Ernesto Valverde must start putting faith in Ousmane Dembele and other Barcelona talking points

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  • Barcelona stars Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele

    The scoreline from Barcelona’s Champions League first-leg tie with Chelsea reads 1-1 but boss Ernesto Valverde will know deep down he lost the tactical battle with counterpart Antonio Conte.

    There are three La Liga fixtures before the return leg at Camp Nou and the first fixture on Saturday represents an opportunity for the Barca boss to change things around.

    The Blaugrana host Catalan rivals Girona and ahead of the game we look at some of the key questions facing Valverde.

    THE PAULINHO PROBLEM

    Paulinho struggled against Chelsea in midweek

    Paulinho struggled against Chelsea in midweek

    Paulinho’s poor performances are a problem for Valverde. The Brazilian’s somewhat surprising early-season form inflated expectations but his drop off recently – the nadir arriving at Stamford Bridge – has quickly sucked the air out of any optimistic sentiment.

    There is talk in the Spanish press that he is suffering from fatigue with the 29-year-old having played 73 games this season after joining Barca midway through the Chinese Super League season.

    As reported by Sport, Paulinho has not stopped playing since February 22, 2017, when Guangzhou faced Eastern in the Asian Champions League.

    He is also dealing with a tiny fracture in his foot suffered in the Espanyol clash last month but at the moment, starting him is borderline negligible.

    Yes, there may be mitigating circumstances but his unease on the ball slowed Barca’s counter-attacks against Chelsea.

    The issue for Valverde is a lack of options. Andre Gomes is too much of a wildcard and hasn’t displayed anywhere near the effectiveness of Paulinho while Philippe Coutinho is more attack-minded.

    Barca’s record-buy is available for Saturday’s clash after being cup-tied in midweek and Valverde could well drop Paulinho and switch to a 4-3-3 to give the midfielder a crucial breather.

    MINA OVER VERMAELEN

    Mina in action against Getafe

    Mina in action against Getafe

    Gerard Pique is another who is playing through injury and after limping off at full-time against Chelsea, the defender will surely be rested on Saturday.

    Pique has been dealing with a knee injury and didn’t train with the Barca squad on Thursday with the plan to leave him out of the first-team fold until the Atletico Madrid clash next month.

    That of course begs the questions as to who will replace him to slot in alongside the tower of strength Samuel Umtiti at the heart of Barca’s defence.

    Thomas Vermaelen has been out of action with a hamstring injury but is fit and ready to return but the man who should be brought in is January signing Yerry Mina.

    The Colombian made his full Barca debut in the 0-0 draw with Getafe earlier this month and the early signs were encouraging.

    With injuries and suspensions, he had Lucas Digne as his partner that day and although his passing out of the back was a little deficient, he excelled defensively.

    He won five aerial duels (almost scoring twice from set-pieces), made three tackles, two interceptions and one vital block.

    His physicality provides a genuine presence at the back and the fixture against Girona is an ideal opportunity for Valverde to fuse him with Umtiti for an immense centre-back pairing.

    VALVERDE MUST PUT FAITH IN DEMBELE

    Dembele has only started three games for Barca

    Dembele has only started three games for Barca

    Suffice to say, Ousmane Dembele has endured a nightmare start to his Barca career.

    Two sustained injury spells have ravaged his season and the Borussia Dortmund signing now finds himself on the periphery of the first-team fold.

    While Valverde’s narrow 4-4-2 has worked well in La Liga, Barca need natural width in Europe with a lot of their problems against Chelsea stemming from their inability to mount attacks from the channels.

    Dembele’s speed and dribbling ability are qualities tailor-made for Barca but it’s obvious Valverde doesn’t quite trust the 20-year-old with Aleix Vidal favoured from the bench against Chelsea when he looked to stretch the pitch.

    Granted, there’s an element of protection for a player who has only made three starts for his new club but now Valverde has to begin building up Dembele’s confidence and in turn his own confidence in the Frenchman.

    The collective Barca voice is screaming for Valverde to move away from the rigidity of the 4-4-2 and move into a 4-3-3. As mentioned earlier, Coutinho is an option to occupy that left-wing berth but ideally, Dembele should start on the right with Nelson Semedo also coming in at right-back.

    That in turn will free up Sergi Roberto to rotate with Ivan Rakitic, Andres Iniesita and Coutinho while adding real dynamism and creation on Barca’s right.

    The left-side of the pitch is no issue with the Lionel Messi-Jordi Alba combination a real area of strength but on the right, there is work to be done and it begins with Dembele starting against Girona.

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