I’ve been positively surprised by Valverde’s new setup this season. Positional play, wide wingers, advanced interiors, youth & energy : I’m all for it!

The games vs Betis & Valencia felt like a breath of fresh air. And I think it’s only a matter of time (new players knowing each other better, building more belief in the new system through successive wins) before it starts working in the away games too.

Because I believe in this experiment and want to see it deepened & enhanced, I hope to see Messi back at his False 9 role (“F9”).

Now more than ever, structure is everything. It is what enables the interiors to play high between the lines & what makes it easier for the team to counter-press when dispossessed.

Within this context, you need wide wingers in order to free the half-spaces for the interiors, you need a combinative & mobile #9 if you want to enable the interiors to drop deep without losing associative play a few meters higher and still be able to exploit your wingers runs into the box.

Griezmann’s performances vs Betis & Valencia already showed us how fluidity & speed of ball circulation can be tremendously improved when the team plays with a mobile & combinative #9, making it easier not only to reach, but most importantly to create, free spaces.

I have never been a fan of Messi playing on the right, because of all the tactical imbalances it creates. Keeping him as “fake” winger would mean altering the structure & also wasting Frenkie De Jong’s talent by making him perform “the Rakitic job” (constantly adapting his moves to Messi’s).

Getting Messi back to F9 is also a good way to enable him to keep limiting his physical efforts without making the team pay the price for it defensively.

Now the major problem would be to bench Suárez. A player of that magnitude, who provides so much to the team, can’t be benched for simple structural reasons. If it happens, it will be because another player is performing way better on an individual level & making the team play better collectively. And it has to leave no doubts & be clear for everyone to see in order to make the transition non-dramatic (Pedro/Henry, Piqué/Márquez, Busquets/Touré).

This will be Dembélé’s role & main mission this season. Barça needs him to correct his flaws & be more consistent in order to be able to get Messi back at F9 & keep the necessary structure to take this positional play experiment to the next level.

CONCLUSION

I say enough with the asymmetrical thingy or having players performing different roles depending on their teammates positioning.

Enough with the search for balance and compromises. It’s time for clarity.

If positional play is really how Valverde wants to roll this season, then let’s do it in its purest form and accept all the consequences. If I was given one last ride/season as Barça coach, I know this is how I’d choose to leave.

(a follow up to this post can be found here)

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