Barca v Atletico Preview: The Rise of Ousmane Dembele??
I agree completely with the starting XI that YouTube channel creator and Barca fan TalkFCB has said, it's the same one I've been thinking about for a while for this match with Vidal in midfield too, Lenglet at CB so we don't rush Umtiti back and Dembele starting at LF for the not fully fit Coutinho.
Valverde
Dembele is gonna show up for this one and go off, in my opinion, if given the opportunity. I believe he could play slightly deeper and Barcelona could get the best out of him, especially if he would just move the ball quicker, which he can do. He can pass well when he focuses, he has kept possession ticking, he has displayed the ability to maintain high passing completion percentages and volumes of passing, he can play Barca futbol.
Watch him at his best with us and with Dortmund (and France too) and he's at his best when playing deep right or deep left, near the wing, basically as an advanced interior RCM or LCM. He needs freedom to move, to explode forward and his responsibility with that power must be to work his ass off for the team and not pass the ball directly to the opponent or dribble the ball into the opponents.
It's very bizarre, but it's the truth: If he can be more prudent, more focused on the ball, Dembele surely would be a contest for Atletico with this very odd choice of speed and masterclass technical ability exploding from midfield with long dribbling runs and if he's smart, Dembele should dish that ball inside and continue those runs. If he makes it passed Koke and Thomas flying with space in front of him and Godin and Savic backing off for dear life, we WILL be scoring goals (just look at the Madrid match seconds after coming on, he altered the way Barcelona attacked and suddenly, at a man, Real Madrid's pants were stained in the brown embers of their own shit.
Vidal and Arthur should protect Dembele and keep him whole, even if he loses the ball a few times whilst attacking, we've got to have him out there and he's got to be focused and dominant and ready to get on the ball and massage those passes.
Dembele must then drop deeper when we are without the ball and get into the left center or right center (I highly believe he should be interchanging from wing to wing during the matches and moving around more in general!) and help the team, or keep width and shut down Thomas Lemar's crossing or Koke's penetrative passes. I wanna see Ousmane get a yellow card taking out an on-rushing Koke, some happening where he shows his true devotion to the team, at a primitive, universal level that transcends all languages, body or spoken.
He will most likely be under vast amounts of pressure, hopefully not from within his own dressing room, but the fact is: we just watched this man brutally, awesomely ignore the stupid and manipulatively psychotic Spanish journalists who had been savaging his young name in the media, throughout the world, damnit, yet he pulled an Mbappe and walked on through the crowd with his headphones on, a wry smile hidden and blank stare.
Ousmane was reportedly and photographically proven to be all smiles (and early and staying late) at Barcelona training, so to hell with you lecherous, disgusting Spanish media. Even Ernesto Valverde knows this is insane, with ESPNFC's Sam Marsden reporting that Valverde said in an Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona pre-match press conference: "We are here to help him be at his best, I know they (the media) are talking about him excessively at the moment. He is a player with something difficult to find. He has an innate talent- technically and physically- so we expect the best from him. Of course he's under pressure, but we all are."
Thomas Lemar could be looking to show up and show us we were wrong for turning off our interest of him so quickly the Summer of the World Cup last year, yet he may not start for Diego Simeone.. He IS definitely the wild card of the match, Lemar, with his unreal set piece deliveries potentially going to crucify our lackluster defense. We absolutely MUST defend set pieces well...
if Lemar isn't putting in great ball after fantastic ball, it's going to be Griezmann doing the absolute same thing. Griezmann's dead ball endeavors won France the World Cup (2 assists from corners and free kicks, created an own goal from a free kick in the final, scored 3 penalties and hitting the post with a free kick against Argentina, as well). Saul Niguez is a very talented player, I can't quite put my finger on him, but he's something special, definitely and he can torch us if given space and time to aim in close proximity and with Ter Stegen in a bad position thanks to something happening before him that he had to shut down with a leg or a scrambling palm or punch away..
The back four for Barelona is so sloppy lately, perhaps the international break has refreshed them all, with none of Pique, Semedo, Lenglet, Umtiti being selected for international duty. Surely, they've got no excuses for poor performance anymore, or bad fitness. We cannot just push Umtiti into the bottom of a well by having him come on against Atletico for 90 minutes, his first match in 3 1/2 months...it's madness...but it is Valverde and we know it:
To start Umtiti would be an absolutely maniacal decision, yet a typical Valverde theme.
But why the hell would we want to play it safely against a team with an aging, injured and scattered defense (both teams have this in places at the moment on form), with Messi scoring nearly every time he plays against Atletico? Thomas Partey is a very great player, he's got such athleticism and if we play with rigidity and at a slower pace with no third forward, we will be playing right into their hands, with their lack of pace in the defensive areas (Hernandez makes up for some of that) waiting to be exposed by a top level club.
As for Semedo over Roberto, Roberto needs a breather, plus this isn't a good matchup for him at right back whatsoever. Semedo needs to be our definitive right back from henceforth, with Roberto starting more in midfield. However, this is the perfect match for Arturo Vidal: this is the match we bought him for.
The violent, volatile Chilean displays awesome offensive firepower, too. This is no offense to Sergi Roberto, these matches, with a squad as deep and as good as ours, are about matchups.
As for Messi, we will see him do what he DOES....he will score or get a huge assist. He will press, he will work for the team, he will get fouled, dribble through the teeth of the lion's den in that Atletico midfield full of shark's teeth flying at your heels in Thomas, Koke, or Saul. We will watch as Messi duels with the keeper, Jan Oblak of Atletico Madrid, the Slovenian baron who is one of the best goalkeepers on the planet. Messi will take his shots...he will play through balls if the runners are there, and against Atletico, Barcelona better have movement. Messi should dominate in every facet, no matter the score, but it will be fascinating to see if this Barcelona XI can play as they have (against Madrid, Inter etc.) collectively without him...thanks to that weird arm injury layoff for the greatest player of all time.
This match, many have said, will be a brutal slogging affair...it doesn't have to be...yet, if we let Atletico create that outcome by starting that safe XI of Valverde's we've seen against Real Madrid with Rafinha at right forward, then we are going to lose this match 1-0, or grind out a 1-1. We cannot settle for that.
Barcelona should beat Atletico 3-1 with two later goals from Messi and Vidal, both supplied by Ousmane Dembele. The first goal will be a bizarre 34th or 37th minute instigation off of a Semedo shot that is rebounded back to Suarez, who then squares it to a wide open Messi to poke home. Atletico will respond with a header from Saul off of a Lemar corner in the 52nd. Then, Dembele takes over and gets going in the 2nd half and creates a litany of chances, combining well and seizing the moment in Coutinho's absence. We could just as easily see him play only a minor role, or no part at all thanks to Valverde's mismanagement....OR:
If he doesn't, and he plays horrible and cheaply gives it away, I will be the first to admit that.
I want this kid to rise up, like he did in the face of criticism against Chelsea with his rocket finish effectively clinching the match, or how he has saved our asses in 9 or 10 matches so far in his still early Barcelona career (especially when considering how little he has played thanks to Valverde).
Could this be the moment?
This would be Ousmane Dembele's first ever match against Atletico Madrid. He was injured for the first contest last year, then benched completely when healthy, for the second one in Spring last season.
Thanks to Coutinho's lack of fitness, Valverde has no choice but to do the right thing.
Will we get a moment from him?
I bet we'll get Messi and the lads going off, getting the victory in a comprehensive team performance, with Ousmane being a good part of it.
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