With Philippe Coutinho or without him, this Barça aims to the 4-3-3

The FC Barcelona has won this Sunday the Supercopa of Spain after tracing back to the Seville (2-1), starting the season 2018-19 with a title that escaped him does a year. It was the first final of the course and the Catalans have known it play with a lot of tarpaulin in spite of the fault of rhythm of the first parties, and besides with a new system that is them very known.

The escape of Neymar and the injury of Ousmane Dembélé, added to the absence of Philippe Coutinho and the presence of Andrés Iniesta, forced to Ernesto Valverde to bet by a 4-4-2 after his landing in the bench, that finish being key so that the team will raise of the defeat against the Real Madrid, armoured on the terrain of game and turned into a fortress backwards with an offensive something more limited but equally lethal, since Leo Messi multiplied to direct the attack.

Although the French recovered and the carioca arrived in January, the technician did not vary a very flexible drawing, in which they accumulated effective to look for goal and replegaba with four midfield players to help to the defence. In this campaign can be distinct, since, among others factors, the signings have contributed new solutions that allow infinity of variants and solutions in function of the clashes.

To start with, it seemed that the 4-3-3 had gone back by requirements of the pre-season, although all aims to that it has done it to remain . In spite of recovering to two references like the own Messi and Luis Suárez, the Txingurri has kept it in the Supercopa, in which it has left to the Uruguayan in the half, to the free Argentinian and to a Dembélé more consolidated put to bed to the left, what has translated in the best performance of the Frenchman since it arrived.

With Arthur and Rafinha by in front of Sergio Busquets in the eleven headline, the key proof has been the entrance of Coutinho, that could have caused some tactical variation but has not done it, because it has planted like interior. The one of River will be this year, with more need that never, the heir of Iniesta in the alignment, neither of far a substitute but equally a crack with his own virtues.

Valverde Could armour to the Barça with a 4-4-2 in Champions

With the presence of some extremes, forwards of several types and midfield players with characteristics for all the tastes, the 4-3-3 of the Barça can go back to consolidate , but it will be necessary to see what occur when it confront to rivals of elite. Without spirit to despise to the Seville, the clearest example appears when thinking in the Champions, in which they can give visits to Turín, Munich, Madrid or Paris, stages in which a good attack can be decisive but a good defence can mark differences.

Then, it opens a disyuntiva in the planning, and is if Valverde will bet by a trivote with Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal -with variants like Sergi Roberto- or will recover the 4-4-2 to sustain with more guarantees to the forward. It will depend also of the efforts that players like Dembélé or Malcom can do to help to the defenders, and this decision ire defining to measure that mature the strategies barcelonistas. The future is, in any case, very promising.