Is FC Barcelona back to its best?

Negatives

#1 The adaptation of Philippe Coutinho

A lot of room for improvement: Phillipe Coutinho

Their star signing last season Phillipe Coutinho is one of them. His play in the wings is commendable but his midfield play is still concerning. Coutinho is tending to occupy the same position as Dembele when he moves inwards. As a midfielder, Coutinho needs to operate deeper in the field and initiate the attacks. He made improvements in his game, against Huesca and PSV. But he is far from his best, and he needs to continue his game deeper in the field and develop an understanding between himself, Alba and Busquets. The role Barcelona needs Coutinho to play requires a lot of understanding and game awareness, he is still a raw talent. Coutinho has a lot to learn. Hopefully, Busquets and Valverde will bring the best out of him.

#2 The poor run of Luis Suarez

Far from his usual self: Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez is yet another problem. He has notched some important goals including the equaliser at Anoeta. But Luis Suarez is far from his vintage mode. He is lacking the finishing, he is not very confident on the ball and he is put on a lot of girth for a striker. His work rate comes into the discussion as well. He has wasted a couple or more chances created for him that he should have buried into the net. Wasted chance can cause the team big time against big teams. Plus, Suarez has to pay dividends to chances if and when they are created against the defenses of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane. He made improvements in the PSV game, but he needs to continue playing the same way. We have seen Luis spring up with one good game and being lost for 5 to 6 games afterwards.

#3 The role of Ousmane Dembele

Ousmane Dembele is one of the positives but he is also one of the negatives, and it’s not even his fault. Dembele has no weak foot and this helps the team to deploy Dembele at any wing. Valverde though is preferring Dembele on the left wing. Due to the fact, Dembele has to operate more in the half-space because Jordi Alba requires a lot more space on the wings. If this trend continues, then Barcelona have to be varied. It drops young Dembele where he can be isolated and it takes him out of his killer positioning. Playing on the right wing, Dembele can have the space he needs, operating on the wings. But the right-back spot is guarded by Sergi Roberto and Nelson Semedo, the wing has a danger of being exposed if all the inexperience is on the right wing. Barcelona has to sort this out.

#4 Defensive Lapses

Complacent to say the least: Gerard Pique

When will Barcelona improve on this aspect? The defense consists of two good centre-backs in Umtiti and Pique. Still, Sociedad exposed Barcelona on the counter several times. The inexperienced Huesca scored two goals against Barcelona with ease, due to terrible defending. On the first occasion, the incoming cross was not dealt with and even atrocious is the fact that Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique let the striker get the free header. The second Huesca shows the complacency of the defence. The ball deflected and landed near the baseline, Alba didn’t pressurise the player and Umtiti took a nice nap while letting Huesca hit the ball in.

Barcelona’s weakness against high ball has been terrible till now. Both goals against Huesca came due to high balls. The goal against Sociedad came due to terrible defending and clearance of the free-kick. The Barcelona offensive is conceiving the poor defensive play of their team. During the Supercopa match against Sevilla, Clement Lenglet was also off colours. Sergio Busquets was absent for 45 minutes and Sociedad left the defense floored. If Sergio has to miss a game, and god forbid it is against teams like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, Barcelona will be punished hard with this sort of defense. Hirving Lozano beat the defense for pace on several occasions, what can Gareth Bale cause? Valverde has to do something about it.

#5 Tactical display

Ernesto Valverde is coaching FC Barcelona and not Athletic Bilbao. When even mere fans understand that defending a lead is not our cup of tea, Valverde is more than happy to do so. Barcelona was punished in the biggest stage by Roma last year due to these same tactics. Real Sociedad came close to repeating the feat due to the same tactics. Barcelona stops the lethal attacks and hangs back inviting counter attacks. Sociedad was a tricky opponent, no doubt but still, the substitution of Vidal just adds to that defensive mindset. Barcelona is far better playing on their offense and they should continue in that manner. If they sit back, lazy, defending a lead, players like Modric can break the lines in one go.

#6 Squad Rotations

Squad rotations are one thing that fans asked Valverde for. He did rotate and how? He had all his ace players start against a new side in Huesca. Then against the dangerous Real Sociedad, at a stadium Barca won only once in a decade, he decided to rest Busquets and Coutinho. That is not how rotations work. It is far better rotating in home games, against opponents like Alaves, Espanyol and La Coruna than away at Sociedad. Players need to learn to adapt but clearly, Santiago Bernabeu is a better stadium to rotate than Anoeta, in the sense that at least players are fired up for the fixture.

Finally, what did Barca buy Arthur for? He hasn’t made one start yet, he hasn’t featured for much time as a substitute. In fact, Valverde can try and rest Rakitic for Arthur any day, if Busquets is around. Valverde is just too afraid to take the gamble. Against a team like PSV, there is no harm in giving playing time to Arthur and Lenglet. Will Valverde make improvements?