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With a different-looking Barcelona side travelling to CF Villanovense for their Copa del Rey fixture, it provided the perfect opportunity for manager Luis Enrique to test the depth of his squad with numerous important games ahead. Each youngster gave a different takeaway for the manager and the fans, and it will be interesting to see how this affects competition in the squad in the coming few fixtures.With the likes of Sergi Samper, Gerard Gumbau, Sandro, Douglas and Munir El Haddadi under the scanner as possible competitors to various open spots in the Barcelona team owing to injuries and the transfer embargo, this game was closely followed by the Barcelona faithful.Here are the five talking points from this unassuming, yet interesting fixture.
#1 Jordi Masip impresses
The first surprise for the Barcelona faithful was the presence of a seemingly new name between the sticks. Young goalkeeper Jordi Masip has long been a mainstay for the Barcelona B side, and must have been awaiting his chance to step up with Marc-Andre ter Stegen when Victor Valdes vacated the number one jersey two years ago. However, the signing of Claudio Bravo meant that the Spaniard would have to continue waiting.
Handed a rare start for the club against Villanovense, Masip immediately caught the eye with his calm demeanour and excellent control of his defensive area. Despite not being forced into a number of saves since Barcelona monopolised possession, Masip’s positioning was impressive and he wasn’t afraid to venture out of the box to deal with back passes on occasion.
His communication with the likes of Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen betrayed a player with an impressive amount of self-confidence and an ability to take quick decisions in tandem with some of the most experienced defenders of his era.
Considering Ter Stegen’s shaky form of late and the fact that Enrique played a largely experienced defence to complement Masip, one wonders if the youngster will finally get the belated promotion he deserves to fight for the number one jersey at the Catalan club.
#2 Douglas flatters to deceive - again
Douglas was touted as a young Dani Alves replacement when purchased from Santos last year. After a horrific start to his Barcelona career with the right-back looking terribly out of depth, injury intervened as Alves inspired Barcelona to the treble with occasional appearances for Martin Montoya.
Fast forward a year and the only change in Douglas seems to be his presence (or the lack of it) on the injury table, with his performance against Villanovense not even worthy of displacing makeshift right-back Sergi Roberto. Though hardly tested in defence with Barcelona holding on to the ball most of the time, Douglas failed to make it count, often misplacing passes or losing possession out on the right wing.
To add to the mess, his communication with the midfield or Sandro and Munir up front was nothing to write home about. The performance only went on to highlight the need to get Aleix Vidal in the side as soon as possible, with a possible recall of Martin Montoya from Inter on the cards as well.
January cannot arrive soon enough for Barcelona, and it is another missed chance to give Alejandro Grimaldo a chance, even if on the wrong flank. Luis Enrique would do well to cut his losses and attempt to sell Douglas in the January transfer window in favour of a better depth option in the position.
#3 Sergi Samper must be nurtured
With the recent rise of Gerard Gumbau to fight starlet Sergi Samper for a place on the bench as a centre midfielder, pundits relished the rise of the youngster while looking to explain why Samper’s stock was falling at the Camp Nou.
By playing both in tandem, Enrique may have unwittingly contributed to ending the debate. It goes without saying that the two are chalk and cheese, with Gumbau having a Sergio Busquets-like physicality about him while Samper is at best a possession controller in midfield. The point the manager makes, however, is simply that both traits may not be mutually exclusive.
Both performed their roles well in midfield with Samper, in particular, standing out with his controlled passing – which may help Culés get over the loss of Xavi. While Gumbau was more direct and powerful, both combined well on occassion, eventually sending the ball out wide on most occassions.
Such a performance only helped Gumbau keep his case strong while Samper may have just opened his own way to progress, as the testimony to the fact that tiki-taka and La Masia philosophy burns as bright as ever.
Enrique will do well to keep his faith in Samper and ensure his growth, with the likes of Arsenal already keeping a tab on him. A failure to do so will surely rob Barcelona of a man who may in time carry the legacy of the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Michael Laudrup forward.
#4 Forward line fails to fire
Munir El Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez have for long been touted as the offensive hopes for Barcelona in the future, but both show only glimpses of their potential in fits and starts. Slotted alongside an offensive-minded Adriano on the left wing, the duo completely failed to bring any penetration up front, though Munir may have understandably been cramped for space with Douglas moving a bit too far up front more often than not.
The same also points to how sadly wasteful Barcelona have been with their offensive talent. Pedro, sold recently to Chelsea, would have remained an excellent first-team backup and a leader in a game like this. The talents of Gerard Deulofeu, Cristian Tello and Denis Suarez are either being wasted on loans or have been sold, and would have normally been giving stiff competition to fill the wings on a day like this.
Issac Cuenca is one more talent no one hears about anymore. Meanwhile, Bojan Krkic is impressing the Premier League in a traditionally defensive team like Stoke City.
The 0-0 scoreline is not the only pointer to an offensive embarrassment. What must worry Enrique more is the fact that Jeremy Mathieu was often more dangerous on offense from long range strikes while a long-range drive from midfield nearly gave Barcelona a goal in the first half. In short, the entire team attacked except the two men up front, with Adriano being largely blameless on left wing.
The duo now face an uphill task to prove themselves and the coming few fixtures will be closely monitored for cues on the same.
#5 The poor pitch
Villanovense’s ground was a sad example of how clubs survive on limited money. Largely unkempt, in sharp contrasts to the Champions League pedigree Barcelona are accustomed to, it was hard to tell whether the club plainly had bad drainage or had been excessively watered to kill Barcelona’s game – or both.
The net effect was Barcelona being unable to move the ball around at the pace it is used to – a tactic which has often been applied in the past by various sides. Thus, given extra time to track back, or better, park the bus, Villanovense were able to keep Barcelona scoreless, compounded by the poor form of both Sandro and Munir upfront.
Though the second leg at the Camp Nou should give the Barcelona faithful little to worry about, the game has well highlighted a need for better facilities on the lower end of the football pyramid to produce better players. If only the administrators were watching carefully.
