After 35 minutes at the Benito Villamarin, Ernesto Valverde should have already lost his job. The Spanish coach has been hanging on for dear life after Barcelona choked away a three-goal lead against Liverpool. But Saturday against Valencia, Barca were down 2-0 after 35 minutes because of a manager that never learned his players’ strengths.
Ernesto Valverde Has Cost Himself at Barcelona
It’s not like it’s hard to see why Ernesto Valverde has to go. His selection and tactics are considered the main reasons why Barcelona have been knocked out of back-to-back Champions Leagues in spectacular fashion. After all of that, losing the Copa Del Rey final against Valencia is beyond inexcusable.
Any coach who hadn’t won back-to-back league titles would have already been sacked. The fact of the matter is; and this is crazy talk, but at Barcelona, winning La Liga is not enough. As the manager at Barcelona, you can’t keep your job by winning the league alone. But you have to do it with a style that suits both your players and the fans, something Ernesto Valverde has been incapable of.
Valverde’s Work
When he took over this was a Barcelona side in a crisis. The team had struggled, finishing second to Real Madrid in the league, and had just lost Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain. It was a team that was allowing a ton of space at the back and were beaten routinely by the lack of numbers back in transition.
So Valverde set about fixing that. The combination of injury to Ousmane Dembele and acquisition of Paulinho allowed him to settle on a flat 4-4-2. He had two banks of four to defend, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez up top to do the attacking. It sure up Barcelona’s defensive issues, but in a passive way.
His team was more secure at the back because they had more numbers back, rather than new ways of handling situations. They hadn’t become a better-structured team. Instead, they were just a side with more bodies between the ball and the goal. These are not the type of players to play behind the ball like that.
Players like Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba or Sergi Roberto have all spent to their careers learning to defend with the ball. What Barcelona teaches above all else is that possession is another form of defence. Valverde, to his own fault, tried to build a team that could withstand defensive pressure, and he failed.
This Season’s Team
No matter who the coach is, no matter who the players are Barcelona has a style of play that everyone has to keep in mind. To that end, Barcelona will always have to be an attacking team. Whether Valverde wanted it or not, Barcelona started the season back in their familiar 4-3-3 formation.
To his credit he let the reins go to start the season. But as the season has gone on he has slowly pulled the reins tighter, to both good and bad effects. It worked well in games away at Manchester United, Lyon and Real Madrid during the second half of the season. But when faced up against the best competition of the season they came up short.
Before the tie against Liverpool started, most fans would’ve agreed that Liverpool is the better side. Even after Barcelona beat Liverpool 3-0 at home, it still felt like Liverpool were the better side in that game. So when Barcelona turned up at Anfield with the plan to soak up pressure, it was suicide.
Liverpool created most of the chances in the first leg. So planning to allow them more chances, at home at Anfield, was incredibly idiotic; there is no other way to say it. Why would you ask so many world-class attacking players to go away from home and defend? Do you not understand that a single goal completely kills the tie? If anyone has to ask these questions of the Barcelona coach then he probably shouldn’t get to keep his job.
The Copa Del Rey
And all of that comes before we get too awful loss to Valencia in the Copa Del Rey. With Valverde starting with Sergi Roberto, Nelson Semedo, Arthur and Philippe Coutinho, Valverde hamstrung the side from the start. There was no focal point for Lionel Messi to play off of, Suarez was injured and Malcom was left on the bench.
But that wasn’t his worst mistake, play Messi as a false-nine was another case of him not knowing his players. In 2019 at age 31, Messi needs a reference point in attack to move off or play the ball to. With Luis Suarez & Ousmane Dembele out injured this was a great chance to see what Malcom is made of.
They eventually did get to see what Malcom was made of after he was brought on for Semedo to start halftime. Immediately his impact could be felt, he was more decisive and quick thinking, allowing Barca some opportunities to break Valencia down. One particular play saw him back into his defender, receive the ball from Leo, and play it back perfectly into Messi’s path, who hit the post.
The problem is, that play does more to illustrate why Ernesto Valverde should leave Barcelona. A team looking to make the transition to a younger core of players cannot have a manager so beholden to the idea of experience. Valverde has taken the cautious option at every turn, in every decision he has made, why would play quality if risky young players.
Those Young Players
But as we all know, those young players are only going to improve by playing. Barcelona can’t have a manager too afraid too play the players who need to play. He can’t choose an awful Philippe Coutinho over Malcom, and after the season Ivan Rakitic has had, to still start him over Carles Alena is criminal.
If Valverde stays, as he currently is, what is going to happen next year. Frenkie De Jong is going to need minutes, so will Ricki Puig and Jean-Clair Todibo. Will Valverde have it in him to bench trusted veterans so that risky young players can get the minutes they need? It’s hard to look at two years of him as Barcelona coach and expect that to be so.
That in itself could be more damaging than any of Valverde’s eight total losses in two years. This is a crucial time for Barcelona and its players. The key members of Pep Guardiola’s great teams are gone or in their 30s. Barcelona started seven players aged 30 or higher against Liverpool. The young players they have need to get reps in big-time moments.
In The End
These should be plenty of reasons for Barcelona to change coaches. It takes this many negative reasons to fire a coach that has won two La Liga titles in two seasons at Barcelona. It’s still crazy that this has even gotten to this point. However, as it was laid out above there is just too large a case against keeping him.
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