{"id":1192508,"date":"2021-02-24T20:16:05","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T20:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1192508"},"modified":"2021-02-24T20:26:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T20:26:44","slug":"barcelona-3-0-elche-match-analysis-messi-de-jong-braithwaite-koeman","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/barcelona-3-0-elche-match-analysis-messi-de-jong-braithwaite-koeman\/","title":{"rendered":"“The ultimate enabler” – Brilliant Braithwaite shows the value of a no. 9 as Messi bags brace in breezy Barcelona win"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an interesting night of football, Barcelona beat Elche 3-0 at the Camp Nou to move up to third in La Liga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The game itself was half-awful and half-interesting, with a curiously definitive performance from Martin Braithwaite.<\/p>\n

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The first half, with Braithwaite playing wide on the left, was absolutely abysmal. Now, it wasn’t abysmal because<\/em> Braithwaite was wide left, but that was definitely a factor in the poor performance. This is not a criticism of him; Braithwaite is just not a winger.<\/p>\n

The thing is, with Ansu Fati still injured Barcelona don’t have a left-wing option that looks a genuine goal threat (Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 is a creator not a scorer, Francisco Trincao can only really play on the right and the less said about Antoine Griezmann, the better).<\/p>\n

Playing Leo Messi in 2021 means you have to play him in the middle. Putting him out wide doesn’t work as it unbalances the team too much in defensive transition. But false nine only works when the midfield is dominant and the wingers are genuine goal threats. As Barcelona saw against PSG and Cadiz, Griezmann and Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 cannot offer that threat, missing chances that could have won Barca those games.<\/p>\n

Back to tonight, and Barcelona were dysfunctional playing 4-3-3. At half-time it was 0-0 for Ronald Koeman made a proactive switch, removing the awful Miralem Pjanic for Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 and switching to a 4-2-3-1.<\/p>\n

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Instantly, Barcelona improved. They didn’t necessarily move the ball around midfield more fluently (4-2-3-1 is often a hindrance to that) but they were just as solid with the ball but suddenly, their attacks carried more menace as Martin Braithwaite was now leading the line.<\/p>\n

The Dane is not a world-class player, but he is a relentless worker with athletic ability and more importantly: he knows how to play no. 9. He’s always known how to play the role, but since Ronald Koeman took over he brought the legendary Henrik Larsson onto his coaching staff, he’s been getting extra attention and some immense mentoring in the art of being a no. 9.<\/p>\n

And today, when put up-front, Braithwaite showed his skills and why there’s a case to be made for 4-2-3-1 being the Blaugrana’s go-to formation for the rest of this season. At least in the crunch games until Ansu Fati returns.<\/p>\n

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18 ?? https:\/\/t.co\/tQdx2h2e2W<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) February 24, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n