Barcelona's away form: The mystery that puzzles Catalonia

Barcelona players react to Valladolid scoring the first goal against them

In spite of having secured some vital results in their away matches, Barcelona have been slipping up of late. Its beyond any doubt that their style of play has drastically changed under new coach Tata Martino but the style of play is not alone to be blamed. After a lacklustre and shoddy performance against Real Valladolid this past weekend, the team have given ammunition to the critics to call them the ‘weakest’ but not the ‘worst’ Barcelona side ever. Here, we analyze some of the features responsible for their away game decline.

1. The squad rotation policy

Undoubtedly, the most major change visible to every critic and fan of FC Barcelona is the squad rotation policy followed by newly appointed manager Tata Martino. Lauded by many earlier in the season, the squad rotation policy is turning out to be a bane for the Catalans. The involvement of new players in the starting eleven in almost every match means that the team has not found the fluidity and chemistry between them as they did in the previous seasons. The most notable part about the Guardiola and Vilanova era was that the starting eleven used to be constant for most of the matches.

This helped in the fluidity of their game-play because every player knew where his colleague will exactly be. Ever since Martino has taken charge, he has rotated the squad in almost every match. He has given younger talents like Sergi Roberto, Marc Bartra and Cristian Tello many chances. Pundits lauded Martino for his daredevil move earlier in the season but now this is turning against him, as keeping fresh faces in the starting eleven is starting to take its toll on the team’s play and cause some dissent too, maybe.

2. The style of play

After a match or two under Martino’s charge, the most visible change in Barcelona’s game was the style of play. They have now taken a more direct approach in playing with their possession game. They look to feed the ball in the final third as soon as possible, something which is trademark Real Madrid. However, the players being acquainted to a slower build up and crisp passing, this new change has affected the team. The midfielders often squander possession and the wingers operate more defensively now.

Under Guardiola and Vilanova, the style of play could be very well predicted by the opposition but they made it a point that the squad varied and altered the style in almost every match. Under Martino, it’s obvious. The opponents know how to press, whom to press, whom to mark and how to counter the possession game. Martino has not varied his style, but has focused on the players rather.