How Barcelona have changed under Quique Setien

Quique Setien‘s Barcelona secured a close win (1-0) over Granada over the weekend to become the leaders of La Liga once again over rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona’s new era under Setien has already seen some major improvements in terms of playing according to the Blaugrana philosophy of total football that was made famous by Johan Cruyff.

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There are major positive differences between the current squad and the squad that lost against Atletico Madrid under former manager, Ernesto Valverde.

First, we could not see Frenkie de Jong join the midfield trio after his red card against Espanyol. This brought some interesting changes to the midfield which could help us understand what the future holds for the middle of the park at Camp Nou.

Arturo Vidal got his rare start under the new coach and played a key part in the victory, setting up Lionel Messi for the only goal of the game. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if the Chilean would continue struggling for minutes after De Jong’s return along with Arthuro Melo’s full recovery.

Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets were also among the starters with the former being replaced in the 71st minute by the much-awaited youngster, Rique Puig.

The La Masia graduate is ready for the senior squad with both manager and Busquets praising the 20-year-old after starting the movement that led to the Messi goal. The coach said he has a good reading of the game while his fellow teammate, Busquets, said he has immense quality and can provide a lot to the club. The youngster recently claimed that the coach asked him to be more be “daring, not to lose possession and to press high.”

Speaking of Busquets, the Spaniard after heavy criticism under Valverde, showed once again why he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. He shined against Granada, completing 142 of 157 passed, which was more than the entire passes made by the opposition (130).

If the 31-year-old managed to pass more than Granada’s whole team, then you guessed it right, Barca were dominant and confident on the ball with 82.6% possession. This shows that the club are slowly moving to their roots that made them such a heavy ball controlling team.

In order to maintain the possession, the squad needs to press the opposition heavily in order to regain the lost ball. The effectiveness of this can be seen when Riqui Puig regained possession after stealing the ball off Antonio Puertas which led to the quick passing to secure the only goal of the game. Pressing is not only a defensive tactic but also helps break the opposition’s momentum to help offensively.

The Barca defense saw the likes of Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti, along with the two full-backs, anticipate the opposition’s attack fluidly. A rare sighting as the defense is known to conceded regular goals under Valverde, but under Setien, the defense only managed to give Granada one shot on target.

Another Change is the flexible formation with frequent but comfortable changes between the 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 during the match that was never achieved under the former manager. Setien’s eleven despite the lack of a proper No. 9, due to the injury to Luis Suarez, managed to be flexible with the formation and use what made sense at the time. This saw the two full-backs, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto, push further up the wing during a Barca attack to prove support and crosses when possible.

Barca are surely moving towards a brighter future under the new manager and the fans are hoping for a sensational performance from the squad for the remainder of the season.

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