Barcelona blow hot and cold in win over Celta Vigo

BARCA BLOW HOT AND COLD

This was initially perhaps the most ‘pure’ 4-3-3 system fielded by Barca so far this season, with Messi cutting inside from his starting position on the right wing, Luis Suarez rampaging through the middle and Dembele offering good width down the left, while Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba motored up and down the flanks and the central midfield trio of Arturo Vidal, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic provided control in the middle.

It was a nice-looking set-up, demonstrating a solid balance between attack and defence and a good variation of attacking options on both sides of the pitch and through the middle. But the performance dipped badly in the second half, with Celta looking far more comfortable as Barca lost all their fluency.

Valverde reacted by changing to a 4-4-2 formation, bringing on Arthur and Philippe Coutinho to provide more control in midfield but that failed to materialise and there was always a sense that Celta could have really mounted a dangerous comeback if key striker Iago Aspas hadn’t limped off through injury.

‘MSD’ STILL STRUGGLING TO CONNECT

Arguably the most spectacular performance delivered by the ‘MSN’ front line of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar came against Celta Vigo three years ago, in a game made famous for the ‘penalty assist’ between Messi and Suarez which resulted in a 6-1 victory with all three members of the forward line getting on the scoresheet.

So it was appropriate that Celta were again the opposition for a game which showed perhaps more than any other just how promising the new forward line of Messi, Suarez and Dembele – but also just how much they are struggling to seriously connect on a consistent basis.

The first half was excellent, with Dembele justifying his ongoing status as a starter ahead of Philippe Coutinho by capping a bright 45 minutes with the opening goal – his third in the last four games. But the French winger was an almost invisible presence after his team’s fortunes turned after the break, having very little involvement before manager Ernesto Valverde decided to replace him with Coutinho midway through the second half.

But Coutinho did little to suggest he is ready to challenge for a starting spot as his dip in form continued, and Celta took advantage of the lack of pace in Barca’s forward line following the removal of Dembele by pushing high up the pitch and leaving plenty of space behind them, knowing that there was little danger of anyone beating them for speed.

So the game perhaps ended up posing more questions than it gave answers, with little clarity over the strongest attacking line-up available to Valverde.

ANOTHER CLEAN SHEET SHOWS STRONG FOUNDATIONS

At the other end of the pitch, though, there was a positive achievement as Barca kept a clean sheet for the fourth consecutive league game, also succeeding in limiting a dangerous Celta to very few shots on goal – although the loss of key man Aspas through injury certainly helped in that respect.

Barca’s success in La Liga last season was built on solid defensive foundations, with just 29 goals conceded in 38 games and nearly a third of those being shipped in the final four games when the title was already wrapped up.

The start of this season was a different matter, with a run of 11 consecutive league games without a single clean sheet preceding the current run between September and late November. But now a corner appears to have been turned, with Gerard Pique in particular looking far more authoritative and his partnership with Clement Lenglet developing all the time, while Vidal has added more steel since being added to the midfield.

So although the team’s attacking play does not always hit the heights, with the improvement they have effected in defence perhaps that won’t really matter – as, indeed, it did not in this game.