Is FC Barcelona back to its best?

FC Barcelona has started their season with a bang. Notching up 6 victories in their first 6 games for the first time in 50 years. Ahead of Real Madrid at match day 4 on La Liga. A Spanish Supercopa victory for trophy starters as well. Let us try and analyse the early success, with a deeper insight.

Positives

#1 Squad Depth

Barcelona is clearly off and running in the new season. The appointment of new technical secretaries Ramos Planes and Eric Abidal certainly helped them have a good pre-season in terms of marketing. Barcelona made profit in the transfer window as well as rejuvenated the squad. Importantly, Barcelona offloaded players to keep their squad strength under control. They sold Digne, Andre Gomes and Yerry Mina and loaned out youngsters Marc Cucurella and Sergi Palencia for playing time. Paulinho left for his former team at China.

Barcelona signed good young talents as well. Clement Lenglet was roped in from Sevilla to add depth at the centre back position. Arthur Melo from Brazil, though unproven, is the controlling midfielder than Barcelona has been searching for since Xavi Hernandez’s departure, following their failed pursuit of Marco Verratti. Malcom was brought to the Camp Nou from Bordeaux following some unusual turn of events. Nevertheless, Malcom will add depth to the wings and his long-shot ability is to vary by.

Barcelona’s last signing was Arturo Vidal which is the only questionable one on the list. They got him for a reasonable price but being 30 years old and clearly not having the technicality that Barcelona favours, his signing is a surprise. The only justification for his signing is the physical dimension that he would provide defensively and during set pieces. Also much of the midfield being youngsters, a person with experience in Europe might come in handy.

The squad depth that Barcelona has this season is a good one.

#2 Lionel Messi

Enjoying the armband around the sleeve: Lionel Messi

With the departure of club legend Andres Iniesta to Japanese Club Vissel Kobe, Barcelona was in need of a new captain. The players voted Lionel Messi to be the new Barcelona captain. During the Joan Gamper trophy match, Lionel Messi clarified his target for the 2018-19 season, win the UEFA Champions League. So far, Messi is not showing any signs of slowing down. He has started the season like any other, with perfect consistency. He has already scored 4 times in the league in as many matches. He has started his Champions League in a way that Barcelona fans would appreciate, with a hattrick. Lionel Messi has never been the concern for Barcelona, this season is no different.

#3 The rise of Ousmane Dembele

Looking for haters: Ousmane Dembele

The other positive about Barcelona is the performance of Ousmane Dembele. Ousmane Dembele was brought in last season following his impressive showing for Borussia Dortmund. The young kid was extremely unlucky last season to miss most of the playing time, due to his hamstring injuries. Primarily, a weapon in dribbling, acceleration and assisting, his goal-scoring ability also came into question last season? Dembele has answered all questions, imposed on him. He has scored some amazing goals, including his Supercopa winner against Sevilla and the Goal of the Week contender against PSV, two days back. He has shown the potential to go on and provide a breakthrough performance.

#4 The defiance of Marc Andre Ter Stegen

The Great Wall of Germany: Marc Andre Ter Stegen

Marc Andre Ter Stegen, a brilliant sweeper keeper and guarding the sticks with all he has got. He was a saviour for them last season, and he has been a saviour this season too. The match against Real Sociedad is one which exhibits Ter Stegen’s value. The German keeper made terrific saves at the Anoeta, helping his side take home all three points from the cursed stadium. Ter Stegen is an underrated goalkeeper but he still gives his everything for the team irrespective of the opposition. One can expect Ter Stegen to continue in his usual way, his ball distribution, saves, everything is on spot.

But apart from these, Barcelona are having a lot of problems as well.

Negatives

#1 The adaptation of Philippe Coutinho

A lot of room for improvement: Phillipe Coutinho

Their star signing last season Phillipe Coutinho is one of them. His play in the wings is commendable but his midfield play is still concerning. Coutinho is tending to occupy the same position as Dembele when he moves inwards. As a midfielder, Coutinho needs to operate deeper in the field and initiate the attacks. He made improvements in his game, against Huesca and PSV. But he is far from his best, and he needs to continue his game deeper in the field and develop an understanding between himself, Alba and Busquets. The role Barcelona needs Coutinho to play requires a lot of understanding and game awareness, he is still a raw talent. Coutinho has a lot to learn. Hopefully, Busquets and Valverde will bring the best out of him.

#2 The poor run of Luis Suarez

Far from his usual self: Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez is yet another problem. He has notched some important goals including the equaliser at Anoeta. But Luis Suarez is far from his vintage mode. He is lacking the finishing, he is not very confident on the ball and he is put on a lot of girth for a striker. His work rate comes into the discussion as well. He has wasted a couple or more chances created for him that he should have buried into the net. Wasted chance can cause the team big time against big teams. Plus, Suarez has to pay dividends to chances if and when they are created against the defenses of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane. He made improvements in the PSV game, but he needs to continue playing the same way. We have seen Luis spring up with one good game and being lost for 5 to 6 games afterwards.

