Dembele beginning to adapt to Barca style and more things learned after Malaga success

Andy West 08:24 11/03/2018
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  • Ousmane Dembele is starting to have more of an impact.

    Barcelona tightened their grip at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win at bottom club Malaga, who played for an hour with 10 men.

    Even without star man Lionel Messi, who was with his wife following the birth of their third son, Barcelona had too much for the hosts.

    Luis Suarez headed in a fine opener after 15 minutes before Philippe Coutinho added a second with a neat flick and Malaga midfielder Samuel Garcia saw red following a rash tackle from behind on Jordi Alba.

    The comfortable victory leaves Barca 11 points clear of Atletico Madrid, who host Celta Vigo on Sunday.

    Here we look at three things learned from La Rosaleda…

    BARCELONA KEEP IT SIMPLE

    The absence of Messi – who pulled out on the day of the game to attend the birth of his third son, Ciro – barely mattered to Barca as they cruised to victory against a desperately weak Malaga team.

    Once Suarez broke the deadlock thanks to a sublime assist from Jordi Alba, swiftly followed by a smartly taken second from Coutinho, the result was never in doubt – especially when Samu then got himself sent off for a brutal challenge on Alba – and the league leaders were able to step down a couple of gears and ease through the remainder of the game without a care in the world.

    If anything, in fact, it was too easy for Barca against the well-beaten ten men in the second-half, with elements of sloppiness and laziness creeping into their play towards the end. But as a warm-up for Wednesday’s Champions League meeting with Chelsea this could not have been a more comfortable outing, and manager Ernesto Valverde can be highly satisfied with a job well done.

    OUSMANE DEMBELE SLOWLY SETTLING

    Slowly but surely, summer signing Ousmane Dembele is adapting to the demands of playing in this Barca team, which is in many ways highly unsuited to his natural style of play.

    Whereas the team’s general approach is rapid passing with no more than two touches on the ball per player, Dembele much prefers to get plenty of contact with the ball and take on opposition defenders one on one.

    This slows down the team’s passing rhythm but also provides a different kind of attacking approach through Dembele’s more directly penetrative style, and that kind of variety could prove invaluable over the next few weeks against deep-lying opponents who back themselves to prevent Barca from passing their way through to goal.

    Dembele was especially bright in the first-half, creating the second goal for Coutinho and frequently looking dangerous around the edge of the box, and he could yet prove to be a very useful option for Valverde in the remaining weeks of the season.

    MALAGA DOWN AND OUT

    Malaga aren’t bottom of the table by accident, and in this outing they showed exactly why they have only won three games all season – and none at all since early December. The Andalusian team offered no real resistance, looking entirely resigned to their fate – which, barring a miracle, will be relegation.

    The only time they did show some fight, it was done so in an unacceptable manner as midfielder Samu launched a horrible studs-up assault on Jordi Alba, giving referee Juan Martinez no choice but to issue a straight red card.

    But on the whole the only Malaga player who showed a willingness to take the battle to Barcelona was striker Diego Rolan, with the rest of the team pretty much going through the motions and not even making the visitors’ life difficult.

    Malaga are now 11 points away from safety and, even with ten games still remaining, the chances of them salvaging their season look extremely remote. Relegation lies in wait.

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