Koeman's forgotten five: Riqui Puig, Pjanic, Umtiti, Junior & Braithwaite

Ronald Koeman's new system is yielding results but it has left a number of players without much competitive football in recent months.

The 3-5-2 has favoured a number of players but Riqui Puig, Umtiti, Pjanic, Braithwaite and Junior Firpo have practically disappeared.

It remains to be seen if rotations over the final few weeks of the season could see them given more minutes.

rotaciones habrá que ver si vuelven a sentirse importantes.

Riqui Puig: 14 games no starts, 17 minutes in the last 12

Despite playing with three midfielders, the emergence of Ilaix Moriba and the return from injury of Sergi Roberto has seen Riqui Puig's role further reduced.

Puig has started just four times this season but almost three months have passed since he last began again, a 5-1 win over Alaves at Camp Nou. Since then, he's played six times off the bench but never for long and he hasn't featured for four matches now.

Umtiti: 8 games no starts; 15 minutes in the last 8

Despite seeming to have recovered from a knee injury, Umtiti's not had many opportunities to play. Even as Koeman plays with three central defenders. Mingueza, Araujo, Lenglet and Pique are all ahead of him, with De Jong even preferred if numbers are short.

Umtiti hasn't started since Barça played in Pamplona and he came off at half-time after being booked. Since then, he has played just 15 minutes against Getafe.

Pjanic: 11 games no starts; 11 minutes in the last 11

Miralem Pjanic seems to have lost the battle. He joined from Juventus to play an important role but has hardly played. He missed the Villarreal win on Sunday with an injury.

Barça-Elche on Feb. 24 was the beginning of the end for Pjanic. He was taken off at half-time for Dembele. He had 11 minutes in Paris and not a single minute in the six games he's been available for since.

Braithwaite: 9 games no starts; 128 minutes in last 11

Martin Braithwaite is someone getting more chances. He's been out with an ankle sprain recently but had previously had minutes in 12 consecutive games. However, he only started one of them, the 3-0 win over Elche. Not even scoring the vital goal in the Copa del Rey semifinal earned him more opportunities. The most he played was 27 minutes against Real Valladolid.

Junior Firpo: 14 games no starts; 100 minutes in last 14

Not last season nor this. At no moment has Junior Firpo, under three different coaches, earned more minutes. Now, with wing-backs deployed, Jordi Alba's presence has become even more fixed.

Junior has started six games this season, the last of them coinciding with an injury to Alba. There have been 14 games since the 5-1 win over Alaves and since then, Junior's played 100 minutes across three games: the 3-0 vs. Sevilla in the Copa (42'), in Pamplona (3') and in París (55'). He's not featured in the last seven games.

The cases of Trincao and Matheus

Even though Francisco Trincao hasn't started for 11 games, he's been getting minutes. The problem is he doesn't have a fixed role since the change in formation. For that reason, he doesn't enter in the list of 'forgotten players' and Braithwaite does.

And a separate mention for Matheus Fernandes. The other players have had minutes at various stages in the season, but the Brazilian has never been a realistic option for Barça.

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