A winning change

Barça beat Villareal at the Camp Nou with a team made up of seven players who conceded the humiliating defeat at Lisbon.

There was an obligatory change, that of goalkeeper Neto for the injured Ter Stegen, and three foreseeable after the preseason games: Semedo, Arturo Vidal and Luis Suárez were replaced by Coutinho, Griezmann and Ansu Fati - the last two came from the bench in Portugal-.

There was not a single signing in the Barcelona line-up.

The novelty is in the footballers who have left the club and caused the substitutes to become starters, none as decisive as Ansu Fati, the protagonist of the match in the absence of Luis Suárez.

The Uruguayan's pass to Atlético seems as interesting for Simeone's team as it is for Koeman's.

The different parties involved have won, because Suárez has reinforced the rojiblanco game and at the same time has stopped conditioning Barça football and allows a decisive variation for Koeman.

Although the coach insists on the search for a fixed nine to increase the offensive variants, a demarcation that the Uruguayan could have occupied, Barça plays differently with or without Suárez and the importance of Ansu has increased after standing out last season with Valverde.

Messi is also different, a partner of the Uruguayan and today the forward who occupies his position as a false nine waiting for Depay or Lautaro.

The time of the trident at Barça is over.

The Catalans attack with four footballers at a time when up to five changes are allowed and the coach asks for a striker while waiting to verify Dembélé's recovery.

He does not seem to have doubts about Coutinho, rehabilitated on his return to the Camp Nou, proclaims Messi's leadership, guarding of course the career of Ansu Fati and defending Griezmann, for his versatility, effort and ability to defend, uncheck and give depth, tasks opaque and yet highly praised by Koeman.

The coach does not want pure wingers but prefers scoring band players like Ansu.

Griezmann's role

At 17, the Hispano-Guinean mixes well with forwards, midfields and defenders, unlike Griezmann, who is often too rigid and remains invisible to Messi.

The Frenchman's relationship with the Argentine is still suspicious after the team's drawing and spirit, today expressed in Ansu Fati, has changed.

It is no longer played on the foot, but in space, and only Messi has been freed from pressing in the defensive retreat from his position of nine.

Before, Messi and Luis Suárez were the players who were left off the hook, a decisive concession in Champions League games.

On Sunday the

also remitted

in a team that, repeatedly, arrived with several players in the area, deeper and more vertical - 17 shots, nine between the three sticks, and four goals -, fast in the transition and in the exchange of positions, dynamism brought about by physical improvement and greater tactical rigor that surprised Villarreal.

The risk is that the team will break if the lines are not compressed and the double pivot Busquets-De Jong does not work.

Both lost too many balls against Villarreal, a team that, in any case, barely created chances, reduced by central Piqué and Lenglet.

Pjanic seems a good alternative if you look at the two times he has played since arriving at the Camp Nou.

Equally interesting have been the moments of Pedri and Trincão.

Koeman's obsession is that his team has a good rhythm and the speed of the ball is high so that the change is visualized after hitting bottom with the 2-8 conceded against Bayern.

They have changed the functions and habits at Barça.

Now it is the coach who examines the players and not the footballers who measure the coach, of an interventionist nature, so firm with the bet on Ansu Fati - Manchester United offered 150 million - as for the replacement of Riqui Puig.

To visual effects, the change is symbolized and simplified in the absence of Suárez and in the omnipresence of Ansu, the record boy, uncomplexed and scorer, so ambitious that he is capable of waking up Messi.

The context invites the creation of new societies and structural changes after the old ecosystem exploded in Lisbon.

The validation of the signatures shakes the process of the vote of no confidence

The table for the vote of no confidence against the Barça president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, will be constituted today after yesterday was formed by five members: two representatives of the board of directors, two members of the motion and the president, a position that falls on the delegate of the Catalan Federation, which will be Josep Maria Vallbona. Within 10 days, the board must validate the signatures submitted (20,687) and, in case of exceeding the 16,521 necessary, call the vote on the motion in a time not less than 10 days or more than 20. The process is presumed complex because the Barcelona board, in addition to having a graphologist and verifying the data, intends to contact each of the guarantors to confirm the authenticity of their signature, a measure that has been questioned by the promoters of Més que una moció. The directive suspects that there are many bought or irregular signatures. The motion platform insists on requesting Bartomeu's resignation. The latest accusation against the president's management is that he is postponing transfer payments to two and three years when his term expires in March 2021 at the latest, Bartomeu remains in office, satisfied after retaining Messi against his will. Yesterday it was learned precisely that Jorge Percout, the lawyer who defended the Argentine player in the dispute with Barcelona, ​​initiated with a burofax sent to the legal services of the Barça club, was dissociated from the Cuatrecases law firm, 2Playbook reported.