At Barça of the four midfielders, the fourth is Frankie Young. He is the one who had the most uncertain tenure in the summer and is the fourth in minutes of the four components of the line. The fifth is Franck Kessié. But today the Dutchman is an essential figure in the formula he has adopted Xavi Hernandez because it is the point that allows to close the quadrature of the team.
Barça has found thestability renouncing the figure of one of the two classic extremes, understood as a forward open on the wing who attracts a defender and this serves to generate an interior space, to introduce a modern extreme, understood as a midfielder who tends to go inside and who gives his back to the entrance of the side.
Performance issue
This is the device that Xavi has adopted, who knows if definitively, for several reasons. The first, fundamental, is that of the good result it has given.
The trio formed by Raphinha, Lewandowski and Dembélé, the coach’s favourite, used in nine games, has only resulted in three victories. The last one, in Girona, came after Dembélé was injured and Pedri entered, who was the fourth in Montilivi, exceptionally, so he could rest. Pedri came out, teamed up with Gavi, Frenkie and Busquets and Barça was transformed.
Dembélé’s absence creates a vacancy that, under normal conditions, would be occupied by a natural striker: Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres are the contenders after the departure of Memphis Depay. Neither of them has been productive since their personal contribution to the overall benefit. Ansu has scored three goals in the League and Ferran, only two. The same as De Jong.
Pedri i Gavi, in the band
Pedri, on the other hand, already has five. He was the first quarterback viewed only from the point of view of having been the first to be moved to the left wing, which is the figure suppressed. The right is Dembélé, during his absence it will be Raphinha, and the center forward is Robert Lewandowski. He then moved on to the Gavi band. De Jong plays inside in attack and as a midfielder in defense.
Xavi has brought the four midfielders together six times at the start and Barça has won five times: at Athletic, Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atlético and Betis. Prestige rivals. The defeat came against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, which is also.
Barça feels “comfortable”
Xavi affirms that the team is “comfortable» with any system, but recognizes that bringing together Busquets, De Jong, Pedri and Gavi, “the players who lose the fewest balls, the neatest in the pass”, allows, for example, that Barça suffer fewer counter-attacks and fewer dangerous situations in Ter Stegen’s area, the goalkeeper with the fewest goals in the League.
The German goalkeeper has only conceded 7 goals in 19 games (0.36 per game), which contrasts with 18 goals in 11 games (1.6 per game) in the qualifiers, between Champions, Super Cup and Cup. An unusual difference for which Xavi sees few explanations. One is “the lack of concentration at certain times”. Another lies in the “key” absence of Koundé and Araujo, who only played the first two European games and were injured. “But it’s no excuse”, added Xavi.
Results and confidence
The argument for grouping the four midfielders is that the team is more compact and confident because the results have improved and, consequently, confidence has increased. “Winning the Super Cup has made us see that we can fight for the titles”, said Xavi, who has reinstated Frenkie de Jong.
“Frenkie has the potential to do whatever he wants. He has all the conditions that a Barça midfielder must fulfill»
The Dutchman went from transferable in the summer – he started in one of the four games before the market – to essential from the autumn. In his fourth season he has played in 70.6% of the games. It has always been above 82%. When he was the star signing of 2019 (he cost 75 million plus 1 in Ajax variables), he played in 94% of the games and was the leader in minutes.
“Frenkie has the potential to do whatever he wants. He has all the conditions that a Barça midfielder must meet”, assured Xavi, who has regained his faith in De Jong when he joins Busquets, Gavi and Pedri.