Barcelona doing just enough under Ernesto Valverde

Barcelona got past Manchester United in their first leg of the Champions League but their performance has received mixed reviews.

Under Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona and their style of play has changed and their game against Manchester United was a prime example of that. While the Catalan side left Old Trafford with an away goal and a clean sheet, some were left dissatisfied with the performance.

It was nowhere near a vintage Barcelona performance as they struggled in those first twenty minutes before they got their goal. Even after taking the lead, Manchester United took the game to them as they looked for the equalizer. In fact, the narrative coming once the game was over was that the result wasn’t as bad for United since they are still alive in the competition.

On one hand, yes, Manchester United remain with a chance of progressing through but the only reason that is because Barcelona were poor and left United with a chance. Sloppy play, bad giveaways, and fouls provided United with the opportunities to get an equalizing. Former coach, Rene Muelensteen, called it “One of Barcelona’s poorest performance of the season” and yet came away with the victory.

This Barcelona team is not Pep Guardiola or Luis Enrique’s Barcelona. They’re no longer that possession, “tiki-taka,” side with the likes of Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Dani Alves, and David Villa. It’s a different side under Ernesto Valverde and one that draws both complaints and praise alike. Much of that at the direction of Valverde with criticisms that he’s not good enough and that he’s not utilizing certain players to their full potential. Some of that is valid but even against United, it was clear that he does know what he’s doing.

When Barcelona were getting overrun in the second-half, he took off Coutinho and Arthur for Sergi Roberto and Arturo Vidal to give them another man in midfield to regain control. That move worked out as Barcelona got more possession of the ball and, despite bringing on Martial and Lingard, stifle United in the final third. What we’ve seen since Valverde has taken over is that he’s risk-averse. The clamoring for the likes of Ousmane Dembele and Malcom wasn’t going to happen against United. Up by a goal, he was going to play a bit more conservative and look to hit them on the break. It almost worked too when Nelson Semedo slipped a ball to Luis Suarez and who’s shot hit the side netting.

For all the pining against Valverde and longing for Guardiola, the latter tried implementing a similar approach in their loss against Tottenham. The only difference is that Barcelona won.

Barcelona’s style has changed since Guardiola left not necessarily because those who came after “betrayed it” but because they had to. Iniesta and Xavi weren’t going to be around forever and when Neymar came aboard, it made sense to let that front three do what they do under Luis Enrique. Now with Valverde, Iniesta and Xavi are gone and Sergio Busquets is on his last legs. Last season, Valverde adopted this similar approach where he would play with Paulinho and use a 4-4-2 on the road in the Champions League. Up until the Roma debacle, that plan worked.

It’s futile at this point for people to complain about Valverde because no matter the complaining, he’s not going to change. He’s going to go with what he believes gives them the best chance to win. Barcelona are a fortress at home and one assumes that they should get through to the next round. Change is not always bad and sometimes needed and since Guardiola left, change, and Messi, has been the one constant for Barcelona.