La Liga: 4 takeaways from Quique Setien’s Barcelona debut against Granada

Quique Setien made his highly anticipated managerial debut for Barcelona with a victory over Granada. What did we learn about the new Barca manager in his first La Liga match?

The new era of Quique Setien as Barcelona manager began with a 1-0 home league win against Granada on Sunday.

The general feeling and atmosphere around the Camp Nou before the game was excitement for a new beginning. Barcelona fans longed for the sacking of Ernesto Valverde, so this fixture was like a breath of fresh air for the supporters.

The overall performance from the Blaugrana also hinted at it being a new era for the club. Setien lined up an array of new tweaks to the tactics and gameplan for his Barcelona debut. Some components of the tactical plan worked to near perfection while other aspects need polishing.

Taking into account how the game progressed – from 0-0 at halftime to a 1-0 win – there is much to learn and takeaway from Barcelona’s pivotal La Liga win.

New manager, new formation

When the starting 11 was announced an hour before the start of the game, the general perception was that Setien planned on going with the traditional 4-3-3 formation. He selected fullbacks Jordi Alba and Sergio Roberto for his starting lineup along with forward Antoine Griezmann. Many assumed that Griezmann — with Luis Suarez out due to injury — would finally return to his old striker role while Lionel Messi and Ansu Fati operate as the wingers alongside him.

However, to the surprise of the Barcelona supporters, this was not the case. Setien orchestrated his side under a hybrid 3-4-1-2 and 3-5-2 formation; the only significant difference of the two being the positioning of Sergio Busquets. This setup pitted Alba and Fati down the flanks in a wing-back type role while Messi and Griezmann patrolled play as the main two strikers.

The drastic change in formation was something new for Barcelona considering they were accustomed to playing under the methodical 4-3-3 setup with Valverde. But with the recent increase in training sessions over the week, Setien ensured that his side were surely going to be prepared and ready to play the three at the back system.

To an extent, Barcelona were more than prepared for their new tactical setup.

From a positioning standpoint, the players showed a fair understanding of where they needed to be on the pitch along with knowing just when to hover into another area. Setien needed his side to have the basic fundamentals of the three at the back formation or else his side would be all over the place in transitions and build-up sequences. But Barcelona showed immense organization in many of their build-up plays.

For instance, see here how Barcelona are distributing possession in the middle third. They are all positioned in their set areas for the hybrid 3-1-4-2 and 3-5-2 formation. Busquets is the lone player in his line as the central defensive midfielder but moved up here alongside the midfield four. Meanwhile, both Messi and Griezmann hover the space upfront. The one intriguing feature of Setien’s setup was the advanced positioning of Fati; he glided down the flanks and often configured the team’s formation into a 3-4-3 rather than the midfield bank of five.

Barcelona generated a number of favorable results in this setup. The team continued to use the width from Alba and Fati to stretch the opposing fullbacks by occupying advanced space down the flanks and also to navigate their way to the final third. Through their one-touch progressions, Barcelona excelled at finding open space and wound up constantly exploiting the availability of it. Messi and Griezmann also dropped deep from up front to provide quick passing outlets.

As shown here against Granda’s 4-4-2 out of possession formation, Barcelona ping their way from the middle to the final third with quick, one-touch passes. They succeed by dragging multiple Granada players out of their designated space on the pitch.

As noted, the addition of more training sessions over the past week surely paid off.

Pressing intensity reaches new heights

Pressing is one aspect of play Barcelona were adequate with under Valverde. They were not a side that couldn’t press, but rather one which could have used a few tweaks in their pressing approach.

In their very first game under Setien, Barcelona showed exactly how stout and viable they can be with increased intensity in pressing.

From the first minute, the Blaugrana made it clear they were going to go all out in attempting to win the ball back from anywhere on the pitch.

When Granada began to build from their own defensive third, the likes of Griezmann, Fati and Busquets were there tracking down the ball carrier. In sequences where Granada pushed into the middle third, Barca were cautious in their aggressive mentality of pressing and resorted to simple man-marking to close down passing lanes. The absence of Suarez and inclusion of youngster Fati made it possible for Barca to maintain an effective pressing system that continually worked to their favor.

The focus on high pressing often prevented Granada from stringing together passes. According to Understat, Barcelona finished with a season high 3.20 passes allowed per defensive action in the opposition half (PPDA). This translated over to Granada’s inability to create any offense, as they recorded just one shot on target and completed 63 percent of their passes for the game.

It takes high stamina and an unparalleled work rate to maintain a high pressing setup for the entirety of a fixture. But to Barcelona’s credit, they not only managed this feat but also relieved the pressure off of their struggling defensive line.

Sergio Busquets puts together a man of the match type showing 

The role of the central defensive midfielder in Setien’s 3-5-2 setup is vital to the entire tactical game plan. The player in this role must be keen on recycling possession and maintain a consistent presence on the defensive side of the ball. For Setien’s Real Betis teams, William Carvalho played this role and enjoyed great success.

In Setien’s first game with Barcelona, he assigned this role over to Sergio Busquets. To the enjoyment and delight of those in attendance, the Spanish midfielder did not disappoint at all.

Busquets was essentially the conductor for Barcelona. He sprayed possession all across the pitch and managed to find open teammates in between the lines. He maintained possession from deep in the team’s own defensive third up to the final third. On the defensive side of play, Busquets was the leading force in the midfield pressing approach thanks to his constant activity in closing down space for the ball carrier from anywhere on the pitch. More importantly, his ability to seamlessly be the link between the defensive trio to the attacking duo was a key reason for the team’s effortless quick build-up sequences.

The 31-year-old midfielder led the team with an exceptional 179 touches, 10 ground duels won and five tackles won. He certainly turned back the clock with this all-around complete midfield performance.

Riqui Puig shows how influential he can be on the pitch

Riqui Puig was the most talked about player coming into this fixture.

With Valverde out the door, fans were hoping for new manager Setien to finally integrate the youngster into the team and allow him to prove his worth to the club. With Puig on the bench for the Granada contest, it seemed inevitable he was going to receive his long-awaited opportunity.

Setien granted the fans their wish and as he has exhibited for Barcelona B, Puig wowed with his performance.

In the 71st minute, Puig subbed in for Rakitic and slotted into the left central midfield role with Alba to his left and Busquets over to the right. Twenty minutes was all Puig needed to exemplify why he deserves playing time with the first team.

He showed tremendous poise and confidence with his 41 touches and 36 passes completed. His composure on the ball to get off quick passes under pressure complemented the rest of the midfield extremely well. Balance on the ball and ability to veer his movement into another direction while moving also certainly impressed the coaching staff and fans.

Even in his short amount of time on the pitch, Puig made his presence felt in build-up play, as he racked up a 0.46 xGBuildup, which ranked third on the team. And, of course, his biggest contribution came on Messi’s goal, where the entire sequence began when Puig won back possession in Granada’s defensive third.

From individual performances to the team’s lively play on the ball, Setien must feel pleased with his debut match for the club.

His next, bigger test will come next weekend in an away contest against Valencia. Valverde’s biggest issues while with Barcelona stemmed on lethargic away performances and struggles to break down low blocks — two tests that Setien will need to sort out beginning next week.