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When Luis Enrique ended his tenure as Barcelona's coach at the end of the 2016/17 season, Barcelona had a huge task in hand to replace him. This was the coach who had won 9 out of 12 trophies in his tenure as manager. The management's choice was former Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde, who had notably denied Enrique a sextuple by beating Barcelona 5-1 over two legs.
The start that Ernesto had to his managerial career at Barcelona was pretty rough. He started with two losses to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. Even more, Barcelona lost on a 5-1 aggregate which already created suspicions over the ability of the coach. But even after all the lows, here we are, Barcelona won the domestic double in their first season under Ernesto. At the moment, they are on top of the league, they are waiting to play Madrid in the second leg of Copa Del Rey at Bernabeu, and they are waiting for Lyon in the Round-of-16.
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But even after the success, there has been considerable criticism coming his way. More or less it is due to the debacle at Rome, which saw Barcelona squander a 4-1 advantage from the first leg to Roma. The other issues that people raise are his failure to play beautiful football, pragmatic approach, and poor man-management. The criticism is not wrong completely but yet, here we are trying to explain why the coach deserves due respect for his role.
And what better day to do it than on the day when he turns 55? So, without further ado, here are the arguments we present.
(Note: Even though we have given some points to support Valverde, doesn't mean he is flawless. We understand he has his limitations too, but that shouldn't be the reason to hate on him and undermine what he has done.)
#5 Taking over the team following a poor season and winning the domestic double against all odds
Let us rewind the dates back to when Enrique resigned. The Copa Del Rey was the only trophy that the Blaugrana were winning. The league, the UEFA Champions League, everything else was won by their arch-rivals Real Madrid. Then came Valverde and his losses in the Spanish Super Cup to Madrid.
At that point, did anyone seriously think that Barcelona would win anything at all? At least I didn't and you are probably lying if you think you did. It is normal to doubt the team in that situation. Already coming off a poor season, with no major additions in the summer transfer window, and Dembele injured early in the season, and yet Valverde approached each game with caution and almost won the league unbeaten.
Barcelona lost only 5 matches in total in the 2017/18 season -- twice to Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, once to Espanyol in Copa Del Rey, once to Roma in UCL, once to Levante in the league. The only losses that matter truly are the Clasico and the one to Roma. In fact, Valverde's 2017/18 is undermined due to that one game where his decision to sit back was not correct.
But whatever you say, he deserves his credit for his work in the league. Barcelona lost the league in 16/17 due to losses to bottom-half opponents than top-half. Valverde had a plan for each game and won the league. A domestic double in the debut season is a major achievement, although the approach in the Champions League must have been better.
#4 Stabilising the defense and coping with Umtiti's absence
FC Barcelona in their final season under Luis Enrique were near-horrific in defense. Everyone would foresee them conceding two or three goals against good oppositions. People thought PSG would not be the one who could take advantage of the poor defense, but 4-0 happened. People thought Higuain and Dybala would destroy Barcelona's defense at Turin, it happened. People thought Madrid would win 3-1 in the Clasico, thanks to Messi they lost in the 92nd minute but still scored two goals. The defense was never Barcelona's strength under Enrique.
Ernesto Valverde moved a bit to 4-4-2 and added the much-needed stability in the defense. There were not many instances when Barcelona conceded much last season. They conceded 29 goals in 2017/18 compared to 37 in 2016/17. Also, 5 goals came in Matchday 37 which tells us how solid they were in the back.
Another important thing that Valverde did well and is still doing well is coping with Umtiti's absence. The Frenchman has been out for a combined 177 days in Valverde's tenure including 2018/19 season. Last season he had muscle problems and missed 9 games between December 2017 and January 2018, one of which was the Clasico. However, Valverde dealt with the situation, trusting Vermaelen in the center-back spot, with no backup signing in the winter transfer window.
This season also, Umtiti has been out for almost 17 games now. Do Barcelona really seem to be missing him? Valverde has done really well in instilling Lenglet into the team. He has slowly integrated Lenglet that Barcelona haven't felt Umtiti's absence, despite him being the best defender in the team. He has used Chumi when required as well.
This is one of the major aspects of Valverde's management.
