Luis Enrique to leave Barcelona at end of the season

[Theonas]

I agree with the part that Pep is better than Enrique. The thing is Enrique is not a tactical manager like Pep, he plays simple and basic football, they are more direct for example. They have struggled this year but in the past two years they were dominate on games as much as Pep`s team, just a different way. I mean sure MSN have been the reason for their success but they have coach who is playing the team in a way that they get the best of each other. You can`t compare him to Grant, his success has been consistent. For me he`s been kind of like del Bosque or Ancelotti. This Barca won`t be remembered as a great tactical team but they have been very successful, you have to give him credit for that

I don't think we are saying very different things here. I totally agree with you again that Enriqué's style is different and that he deserves a lot credit. In my mind that credit relates to him putting his ego aside and allowing his players more freedom. The credit also usually in those cases is related to man management. Whatever he is doing, the players seem to like him and play for him which always reflects well on a manager. I think we are just talking here about how much credit are those attributes worth. I admit that comparison to Grant might have been harsh and you seem to agree that he is not on the same level as someone like Pep so I think we are both saying he deserves to be somewhere in between.

 

[giorno]

They were bigger than Madrid and had thier last great team before Cruijff, Barcelona of the six cups. Their management were invited to attend the iaugural European Cup but they declined because they said it was a useless tournament, Madrid entered and won the first 5 and that started their myth.

Nope. They weren't invited, madrid was. Real madrid had di stefano and had won 2 titles on the bounce.

 

[antohan]

Hardly Lucho's fault. The fact is that Barça's ability to lure good players is marred by the MSN wages, and Messi is always renewing his contract every 2 years (and asking for another rise now). No matter the coach, is going to get worse. Many people have suggested that they should sell one of the front 3 if they want to be consistent across all areas

That was my point.

 

[FCBarca]

Hardly Lucho's fault. The fact is that Barça's ability to lure good players is marred by the MSN wages, and Messi is always renewing his contract every 2 years (and asking for another rise now). No matter the coach, is going to get worse. Many people have suggested that they should sell one of the front 3 if they want to be consistent across all areas

Love to hear examples of Barca's inability to lure good players because of MSN wages much less Messi, this is a ridiculous assertion

 

[Bojan11]

Stefan Kovacs says hello.

He isn't a dud manager but he isn't a coach that espouses Cruijffian principles. He turned Barcelona from a team that espoused the highest level of the positional game espoused by Lord Cruijff, into a counter attacking team and plays ugly football. The team is too open and luckily for him Cavani missed 2 clear cut chances and Di Maria fluffed his chip.

When you are the coach of a super team you will more that han likely fall into trophies.

Every great manager has had luck.

Fergie was Bayern missed so many chances in 1999. Jose was lucky in 2004 with the offside goal for Scholes. Pep was lucky in 2009 with that idiotic referee against Chelsea.

You don't just win the champions league by dominating everyone. It requires luck too.

 

[Zoo]

Good post @Cait Sith

 

[totaalvoetbal]

Nope. They weren't invited, madrid was. Real madrid had di stefano and had won 2 titles on the bounce.

The compettion was created by Gabriel Hanot of L'Equipe. The Catalan Carlos Pardo was the L'Equipe correspondent in Spain and he contacted Barcelona first about taking part before he even contacted Madrid. Pardo said that Barcelona's secretary had never heard of L'equipe and was not interested and said thye project wouldn't go anywhere. Pardo went home and his wife told him to contact Raimundo Saporta, Real Madrids VP at the time and invited Madrid. Barcelona shot themselves in the foot.

Madrid were only inviited because Barcelona turned it down.