#3 The role of Ousmane Dembele

Ousmane Dembele is one of the positives but he is also one of the negatives, and it’s not even his fault. Dembele has no weak foot and this helps the team to deploy Dembele at any wing. Valverde though is preferring Dembele on the left wing. Due to the fact, Dembele has to operate more in the half-space because Jordi Alba requires a lot more space on the wings. If this trend continues, then Barcelona have to be varied. It drops young Dembele where he can be isolated and it takes him out of his killer positioning. Playing on the right wing, Dembele can have the space he needs, operating on the wings. But the right-back spot is guarded by Sergi Roberto and Nelson Semedo, the wing has a danger of being exposed if all the inexperience is on the right wing. Barcelona has to sort this out.

#4 Defensive Lapses

Complacent to say the least: Gerard Pique

When will Barcelona improve on this aspect? The defense consists of two good centre-backs in Umtiti and Pique. Still, Sociedad exposed Barcelona on the counter several times. The inexperienced Huesca scored two goals against Barcelona with ease, due to terrible defending. On the first occasion, the incoming cross was not dealt with and even atrocious is the fact that Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique let the striker get the free header. The second Huesca shows the complacency of the defence. The ball deflected and landed near the baseline, Alba didn’t pressurise the player and Umtiti took a nice nap while letting Huesca hit the ball in.

Barcelona’s weakness against high ball has been terrible till now. Both goals against Huesca came due to high balls. The goal against Sociedad came due to terrible defending and clearance of the free-kick. The Barcelona offensive is conceiving the poor defensive play of their team. During the Supercopa match against Sevilla, Clement Lenglet was also off colours. Sergio Busquets was absent for 45 minutes and Sociedad left the defense floored. If Sergio has to miss a game, and god forbid it is against teams like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, Barcelona will be punished hard with this sort of defense. Hirving Lozano beat the defense for pace on several occasions, what can Gareth Bale cause? Valverde has to do something about it.

#5 Tactical display

Ernesto Valverde is coaching FC Barcelona and not Athletic Bilbao. When even mere fans understand that defending a lead is not our cup of tea, Valverde is more than happy to do so. Barcelona was punished in the biggest stage by Roma last year due to these same tactics. Real Sociedad came close to repeating the feat due to the same tactics. Barcelona stops the lethal attacks and hangs back inviting counter attacks. Sociedad was a tricky opponent, no doubt but still, the substitution of Vidal just adds to that defensive mindset. Barcelona is far better playing on their offense and they should continue in that manner. If they sit back, lazy, defending a lead, players like Modric can break the lines in one go.

#6 Squad Rotations

Squad rotations are one thing that fans asked Valverde for. He did rotate and how? He had all his ace players start against a new side in Huesca. Then against the dangerous Real Sociedad, at a stadium Barca won only once in a decade, he decided to rest Busquets and Coutinho. That is not how rotations work. It is far better rotating in home games, against opponents like Alaves, Espanyol and La Coruna than away at Sociedad. Players need to learn to adapt but clearly, Santiago Bernabeu is a better stadium to rotate than Anoeta, in the sense that at least players are fired up for the fixture.

Finally, what did Barca buy Arthur for? He hasn’t made one start yet, he hasn’t featured for much time as a substitute. In fact, Valverde can try and rest Rakitic for Arthur any day, if Busquets is around. Valverde is just too afraid to take the gamble. Against a team like PSV, there is no harm in giving playing time to Arthur and Lenglet. Will Valverde make improvements?

Conclusion

So far, the only thing that Barcelona has been delivering is results. But for a team like Barcelona, playing style has to come before results. That is the reason people respect Barcelona for. More than the result, the brand of football and the grooming of youth should be the case for Barcelona. Valverde shouldn’t be criticised for last season, he took over a squad in shambles and won Barcelona the domestic double. But now this season, he has little to no excuse. He has a world class squad, the young blood and he has Lionel Messi. A Champions League title should be obligatory for Barcelona this year. Their games against Inter and Tottenham, away from home will give more insights into the team. The El Clasico will be a real test against a possession-based Julen Lopetegui. We can only hope Barcelona rectifies their mistakes.

As Johan Cruyff said - "Quality without results is pointless and result without quality is boring"

To answer the question of whether they are back to their top? Not even close. It is not a blame game on Valverde, but just think about what Pep Guardiola could do with this squad. As fans, many people would say, we should stay behind our team. We have to think different. At Barcelona, there’s no room for error. To bring out the best from our team, criticizing is a must. That is what Johan Cruyff did, it is what Pep Guardiola does. Loving your team is one thing, defending every atrocious mistake made by them is another.

Visca El Barca