Barcelona fans can rest easy having entrusted the reins of the team in the hands of Quique Setién. This has to be the biggest message that came out of Barcelona's 5-0 victory over Leganes. Two consecutive bad results against Ibiza and Valencia have raised a lot of questions about whether Barcelona has made the right choice with their manager.
Last night result should have silenced all the doubters and critics at least for a day. Why I say a day because they all are going to come with twice the force from tomorrow. Barcelona playing well creates a strange kind of fear among detractors and opposition fans. So What are the biggest takeaways from this match?
1. Griezmann and Messi are Slowly Improving their Understanding
For Griezmann, so far has been a tough task to get integrated properly into the team. At Atletico Madrid, he was 'The Man'. In Barcelona, there is a new reality, the presence of Lionel Messi. He was struggling with his understanding with Barcelona's captain in the early part of the season.
The last few matches, especially last night's encounter show he and Messi slowly working on their partnership. He is now able to understand where he needs to position himself with respect to Messi. He also has kind of understood that once Messi gains his trust he will look for him at every time.
Against we saw the good impression of both of them finally gelling together. There are still a lot of things to fine-tune to say their partnership is at the level of Messi-Saurez linkup. Slowly and Steadily it is improving with each match, that's very delightful news for all Barcelona fans.
2. Barcelona is Just Playing at 50% of their Potential
The scoreline could present a deceitful picture regarding Barcelona's performance against Leganes. The 5-0 victory was very much deserved and was in the expected line. But there was something missing throughout the performance. This was pointed out by Setién itself in his post-match comments.
Quique Setién: "We changed our formation to a 4-3-3 because we understood that we would do better in attack and defence because of the way the Leganés play. I think we've done a lot of things well, but I'm not completely satisfied." pic.twitter.com/DJtyANkZSP
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 30, 2020
It is clear the majority of players are still trying to grasp the ideology presented by Setién. The switch to 4-3-3 may have helped them a bit more in this game, but it is clear from Setién's comment that it is not his preferred. He would always prefer a fluidic 4-3-3 which transitions to 3-3-4 and 3-4-3.
It would be a treat to watch this team once they get a full understanding of that system. It is safe to say that we are playing only at 50% efficiency currently. Once Setién gets things sorted out, we could ramp up our level much faster. Even thinking about that prospect is quite delightful!
3. Lack of High Intensity and High Pressing
If you compare with the Granada performance, there were two things clearly missing - the high intensity and high pressing. One of the reasons for that was the switch to a traditional 4-3-3 system. Some may argue that the 5-0 scoreline could suggest that it's a better system to play with. I beg to differ. Barcelona will be twice effective especially against bigger teams once we get the high pressing, high-intensity game back.
Another issue which made high pressing difficult was the way we failed to narrow the pitch of action. In transition, we need the entire team to move towards the direction of the ball, in order to make the high press effective. Otherwise, the defense could break it with a quick switch on the wings. The key is not to afford them the space to look for that option.
It is clear that Setién will be working on this aspect much more vigorously going forward. we all wait to see the fruits of the same.
All About FC Barcelona
AllAboutFCBarcelona.com is a Blog dedicated to the Most prestigous Club in the world, FC Barcelona by an ardent fan. Here I discuss about the Latest happening surrounding our Club and present my Views about the same.
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