Luis Enrique's tactical tweaks suggest there could yet be a future for his evolving Barcelona side

The Barca manager deployed a new system against Atletico Madrid on Sunday that eventually paid off. Have the Catalans now turned a corner, asks former Valencia boss Pako Ayestaran

Enrique deserves credit for the changes he made to his side against Atletico (Getty)

Pep Guardiola said recently that Leo Messi is never more dangerous than when he is not moving, because he is analysing where is next the best place to create havoc for the opposition. That is exactly what happened against Atletico Madrid on Sunday, and he solved a problem for Barcelona in a match once again. What was different about this 2-1 win at the Vicente Calderon, though, was that Luis Enrique tried something new to solve the team’s more longer-term problems this season. He deserves credit for that.

The Barca manager has received a lot of criticism this season for not trying alternative approaches amid a difficult spell, but this time he did. He went to a 3-4-3 that eventually worked, even if it required Messi’s divine intervention, but there was a bit more to it. There is certainly a bit more to Barcelona now.

The aim of this approach is to add one more player to the middle of the park to match the opposition, but also create angles. In this case, the extra man was Sergi Roberto, and he was used like Philipp Lahm has been at Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola, or Pablo Zabaleta at Manchester City. When Barcelona were in the offensive phase, Sergi Roberto would step up as a second midfielder alongside Sergio Busquets. When they were defending, he dropped back to right-back.

It didn’t quite work in the first half, because of how Atletico pressed the midfield as soon as they got the ball to create problems behind Roberto. Barca were caught in the transition, as Diego Simeone’s side so often won the ball in their half. Atletico had two or three clear chances through Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco. Barca meanwhile couldn’t go through the middle and the only way they really had to attack was through Neymar or to play over the top of the midfield for Messi. Their first chance of the game was from this, as Messi played in Neymar who put Luis Suarez through for a one-on-one.

Luis Enrique tried to get one-on-ones in the wide areas in the second half, taking advantage of how Carrasco or Saul Niguez would come inside in a way that Guardiola used to do at Bayern with Douglas Cost or Arjen Robben, but the issue was that Rafinha is not completely suited to that.

So, this was when Messi started moving - and moved down the middle to create that superiority there. Barca got back on top, and Atletico weren’t able to create the same pressure in that area.

I think it also helped that Ivan Rakitic came on for Andres Iniesta, and there was a bit more drive to the attack.

I think it shouldn’t be overlooked there was a bit more drive to Barca in general too, in a mental sense.

You could see the team was really focused to get a result, to respond. You could see how Messi celebrated the first and second goal, the conviction to it. You didn’t see this in previous weeks and, at this moment, it looks like there is a bit more togetherness, more focus and determination to change the path of the season.

I think it’s slightly unfair that there has been so much focus on Luis Enrique in all of this because I think some things have gone against him.

It’s clear, for example, that the club would have expected more from the players they bought this season. Rakitic said recently that it can take a while for new signings to adapt, and that is the case with Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez. They are struggling at the moment and have not met expectations so far. That has left Barca both short of strength and depth, and short of alternative midfield options. It hasn’t helped that Iniesta and Busquets have been injured, or that Busquets has been so obviously and relentlessly targeted by opposition teams in the manner Atletico did, but they generally lack flair in the middle. They are struggling to find the right three players at the moment, and have therefore in the middle lacked that kind of intrinsic understanding of the rhythm of a game; when to slow it down or when to speed it up.

Enrique has faced significant criticism at Barcelona this season (Getty Images)

As to whether Luis Enrique continues with the 3-4-3, I think it depends on the recovery of certain players; whether Jordi Alba gets back fully. I think they could go back to 4-3-3 if that’s the case.

The manager did try something different, though, and it could yet lead to a different end to the season.