Barcelona: Philippe Coutinho and Jordi Alba connection is starting to flourish

The two players have formed a strong understanding down Barcelona’s left flank.

Philippe Coutinho was signed by Barcelona with the intention to replace Andres Iniesta in central midfield, but that role limited his attacking input while also destabilising the team as he struggled to adjust to the defensive positional responsibilities. Therefore, Ernesto Valverde opted to shift him further forwards as part of the front three which is similar to last season when he often played as the right midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation so he had plenty of attacking freedom.

Jordi Alba thrives as an attacking left-back with his surging forward runs a big part of Barcelona’s attacking play. Lionel Messi often uses him to break down stubborn defensive shapes because he can cut back from the byline. Having a winger play ahead of him often limits his involvement because they end up occupying the same area. This could be seen in Neymar’s time at the club as well as when Ousmane Dembele plays on the left-wing.

The 29-year-old already has seven assists and two goals to his name, which highlights how effective he has been in the final third. In comparison, Coutinho has five goals and three assists and he hasn’t been playing poorly by any means, so Alba is a pivotal attacking weapon. He knows which runs to make as well as being patient in waiting for the right opening when he gets into the dangerous areas.

Coutinho likes to drift into central attacking areas and combine with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez while the Argentine wizard’s absence has seen him take more responsibility. The first goal against Real Madrid was an example of this because Alba was able to get behind the defence, after a lovely lofted ball from Ivan Rakitic, and he aimed his cut back to Coutinho who fired home, whereas, that would usually be Messi in that area.

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Against Tottenham, in the Champions League, Messi played a defence-splitting ball through to Alba who passed across to Coutinho, after Hugo Lloris had scrambled out of his net, and he fired home. This could represent an evolution of the Messi-Alba connection because it allows the Argentine to play deeper with Coutinho being the player on the end of the move rather than Messi while Luis Suarez occupies the centre-backs. Coutinho essentially makes a diagonal run into space usually vacated for Messi. The third goal against Spurs is a classic example of the telepathic Messi-Alba connection.

Having Coutinho as part of the front three works well because of how he can combine and maintain possession in tight spaces as well as having the intelligence to occupy the right areas and rotate depending on the actions of the other forwards. For Barcelona’s second against Internazionale, he even moved out wide on to the touchline so Alba came inside and made an intelligent run into the half space which Rakitic was able to play into for the left-back to fire home.

Rakitic has effectively taken over Messi’s role in instigating these passages of play often against high defensive lines as shown in the first goal against Rayo Vallecano which saw Suarez finish off the move rather than Coutinho.

Dembele is the big loser from Coutinho playing further forwards because there is no place in the team for him once Messi returns from injury and he has only being used as a substitute in his absence, although he did score the equaliser against Rayo Vallecano which proved to be crucial. It’s likely that he will have to feature as an impact substitute unless Valverde opts for a bold, out of character move in playing Messi as a ‘false 9’ and dropping Suarez to the bench.

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Coutinho and Alba are the ideal combination for the left flank due to complementing each other well within Barcelona’s attacking shape and a promising partnership is starting to flourish. This is a good sign for the rest of the season because chemistry in the final third is key in the big games such as the Champions League knockout ties in order to reduce the reliance on Messi.