SIX tasks facing Valverde at Barcelona - 7M sport

SIX tasks facing Valverde at Barcelona

Several issues for the coach to solve


Posted Thursday, October 18, 2018 by Marca.com

SIX tasks facing Valverde at Barcelona

The international break is in the books and the focus now returns to club football, with Barcelona facing a tough run of fixtures as they take on Sevilla, Inter and Real Madrid in just over of a week.

The Blaugrana haven't won any of their past four LaLiga Santander matches and Ernesto Valverde has several issues to solve, some short-term ones and some long-term ones.

Here, we look at six tasks he has in his in-tray.

Lock the defence

The defensive solidity that Barcelona had last season hasn't been present this campaign.

They've only kept clean sheets in three of their 11 matches this season, against Alaves, Real Valladolid and PSV Eindhoven.

Without an improvement at the back, it'll be almost impossible to compete for major titles and Valverde must solve this issue, which won't be easy given the injuries to Thomas Vermaelen and Samuel Umtiti.

Use the bench

Valverde hasn't rotated as much as some would have liked him to.

The squad is believed to have improved this season, yet the coach hasn't been able to rotate effectively.

Summer signings Arturo Vidal and Malcom have had very few opportunities and they'll need to be used if the starters are to remain fresh.

Find Luis Suarez's goals

Just like last year, Suarez has struggled to get going.

He is not physically at this best as a result of knee issues and he hasn't been scoring as often as the Camp Nou faithful would like.

He has three goals from 11 competitive matches and remains the starter, as Valverde is confident the goals will come.

He'll need to help the Uruguayan with this.

Settle on a system

The recent breakout performances of Arthur Melo have given Valverde another problem to solve, as he now has too many potential starters of too many different positions.

The options of 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 are both available, but it depends on the personnel and on the kind of football Valverde wants his team to play.

There is potential for tactical flexibility, but this would have to be worked on and perfected over time.

Become more symmetrical

With Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba having such a great understanding, and with Philippe Coutinho one of the team's best players, it's logical that Barcelona attack so much down the left.

With the injury to right-back Sergi Roberto, this has been the case even more so.

Yet there's a need to balance out the attacking strategy and to spread the ball around better, or else the Catalan side will become too predictable.

Promote youth teamers to the senior side

A longer term objective has to be the promotion of youth prospects into the first team.

Barcelona haven't brought many players out of their academy in recent years and they need to start doing so.

Jorge Cuenca could be given minutes in central defence, given the current injuries at that position, while Juan Miranda is there too as the on-paper backup to Jordi Alba.

Valverde hasn't given many minutes to these kinds of players and it would be for the long-term good of the club if he did.



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