Barcelona vs. Sevilla 4-2 FT

[bk-one]

Dembele needs to be very careful. Showed very poor attitude and application in the game...

You might be right about the application but I dont think Valverde knows how to use Dembele.....so many times he is making runs but there is nobody picking him.The passes he is receiving mostly are when he is already crowded by the defence and he is then forced to try to dribble out whilst forced wriggle out of already crowded spaces. I believe that is the reason he was losing the ball quite a lot tonight. Even Malcom is struggling coz Valverde just doesnt know how to use his wingers. He prefers crowding the midfield and letting Messi do the magic which is a very risky strategy coz when Messi is either injured or off-form the team is going to struggle

Barca has a playing philosophy which they stick to. The issue here has zero to do with Valverde. He's been using wingers since his Bilbao days. Everyone who comes to Barca goes thru an adaptation period. Issue with Dembele is his lack of effort and his ball handling...I suspect Malcolm may overtake him before this season is done...

Based on that statement I will assume that you didnt watch Bilbao on Valverde's last season. Inaki Williams played behind Aritz Aduriz and the rest were central midfielders. Even Munian had to sit on the bench for an extra central midfielder. Valverde prefers to have his fullbacks offering width whilst the rest are crowding the centre. Its not a coincidence that Dembele is struggling and Malcom is not even sitting on the bench. Barca were knocked out of the champions league because of Valverde's stubbornness. Roma knew that without any wingers Barcelona were not going to offer anything on the counter. They went all out knowing that even if they leave space behind their defence, besides Messi there wasnt anybody to play and run behind their defense.He only reacted after Roma has scored the third goal by introducing the winger and by then Roma already retreated deep coz they already got the goals they wanted to knock Barcelona out.

I didnt dispute the fact that Barcelona does have a philosophy and they will always stick to it but that didn't stop Pep/Tito/Enrique to play a certain way whilst still keeping the said philosophy. Two of their recently successful managers in Pep and Enrique knew the importance of playing with width but somehow, Valverde is not willing to do that or doing it in a way where his wingers are somehow forced to be on the periphery for almost the whole game. You are talking as if the whole problem is entirely due to Dembele's perceived weaknesses. The same Dembele started the season on form but somehow the manager kept on yanking him to the bench. You said Malcom is going to end up benching Dembele......How is he going to do that when he is not even given the chance to at least sit on the bench as an option.....He played Malcom for a couple of games and then decided not to even give him a place on the bench....Have you ever asked yourself why! He is the second winger to be signed by Barca and somehow he is slowly going the way of Dembele....why? Both were very effective for their last teams....that lack of application and attitude was never a problem for Dembele(besides when he refused to train in order to force a move to Barcelona) at Dortmund.....Have you ever considered that maybe Dembele is frustrated by how he is under-utilized by Valverde?

Barca since the Pep era do not play with wingers in the traditional sense, and in the way you describe, which is in part Dembele's problem. But they play with width- from the wing backs...

As usual the build-up begins with Busi dropping deep as the CDs split, which allows the fullbacks push up. The key in the wide game is the overload of stretched defenses. The wide players, even when the nominal starting position is wide, switch to attack the zone between the opposing centerbacks and fullbacks, either pulling them centrally to free up Alba or Semedo, or simply occupy them for the now familiar blindside, late run from Alba, Semedo or Roberto.

The problem with Dembele is quite a familiar one from new Barca arrivals. Even a top player like Henry went thru it...but the difference here is in application...Plus Dembele comes from a tradition of wide forwards/wide wingers, who often expect to start and finish moves (Malcolm is not, hence my statement above). His positioning, timing and the space he takes up originally are all wrong...he's decision making on when to hold and/or release are wrong..In fairness even Neymar went thru this...His play, which should often reference Suarez as anchor as well as Messi is inconsistent...But he's super talented and should come thru if he applies himself more...

This has zero to do with Velverde who has ALWAYS played with wingers. I think u misunderstand his tactics at Bilbao.

