La Liga 2016/17: Why Barcelona aren’t the same anymore
There was a time not many years ago when Barcelona was unanimously the best team in the world. Unlike their main rivals from the Spanish capital, who built their team on a bunch of individualistic world-beaters, making a statement over the world with their financial power, the Blaugrana built a team featuring a lot of local talent and some underrated champions of the game.
At the helm was Pep Guardiola, a former Barca captain, who forged this side into an invincible side, featuring Xavi, Eto’o, Messi, Villa, Iniesta, Busquets, Puyol, Dani Alves and Pique. They created their own playing style, a unique passing-and-drawing out opponents game where they rarely lost possession and created spaces at will, and thus was born the legend of tiki-taka.
But then, heroes aren’t immortal. And even though the titles keep coming, Barcelona have been faced with an array of problems since Pep departed, and these problems have come to a head this season, with Barcelona already 6 points off league leaders Real Madrid in the title race.
So where is it going wrong?
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Barcelona still have their superheroes, though, and you need to look no further than their forward line. The combination of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez is not just dangerous, it's a forward line you get to create in fantasy. The camaraderie, understanding and ability beat any forward line in the world hands down. And that is just where Barcelona's problems start.
If you look at AS Monaco, they have a reborn Radamel Falcão and the underrated Valere Germain, but they also have Carrillo to chip in with the goals and give the main men a rest. Real Madrid have Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, but they also have Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez to deliver in their absence.
Over-reliance on MSN
But you look at Barça, and you instantly see how helplessly overdependent they are on their Latin American superstars. They have summer signing Paco Alcácer and Brazilian Rafinha Alcantara. Alcácer has been afforded sparse game time, and even when he has started (he did against Hercules), he has flattered to deceive. He currently seems like a complete misfit, while Rafinha isn't a brilliant player.
But then you would think, "The midfield, it's always been Barça's engine room". Sadly, that engine room at present is rusty and shoddy when you compare it with the past. Yes, in the past too Barcelona have had a stellar forward line in Messi, Eto'o and Villa, but they also had a midfield who actually pulled the strings and ran the game like wizards.
Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, and Fabregas were the ultimate midfield lineup, the protagonists of the famed tiki-taka legend. However, the retiring Xavi left shoes too big to fill, and the current season has seen the Barça midfield almost seem non-existent (the loss to Celta Vigo is a prime instance).
Rakitic and Turan haven't been in great form, Sergio Busquets seems a pale shadow of the midfield anchor he once was. Iniesta is now past his peak but he is still capable of running the show while summer signing Andre Gomes, a bizarre signing in the first place, looks another lost soul in the centre of the park.
Struggled to replace Alves
It's not just the midfield that seems to have lost its glory. Barcelona lost arguably the best right back in the world to Juventus in the summer, and replacing the ever present free spirited Dani Alves was probably the biggest task on Luis Enrique's hands.
But the Catalans did not sign a proper right back in the summer, and Aleix Vidal isn't even close to being called the Brazilian's replacement. It has been the multifaceted academy product Sergi Roberto who has had to play right back, and whether he is a good replacement is pretty questionable. On the other hand, Barcelona have a solid centre back pairing in Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique, but Umtiti is injury-prone, and Mathieu has more flaws than strengths.
Barcelona offloaded Chilean Claudio Bravo to Manchester City in the summer, bringing in Dutch international Jasper from Ajax. And his start to life in Barcelona has been poor as well. After conceding 4 goals in their loss to Celta, questions were raised about his ability, and since then he has had little game time behind German keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
This goes on to show how unsettled a team the La Liga champions are at present. It's a team that is all about Messi, Neymar, Suarez, and little else. There was once a Barcelona side which glistened with team spirit and all round brilliance. It was a team that has even been described by Sir Alex Ferguson as the greatest side at that time.
It was a team where everybody was a leader in his own right. It had a charismatic leader in Puyol. It was a team that became famous for its incredible ability to play as a team better than any other side. That sadly has slowly been phased out rather intentionally and inadvertently. Barcelona is still a much-feared side, but it's a three-man side at present.
Saturday’s El Clasico, where an 89th-minute equaliser further dampened Catalan hopes of retaining the Liga title, showed to all just how important Iniesta is for Barcelona. It was a day Neymar looked pretty off-colour, and he missed a glorious opportunity to add to the lead in the 2nd half.
Andre Gomes again had an ordinary day in the midfield, but Rakitic and Busquets were solid. Madrid had a dominating 1st half, but Iniesta’s coming on for Rakitic changed the dynamics of the game completely, and showed how badly Barca need him to run proceedings when the trio upfront are not top notch. Unless Barcelona address these problems, the League could be out of reach pretty soon.