FC Barcelona have kicked off their new season to mixed results. Losing out the Supercopa was disappointing but the club currently finds itself atop of the league standings with a five point lead over arch rivals Real Madrid. Nevertheless, after just five matches, there is some cause for concern and hopefully Barça learn from their errors as they contend for three competitions.
Barça kicked off their season in fine gear with an impressive 5-1 victory over Sociedad along with a first leg 3-2 win in the Supercopa against Real Madrid. However, that 3-2 victory in the Camp Nou over Real Madrid provided us with a warning sign. It could have easily been 4-1 but in a matter of seconds, a sure golden chance for Barça resulted in a lucky scoring chance for Madrid. Adriano’s back pass to Valdés had a bit too much power on it but Valdés’s decision to take an extra touch instead of just kicking it down the pitch resulted in a cheap but valuable goal for Madrid.
What followed after those two victories were two wins with a loss tossed in between. Unfortunately, the loss was against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Supercopa that saw Barça lose out on its first trophy of the season. However, what these three matches revealed were deeper concerns about the team’s approach to the games.
There’s no need to revisit the errors that occurred in Madrid. Mistakes were made and the team paid the price for it. Additionally, Barça’s two victories were not that impressive with players not converting on their chances to put the game away. Thus, what we have learned after these five games is that the players need to be focused from here on in. Defenders need to wake up and be careful in how they mark their players and not get beat by long balls while other players need to start working on their finishing and convert on their scoring chances. Now I know that playing the likes of Madrid and Osasuna away along with a home game against Valencia are no walks in the park. However, those results would have been in Barça’s favor if they were more focused.
Tito now has to wait till most of his team return from international duty before he continues where the team left off. Hopefully he has realized although the players have great talent and skill, it’s their lack of focus that has to be addressed. His job now will be to make sure his men are focused and ready to play 90 minutes without any momentary lapses. There has been talk in the Barcelona press that Tito is even thinking about playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with Song and Busquets playing as defensive midfielders to assist the back four. Barça have a five point lead and their chances of extending that lead atop of the standings rests largely with the players. Hopefully they learned from their errors this season as they get ready to compete for the league, domestic cup and Champions League.
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