Lliga | Round 17: FC Barcelona - Celta 2-0

Last match before the winter break. :snow:

Probable lineup from EV

Mats---Bob, Pique, Lenglet, Alba---Vidal, Busi, Rakitic---Messi, Suarez, Dembele

We struggled a bit with Cela in recent years but to sign of 2018 with a win is a logical must.

Celta is usually a difficult opponent and they play some exciting and positive football. I don't think that it will be any different on Saturday. It's hard to dislike them. Aspas or no Aspas. Looking forward to watching Brais Méndez as well.

I would like to see Coutinho play in the midfield for once for a change. Coutinho has only played 215 (!) minutes as a "interior" ever since he arrived. Almost a year has passed. Why not use him in the midfield alongside Busquets and Vidal? Later for Arthur to replace Vidal after 60 minutes or just after the break. Rakitic could do with some rest (as usual). Or replace Rakitic with Busquets who could do well with some additional rest as well. Or use Coutinho alongside Arthur and Vidal. The latter is unlikely to occur given the opponent and Valverde being Valverde. However I see no reason why such options could not be used more often.

Valverde and the club should solve the "Coutinho dillema". One of the ways to do that is to actually try to play him in the supposed position (interior and as the replacement of Iniesta) that he was bought for. At least for longer than just freaking 215 minutes.

The reason is simple - he is not an interior.

defyqa said:

The reason is simple - he is not an interior.

Click to expand...

I never claimed that he is. Take a look at this post of mine in this thread below and the subsequent posts that I wrote in the Coutinho thread.

http://www.barcaforum.com/showthread.php/10600-7-Philippe-Coutinho?p=2002360&highlight=#post2002360

What I am saying is that this is what he was bought for according to Robert, the board and Valverde. That is if we take their claims at face value. I never agreed with him being the ideal Iniesta replacement. Rather the contrary.

However the point here is not whether I agree or not but that he has only played 215 (!) minutes as an interior since he was bought almost 1 year ago. That is basically nothing. Hence it would not hurt to try him out in this position more frequently and using some of the players that I mentioned alongside him. Because it should be painfully clear by now that his talents are wasted as a winger and that playing him in such a position tends to harm the team more than it helps it.

A player like Coutinho should be able to adopt and prove doubters like me wrong. As long as he barely plays as an interior we have no idea knowing whether he is capable of playing in that position long-term. We can only speculate. So why not give him a try and see if it will work? Logic should dictate that.

I'm super curious for this game. Celta has a new coach, a portuguese one. He made highlights kn portuguese football by playing a hard possession football unlike most portuguese managers who love to park the bus. He actually got 5th in the table. He went to Nantes but was highly unsucessgul since his players from the beggining hated his football. Last game btw he had 80% ball possession.
Dont expect him to change his way philosophy on saturday, he doesnt give a damn if he will suffer 7 goals. He will play by his principles no matter what

Both Sergei and Semedo are still injured so expect some 3atb experiment vs Celta which is not good..

Dembele at Right back and possible Rakitic 2nd half at CB ??

Are Roberto and Semedo fit for this game? Read somewhere that both are back in training now...

Reports say that Semedo should be ready for this game.

Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur, Dembele, Messi, Suarez.

According to Valverde, Semedo is good for tomorrow but Roberto and Malcom, not likely by the sounds of it.

Mats
Semedo Pique Lenglet Alba
Rakitic Busquets Vidal
Messi Suarez Dembele

Squad list.

Awesome. Hopefully Semedo can play tmmr.