Hasn't it been debunked a lot of times?
1. EV played first 5 matches without Messi.
Suarez got injured in the first round, first half vs Bilbao.
Dembele was injured after the first match.
Coutinho was loaned.
So, he played Carles Perez, Fati and similar.
2. when Messi and Suarez returned, our results were good again.
3. Setien won 2 points more iirc, but he played with Messi+Suarez all the time and the last few rounds were friendly games since the league was decided and some midtable teams out of a relegation zone had nothing to play for.
4. plus epic 2:8 vs Bayern in only 90 minutes.
When you sum it all, Setien didn't win more points than EV.
But he played chess against Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov so he is better tactician than EV, and played the Tiki Taka way. Well that's what Forum De Amigos said