Quique Setien newly appointed as Barca’s head coach recently lost his first game as Barca’s Manager against Valencia. Setien’s won his first two matches against Granada and UD Ibiza but his team performance was not convincing
Barcelona attempted a total pass of 867 compared to Valencia’s 297 and took a total shot of 14 compared to Valencia’s 8 but that wasn’t enough to atleast savage a point for them.
What really went wrong?
The key problem is that Barcelona are not making the most of possession and pass the ball around aimlessly. Then there are the defensive problems. The side keeps giving the ball away in key positions, which leads to penalties and expose them to counter attacks. Another issue is that many of Setien’s changes have simply not worked. The decision to start Samuel Umtiti instead of Clement Lenglet essentially cost the Blaugrana the match at Mestalla, and it is now obvious why the latter was the preferred choice of Ernesto Valverde. The inclusion of Sergi Roberto at centre-back is shoddy by Barcelona’s standards, it is really hard to believe that this could be the best they have to offer. He was never a great defender and he is player that loves pushing forward so playing as a centre-back limits his abilities. For all of these changes to work, Setien will need to be given time.
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