A new system for Barca?

In his latest column, Guillem Balague discusses Barcelona’s new formation, James Rodriguez’s return to form for Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid’s attacking approach.

Barca, Real and Atletico all recorded impressive wins over the weekend, while bottom-of-the-table Valencia slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat at Athletic Bilbao.

But what did we learn from the latest round of fixtures? Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Balague dissects the key performances before answering YOUR questions…

Barcelona

Barcelona played 3-4-3 against Leganes, a set-up used by Luis Enrique a couple of times before, but the way he used it on this occasion was proof formations are just numbers.

For instance, the 3-4-3 that Pep Guardiola used about 18 times during his first season, and the one Johan Cruyff preferred, was designed to create superiority in midfield.

What Enrique did on Saturday was completely the opposite. It was more about breaking the team into two so he had two midfielders and three defenders, leaving the rest free to attack. It was a way of getting the ball to the front three as quickly as possible because he felt Leganes were going to press high.

If Barcelona could beat the press, their front three would find themselves up against just three defenders and, while it took some time for Barcelona to get it right, eventually they did.

Luis Suarez was on the bench for the last 35 minutes and with only five games played, that is extraordinary because last season he played every single minute when involved.

There will be rotations and we already saw Lionel Messi and Suarez starting on the bench against Alaves. The front three won’t play every single minute this time.

Real Madrid

Zinedine Zidane did the same as Enrique in terms of rotation. Gareth Bale missed out with a knock against Espanyol and Cristiano Ronaldo, who in the past would have travelled, was left at home with a temperature. Both could have easily played and should be OK to face Villarreal in midweek.

Despite that, they still managed to get their 16th consecutive league win, stretching across two seasons, which means they have equalled Guardiola’s Barca record.

Real Madrid’s football was not impressive but it was effective and considering the absence of their two stars, they still managed to create enough chances to beat Espanyol.

James started and scored, and Zidane is slowly bringing him back into the …

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