Barcelona’s Defence Must Improve

Last minute winners, sweeping attacking displays and amateur-like individual errors have all been part of the story in Barcelona’s season so far, which has been thrilling and chaotic in equal measure.

At certain moments, Luis Enrique’s side have looked world beaters, easily capable of winning a third successive title and going all the way in the Champions League.

There was the record breaking 7-0 win over Celtic, when the “MSN” toyed with their prey and obliterated Brendan Rodgers’ side, the 4-0 win over Manchester City, when they forced the visitors into error after error and showed no mercy, as well as dominant performances in the league, such as the 6-2 slaying of Real Betis.

There have also been alarmingly poor displays, some which Barca recovered from, others where they have not. Losing 2-1 at home to Alaves on Sept. 10 was without a doubt the shock of the season. The Basques had been away from the top flight for a decade and had only won once before at the Camp Nou, but Barca lacked ideas and fight, Luis Enrique’s litany of rotations coming back to bite him.

Rotations could not be blamed in the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City at the start of November, which proved Pep Guardiola’s revenge for his chastening return to the Camp Nou a fortnight earlier.

Perhaps the most telling game, though, was the 4-3 defeat at Celta Vigo on Oct.2, a horror show of individual errors that laid bare Barca’s vulnerability when neither Lionel Messi nor Andres Iniesta are around, although a valiant display after the break almost rescued a point.

The fighting spirit witnessed in Vigo has been one of the most interesting aspects of Barcelona’s season, and was seen again in their next outings, the epic 3-2 win at Valencia on Oct.22 and the exhilarating 2-1 victory at Sevilla before the international break, inspired by a virtuoso display from Messi.

In both games, the team had to overcome adversity, from losing Iniesta to injury and conceding twice in four minutes at Mestalla to being under siege in the first half an hour in Seville. But in both games they came out on top, showing their ability to dig in together and fight for each other when the going gets tough.

But do these escape acts bode well for the remainder of the season and will they be enough to deliver the league title and the Champions League? There has been a clear lack of control to Barca’s football this season, as demonstrated against Valencia and Celta and even in the 5-1 win against Leganes, when Barca got away with ceding chances and were ruthless with the ones they created.

The anarchic feel to the team can be put down an overall shift in emphasis from midfield dominance to the freedom of expression of the front three which has characterised Luis Enrique’s time in charge. This was less pronounced in the coach’s debut season, when Barca still had Xavi Hernandez around to bring order to the play. They conceded just 21 goals over the entire league season.

This term they have conceded 13 times in 11 games, a phenomenon best explained by injuries to first choice centre-backs Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique, the erratic form of Sergio Busquets and the absence of Iniesta, who was rested in Vigo and has been recovering from a knee injury since being carried off against Valencia.

The anarchic feel to the team has witnessed a surge in goals, however, with Barca scoring seven more than they had at this stage last season in the league. Their enduring firepower means that, despite the evident vulnerability at the back, Barca are in a strong position in the league, on 25 points after 11 games and two behind leaders Real Madrid. They are in the exact position they were in at the same stage of Luis Enrique’s first season, when they went on to win the treble, but have two points fewer than last term.

And there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about their prospects of winning a third consecutive league title. Those gruelling away trips to Vigo, Valencia, Bilbao and Seville are all out of the way now, while Madrid still have to go to each of those testing grounds.

Barca’s only truly difficult excursions left in the season are the away games at Atletico and Real Madrid in 2017, plus their jaunt to bogey ground Anoeta, where they have not won since 2007. They will also have Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique back from injury after the international break while Umtiti and Iniesta should make it for the showdown with Madrid on Dec.3.

Their hopes of winning the Champions League, however, are less certain. Their folding in the second half against City demonstrated their vulnerability against a top quality side that had worked out how to get to them.

While Barca have managed to get away with their disorderly displays in the league, they will not be afforded such generosity in the latter stages of Europe’s elite competition.

If he wants to lead his team to Cardiff, Luis Enrique must curb the anarchic tendencies of his team which have been so exciting to watch.