#3 Manipulating a gameplan without Neymar and improving Jordi Alba's involvement in the game
One of the biggest things that Valverde had to deal with was Neymar's move to PSG. It put an end to one of the most feared, most coveted trios in Europe. This left a huge void at the left-wing spot, a role which belonged to Neymar. Barcelona did bring Deulofeu back but he played right-wing. Dembele too was new to the team and he also favored the right-side. Thus came another of Valverde's unconventional yet brilliant plans.
He used a 4-4-2 formation with Suarez and Messi upfront while Jordi Alba ran up front through the left side while attacking. This made the front three -- Alba, Suarez, Messi while attacking. He also used Dembele in the right-wing when using the 4-3-3 formation but, after his injury, it became tough and he used the 4-4-2 often.
Another thing that Valverde tried was to deploy Messi at the false-9 spot. He played with Suarez as left inside-forward who moved in from the left when Alba arrived. He rotated between Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez, Sergi Roberto, Aleix Vidal, in the right wing, seeing Messi's exploits as false-9.
While many doubted Barcelona's attacks without Neymar, Valverde came up with good gameplans, whether it be Messi as false-9, Suarez on the left-side and most importantly Jordi Alba's attacking contributions being multiplied. Jordi Alba is the best left-back in the world currently, doesn't seem to run out of gas, doesn't seem to run out of form too. Thank you for turning Alba into a beast gaffer and also thank you for helping us forget Neymar.
#2 Integrating the youngsters/new signings into the team without many altercations
When Clement Lenglet arrived, he was just another signing that Barcelona made. Now when Umtiti has been plagued with injuries, Valverde has done a really good job in turning him into a usual starter ahead of Thomas Vermaelen or trying Busquets in the center-back spot.
When Ousmane Dembele came back from injury, he was not the best of players. He was just another 'overhyped teenager' who loses the ball quite often. Look at him now, how good is he? He has been scoring goals for fun and has been showing great improvement regarding attitude.
So, what if Valverde didn't put that trust on him when he had problems blending into the team? We would have missed a big potential player, we would not be cursing our fate because of his injury. What about Arthur Melo? A kid who impressed with Gremio in Brazil and Valverde starts with him in the Champions League game against Tottenham.
Not only did that do a world of good to the kid, but it also made life easy for him in the upcoming games. Arthur is now a proper starter at Barcelona and he could boss the midfield even against Kroos and Modric as he did in the Clasico.
Arturo Vidal was a questionable signing at the start. What questions are there now? He gives his 100% when he is on the field and Valverde does use him effectively, as an engine for the team rather than the creative player.
Then we have to mention Chumi, Miranda, and Alena. Chumi has started in many Copa Del Rey games this season and trains regularly with the first team. Miranda was awarded a start in the Champions League game against Tottenham. How would that be for him? Alena is now more confident with the team and more fluid with his passes and linkups. Valverde has chosen the right time to get him with the first team.
In short, all the things we said above point to one thing. Despite the opinion that Valverde doesn't trust youngsters, he has trusted a lot of them that we don't call youngsters because they are undisputed starters now.
#1 Bringing out the beast inside Lionel Messi
This is why I personally love Valverde the most. Lionel Messi has been literally everywhere since he took charge of the team. Messi's stats were insanely good last season. In comparison to 2016/17, where he scored 54 goals with 10 being penalties, he scored 44 in 2017/18 with only 2 of them being penalties. His assists also improved from 14 to 17. What else improved? His shots on goal went up from 91 in 2016/17 to 119 in 2017/18. Also, his number of passes went from about 2000 to 2300.
Let us come to 2018/19. He has already got 29 goals this season in 28 appearances. Won't he get 15 more in about 20 appearances? He will surely get that much, maybe even more. Also, he has already got 13 assists in 2018/19, only four short of last season's tally with more than 15 games to play. And when it comes to dominating stats, Lionel Messi bossed 2018. Even though France Football did not think so and neither did FIFA, it is very tough to argue that the winner of the annual awards deserved it over Messi.
Messi is 31 now but he still seems a beast on the pitch. When he has the intent, he can set the whole pitch on fire. So why are we crediting Valverde? Just due to the fact that there is something Valverde has done to the team which has made life a bit easy for Leo. He has done something whatever it is. Now whether you say that he has freed Alba which helps Leo or he has given license to Leo and Suarez to play their own game, there is something. Something which was missing in Enrique's final season.
Happy Birthday, Gaffer. Hope you win us some trophies this season too.
Note: Stats for Leo Messi via fctables.com
