LaLiga 2018-19: FC Barcelona 2-0 Villarreal CF -  5 Talking Points

#3 Phillipe Coutinho's looks really uncomfortable in the left wing

A frustrating night for Phillipe Coutinho

The Barcelona coach should realize this quickly. Coutinho is very much out of ideas on the left wing. His area of operation, whatever it is, is not doing much justice to his ability or his contribution to the team. The Brazilian was hardly an influence on the pitch and could be labelled as the worst Barcelona player on the night.

He never really got the hang of things in the flank. We did not see him take his trademark outside the box curlers. He was dispossessed on two occasions but he hardly made use of the possession he had, 5% of the total team possession. He gave the ball away cheaply or failed to read the pass, which wouldn't count as a dispossession on stats.

Something is not right about the positioning. He couldn't be involved in build-up plays, couldn't link up with the midfield and importantly couldn't shoot. Jordi Alba needs a lot of space in the left side, which is pushing him out of position into the half-space. And even though he should be good at the half space, he has not got the instructions for what to do from there.

Perhaps, Coutinho will be better off in the central midfield area or move more centrally into the pitch as Alba comes in. He is neither in the middle nor in the flanks which is not good for Barcelona. Hope that Barcelona sorts this issue out, this is a good player who is underperforming at the moment.