Real concerns

[Spike 12,049]

Mazacar? wtf

Mata

Hazard

Oscar

I hate it.

[RamiCFC9 258]

Mazacar sounds dumb .. atleast for me.

[RamiCFC9 258]

we should stop using Mata, Hazard and Oscar together. or we will keep losing matches or getting stupid draws.

In the same sense Barca should stop playing Messi, Iniesta, Pedro, Alexis in a same game ..It's not the players its the coach.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Sorry but i just have to speak up.

While i don't want to take anything away from the players (their discipline en defensive efforts were brilliant) or RDM (who came up with a great defensive strategy) but i think you can't argue that luck was involved in our win against them. (to be clear i completely disagree with what was said by people afterwards "that it was solely due to luck" or"That we didn't deserve to win it " We deserved to win because of our amazing defensive effort however luck was involved. If we play that game 10 times we'd lose 9 out of 10.

How did RDM win the CL ? By playing defensive counter attacking football with old and experienced players.

What is our situation now ? We want to play open possession based football with young, inexperienced players.

Basically the exact opposite.

I think that the fans are to emotionally attached to RDM due to what happened last season.

RDM stepping in at a bad time for us and then winning the CL and FA cup(+ the fact that he used to be a Chelsea player) has made him untouchable to a lot of fans. Also making fans very hypersensitive about any sort of criticism towards RDM.

Imho Pep is a better fit for the project then RDM.

His style of coaching is the exact way we want to play.

I think he stands a better chance to accomplis the project.

Do i think he'll come in and just snap his fingers and voila Barca 2.0 ? No ofcourse not but i do believe he would immediately begin to work on the skillset that is necessary to make possession football work + teach the tactical off the ball movement that is vital for playing possession football.

Also about the tactically outfoxing comment. The way i see it. Both trainers prepared their tactics to the best of their abillities. Trying to use the strenght of their team to their advantage. Both teams went on the field, gave everything they got and with some luck we came out victorious. Saying RDM tactically outfoxed Guardiola is just incorrect and quite frankly stupid.

Another classic post.

The hard fact is

pep =possesion football

RDM = counter attacking

Depends on which u want.

Pep solves his defensive problems by holding unto the ball and high pressure to collect it back up field(barca seems to have lost the high pressure a bit this season though). If the opponent doesn't get the ball, they can't score.

RDM solves his defensive problems by defending deep and soaking pressure. Hence opponents can hold possesion as long as they want and we wait for mistake to counter them.

It depends on what we fans want to see, possesion or defensive counter.

The problem with our team attacking while in possesion is that nothing seems practiced, and I mean NOTHING.

I can never see a play and go like "wow this must have been practiced in training"

It just seems like when we attack, we are just hoping mata, oscar and hazard come up with something. Big teams play a particular style in every match, so we also don't have an identity in style of play.

Barcelona - possesion

Madrid - high pressure/counter

Dortmund - super high pressure

Bayern - possesion/counter

Manutd - crossing/counter

Juventus - possesion/high pressure

Chelsea - ???

What style of play are we implementing, it seems to change in every match. This match possesion and that match defending, confusing at times. If we stick to one game plan in everygame, the players will adapt and become better suited to each other overall.

[Styles 9,790]

we should stop using Mata, Hazard and Oscar together. or we will keep losing matches or getting stupid draws.

We will. Didn't you read/hear RDM's comments after the game?

“We are playing a little bit different but we may have to go a little bit back to win games,” said Di Matteo.

“Make sure that, first and foremost, we do not concede and then we always have good combinations and quality to score a goal.

“Maybe it’s a time where we might have to change things a little bit in terms of selection and the way we play.

“It becomes difficult when you have to score three goals to win. Our defending was very poor even though we didn’t concede many chances.

“You cannot always rely on scoring three goals to win a game. Sometimes you have to win 1-0 and make sure you are focused on your defending and are responsible.

“Maybe we need to sacrifice the attacking options to go a little bit more defensive.

