La Liga 2017/18: Barcelona 2-0 Malaga, 5 talking points

#3. Barcelona lack quality on the flanks

Deulofeu struggled to create anything worthy of mention

Yes, this has to be said. True, Gerard Deulofeu scored from a Lucas Digne cross but who are we kidding? That was down to some incompetent refereeing more than anything.

Deulofeu is a hard worker but he is not yet at a level where he can bully defenders or run them ragged. Valverde's decision to move Messi to the centre has paid dividends- that's for sure- but taking him off the wings and losing Neymar to PSG has stripped Barcelona off their riches on the wings.

For large parts of the game, the Barca midfielders were passing the ball around trying to free up the wingers but the lack of quality was evident as nothing that proved to be really threatening emanated from the wings.

However, things took a turn for the better after Semedo was introduced for Deulofeu and Roberto took over the right winger's role. Sergi Roberto's acceleration is astounding at times and he created 2 really good chances- the first of which was botched by Luis Suarez.

Valverde has every reason to look forward to the return of Ousmane Dembele and Jordi Alba.