Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of FC Barcelona ahead of the 2018/19 season

FC Barcelona have probably been the best domestic side since Pep Guardiola revolutionized football in 2008. They have won the La Liga in seven out of the last ten years as well as six Copa del Reys, with the last four coming on the trot.

Although the likes of Bayern, Juventus and Paris Saint Germain regularly dominate their leagues, but due to the lack of genuine challengers, winning these leagues is not considered anything special.

However, what's so special about Barcelona's dominance is that they face genuine competition from the likes of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. The Los Blancos are the winners of four of the last five Champions League titles whereas the Rojiblancos are the reigning Europa League champions.

This time though, the Blauragnas would look to challenge in Europe having been knocked out in the quarterfinal stage three times in a row. Winning the domestic doubles almost every year is no less than winning the UCL, but a treble is what the fans expect and Ernesto Valverde is certainly capable of bringing it to the beautiful city of Barcelona.

So in this article, we look at the strengths and weaknesses of the current Barcelona side and whether they are capable of delivering according to their potential:

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Strengths:

#3 A strong defence

The Blauragnas now have two world cup winners at the heart of their defence

Barcelona's central defensive pair of Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti is probably one of the strongest in Europe. The Catalonians also have a great squad depth with the likes of Lenglet and Vermaelen providing backup. Both are quality defenders, especially the former who has recently been acquired from Sevilla for £32 million.

Coming to the fullback area, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba have been a level above most other fullback pairings. Roberto, who started out as a central midfielder, was converted to a right-back by Valverde and hasn't looked back since.

The Spanish international has provided consistent performances for the Blaugrana and always plays with a high intensity. His box to box style helps Barcelona and clearly adds a different dimension to their attack.

Well, this season, Semedo looks all set to make the RB position his own as according to Sport, Roberto could be played more in his preferred midfield position. Semedo, a Portuguese international is a rapid fullback who can cover vast amounts of area on the right-hand side. With the 2017/18 season being the settling period, one can fully expect the former Benfica man to fire on all cylinders this term.

#2 Better squad depth

Vidal will add quality to the midfield

Poor squad depth was one of the major factors that let Barcelona down during their European campaign last season. This season, however, the team from Catalonia have addressed that shortcoming with the arrivals of Arthur Melo, Malcom and Vidal to bolster the midfield.

After the 3-0 defeat against Roma, Cules cried out for new signings and Bartomeu did not disappoint at all. Several fans wanted Valverde out as they were enraged with his somewhat safe playing style. But Bartomeu was smart and calm about the issue and instead supported the manager with new signings to build upon last year's domestic success.

Now, important players like Busquets and Rakitic can be rested in less important games, with Arthur and Roberto taking their spots. Vidal will provide with much-needed physicality in the middle of the pitch and his box to box capabilities are a bit underrated.

Arthur is a highly rated prospect and has impressed during the pre-season. He could turn out to be the solution for Barca's playmaking problems. Currently, Messi has to drop deep to create chances, but with Arthur and Coutinho in the squad, he will likely be told to concentrate on the finishing aspects of the game alongside Luis Suarez.

The transfer team has also managed to improve the defensive depth of the team with the signing of French defender Clement Lenglet from Sevilla. The Frenchman is a good defender whose abilities on the ball are massively underrated. Vermalean, on the other hand, has shown immense dedication whenever he has played for Barcelona.

Squad depth is required when you compete for all the trophies available. Fatigue has been a common reason for many teams' underperformance in different competitions, but a team with fine squad depth never fails to perform.

#1 Creativity in midfield

Is Coutinho the heir to Iniesta?

During the first half of last season, Barcelona suffered to a great extent in the creative department. Though they strolled past opponents in the domestic games and almost went unbeaten, they clearly suffered in the departments of playmaking.

Iniesta, though good, could no longer play week in week out. Rakitic, on the other hand, concentrates more on the defensive aspects of the game and helps in controlling the tempo of the game. In the end, Messi had to take up the job of creating chances, dropping deep into his own half and initiating attacks.

However, with the arrival of Coutinho in January and the Arthur during this summer, creativity should not be a problem anymore. Coutinho has already fit well into the Barcelona culture and will only get better this season. Sergio Roberto and Denis Suarez provide decent option from the bench.

The Barcelona midfield looks much superior this season, and midfielders on the bench are in abundance. A team with such fine midfielders can never be written off.

Weaknesses:

No matter how experienced or superior a team is, there always remains some flaws that other teams can exploit. Barcelona have had a good transfer window and have a great chance of securing the treble for the third time in their history. Nevertheless, there are still some imperfections in their team which could prevent them from doing so:

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#2 Lack of competition for Suarez

Suarez has started to slow down

This may sound a little less concerning, but believe me, this factor could again be the reason for failing to perform well in the UEFA Champions League. Luis Suarez is now 31-years of age and his outputs have started to drop, especially in the Champions League.

The Uruguayan has been virtually non-existent in the UCL for the past two seasons, having scored just 4 goals in 19 appearances.

A player with the qualities of Suarez must be scoring tons of goals in a competitive tournament like the CL, but instead, the team has relied on Messi for goals. The dip in Suarez's form is clearly because of both lack of competition as well as the lack of rest.

Neither Paco Alcacer nor Munir can match Suarez in terms of his finishing and guile, and this makes it tougher for Valverde to sub-off Suarez during games. The transfer team tried to bring in Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid but the Frenchman chose to stay at the Metropolitano.

Timo Werner failed to please the Blaugrana hierarchy at the World Cup and that might be one of the reasons why Barca didn't go after him as he was heavily linked to the Catalan giants.

As a result, the problem still remains, and only better performances from the likes of Paco and Ousmane Dembele could help in overcoming this shortcoming. With a couple of weeks still left before the Spanish transfer window slams shut, there's still a possibility of a forward joining Camp Nou.

#1 The squad still lacks in physicality

Paulinho often bulldozed his way into the penalty box

Barcelona have got a great collection of technically brilliant players. So when they signed Paulinho last summer, a lot of eyebrows were raised for spending €40 million on a 29-year-old.

Paulinho would often bypass the opposition midfield with his strength and stamina and came up with a lot of crucial goals last term. Though he wasn't a player who fit the Barcelona mould, his presence often provided something different in attack.

A box-to-box midfielder, Paulinho contributed 9 goals last season, with powerful running and good movement into the box. In what turned out to be a shock move, the former Tottenham Hotspur man returned to China at the beginning of this transfer window.

The only silver lining has been the signing of Arturo Vidal from Bayern Munich. The fee is believed to be in the region of around €19 million, which is quite cheap in today's market.

Although, Vidal is the perfect replacement for Paulinho but, the lack of more such physical players is a disadvantage both for attacking and defending set-pieces.

Football as a game has always been evolving and therefore having both physicality and technicality is important in this day and age. The Barcelona faithful will certainly hope that this doesn't become a long-term issue and is sorted quickly.