Where, Coutinho?

Barcelona`s resources increased in the summer, and today the team has a better bench and senior coach Ernesto Valverde can score his eleven-day goals and be more flexible in his choice, especially during matches, as shown inthat for the Super Cup of Spain and both in the new championship. Valverde was able to find different formulas for replacing Neymar and is now looking for solutions to fill the void and leave Andres Iniesta. The variants are so many and different that it is still unclear whether the coach prefers to confuse the opponent or has not yet understood how to combine the qualities of Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho; that is, the two expensive recruits of last season, who have come to replace Neymar and Iniesta on the eleventh day.

The former Technical Secretary Robert Fernandez told BeIN Sports:`I have always thought that Coutinho is Andres (Iniesta). Valverde claimed that Iniesta was indispensable, and Coutinho`s profile was more offensive . A view shared by the Lakers Cullen proponents. In the center it is difficult to get rid of the ball in time and is not oriented in the combinations, but in the defensive phase is late to cover in the transitions.'

In Valladolid on Saturday, however, the Brazilian played as a left midfield midfielder and coaxed a flank with Dembele as a wing. This mix did not work and even prevented Lionel Messi`s appearance, which began on the right wing. As the Argentine moved as a second striker and Dembele took his place to the right, the Frenchman`s goal came;decisive for the success of Barcelona. The variation was already successful against Sevilla for the Super Cup, when a French national`s strike again resolves the dispute.
While Dembele`s ability to enter combinations is controversial, he is certainly a direct and unbalanced rival;an striker who can also live on his own terrain outside Messi`s thick shadow. Strong with both legs, he sometimes confuses himself at the moment of making a situational decision, but on the other hand he easily knocks and scores after recovering from his injury a year ago in Getafe. Valverde chose to wager Dembele and that led to Coutinho`s move to the midfield when it seems that his Brazilian is more cozy in the attack. There he can easily find firing positions, while as a midfielder the verticality in the game prevents him from combining often with Messi and Luis Suarez.

The four attackers find it difficult to find a common language at the moment when Suarez is not in optimal shape after the World Cup. The match analyzed by photos of messi in Valladolid obliges Dembele and Coutinho to be repaired on the same side, all the more so that it limits the corridor to the attack on the left back, Jordi Alba, and rightly looks to cover the huge slums of Sergio Buscakes and, on the other hand, re turnsto the old hot question with Messi`s position. Valverde very keeps in order 1-4-4-2, when his team does not control the ball - this is one of the key game elements after Neymar`s escape.