I am not saying Valverde is the best manager of the decade but it's always easy to find one sole responsible for the situation.
I simply think that Barca doesn't have the means in midfield it once had to play the elite football it played a few years ago. A tactical and stylistical readjustment, while still maintaining the same football principles,seems to be compelling.
Artur has talent and very good intentions when trying to emulate Xavi-Iniesta but in my humble opinion : this might very well work against smaller teams but if he doesn't master this art and way of playing he might get schooled big time in high intensity elite-level games. I really really hope I am wrong but I think he needs several months if not years of practice to start being compared to Xavi and Iniesta. Artur is an excellent sub that could make some impact if brought in the last 30 minutes against big teams.
Vidal is a temporary solution but he didn't prove yet that he is "gala 11" material if there is a gala 11.
To cut a (very) long story short, I would suggest we should, for the remaining games of this season, evolve around and offensive 4-4-2 that could switch to a 4-3-3 and bank on experience :
-----Suarez---------Messi--------
-Coutinho---------------Dembélé
---------Rakitic-----Busquets----
-Alba----------------------Roberto
-------Lenglet---------Piqué------
---------------Ter Stegen---------
I like the Busquets-Dembele-Messi and Suarez-Coutinho-Rakitic triangles
Triangle BDM
Busquets : tactically brilliant, excellent technique, elite passing game
Dembele : speed, intensity, driblling
Messi : simply Messi
Triangle RCS
Rakitic : disciplined, vertically oriented can play simple and well, matches up well with high quality dribblers
Coutniho : excellent dribbling, intensity, has huge potential in my opinion but needs to work on being more disciplined tactically. I do believe that he could become one of the best if not the best central midfielder in the world. But does he wanna play there ?
Suarez : excellent striker, speed , intensity
I personally find these trios match up well.
Artur, Semedo should, at the current moment, be our luxury subs and be slowly but surely be given the opportunity to fight for a starting place, especially Semedo.