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From being named the favourites to win UEFA Champions League this season to losing against a 20th placed Leganes, Barcelona has had one of the worst games ever in the last decade. They were leading with a goal against Leganes at halftime, only to be outperformed and outscored in the second half as Leganes thrashed their visitors to a 2-1 victory.
Barcelona has conceded 7 goals in their last 4 games in La Liga; a big reason to worry for Ernesto Valverde and the coaching staff.
Though they are outscoring their opponents and performing brilliantly, the fact that they are conceding against mid-table and low-lying teams says otherwise. Their defensive troubles are a serious matter of concern and if not fixed soon, it will end up costing them the UEFA Champions League and even La Liga for that matter.
There were some defects I was able to notice in the Barcelona back four in all the games till now, and I'd talk about it ahead in the article.
#3 Playing deep
One of the major mistakes in Valverde's tactics is that he asks his team to keep a high line of defence. Now, the reason why this a problem is because the centre-backs get easily overrun by the attackers of the opposition team during counter-attacks.
Though Barcelona possesses pace on the wings, they get completely outrun in the middle of the park, as the likes of Busquets, Pique and Umtiti are pretty slow compared to the modern day strikers.
While playing with a high line of defence, the Barcelona midfielders should make sure that they do not get dispossessed anywhere in the middle of the pitch as a counter-attack can be likely, which is a big risk.
Therefore, it is better if Barcelona plays with a decent and balanced formation and tactics, which will in turn only benefit them.
#2 'Not conceding' should be the priority, instead of scoring
A key difference in this year's Barcelona if compared to last year is that Valverde has shifted his attention on scoring more, something the fans clearly wanted. However, not at the cost of having a weak defence.
Barcelona's defence is pretty vulnerable to counter-attacks, and this season, they look completely helpless. Pique is one of the calmest defenders of all time, but his mistakes against Girona and Leganes cost the team.
Last season, Barcelona took 18 games to concede 7 goals, whereas this season, they have conceded 7 in just 6; a serious matter of concern, indeed.
#1 Strong in-squad competition for Pique
Pique's form has been called into question lately, after being the protagonist of two horrid defensive displays against the likes of Girona and Leganes.
His age seems to be a major problem in his form, and this assigns the Blaugrana board with a new job. However, it might mostly be Lenglet who will take on his spot in less-important games this season, and if Pique continues his unconvincing form, I would not be surprised if he is benched for Champions League games as well.
Clement Lenglet is a great defender, who is young and confident in his abilities. Though he got carded against Girona for a dirty foul, his abilities are not to be doubted.
