The ongoing season will be one full of hardships and tall tasks for FC Barcelona to gradually overcome. La Blaugrana, despite all their excellence and pedigree, have their limitations as well, unfortunately. As a result of that, not everything that Barcelona aspires to be can be possible all the time.
Ideally, the club would want all of their injured players currently available and ready to start under Hansi Flick. Not only would that give the German coach a team that is always ready to give him the highest level of football that they are capable of, but it would also alleviate a lot more tactical burdens as well.
Without some key players being available, Barcelona has looked much thin in terms of its squad depth. As seen against Osasuna in La Liga, the only time Barça has lost points so far this season is when they have had to rotate heavily to give their players a breather.
However, with many key players now available and refreshed, Barcelona and Hansi Flick have enough justification to use their strongest possible lineup against Deportivo Alaves before the international break kicks off and several of these players will be reporting to their respective National team camps.
If there is still one dilemma, however, it is the decision regarding who gets to start between Ferran Torres and Pablo Torre whenever either of those two are being considered. With Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez, and Gavi still injured, while Frenkie de Jong is still not fully ready to start, Flick has had to make some adjustments in this regard over the last few games.
In our opinion, the player who should be getting the start, however, is Pablo Torre. The €3 million-rated midfielder, formerly from Racing Santander, would arguably be a much better option than Torres for this game due to several reasons.
Displays so far:
While it remains undeniable that Ferran Torres is a hard-working player and continues to maintain great confidence in his abilities, it must also be considered that his performances have not exactly reflected that this season. In the last few games, for instance, Torres seems to be a bit indecisive and that is something that Flick’s team simply cannot afford to be.
Torre’s creativity:
For those who watch the games regularly, it is clear to see that Ferran Torres can be sometimes quite uninspiring with his maneuvers. Some less-than-ideal touches, forced dribbles, and a rather formulaic approach to the game that can be good at times but quite ineffective on other occasions.
Pablo Torre, on the other, has a lot to work with whenever he plays through the middle. His touches, passes, vision, and ability to strike from distance make him a complete but raw attacking midfielder to rely on.
Easier transitions:
Whenever Pablo Torre has played this season, except for possibly the game against Osasuna, he has been quite effective at helping his team transition.
Whether he has the ball or not, he knows how to move into spaces that allow players like Pedri to work their magic and give Robert Lewandowski enough freedom to make runs into the box.
By doing these subtle things that he does, he continues to allow this Barça side to be fluid and much more effective when they hold possession.
