‘Clown is left out’ and ‘Valverde trying to calm us down’ – These Barcelona fans react to squad announcement vs Villarreal

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Barcelona announced their confirmed squad to face Villarreal on Tuesday night, as two specific decisions from coach Ernesto Valverde got a positive reaction.

The Catalan giants have picked up just seven points from their opening five games of the La Liga campaign, leaving them down in eighth place and off the pace set by the league leaders.

SEE MORE: Confirmed Barcelona squad vs Villarreal: Boost for Valverde while key figure left out

Further, this is their worst start to a season after five games in the last 25 years, and so there will undoubtedly be growing concern over how this season is going to play out.

The defeat to Granada at the weekend won’t have helped boost morale or confidence either within the squad or with the fans, and so a response is undoubtedly needed against Villarreal to make a statement that Barcelona are capable of getting out of this rut and quickly.

After announcing the squad for the midweek encounter with Villarreal, there was a mixed reaction from fans as many continued to use it as an excuse to blast Valverde and call for him to go.

However, there were two decisions in particular which seemed to gain a more positive response, and those were the inclusion of Ousmane Dembele after his recent injury layoff, and the decision to leave Ivan Rakitic out.

While it may have gained Valverde and Barcelona some respite from the criticism, it certainly won’t last long if they can’t get a win over Villarreal this week.

In contrast, it will surely only intensify the criticism and scrutiny that they’re coming under after such an underwhelming start to the campaign domestically and in Europe after their goalless draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last week.

These fans were thrilled with the two decisions, as seen below, but it’s surely just a temporary lift for now as regardless of who starts or who is included in the squad, the Barca faithful expect much better from their players and coach.

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