Barcelona 2-1 Villarreal: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis

#2 Ernesto Valverde continues to flirt with fire with his tactics

Valverde is playing a dangerous game

Over the course of the past couple of seasons, Ernesto Valverde has enjoyed success at Barcelona, having won the La Liga twice and the Copa Del Rey once. However, talk around the Spaniard’s suitability to the Blaugrana has never remained too far away. And, those discussions have only grown louder after Barcelona have endured two infamous nights in Liverpool and Rome.

Thus, the 2019-20 season was always looked upon as a make or break term for the manager, especially considering the veils of discontent among the Camp Nou ranks regarding his philosophy.

And, so far, he hasn’t particularly covered himself in glory.

Till now, Barcelona have played in four away games and haven’t notched up a victory in any of those. More glaringly though, they came into the fixture against Villarreal having conceded the most number of goals across the La Liga.

Valverde’s tactics entail a prioritization of calculation over creativity and those aspects have become synonymous with the Blaugrana in the last two years. However, one reckons that a continuation of the same would be akin to the Spaniard playing with fire and inevitably, he would get his hands burnt.

To put things into perspective, Barcelona, ever since the late great Johan Cruyff’s footballing revolution, have rarely ceded possession to the opposition and played on the back foot. But, under the current manager, it has become the norm rather than being the anomaly.

Consequently, the Camp Nou outfit have failed to produce the free-flowing football they’ve been renowned for recently and that has contributed to moans and groans from the terraces.

However, those tactics have also exposed another facet of their game, namely their ability to keep things quiet at the back, especially in crunch games.

Even against Villarreal, the hosts allowed the visitors an awful lot of possession. Though the Yellow Submarine failed to stitch together the requisite number of attacks to trouble Barcelona, the home side’s ploy seemed clear.

In the process, the Blaugrana invariably slow down the pace of the game and that tactic works a charm at home, where they enjoy the width of the Camp Nou pitch.

However, in venues that accord much less space, the method comes unstuck as Barcelona try to stretch the pitch and inevitably, get stung on the counter attack.

And, by according more of the ball to the opposition on the road, their competitors are able to create more chances and break the Blaugrana rear-guard down.

In years gone by, Barcelona have passed their rivals into submission, meaning that their counterparts got tired of chasing the ball, leaving them exhausted to mount substantial attacks.

Yet, with the current system, their opponents are much better equipped to utilize their chances and that has dovetailed with Barcelona’s woes away from home.

An enormous amount of speculation has surrounded Valverde since he has been at the helm. And, those questions aren’t going to subside anytime soon, especially if the Spaniard keeps favouring such tactics.