- Xavi benched for the whole match as well is also a sign of the change Lucho has done, no longer does Xavi have a free ride on the field spraying side passes.
And what did his "replacement" Rakitic do? Sprayed mostly side passes. This is an example of projection of your desires over what actually happened. Working against 10 men defending well behind the ball is always going to have a lot of side passing, a function of the situation, not the specific player.
Xavi is superfluous in a game like this, where there is no pressure. What Rakitic offers above Xavi in this sort of game is more aggressive defending and regaining possession, and an outside shot threat.
The "midfielder" responsible for nearly all the forward passes was Messi, with Iniesta accounting for most of the rest.
You also left out the most important changes:
1) mobile Messi. Whatever instructions Messi had from Lucho, they worked. Without Messi's work rate today, the result could well be in question.
2) Alves not sending in crosses by default (and short corners). This in part has to do with a mobile Messi, as Alves always prefers to work 1-2 passes with him, if he is close enough. But Lucho also looks to have reverted to short corners again. The overall result is that Barça possession doesn't end in a fruitless cross or corner kick as it often did last season. The ball is recirculated for a better chance at attack.
At the present time, the attack is still Messi-centric- which he did brilliantly, but it does bring up how Barça will attack if he is not available. I don't think we will fully know what this Barça looks like until we see Suarez integrated. With Messi bossing as a midfielder and Suarez finishing the chances Messi creates, I think we will see the true nature of this Barça.
