FEEL THE ERN: Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde dismantles Cruyff and Guardiola’s methods by going to 4-4-2… and it works

New boss has rung the changes at Nou Camp - including having the guts to rest Lionel Messi - and it has paid dividends.

By Adrian Addison in Barcelona

LAST summer was a worrying time for brand new Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde.

Neymar had been plucked away by Paris Saint-Germain for a world record £198million fee and Barca had been hammered by Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the Spanish Super Cup.

And, ominously, Lionel Messi seemed to be deliberately trying not to sit down and sign his new £500,000-a-week contract.

Even Ousmane Dembele, the young French hopeful they had bought to fill Neymar's No 11 shirt had made an immature lunge after only three appearances and tore a hamstring, putting him out of the game for at least four months.

Even the usually lethal Luis Suarez was misfiring in front of goal.

Barcelona had been awesome under Valverde's predecessor Luis Enrique

They won the treble in 2015 and the double the year after.

But by the end of the 2017 season, their domination seemed to be done and they had to settle for just the cup while the Champions League and La Liga trophies went to Madrid. Enrique had already decided to quit.

"My idea as a coach is to help them to be better players and to help them be a better team every day," Valverde said on his first day in the job.

"And to create an inspirational team spirit and, above all, to be together in the good moments and the bad moments."

Well, he's done exactly that.

Barca now sit top of La Liga, are in the final of the Copa del Rey and face Chelsea tonight in the Champions League last 16.

Here are five reasons why...

Adios, Neymar

It may sound nuts to suggest that Neymar was a problem but the Barca Godfather himself Johan Cruyff said it first when the club originally signed the Brazilian.

He even mischievously mentioned the unmentionable, suggesting Barca could offload Messi to make way.

The late Dutch legend said: "Neymar's arrival could cause problems. I would not have taken the risk of bringing in Neymar."

Enrique had the most deadly strike force in world football in the feted MSN - Messi, Neymar, Suarez - and so, of course, he constructed his team around this 'trident'.

"Enrique's thought process was 'OK, I have the best strikers in the world and I will hit first. If it is a battle, then I will win,'" Barca writer for Sport newspaper Toni Juanmarti told SunSport.

Marcos Santos, who covers Barca for El Periodico, agrees: "Valverde's teams are much stronger. Enrique's Barca were more powerful in attack but were unstable and unbalanced.

"Without Neymar, Valverde has built a much more choral, balanced work, obviously less bright, but perhaps equally effective."

Back to the Barca of Cruyff and Pep Guardiola

Enrique's reliance on MSN and his full frontal assault approach to the game came at a cost especially to the players behind that lethal frontline.

The games were so fast, Iniesta, Busquets and Rakitic were run ragged.

Now they play the Barca way, the possession and passing game of Cruyff and Guardiola and are more patient in creating chances.

"Physically Barca are better at the end of the match because they simply don't run as much as they did under Enrique," added Juanmarti. "They pass, pass, pass in the first half and in the second half the other team is tired. And then of course, Messi can make all the difference."

And the stats back this up. Around seven out of ten goals are scored in the second half.

Space to run into

Neymar isn't on the pitch. The left hand fork of that trident was broken away to become a spear at PSG, and Barca's new No 11 Dembele is struggling to impress Valverde.

But that means other players have had space to grow.

Left back Jordi Alba has fashioned a lethal double-act alongside Messi with multiple assists, and even scoring himself.

Beaming about his performances, Alba said: "I have more space to run into and honest, for me, it's much better.

"I have regained confidence. With more space on the left I am very comfortable and that is demonstrated on the pitch. I'm enjoying it in a way I haven't for a long time."

An iron clad defence built on a 4-4-2 foundation

Valverde has recalibrated Barca, even briefing his side's talisman on defensive duties.

"The coach was very clear from the beginning about what he wanted," Messi said.

"We made ourselves strong in defence and in attack we have very high quality players."

“Without Neymar we are more balanced. His departure led to a change in the way we play. We have lost a lot of our offensive potential but we have improved in defence. We have more balance and this allows us to be more solid.”

And the key has been a change in formation.

"Valverde has dared to do something that nobody had thought because it was considered a sacrilege: he went from the 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 established by Cruyff, to 4-4-2," Ramiro Aldunate of sports paper Marca told SunSport.

"It is in this change of system that the explanation of defensive solidity lies."

Valverde is a chilled guy

Even when it seemed to be going horribly wrong and his new job could have been seen as the proverbial poisoned chalice, the man sipped from the cup and didn't flinch.

Valverde is simply a lot calmer guy than Luis Enrique.

And this seems to have been absorbed by his players, even the best in the world.

Messi, who famously fell out with Enrique when he rested him for a game, explained how he accepts the rare occasion he takes a break under Valverde.

He said: "Normally and with tranquillity.

"It is obvious that he makes the decisions, we just talk about it. And I have no problem with it, I have to take turns - the same as my team-mates."

THE SUN 20th February 2018