading.
Sevilla has an awful away record. Plus I think they've lost a bunch of consecutive games at the Bernabeu. So no chance ...
Just read that Pique has not trained this week, he has a stomach virus, if he misses out Marlon likely makes squad. Not sure of Mathieu's injury status but also could see him being too deep in Lucho's doghouse to play. UPDATE Mathieu OUT. Trouble is w Roberto suspended we would need Masch at RB and at CB. Could see Rakitic or Denis or DIgne at RB or Marlon at CB. No easy answers if Pique out plus Roberto suspended and Vidal Rafinha and Mathieu all injured. Or a 3 defender back line of Masch Umtiti and Alba (or Marlon).
This is not a hypothesis and it's much simpler if you compare how much the manager improved the same team from the previous season. Roma did worse under him in the league and was KO of Europa league playoff round against small team Slovan Bratislava. While he did improve Celta's position in the League in 2013 from 13th to 9th but the previous manager Paco Herrera 3 years period at Celta had much higher win% with a less talented squad who were more or less the same team from Segunda division. Celta bought Nolito, Rafinha, Charles and Fontas in the summer of 2013. Another take is, Tata would have won at least the league if not UCL if he had just V.Valdes instead of Pinto as the goalkeeper. It's an argument can seem superficially convincing but Tata could have lost both titles even with VV. That's why some statistics makes sense and others don't.
Back in May 2007 situation was similar. Barca needed Real to drop points. Espanyol (of all teams ) went to the Bernabeu four days before they were to play in the UEFA Cup final so they rested their entire starting XI. The reserves played the game of their lives and led in the second half 3-1. But they ended up losing in the final minutes 4-3. Got to grab on to any hope one can find.
--------------------mats------------------- Digne-----Masch------Umtiti--------Alba---- ------------------Busi------------ ---Rakitic---------------iniesta---------- Messi---------Suarez-----------Neymar if digne plays as a winger on the left wing and we play with 3 defenders in the back that might be a problem on the counters , how the hell don't we have a rightback from Barca B ?!?! nevermind looks like Masch is injured , same formation but masch changed with marlon
digne escapes red , he isn't a rightback why is he even there to begin with , jeez grab a RB from barca B ffs ..
Some would be screaming conspiracy if it was ... That's why I say, it's mainly about big teams getting calls.