Barcelona’s Miralem Pjanic irked by lack of playing time
Barcelona midfielder unhappy about lack of playing time.
Miralem Pjanic was one of Barcelona’s high-profile signings ahead of this season. He was involved in a swap that saw him join the Catalan side with Brazilian midfielder, Arthur, heading the other way to Juventus.
Pjanic said all the right things about this being a dream move. But things have not gone as expected as he has not featured as prominently as he would have envisioned.
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Wit the clash against Juventus coming up, he was asked why he has not played more often.
"“Honestly, I don’t understand either why I’m in this situation. It’s clear that I want to play more. I know I can contribute a lot, and when the manager has played me I’ve always done it well, played good games. Other than that I don’t know what else to do. I train, I’m ready.”Source: Sport"
He is not the first player to complain about a lack of playing time.
Under Ernesto Valverde, the likes of Arturo Vidal publicly vented about his frustrations over not playing more. On that occasion, it appeared to work as he began to play more after that.
Given Barcelona’s poor play from midfield this season, the Bosnian may have a point. Barcelona have looked better with him on the side partnering Frenkie de Jong. Yet he’s only started once in La Liga as opposed to five in the Champions League.
Barcelona have a perfect record in the European competition whereas they currently sit ninth in the league.
It has not helped that manager Ronald Koeman has gone away from the club’s traditional 4-3-3 system. With the new 4-2-3-1, the Dutchman has opted for using a double pivot with De Jong and Sergio Busquets occupying those roles.
This means Barcelona play with one less midfielder than before. When the deal to sign Pjanic was announced, they were still using their former system. One can argue about whether or not the new system is working but it’s left a number of the team’s midfielders on the outside looking in. It’s not only been Pjanic but the likes of Riqui Puig and Carles Aleña as well.
Next. Barcelona lose Ousmane Dembele to another hamstring injury. dark
Since their next game is in the Champions League, expect Pjanic to start. With poor performances in the league, perhaps it is time for Koeman to start practicing what he preached during his press conference when he was unveiled as manager. It is time to start basing the line-ups based on meritocracy instead of on the names on the back of the jerseys.