I know he won the treble on his first season and won the double last year but is Luis Enrique a top coach? Or does having the likes of Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta hide a lot of his weaknesses? Today he was tactically outclassed especially in the first half, sure, he made the right subs but had he started with Iniesta in midfield, the game would have changed significantly. This is also not the first time, he got it wrong with his tactics and a lot of times his players got him out of jail but I don't remember that being the case when Pep was managing Barca bar maybe that 1-2 defeat against Real in the league in 2011-12 at Camp Nou.
Luis Enrique was on par at Celta and had a terrible time at Roma, sure he is fine now for Barca, but I wonder if he was to hypothetically swap jobs with Klopp, would he do as good with our squad as Klopp has done, would Klopp manage his resources if he was at Barca better than Lucho?
I think Barca have a few underlying problems.
First off the timing of the last treble meant Laporta failed in his bid to become president again. This was pretty huge as the last two presidents have travelled down a different path than Laporta and his Cruyffian ideas's. The push towards Brazilian type football is ruining their passing football.
Enrique is also not a Cruyffian follower. Last night he decided to beat the press but thumping long balls, a fucking joke. Shows were the football of the club has failed.
I think personally in order for the likes of Sergio, Pique and Iniesta to be utilized correctly you need the team to play proper Barca football. Short quick passing ect. You can allow for two, perhaps three players who are more direct. Previously they had Henry, Villa, Pedro and Masch and rarely did you see any more than two in the team at one time. Last night they played Neymar (a great player for another team, I wouldn't have him near this team. He loses the ball so easy at times and slows the play up hugely. ) Turan, Mathieu, Suarez and Gomes. Too many players unable to move the ball first time at pace in the Barca way. Too many players without the respect for the ball in the way Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio had.
Finally the had stopped moving players up from the youths. I don't know if this is a failure to produce at younger levels or is they no longer have the talents there. However I don't think Enrique wants to play the way Pep played, therefore the way the youth teams play.
The big problem came when Laporta lost the presidency. Pep fell out with the new president because the vision of the club changed. They still have fantastic players, but the success isn't built on core idea's any more, but on the cult of the individual, Neymar, Messi, and Suarez.
