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FC Barcelona is doing well and good. They are through to the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey, congratulations. They are top of the league table, 5 points ahead of second-placed Atletico, well done. They are waiting for Lyon in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. (Great, they faced Lyon in the same competition back in 2009, and won it) So far, so good. This is what can be said about the Barcelona camp. But what about the road ahead?
Well, the road ahead is a bit rocky. The fixtures are congested in a terrible way for them. They have to play Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey semis, Lyon in the UEFA Champions League, and there are league games sandwiched in-between, one of which is against Sevilla, away.
So what does Barcelona have to do to keep their momentum going? Let us have a look.
#5 Exploit the squad depth in hand
Barcelona is one of the two teams who is blessed with tremendous squad depth, the other is Manchester City. As of now, Barcelona has six options to play as forwards. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Malcom, Coutinho, Dembele, and Kevin-Prince Boateng. They can have so many combinations to chose three from the 6 players given. 20 combinations according to mathematics, but that isn't important. (6C3)
In the midfield, they have Arthur, Busquets, Rakitic, Vidal, Sergi Roberto, Alena, Samper, and you can also trust Coutinho to play as a midfielder. That gives us seven midfielders, excluding Coutinho. There are 35 combinations that Barcelona can use taking 3 out of those seven midfielders.
As the centre-back options, they have Lenglet, Pique, Todibo, Vermaelen, and Murillo. Five centre back options, while they also have an option to call Chumi or Cuenca from the B-Team. There are 10 different combos that can be created with 5 defenders now.
So first thing Barcelona must do, and it is a must, use all these players. They should try their best to give everyone some playing time in this hectic schedule to keep others fresh. At the end of the month, they should try and make sure that almost everyone has played for at least 20 minutes. If they manage to keep their players fresh and use their abilities, they would have succeeded in man management, an essential quality of a treble-winning team.
#4 Set their priorities right
By priorities, we generally emphasize individual games rather than the competition as a whole. Barcelona will play four league games this month, starting against Valencia today, and away at Sevilla at last. They also play their two El Clasicos, both in the Copa Del Rey. They have one game against Lyon in the Champions League.
They need to set a right gameplan for each of the games. They cannot afford to slip up in the league as it would be demoralizing for the team. They cannot let the Clasico unattended either, it is as important as any trophy. But here is what they can do. They have a game against Valladolid at home, they should look to conserve their best players for the next game by either substituting or by resting them. This is assuming everything goes well.
They have a game against Sevilla away. They rested Messi last time around but then got outplayed. Their best bet for this game? Try to get a win. Beautiful football and control over the game are important but without a result, it doesn't matter. Here is a situation. Let's say Barcelona is winning by two goals and Sevilla is knocking the ball around. A profile Barcelona team would press relentlessly to win the ball back. But here, they come after a game against Lyon and they have a Clasico coming up, control over the game is secondary here.
Another important thing while prioritizing is selecting the correct game to field the best lineup and go all-out attack. The first Clasico should be Barcelona's topmost priority. If they win in this game, better to do so without conceding an away goal, then they can breathe easy at Bernabeu and maybe even rotate there. The next priority should be the away game at Sevilla and the Lyon game, both alike.
Valverde and the players should make sure that they set their priority right for every game. They are knowledgeable people and hopefully will manage it.
#3 Rotate but rotate smartly
We saw the first leg at Sevilla in the Copa Del Rey and it was horrific. The rotations were horrible that night. In a bid to rest Alba, Semedo was played at a position where he has never played before. Alena was moved to the wings rather than the midfield. A forward line with no experienced player was fielded.
At all costs, Barcelona has to avoid making these errors. If you want to rotate, do it smartly and be bold, but don't do it by playing players out of position. Not the youngsters, at least. Here is a better rotation for the game that Barcelona played at Sevilla. Alba should be given a rest, no doubt, but why stick to 4-3-3 then, play a three-man defence, get Semedo at wing-back on the right-side alongside the other midfielders. Why try to rest all the first-team forwards at once? Use Coutinho at left-wing rather than forcing Alena in there, or use Suarez as the left-inside forward.
