Might be he won't
La Liga 2019/20
- Thread starter carvajal
- Start date
problem with Suarez is that he declined so badly that he's the only one Valverde can't afford to mess with much. both Griez & Messi can and will be moved across the pitch, but Suarez simply can't play anywhere else since his hold up play, first touch and dribbling are gone. either he's standing in opponent's box, either he's on the bench and since he starts by default, Griez has to be sacrificed and look like yet another pointless buy, just like Cou.
Alcacer could've taken his role slowly, something Valverde should've done since Suarez decline started to become evident 2 years ago.
Messi could play as a false 9, which could've opened options for Dembele and Malcom to play on the wings, players that could help the team become vertical, exactly what we lacked most of the games past season.
Even Abel Ruiz could've worked as a 3/4th option instead of bringing KPB for less than 100 minutes.
A manager like Klopp or Guardiola could've taken the squad we had in the 2018 preseason and work 3/4 strikers from what they had, they're flexible that way, and it's needed nowadays when players are becoming less specialists and every decent signing will send you past the 30M mark.
Valverde is rigid, when he had to play Alcacer he used him as a winger, he never found Coutinho's best role, Dembele doesn't have a clear role either, we're seeing the same with De Jong now, and some things like Firpo looking totally out of rythm are clearly the manager's fault. He could've played the whole 2nd part vs Valencia to help him shoe in, giving rest to Alba (who clearly needed it). Instead he gets ignored, gets thrown out of the list in Champions and gets thrown to the sharks when he's needed, has one mistake and Valverde destroys him by swapping him at half time, to make Semedo play in a position whe's unfamiliar with.
Maybe I'm biased to be harsh on Valverde, but he had/has a lot of tools to work him, but limits himself to the old ABC of football, I could see someone like Guardiola, Luis Enrique, or even Rijkaard moving the team into a 5-3-2 to help Junior settle after his mistake, Semedo probably would do better as the Right CB in a 3 men defense than as a LB in a 4 line, and Roberto was on the pitch to cover as a FB.
Instead he does the obvious, swap right for left at FB, bench the players he thinks underperform, even if it destroys their confidence, and pray that the star and the player on fire turn the team around, 0 tactical work on his side.
Suarez, Coutinho, Dembele, Griezmann, Alcácer... everyone’s shit at Barcelona and great wherever else they happen to play. I’d be very careful before dreaming of spending 200 million on Neymar before the same black magic happens to him.
Maybe the problem lies with the system they’re playing in, and not on their individual quality?
The scapegoating of Luis Suarez in particular is something truly incredible. Needs to get in contact with Higuain asap.
Maybe the problem lies with the system they’re playing in, and not on their individual quality?
The scapegoating of Luis Suarez in particular is something truly incredible. Needs to get in contact with Higuain asap.
To be fair the scapegoating isn't completely irrational and based on his lack of CL goalscoring in recent seasons.
If he goes on to score 3 or 4 against Slavia Prague does it really change anything? He's scored in the ties that they got knocked out in, he's been crucial to them in the big games so often that it's preposterous that anyone thinks they'd have been closer to winning the Champions League without him. Last year he was fantastic vs Lyon, was ok vs United (key for the away goal) and then scored vs Liverpool... not incredible but certainly not terrible either.
Now that they have Griezmann I can see the argument towards dropping Suarez since him, Messi and Griezmann are at their best centrally and you don't want to play Griezmann out wide. Has absolutely nothing to do with Suarez not being good enough to start though.
Celades won't make December.
Fantastic win for La Real in Barcelona today, they've really gone under the radar this season but have a very decent 18 when everyone is fit.
Think both Basque giants will be seriously challenging for top 6 this season.
Fantastic win for La Real in Barcelona today, they've really gone under the radar this season but have a very decent 18 when everyone is fit.
Think both Basque giants will be seriously challenging for top 6 this season.
Bilbao 2 up v Alaves. Sort of match they'd have drawn last season.
There is a real confidence about them this season and they seem to have settled on a regular side.
