Barcelona's team performance against Athletic Club was unimpressive on many levels. The attack wasn't fluid and clinical enough, the midfield lacked creativity while the defensive structure was simply terrible once again.
One of the things that hurt Blaugrana the most in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal was Jules Kounde's poor communication with Lamine Yamal on the right side.
Even though the two eventually linked up for a goal, they poorly understood each other throughout the game. The best example is Lamine's misplaced pass in the first minute that led to Nico Williams' interception and Gorka Guruzeta's shocking opener.
Things slightly improved afterwards, but there was still a lack of proper connection on that right wing – partly because the two were covering almost the same areas.
Some fans were losing patience with Kounde who kept on making forward runs despite Yamal's presence.
💭 EiF: "Jules Kounde needs to realise what he is. You're a centre-back playing at right-back. Lamine Yamal is wide open. Pass him the ball. Stop getting cute. Let him do the work, you provide support."
How can the problem be fixed? There are at least three options.
1. Ask Kounde to play a less attacking role in possession and make Yamal a wide midfielder who would receive the ball in deeper positions. This way, the gap between the two players would be bigger and the teenager would have more freedom of action. Lamine is great at beating opponents 1-v-1 and passing the ball in central areas, so he could do the job well.
2. Use a natural right-back instead of Kounde. Joao Cancelo or Hector Fort would probably have better connection with Yamal as the ones who play on the wing for many years already.
3. Improve the understanding by playing them together more often. Yamal has been a starter alongside Kounde on just 9 occasions so far, and most of the time, it was when Jules played at centre-back, so it's obvious their connection isn't perfect.
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