No. We need to be cautious and not risk an injury as he is only returning to full fitness.
7 - Philippe Coutinho - V1
- Thread starter AnfieldEd
- Start date
No. We need to be cautious and not risk an injury as he is only returning to full fitness.
Team gets better result with more defensive players and when more balanced.
Too many attacking players seems to kill Barca. The days of 4-3-3 might be over.
Alaves has 10 in defence and 5 of them break for attack lol . They left the middle empty.
Barca better get used to this. Chelsea will try the same and suffocate them in the Italian way.
Too many attacking players seems to kill Barca. The days of 4-3-3 might be over.
Alaves has 10 in defence and 5 of them break for attack lol . They left the middle empty.
Barca better get used to this. Chelsea will try the same and suffocate them in the Italian way.
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Is there even single person saying he is rubbish or sell him?
Horatio
You're welcome
Welcome.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Don't let people dishearten you Pedro.
Pedro
La Masia
So how can Barca play Coutinho on the left with Iniesta there? Can't just kick Iniesta out, now we've seen it's going to be a problem if Coutinho's gonna play on the right.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
When we didn't have Coutinho and Dembele, Messi was dropping deep to get the ball and he was involved in a build up of probably 9 out of 10 of our actions.
Iniesta played on a left.
So, when we had only Iniesta and Messi on a field, it seems that we suffer from Messipendencia, but on the other hand, Messi is involved in EVERYTHING all the time.
And whenever Messi is involved a lot, usually awesome things happen over 90 minutes.
When we had Neymar, Iniesta and Messi, we had a similar problem.
3 creators and Messi wasn't involved AS MUCH as when only Messi and Iniesta are on a field.
Neymar was "taking" a huge part part of Messi's actions and that meant=less balls for Messi.
Less balls for Messi usually ends in less chances for a team than=more balls for Messi.
Now, when Dembele started to play, we have already seen a problem that he occupies a similar area to Messi's area.
That means:
1. either less balls and less room for Messi (which is NEVER a good idea)
2. or Messi will keep his area (dropping deep and being involved in buildup all the time) and less balls for Dembele who is then useless on the RW
Now, Dembele is injured.
In the first Coutinho's match, he played as a LM-LW and everything worked well with Coutinho and Messi on a field.
Their areas weren't clashing.
Coutinho was creating chances and Messi was still able to drop deep to be involved in a build up in his central area.
But now, with Iniesta on the left, Messi in the middle and Coutinho on the right, it was just too crowded.
Messi wasn't dropping deep because Iniesta and Coutinho were behind him.
So, Messi was less involved in build up (which is not good) and he was somewhat lost and confused around the box.
To some extent, he seemed as if we turned him off the game.
When Coutinho left the field, Iniesta was the only guy in midfield who is creating and since Coutinho was not occupying Messi's area anymore, Messi was back to his normal self with dropping deep and being involved a lot in every action.
And we played better.
So, EV will need to find a formation which will keep a formational balance, plus a lineup in which players won't clash with their teammates.
On the other hand, imagine the worst possible lineup:
Luis, Messi
Iniesta, Coutinho, Dembele
Busquets
Messi couldn't drop deep.
Iniesta and Coutinho would clash among themselves all the time.
Plus, Coutinho and Messi would clash with Dembele (and Roberto).
A total mess.
Some posters mentioned that we could play 433 with Iniesta-Rakitic-Busquets and Coutinho-Luis-Messi in attack.
Ok, fine, that could work better.
But then: where will a 150M Dembele play?
I currently can't see a lineup where Messi, Luis, Coutinho, Iniesta and Dembele could coexist.
In fact, I can't find a lineup even for Messi, Luis, Coutinho and Dembele.
Iniesta played on a left.
So, when we had only Iniesta and Messi on a field, it seems that we suffer from Messipendencia, but on the other hand, Messi is involved in EVERYTHING all the time.
And whenever Messi is involved a lot, usually awesome things happen over 90 minutes.
When we had Neymar, Iniesta and Messi, we had a similar problem.
3 creators and Messi wasn't involved AS MUCH as when only Messi and Iniesta are on a field.
Neymar was "taking" a huge part part of Messi's actions and that meant=less balls for Messi.
Less balls for Messi usually ends in less chances for a team than=more balls for Messi.
Now, when Dembele started to play, we have already seen a problem that he occupies a similar area to Messi's area.
That means:
1. either less balls and less room for Messi (which is NEVER a good idea)
2. or Messi will keep his area (dropping deep and being involved in buildup all the time) and less balls for Dembele who is then useless on the RW
Now, Dembele is injured.
In the first Coutinho's match, he played as a LM-LW and everything worked well with Coutinho and Messi on a field.
Their areas weren't clashing.
Coutinho was creating chances and Messi was still able to drop deep to be involved in a build up in his central area.
But now, with Iniesta on the left, Messi in the middle and Coutinho on the right, it was just too crowded.
Messi wasn't dropping deep because Iniesta and Coutinho were behind him.
So, Messi was less involved in build up (which is not good) and he was somewhat lost and confused around the box.
To some extent, he seemed as if we turned him off the game.
When Coutinho left the field, Iniesta was the only guy in midfield who is creating and since Coutinho was not occupying Messi's area anymore, Messi was back to his normal self with dropping deep and being involved a lot in every action.
And we played better.
So, EV will need to find a formation which will keep a formational balance, plus a lineup in which players won't clash with their teammates.
On the other hand, imagine the worst possible lineup:
Luis, Messi
Iniesta, Coutinho, Dembele
Busquets
Messi couldn't drop deep.
Iniesta and Coutinho would clash among themselves all the time.
Plus, Coutinho and Messi would clash with Dembele (and Roberto).
A total mess.
Some posters mentioned that we could play 433 with Iniesta-Rakitic-Busquets and Coutinho-Luis-Messi in attack.
Ok, fine, that could work better.
But then: where will a 150M Dembele play?
I currently can't see a lineup where Messi, Luis, Coutinho, Iniesta and Dembele could coexist.
In fact, I can't find a lineup even for Messi, Luis, Coutinho and Dembele.
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FCBfan22
Senior Member
Defending:
------------Luis--------Messi---------
Coutinho-Busquets-Rakitić-Dembele
Attacking:
------Luis--------Messi-------Dembele
----Coutinho----------Rakitić----------
----------------Busquets---------------
But of course, this will be heavily dependant on Ousmane's tracking back and defending skills (which have yet to be seen), assuming that we would play the 433-442 hybrid that Valverde utilised a lot already this year with either Dembele/Vidal or Roberto playing the RM/RW hybrid.
tacticvarium
New member
Dembélé doesn't have to be a starter right now.
He is still young and he should wait.
He might also have to change his playing style which is becoming more effective with less ball as long as Messi is there.
The next season might be the last one for Iniesta as a starter so until then, the focus should be on how to coexist Iniesta and Coutinho.
He is still young and he should wait.
He might also have to change his playing style which is becoming more effective with less ball as long as Messi is there.
The next season might be the last one for Iniesta as a starter so until then, the focus should be on how to coexist Iniesta and Coutinho.
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In England managers who do this ridiculous square pegs malarkey think get sacked and laughed at .
Horatio
You're welcome
Ousmane Dembélé
Banned
The stuff I was reading after he came on against a tired Espanyol side that were obligated to attack was a bit over the top.
It will take him time to get integrated, we need to be patient with him and Dembele, can't expect instant results.
It will take him time to get integrated, we need to be patient with him and Dembele, can't expect instant results.
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