San Mames 
Wait, where's Hazard?
He's there,look again
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He's there with number 7.
So, how badly are we gonna lose?
You'll win 2-1.
Do Real Madrid go top of the league with 2 goal win?
Smart money probably on a draw or narrow Sevilla win though.
Smart money probably on a draw or narrow Sevilla win though.
Lose? Come on now, man. 1-3 win, easy
Not liking this barca looking kit though, wtf
Ref saved Madrid there.
The days of him being an automatic starter are long gone but unfortunlately Valverde will never have the balls to drop him. Till last year, you could understand him playing because there was no other option but now that there IS Griezmann, it's absolutely criminal that he's being forced wide on both wings just to try play Suarez into form. Sure Suarez will have days when he puts two past some teams at home but his level of play is so erratic, his touch so bad and his finishing so poor that at this time it makes absolutely no sense to play him above Griezmann in that striker role. This is why I was against the signing of the Frenchman because it was so obvious that Valverde would continue to play Suarez up top instead and move Griezmann around. Absolute waste of 100m when that money could have gone halfway towards bringing Neymar back and finally having someone as creative and individually brilliant as Messi in the team. This is a signing that Barca will come to regret unless Suarez gets dropped/injured again. It's really no surprise that the three most impotent performances this season (with 0 goals) have come in games Suarez has started.
Close from Sevilla.
Suarez’s movement, pressing and finishing are top notch. He’s a fighter in a team that doesn’t have many fighters. He’s not as technically gifted as most Barca players but he more than makes up for it and in a team full of technically gifted players you need players like him too. He has loads of experience, knows all the dirty tricks of football and pops up with big goals very often. He’s the perfect number 9 to play next to Messi and if the team needs more creativity it should come from other players.
With Valverde coaching, playing Messi and Suarez together makes more sense than Messi and Griezmann even if Griezmann is the better player. What didn’t make sense is the entire structure of going into the season with all 3 of them and Valverde as coach.
But when you are first in the league and you get the chance of signing the best player of the second placed team then there doesn’t need to be much thinking.
Benzema looking at the pitch for that corner flag shot there.
It does seem to be cutting up a fair bit. Guess it's hard with the hot climate in Seville for most of the year.
It does seem to be cutting up a fair bit. Guess it's hard with the hot climate in Seville for most of the year.
What channel is this on?
Premier sports 2
As always with Suarez you're only looking at the numbers, we could sign Tammy Abraham and he could score 25 goals in 50 games like Suarez past season, that wouldn't mean Abraham is in any way the kind of player our style needs.
Suarez wants to be involved too much in our gameplan, when he's actually nothing more than an area poacher, Ronaldo is a better creator and dribbler than Suarez and yet he still knows that he can't try to play the way he did 10 years ago, there's other players better suited to the build up play, and pure strikers should rely on scoring tons of goals.
Can see Madrid winning comfortably, Sevilla don't look up to much good.
We're the slowest side in the world
Also take carvajal off please, before he gets himself sent off
Also take carvajal off please, before he gets himself sent off
Graham Hunter doesn’t stop talking
So many free kicks.
Our Norwegian hunk is pleasant.
I don’t think Tammy Abraham would hit those numbers at all. It’s not the same thing playing for a big club with higher standards where you have to share the spotlight and goals. The way the team plays massively effects who gets what numbers.
I don’t believe there are many strikers that would have hit the numbers Suarez has in the same circumstances with lots of big goals and helping so much in other areas. I don’t believe Barcelona will be better with Griezmann in his place either.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But Suarez gets way too much shit for his clumsiness on the ball when he’s still a top striker that fits the system very well. There are a lot of bigger problems for Barcelona.
It's like we're coached by late stages Wenger
Carvajal has dropped a lot his level in the last two years. Is Achraf still playing on the left in Germany?
Madrid could certainly use Odegaard.
Has Ramos ever played a match where he didnt get at least 1 yellow card?
Hazard playing the way Mourinho always dreamt of, lots of defensive effort by him.