The wingers (yes, wingers), Munain (sometimes Susaeta) and Inaki, push back, into their own halves to drag the opposing fullbacks out and create space behind them. While San Jose drops into central defence in the Barca way, Laporte and Yeray, both excellent passers of the ball, deliver thru balls to the space vacated by the opposing fullbacks... This allows Muniain, Susaeta or Inaki space to use their pace, but starting from deeper positions. Inaki's versatility allows him to be played wide, centrally or behind Aduriz.

I think your post above does not quite capture the Roma game...

Have you seen tonight's lineup?

[txj]

@bk-one

First, I saw the lineup. Did you see Rafinha who was used in Messi's place instead of Dembele?

Here's a piece about Rafinha and Dembele from mundo:

Anda Dembélé in low hours. For his poor game against Sevilla and because yesterday Valverde prescribed a bitter portion of the bench and portrayed him. The French chooses. Or he puts on his overalls and combines his great class and ability with strong doses of effort and concentration, or lowers his arms and enters a self-destructive dynamic. If you choose the first path, your mirror is Rafinha . He has never been a starter but he has never given up. He's technical but he knows he has to run and bite. A complaint has not come from his mouth and he has always been ready when the time has come. If Dembélé imitates Rafinha , his class will do the rest.

https://www.mundodeportivo.com/opinion/ ... finha.html

[txj]

JUAN I. IRIGOYEN
Barcelona 26 OCT 2018 - 13:34 CEST

"Those who played against Sevilla and Dembélé do regenerative; the rest, to train ", said from the technical staff of Barça on the first day of training for the week. "Dembélé played?" He asked, mockingly, one of the group's heavyweights. "Well, the most Ousmane headlines", resolved one of the technicians. Nobody could contain the laughter in the Tito Vilanova field. The problem, for Dembélé , is that behind the graces of his companions hides a history of satiety. A short story However, grotesque enough to alter even a sympathetic guy like Valverde, who left him on the bench against Inter.

In the quest to put out at any cost the fire that had left the traumatic goodbye of Neymar, Dembélé arrived in Barcelona in August 2017. Sponsored by the former sports director, Robert Fernández, the French became the most expensive signing in Barça's history (105 million, plus 42 in variables) until it was surpassed by Coutinho (120, plus 40). "The costumes usually look, from the start, with some suspicion when they get this kind of signings. It was not the case of them, "says a club employee. Coutinho had the approval of Messi and Suarez - had been a teammate of 9 at Liverpool - while Dembélé knew how to win the sympathy of the heavyweights.

Dembélé's ability with spaces caught the attention of 10. At the beginning of last season, he asked Jon Aspiazu, second coach, how he had to do to take advantage of the speed of the end. The personality of the extreme was also funny in the dressing room, a little innocent, quite absent-minded. Also added to that they were saddened by the bad fortune that the forward suffered with injuries (he lost 27 duels). But French attitudes began to exasperate the managers to finish filling the patience of their colleagues and the coaching staff.

Exciting start
Starting, Dembélé did not like the driver assigned to him by the club. Tired of overlooking food advice, Barça put a French chef to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner. Determined situation. Other problems arrived: unpunctuality in training, lightning trips without the knowledge of those responsible and lack of commitment in the commercial activities of the club. "He does not know much, but it seems that he does not want to know," they say from the Barça group. And when it seemed that football covered the nonsense, Dembélé went out in the field. After an at least exciting start to the season (five goals in the first six games), it vanished.

The game against Sevilla marked the pulse. Dembélé took all his time to jump to the field, after the injury of Messi (the Argentine collided with Vázquez in the 16th minute, the French replaced him in the 22nd). "Today we played a lot of time with one less," Rakitic complained in public, after the match against the team of Machin. Attitude that adds to their lack of solidarity. In its 11 games it has lost 165 balls (an average of 0.22 per minute played) and recovered 25 (0.03). "Any player can lose a ball. The question is what is done next: the reaction to a loss, "says Valverde. "He has a lot to learn," adds the technician. The problem is that Dembélé does not seem to want to do it.

https://elpais.com/deportes/2018/10/25/ ... 97984.html