The numbers don’t lie. In the first week of December, Barcelona practically said goodbye to their dreams of the championship. Atletico is 12 points ahead of her. Nobody ever LaLiga he did not make up for such a loss to claim the title. – It is still a long way to the end of the season, but if we do not improve the game quickly and we do not get rid of the fluctuations in form, there will be nothing to talk about in the moment – said Ronald Koeman, but the fans do not have any hope. In polls conducted by the Spanish media, about 80 percent. fans say that the Catalan Duma has already told the championship “adios”.
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Everyone talks about Barcelona’s weakness
And although, as with any failure, you can look for excuses (fatigue, injuries, ineffectiveness, etc.), none is fully convincing. Everyone talks about Barca’s weakness today. – My six-year-old son summed it up well. Futbol Caca (poop, ed.) Barcelona – said Sique Rodriguez, journalist of Caden SER. The legendary Luis Suarez Miramontes believes that “the team did not know what to play from the first minute”, and perhaps the most alarming words are the words of Alberto Perea. “We expected it to be much more difficult,” summed the Cadiz player.
Ronald Koeman’s irrational plan
On Saturday evening, the Barça players looked as if their thoughts were at the famous carnival in Cadiz. Or if they wanted to play the Three Kings a month in advance, because they were giving the hosts gifts from the beginning of the match. Koeman started with three players who felt the best for the so-called ten – Leo Messi, Antoine’a Griezmanna and Philippe Coutinho. This, as predicted, did not work out and at the break the Dutchman had to make corrections, letting in for Brazilian Ousmane Dembele, who made only one dribbling attempt in 45 minutes. Then the goal for 0: 1 was given by Oscar Minguez, who in a strange way shot on his own goal, and when Barca equalized, there was a disagreement between Clement Lenglet and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, which was used by Alvaro Negredo.
Error chasing error
“Individual mistakes cost us a lot of points,” complained Sergio Busquets. And it’s hard to disagree with him, especially since you don’t have to go back, for example, to the famous corner kick from the match against Liverpool at Anfield (0: 4) to find other compromising behavior of Barca players. This season alone, the Catalan Pride lost to Getafe (0-1) after a stupid penalty shot by Frenki de Jong and Atletico (0-1) after the catastrophic mistakes of ter Stegen and Gerard Pique, and lost points from Alaves (1-1) after Junior Neto error. It hurts the more that Blaugrana has conceded the first goal six times this season and never won (two draws and four defeats).
Barcelona’s two faces
In Cadiz, Barca had as much as 82 percent. ball possession (only once in an era Pepa Guardioli surpassed this result), but was unable to take advantage of it. Consistently and unsuccessfully, she tried to break through the middle, where the most players were. And when this solution did not work, they decided to throw in, but only four shots were fired out of 24 crosses. The game the guests lacked panache. Barcelona looked different than in Kiev (4-0 with Dynamo) or Budapest (3-0 with Ferencvaros). After these meetings, the freshness brought by the youth and the ease with which, for example, Griezmann played, was praised. On Saturday, the strongest squad, including Messi, entered the field of Ramon de Carranza on Saturday, but – as Suarez Miramontes said – the team lacked aggressiveness, idea, inspiration …
Messi is no longer turning the tide
It is quite symptomatic that even the worst, least decisive version of the games Messi is still the leader Barcelonawho, in a difficult moment, was unable to find a solution other than passing the ball to Leo and hoping that he would come up with something. The Argentine tried and struggled (he won the most duels, 9), he tried to take responsibility, but he lacked precision (30 lost balls, a season record) and efficiency (he gave the most shots, 10), and – as Negredo said – ” it’s hard to play against ten guys focused on keeping you. You cannot blame the 33-year-old for the worst start of the Blaugrana season in LaLiga for over 30 years (e.g. in November he had the highest average score in LaLiga according to WhoScored), but it is evident that when Barca needed the leader’s support this season, Leo he was unable to turn the tide on his own. And to this he has got us used to in recent years.
Barcelona discourages Leo from staying
Messi’s worst nightmare before the start of the season is coming true. As he was prevented from leaving the club, it became clear that the Argentine would be blamed for any Barca crisis. “We are losing because Leo thinks about PSG“. “His contract expires in June so he doesn’t want to fight for us anymore.” “He plays better without Messi.” This can be changed endlessly, and even the club employees add fuel to the fire. – From an economic point of view, I would have sold Messi last summer. “Toby helped us meet the wage limits,” blurted Carles Tusquets, head of the Barcelona management committee. He was publicly scolded by Koeman for these words, later rebuked and promised greater restraint in contacts with the media, but it was too late for such words. Again, it turned out that in a club going through three crises at the same time (sports, economic and institutional) it is easiest to beat the one who is the best and greatest player in its history. And just as in the summer Josep Maria Bartomeu did everything to keep the 33-year-old at Camp Nou, now everything is done to encourage him to take the offer Neymara or Pep Guardiola.
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