“It’s not a question of people knowing how to exploit us. We had a lot of joy and long-term that is the way we want to go, but we need to get a couple of positive results to get our confidence high again.”

We're going to bring the bus back out and park it where it needs to be parked! As much as I've enjoyed some of the open games I am looking forward to a few steady games and some clean sheets. Hopefully starting tomorrow night.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

We will. Didn't you read/hear RDM's comments after the game?

We're going to bring the bus back out and park it where it needs to be parked! As much as I've enjoyed some of the open games I am looking forward to a few steady games and some clean sheets. Hopefully starting tomorrow night.

This actually proves the point i was making with all my previous comments.

RDM's style is defensive counter attacking football. At the moment we're struggling and the only option he sees is reverting back to a defensive style off play. It's just his natural response.

For me RDM can stay our manager for the season and play this season however he sees fit but at the end of the season he needs to take a step aside. Move to a club who has the personnel and ambition to play the way he likes and is capable of coaching. We need to bring in an attack minded manager who's got the tactical knowledge to make us play attacking football.

imo Guardiola seems to be the best option out there. Hope we get him in the summer along with a first class striker and a defensive midfielder comfortable on the ball.

[manpe 10,861]

We will. Didn't you read/hear RDM's comments after the game?

We're going to bring the bus back out and park it where it needs to be parked! As much as I've enjoyed some of the open games I am looking forward to a few steady games and some clean sheets. Hopefully starting tomorrow night.

That just means playing ramires or ryan on the wings, not parking the bus. And it has little effect.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

That just means playing ramires or ryan on the wings, not parking the bus. And it has little effect.

Don't think he'll play with a defensive winger.

I think he'll play a 4-3-3.

Midfield 3 with Mikel and ramires-Oscar in front of him.

Moses on 1 wing and Mata/Hazard on the other. Probably Mata seeing as Hazard played the full 90 minutes on saturday.

Sturridge up front.

Sit deep and try and counter.

[BLionheart 516]

This is not getting any better , open your eyes everyone blaming this or that , the problem is not the personnel but it's rather the system !!

Even with Torres being the worst no. 9 we could ever imagine , David luiz , Bertrand & Cahill making defensive errors .. still we should be smashing teams day in day out !! the quality is present but it's definitely not utilized , to be utilized you need a system , an organization where each and everyone knows exactly what's expected from him and how he should do it instead of having 3 free roles in midfield with no guidelines , 2 back & forth full-backs with no guidance , a hopeless striker who doesn't know where he should be .

Reverting back a little bit to our old-selves isn't the answer but it might be needed to provide us with results and confidence in a desperate time.

[RamiCFC9 258]

This actually proves the point i was making with all my previous comments.

RDM's style is defensive counter attacking football. At the moment we're struggling and the only option he sees is reverting back to a defensive style off play. It's just his natural response.

For me RDM can stay our manager for the season and play this season however he sees fit but at the end of the season he needs to take a step aside. Move to a club who has the personnel and ambition to play the way he likes and is capable of coaching. We need to bring in an attack minded manager who's got the tactical knowledge to make us play attacking football.

imo Guardiola seems to be the best option out there. Hope we get him in the summer along with a first class striker and a defensive midfielder comfortable on the ball.

Agree, except RDM staying the whole season..If Pep is free and want's to come, RDM should go asap.. Obviously not the man for this squad and no transition will take place while we still play counter attacks.WHAT transition is that ? We played like that for like 10 years, what transition is Robbie doing, this isn't transition, just playing different players.You may had a Civic the previous year and drive it with 60 and now you may have Ferrari and still driving with 60.You have a faster car but you aren't faster driver.Imo with this squad RDM is as out of his depth as was AVB with last year's players.

[manpe 10,861]

the quality is present but it's definitely not utilized , to be utilized you need a system , an organization where each and everyone knows exactly what's expected from him and how he should do it instead of having 3 free roles in midfield with no guidelines , 2 back & forth full-backs with no guidance , a hopeless striker who doesn't know where he should be .

Couldn't have said it better myself