Barcelona’s 2-1 defeat at Leganes in the sixth week of the season was painful. They let the lead slip, with two goals in one minute. Just because Real Madrid didn’t take advantage later doesn’t mean Barca can ignore what happened.
Until the game against Leganes Barcelona had been getting points but not convincingly. Here were look at the seven sins that they need to look at to find their best game again…
Correct bad defensive errors
Gerard Pique and Thomas Vermaelen made errors that handed goals to Leganes, while Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet have also been sent off this season. They have let in seven goals in six games, many of the goals let in have been from individual errors, more than for the quality of opponents’ forwards.
Imbalance in the middle
Ernesto Valverde has not found the formula to allow Barcelona to play their best football in the middle, determining the pace of the game. Busquets cannot take control, Rakitic is lacking spark and at times he finds it hard to get back into position. Coutinho also has not found his best position on the pitch.
Signings bringing little
Malcom has been stopped by injuries, Lenglet got sent off in his firs start, Arthur and Arturo Vidal have not been particularly impressive when given chances. The new players need to bring more when they have the opportunity.
No capacity to react
Against Leganes Barca lost their lead and fell behind in the space of a minute but showed now ability to get back into the game. Coutinho and Rakitic forced Ivan Cuellar into a double save but that was about it, with Barca not adding more opportunities than that.
Lack of intensity
Barcelona should have finished the game off after going ahead. Lionel Messi hit the bar, but the team showed no intensity to keep looking for more goals. Barcelona’s identity only appears sporadically, in pressing and fast passing.
Bad form for stars
Some players like Samuel Umtiti and Ivan Rakitic are not at their best yet, a knock-on perhaps from competing until the end of the World Cup in Russia this summer, whereas Pique, Busquets and Luis Suarez are also struggling to hit their top levels.
Possible squad management errors
Ernesto Valverde is conservative when it comes to rotations, but when he has given players chances, they have not capitalised. Arthur, Malcom, Lenglet, Denis, Vidal, with no continuity they find it hard to offer their best version. Barcelona need to reach April and may with 15 or 16 players who are in condition to start matches, or they will face a similar problem to last year’s Rome debacle.
izukelvin15
71
semedo is more active than robeto both in strength and speed . yesterday rotation was shit , we coach needs to line up his first squad to begin a match , when he is winning then he can rotate players in other to test their abilities.. not starting then, this happened in the first draw we Played this season.
Jattfanmessida
63
I agree.. Pique was very poor at the game,Midfielders didn't created much chances for forwarding line. They've failed to enter in opposition's box.Same weakness against counter attack.They play very slow with that defense your tempo should be on high level that you create chances for strikers.Crossing is another problem for barca.I think they didn't crossed the ball twice.Improvement is must and now cause we are playing in UCL also.Lots of work to do in these departments. Love you Barça..back with a bang.. I wanna encourage you by this picture..
miocmt
55
You failed to mention how woeful the form of Suarez has been. From a greater part of last season, through the world cup in Russia till now.He has been a shadow of his old self. He doesn't have good ball control, His touches are awful, His passes wayward, he stumbles and spurns good scoring chances... This has really affected the flow and the outcome of Barca's games. Something has to be done about the Suarez issue, and urgently, too.
oiiopps
49
I hope you mention our board as one of them in your article
powermanl
46
Individually our team is still good. Ter Stegen is a very good keeper, Alba is a top LB, Pique is one of the best CB's, Umtiti is a very good and young CB, RB is weak right now, Busquets and Iniesta both still incredible players(although in on/off form and fitness this season), Rakitic/Gomes/Denis/Rafinha haven't been very good this season, obviously MS are still amazing players even if they don't look like they're clicking entirely right now. We're just playing terribly as a team. It looks like we have very little chemistry, and very little movement off the ball. The disorganized and lack of pressing is leaving our defense to face way too many attacks where the attack has as many or more players going forward than we have back defending. So many of the players just look uninterested and are putting in performances below their normal level.