This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Even though their trip to Getafe over the weekend was a success, Barcelona still won’t be happy with Clement Lenget’s red card. With that suspension preventing him from participating in the next La Liga clash, we might finally see Jean-Clair Todibo in action.
On the chalkboard
As a whole, Ernesto Valverde should be happy with the squad’s overall performance against Getafe.
Blaugrana not only tallied all three points under their belts but have also done so with a clean sheet away from home. And seeing how that’s their first one of the ongoing 2019/20 La Liga season, it truly is a big achievement.
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But one of their key centre-backs, Lenglet, ended his day just a bit early as he was sent off in the 82nd minute of the clash.
The Frenchman was booked twice and finally saw red in the latter stages of the game. In order to bolster the team’s defensive system, Valverde sacrificed a forward and brought in a young defender, Todibo.
And seeing how Lenglet won’t be able to participate in the next domestic game, the 19-year-old talent might get his first start of the season come next weekend.
His time to shine
We really haven’t seen much of Todibo in the Blaugrana colours so far.
The 19-year-old defender joined Barcelona in January this year but has only tallied three official appearances for the club since that moment.
Of course, it’s not really easy for a young player to usurp the Catalans’ experienced defenders so him having extremely limited game time isn’t really that big of a surprise.
But now, Valverde’s hand just might be forced to play him. Since Samuel Umtiti is out injured again, Todibo is the only natural centre-back, other than Gerard Pique, left in the squad that’s fit and available.
Sure, Valverde could potentially turn someone into a makeshift defender but that would be a weird move considering he has a promising young player on the bench.
Todibo’s cameo appearance in the clash with Getafe was decent enough, too.
He tallied 100% passing accuracy, one tackle and warranted a 6.10 rating according to Whoscored. Of course, with only a couple of minutes of actual game time, expecting more from him in that game would have been silly.
But now that he is the only other remaining centre-back in the squad, he could finally get his chance to shine. And who knows, if he performs well, maybe it can open the door for more minutes in the not so distant future.
