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Back in 2017, when it was announced that Ernesto Valverde would become the manager of Barcelona, supporters of the club had mixed opinion about the former Athletic Bilbao manager. Some said his tactics were too defensive while others said defensive tactics are exactly what Barcelona needed then.
Fast forward in 2018 he has presented 3 trophies (1 La Liga, 1 Copa Del Rey, and 1 Spanish Super Cup) to the Camp Nou but not the one that fans have craved the most for i.e. UEFA Champions League.
Under Valverde, Barcelona played 68 matches in total, winning 47 of them, drawing in 15 of them and losing only 6 games.
He had started this season with a bang winning all the matches up till the draw against Girona. Since then Barcelona hasn't won a single match which has forced Valverde to change his tactics. After coming to Barcelona and the quality of squad that the club has, he was forced to change his usual defensive, counter-attacking tactics to attacking, possession-based football.
There are still some changes that Valverde must make to guide Barcelona to a treble-winning campaign. Below are the 5 tactical changes that are required the most :
#5 Start Nelson Semedo more often
After Dani Alves left Barcelona there was a huge question about who will play in his position. Sergi Roberto is a versatile player and has played in almost all of the outfield positions. So Barcelona deployed Roberto in his position. He played the whole 2016/17 season in the right back position rarely getting a chance to play in his natural position i.e. central midfield. Then Luis Enrique left and came Ernesto Valverde, who knew that Roberto alone could not play in that position and bought Nelson Semedo, a natural right back from Benfica.
But Valverde still started Roberto leaving Semedo on the bench.
Very seldom Semedo got a chance to start. And whenever he got his chance to start he played with all his heart and hoped Valverde would start him more often. Valverde still starts Sergi Roberto in the majority of matches and lets Semedo play by bringing him off the bench.
All respect to Sergi Roberto, but the Portuguese deserves more playing time as he has all the qualities which every right back should possess i.e. explosive runs, good dribbling skills, dropping back to defend and others. Though Roberto too possesses these qualities, Semedo is more skillful since he was playing in the position since the beginning of his career.
So Valverde must start Nelson Semedo more often.
#4 Play attacking football even after getting a lead
One thing that the Cules must have noticed this season that whenever Barcelona scores a goal and takes the lead, the team immediately switches its tactics from attacking to defending.
They don’t focus on scoring more goals but on defending their lead which is against the club’s philosophy. Barcelona has players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic, and Arturo Vidal, with such attacking prowess fans expect the team to score more than 3 goals in every match but after 60-65 minutes they change their gameplay focusing on a more defensive one rather than attacking one.
One player has benefitted from this style of play and that is Arturo Vidal. He has played in 6 out of 7 matches, started 2 and came off the bench in 4 matches. He is brought primarily to defend the lead.
Now, this playing style may win you matches but not competitions as we saw the result in La Liga with Barcelona losing 7 points in their last 3 games. Even though Barcelona and Real Madrid have the same points in the league, Barcelona are on the top of the table because of goal difference (thanks to the goal fest against Huesca). But if Valverde still continues on playing with this tactics then Real Madrid might soon get past Barcelona in the league.
So Valverde must shift his tactics to an attacking one.
#3 Untangle the defensive problems
The main problem of Barcelona this season would be the defensive troubles.
Barcelona’s world-class defense includes Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Jordi Alba, Nelson Semedo, Clement Lenglet, Thomas Vermaelen and none of them have performed up to their standards this season except Alba (occasionally).
Umtiti is nowhere near the excellent quality of game he played last season and in the World Cup for France. Roberto and Umtiti both are having injury problems with the Spaniard missing the game against Tottenham and Umtiti sitting out for a whole month.
Gerard Pique is the concern of the moment for Valverde because of his recent mistakes including a terrible pass against Leganés which resulted in the match-winning goal of the opposition. Clement Lenglet has seen his minutes reduced by his red card against Girona and Thomas Vermaelen, as shown against Leganes, requires more playing time.
As of now with Roberto out Semedo will be the undisputed starter in the match against Tottenham. And for the replacement of Umtiti, either Lenglet or Vermaelen could play depending on the choice of Valverde and if he wishes he could bench Pique too for him to get his head back in the game. Both Lenglet and Vermaelen would have an important chance to prove themselves to Valverde.
If Valverde wants to win the treble then he has to solve all the defensive troubles.
#2 Play 4-4-2 formation instead of 4-3-3
In the past week, Barcelona has not been exceeding the expectations placed on them, and their recent sluggish performance with the draw against Girona, a loss against Leganes and another draw against Atheltic Bilbao, Ernesto Valverde should consider reverting back to a 4-4-2 formation.
Valverde played the last season with the 4-4-2 formation and won the League and the Copa del Rey. But this season Valverde played a 4-3-3 in the opening match and won the game with a score line of 3-0. Since then the manager of Barcelona hasn’t changed his formation even when he benched vital players.
Valverde has shifted from a defensive 4-4-2 to an attacking 4-3-3, but this has disrupted his team's defensive stability and has exposed problems in the backline of Barcelona. In the 4-4-2 formation, he could deploy Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba at right-back and left-back positions respectively. And he could play Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho at right midfielder and left midfielder positions respectively.
With this, both Coutinho and Dembele could play up the field even at the position of a winger as they have the ability to drop back and support the defense. Also, they have Alba and Semedo covering for them.
Both fullbacks are known for their dashing speed as they could sprint up and down in the field and break little sweat. Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic could reprise their central defensive midfielder role with Arturo Vidal and Arthur Melo covering for them in case of emergency and up at the front Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez could lead the attack.
#1 Stop over-depending on Lionel Messi
The eminence of the little genius is such that no other team in the world relies on a single player like Barcelona relies on Lionel Messi.
Even with such a stellar team, the club’s dependence on Messi is surprising. The Argentinian has scored five of the 18 the team has netted, as well as setting up another four, including Munir's equaliser against Athletic.
The last seven times Messi has been benched the team have drawn five games and only won twice. So many times have we seen Barcelona losing and most of the times its Messi who saves them.
When Coutinho and Dembele arrived in Barcelona everyone expected that now the burden that Messi carries will be shared among the three but still it is the Argentine who is doing everything by himself.
The team may brag of players like Suarez, Coutinho, Dembele, Munir, and Malcom but in the match, it's Messi who makes the difference. Suarez needs to get his form back so he could help Messi.
Coutinho and Dembele have to step up their game so in worst case scenario if Messi gets injured, they could share Messi’s responsibilities among themselves just like Neymar did it in the 2015/16 season and made sure Barcelona didn’t miss Messi.
Valverde has to find a way to remove the burden that Messi carries so he could play at the height of his powers and could lead the team to treble glory.
