Who gets benched for Dembele?

[Ousmane Dembélé]

With Dembele coming back for our next match, he'll have to bench one of our current starters in the coming weeks to reclaim his starting role and let's be real, we paid 150m for him, he's not going to be coming off the bench once he's fully fit.

The answer maybe a month or two ago would've been Paulinho without a shadow of a doubt, but with him playing well as of late he seems to have established himself as a regular starter here. He would still be the favourite to get benched since it's only his first season here, but it's definitely not as clear cut as it once may have been.

Assuming we play four at the back nobody from from our defence is getting benched. Messi and Suarez aren't either. So that leaves the 4 from the midfield.

Paulinho (heavy favourite)
Iniesta (not likely)
Busquets (impossible)
Rakitic (small chance)

Who's your pick?

 

[Barcaman]

Dembele gets benched until he proves himself?

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

Dembele gets benched until he proves himself?

150m player, not happening.

 

[henias]

Paulinho will get benched, easy decision for Valverde. He probably thinks Rakitic's god after the Madrid game.

 

[Ursegor]

In regular La Liga games he will get rotated with Paulinho, Rakitic and Iniesta.

In big games this season we will start with 4 midfielders and then get him on for Rakitic in the 2nd half once teams are tired.

He is 20, it's his first season and he has missed half of of it. No one cares about his fee.

Next season we will hopefully have a better midfield that can hold its own with 3 instead of 4 players so Dembélé will start in 4-3-3 as the regular formation.

 

[Vilarrubi]

It will be Paulinho, but should be Rakitic. Not gonna happen.

 

[Messi983]

Paulinho has played almost as second striker lately. An easy decision who to drop. I know people dislike Rakitić but I think we'd lose defensive stability if Paulinho would play in his position.

But Valverde's decisions will also depend on the opponent. We'll play a lot of games in January (if we won't get out quick in Copa) so there will be enough opportunities for everyone. I also believe Dembele will be integrated slowly, playing for 20-30 minutes in first 2-3 games, then he'll come on at half time before he'll start a game and play for 60-70 minutes. Probably won't see him playing for full 90 minutes before the end of January.

 

[Messi]

My pick is bench Rakitic no doubt, but Valverde never listens to me

 

[BBZ8800]

Paulinho or Dembele will be benched.

 

[MagIX]

150m player, not happening.

Or maybe now someone are regretting to have spent 150mio.....

First at all he has to prove himself, first at all (i do not give a fuck about the price we spent) he has to prove to Valverde that the team is better with him than without him.

 

[Gaudi]

Messi, he should go to City.

 

[LeeRomeno]

We have long season ahead, I think if anything, Deulo, Denis and Vidal will see even less gametime, but neither of our starters get benched, but just rotated according to the need.

 

[serghei]

Depends on who we play, and depends on what the tactical plan is. I can totally see a 4-4-2 away in CL, and a 4-3-3 at home if we need to attack. If we want to play on the front foot, attack in positional and build many chances, it's Demebele. If we want to stay compact, defend well, and tighten the midfield, it has to be Paulinho/Rakitic. Basically depends on Valverde's plans basically. But, imo, Demebele, if he gets back and plays very well, has to play, unless we play against a better team away in CL.

 

[PhilS]

I'm looking forward to Dembele competing to be in the first choice 11. The team could use a valid reason to play a forward other than Messi and Suarez, you can't expect them both to play all the minutes.

But, with Suarez back to big-time goal scoring, with Paulinho providing forward offense and midfielder defense, with the 4-4-2 snuffing opponents' offense almost every single game, even a talent like Dembele might be watching from the bench more often than not the rest of this season.

 

[DonAK]

While it's going well so far, in the CL we'll probably need more attacking firepower in the KO stages. Especially in the away legs where we'll be trying to get a result.

So he'll have to come into play there.

He's going to get in the team sooner or later simply because he'll add so much to the team going forward. Perhaps not right away, but once the CL is back on the horizon he'll be there I bet. Not the first time Barcelona or another team have had a great run without a starter or likely starter being out of the team. I remember people claimed Messi was going to distort our great run and play when Suarez and Neymar were tearing it up when he was out a couple of years ago

Obviously Messi and Dembele not comparable in any sense and it doesn't mean Dembele should slot right back into the starting xi right away either, but that I think he'll be starting against Chelsea because they'll be putting two, three men on Messi and we've all seen what happens when a team successfully manages to minimize his impact on a game in the CL.

You'll need someone else to free him up somehow or create something of his own. The midfield is still not capable of creating much going forward. Iniesta can work his magic, but even he need someone to help him out and if Messi is neutralized and you got no one else it becomes a lot harder. Rakitic is not going to do that and neither is Suarez. Paulinho not either even though he got a good understanding with Messi. His forte is making those late runs in the box or from the last defender.