Kound\u00e9 did not begin the season as a guaranteed first-choice option. That raises questions about how Flick plans to use him, but it doesn’t necessarily mean his importance has declined.<\/p>\n
Quite the opposite. His versatility across two positions may prove one of his biggest assets. A player who can fill two roles at a high level carries real value when injuries, suspensions and fixture congestion pile up.<\/p>\n
This season, Kound\u00e9 needs to rediscover his best. The challenge is clear: recover his previous form and force his way back into the line-up, whatever position he ends up in.<\/p>\n
Defenders who can deal with attacking pressure and the space behind the back line are exactly what Flick wants, and those traits suit Kound\u00e9. His pace and his ability to defend away from his own box make him a natural fit.<\/p>\n
One question still lingers. Can the French defender return to the level that made him one of the most promising centre-backs in the world during his time at Sevilla and his early days at Barcelona?<\/p>\n
Flick holds the final call. Will he start Kound\u00e9 in the heart of the defence alongside Cubars\u00ed against Valencia, and how will the Frenchman fare there if he does?<\/p>\n
Read also: Following in Salah’s footsteps? Barcola receives first warning from Carragher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kound\u00e9 did not begin the season as a guaranteed first-choice option. That raises questions about how Flick plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[92,186,27094,85,95,14095],"class_list":["post-81419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-valencia","tag-barcelona","tag-h-flick","tag-j-kounde","tag-laliga","tag-valencia","tag-valencia-vs-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}