There are ample solutions to rotate while playing enough first-team and experienced players. There are some important points to consider while rotating. Don't start a forward line without at least one experienced player. Don't start a centre-back combination without one of Pique or Lenglet, not somebody who has never played together before. Don't move players, especially youngsters out of position. Last, don't be afraid to start the new arrivals given they have the experience alongside them. By experience, we mean experience of playing at Barcelona, not at some other place. Eg: Arthur is more experienced than Kevin Prince. But both Malcom and Kevin-Prince are inexperienced, given Malcom has hardly played even though he arrived in the summer.
Here is a random lineup with enough rotations.
Pena, Sergi Roberto, Pique/Lenglet, Vermaelen/Murillo, Miranda, Samper, Vidal, Arthur, Malcom/Dembele, Malcom/Suarez/Kevin-Prince, Coutinho.
This is a lineup that has ample experience. The combinations would be something like, if Malcom is in the wings start Suarez, if Dembele is in the wings, use Malcom or Kevin-Prince as the striker. It is possible.
#2 Trust the youngsters, do it
FC Barcelona has always been known to trust youngsters. If they didn't, we would never have seen the likes of Messi at 18, Iniesta at 18 etc. But it is not necessarily the case now. Oriol Busquets is 20, Riqui Puig is 19, Alena was promoted just now. At Puig's age, Messi had already played many games for the first team and also the El Clasico (scored a hattrick in El Clasico at 19). At Oriol's age, Sergio was roped into the first team and is now the best CDM in the world.
Trust the youngsters. They would make mistakes, no doubt, but these are the situations where they would be extra motivated for the game. They have a sense of responsibility here and they would also have a sense of importance to the team. We are also not asking to start everyone at the same time. Against Sevilla, Barcelona started Semedo at left-back, why not trust Miranda? Why not be bold enough?
Cillessen is now injured. Is there a need to start Marc Ter Stegen in every game? Why not play Inaki Pena against Valladolid? Why not give him a go against Bilbao? Even Ter Stegen needs rest. Why not trust Samper with the pivot spot when Rakitic and Arthur are ahead of him, while there is one of Pique or Lenglet as a cover? Why not play Chumi or Miranda against Valladolid? Trust them, they are the future.
#1 Rest each of the main players for at least one game
This is not as hard to do and if timed to perfection then it will do wonders. Barcelona will be looking to go all-out attack in the first-leg against Madrid. Fair enough. Seal the deal in the first leg and go to the second leg maybe. But in home games in cup competitions, there is a huge rule. Don't concede an away goal.
If that's the case, then don't rest your defenders here, rest one of the forwards or midfielders. Maybe rest Rakitic, the guy has been playing for all eternity. He must be worn out. Or maybe put Rakitic as a pivot, reduce the workload, and rest Busquets. Barcelona can also afford to rest one of Messi or Suarez here but doesn't seem like it. They can start both Messi and Suarez but also start Malcom rather than Coutinho or Dembele. Seems good right?
In the next game against Bilbao. Rest one of Pique and Lenglet and maybe also Ter Stegen. If starting Alba is a necessity then no problem but it is better to substitute him around the hour mark. In the middle, put Vidal and Alena in the midfield. Let Arthur breathe easy. Use the player who rested in the Clasico as the pivot. Up front, put Kevin-Prince Boateng in with Dembele and Coutinho. Or maybe let Messi in as false-nine.
Against Valladolid, rotate like anything. It would be important. Rest Alba here and maybe Messi also. Leading up to the Champions League game, Barcelona also needs Suarez in top form, so let him play for around an hour and take him out. Start with Murillo or Vermaelen here and depending upon the situation take Pique/Lenglet out.
In this way rest the main team players all along. One by one. Keep them fresh for the Champions League game. Against Sevilla, start Prince again, with Messi in the team or start Suarez with Malcom. Start with Vermaelen and Lenglet/Pique. In the midfield, you can afford to go with both Busquets and Rakitic. In the El Clasico, choose the lineup accordingly.
How is this proposition? Well, this is my opinion and mine only, drop yours in the comments below. This article as a whole doesn't express Sportskeeda's viewpoint.
