Slowly, but surely, Barcelona have begun to crumble

Barcelona’s season hasn’t gone according to plan as they lie third in La Liga

It’s fairly simple to read the title of this piece and pass it off as an attempt at opportunistic, short-sighted journalism; the matter of which would only stand true till FC Barcelona produce their next moment of genius, after which there will be another spurt of emotion at Barcelona’s evergreen style and the dancing feet of Iniesta, Neymar, Lionel Messi etc.

However, before making any such pronouncement, note that Barcelona have now lost three of their previous six La Liga outings, and have lost four games in the League overall. Compare that with Real Madrid’s two losses thus far, and the picture begins to seem bleak for Barcelona. As things stand, Real Madrid sit atop the Liga table with 64 points and a game in hand over second-placed Atletico Madrid, who equal Los Blancos‘ points total but fall short in goal difference. Barcelona are in an unfamiliar third place in La Liga, a point behind Atletico.

Over the weekend, Barcelona fell to a shock 1-0 defeat away to relegation contenders Valladolid, who place 17th in the League, and are fighting fervently for survival. Barcelona are fairly accustomed to the sight of teams parking the bus and trying to score a solitary, lucky goal against them on the counter-attack. However, on most occasions, Les Blaugranas will have scored a fair few number of goals before the opposition could try and wrench a victory, or even a point.

This season though has seen an uncanny twist in Barcelona’s fortunes. Teams are now able to bring the game to Barcelona directly, as Real Sociedad and Valencia both did, and come away with full rewards. The fear-factor involved with attacking the dangerous potent threat of Barcelona seems to have been nullified with teams noticing the absence of any cohesive defensive unity or immediate attacking danger.

Change in Barcelona’s attacking strategy

Under Argentine manager, Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, their passing game has often gone awry and been sacrificed in favour of a more direct, attacking initiative spearheaded by wing-play courtesy of either the inverted wingers (Neymar, Pedro, Alexis, Tello) or by the marauding full-backs (Adriano, Jordi Alba, Martin Montoya and Dani Alves). However, it hardly take years of managerial experience to fathom that Barcelona are ill-suited to wing-play, given their deficiencies in physical stature. The system thus, has now been muddled to the extent that Pep Guardiola’s careful passing system has been broken up and no clear alternate been laid forward, leaving players like Xavi, Sergio Busquets, and to an extent the great Lionel Messi confused, as to their role on the pitch.

The different system of play, along with the onset of age has forced Xavi to play a much more recessive character, often playing the safer passes as lesser and lesser of the hair-pin passes seem to succeed these days. Sergio Busquets now plays almost as a quarter-back, spraying passes out wide or sideways, depending on where the defending team applies the least pressures. A fairly different game as compared to his previous role of first breaking up the opposition’s play, passing the ball to the best positioned creative player, and then dropping into defence.

Lionel Messi has not received enough support this season

The greatest hit of all, though has been taken by Messi, who now no longer has the license to roam the pitch as balls are no longer played solely into his feet with Neymar now occupying the entire left-side of the pitch. He now often drops deep in search of the ball, picks it up, passes it out wide to a player hugging the touchline, then zips back into a centre-forward position, only to see his team-mates’ efforts to return it to him squandered by an interception, a sturdy tackle, or an inept cross from said player.

Defensive woes prove costly

However, the offensive issues that plague the team are fairly recent, as compared to the defensive. Time and time again, Barcelona have been unravelled by a swift counter-attack. Only the two centre-backs Mascherano and Pique are left to cover the goalkeeper when the full-backs are out in support of the attack. It doesn’t help that Mascherano is still essentially a defensive midfielder covering – very ably, it must be said – at centre half in the absence of any other regular.

Gerard Pique too has been off his best for around two seasons now. Their defensive frailties are brought to the fore profoundly at set-piece routines though. Of the 26 goals that Barcelona have conceded through the League season thus far, almost a third have come from set pieces. Their defensive ineptitude at corners has persevered since Pep Guardiola’s time and can be pinned to the inherently short average height of the time and a general lack of defensive discipline, which neither Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, nor Martino have been able to find a solution to.

It is also compounded by the fact that Barcelona enjoyed a winter transfer window embroiled in the Neymar transfer controversy and ended up making no reinforcements at all when it was clear that at least a centre-back and a regular striker to back up Neymar and Messi were of the utmost importance. It has now been revealed that Barcelona spent around 40 million over the quoted 57 million price for Neymar, which makes it even more puzzling as to why not a single dime was spent on any defenders.

Pique and Mascherano have often been let down by full backs failing to track back

Carles Puyol is now 35, and has now announced his wish to cut his Barcelona career short at the end of the season – whether to play for another club or to head into retirement is not known. That must surely force Barcelona into the transfer market for some proper defenders, as well as a goalkeeper thanks to Victor Valdes‘ departure at the end of the season. However, the lack of proper transfer activity coupled with the strains of a long season and a muddled tactical system have exposed several flaws in a team which for so long seemed infallible.

It is imperative that Tata Martino and his team pick up the pieces of their season while they still can. In La Liga, even a point dropped counts as a loss, and Barcelona have made a habit of throwing away games they should ideally win comfortably. They now face Real Madrid at least twice over the remainder of the season – once in the League away at the Santiago Bernabeu and once in the final of the Copa del Rey. Both matches will be crucial in how Barcelona’s season is classified at the end; a stunning success, a season of transition, or one in which the best team in the world has well and truly crumbled.