FC Barcelona’s loss this past weekend to Real Madrid was as disappointing as they come. After securing a dream start after scoring an early goal, the tide turned after half an hour and Barça never recovered again. Luis Enrique decided to change his team’s approach and that big gamble did not pay off. After just 12 matches, his honeymoon period is over and Lucho will now have to face the criticism that awaits him following his team losing in its two big tests of the season.
For 30 minutes, Barça seemed to be doing well. Luis Suarez’s debut kicked off with a great assist to Neymar for an opening less than five minutes into the game. Messi almost doubled the lead but for an amazing save from Casillas in the 23rd minute to keep 1-0. Unfortunately, Barça were being exposed at the back prior to that scoring chance thanks to typical clumsy Barça defending. Unfortunately, clumsy defending, a few minutes after that scoring chance, would result in a penalty by a handball from Pique and the penalty king Ronaldo stepped up and scored the equalizer. From there, the rest of the match is a blur.
The second half was the Barça that we had seen against Bayern and Atletico in the past two years. The Blaugrana were being bossed around and lacked energy and creativity to find a way back. They looked beaten mentally and physically. Prior to this match, I addressed some concerns I had with the way Lucho was coaching this team.Although they had not conceded a single goal in league play, they defender flattered to deceive. His starting back four was a mystery but the bigger mystery was staring Mathieu as left back over Jordi Alba. He also went ahead with Pique and Mascherano partnership even though it had been exploited by Real Madrid in the past.
The back four seemed great on paper but was poor on the pitch. Mathieu attacked well but did not offer anything in the final third of the pitch. Mathieu even admitted he was surprised he was asked to start as a left back. Pique was his clumsy self again while Benzema once again relished playing against Barça while matched up with Mascherano. Dani Alves did not lose the ball much in the final third of the pitch but did not contribute offensively much either. His defending was nothing to write about. It only got better when Madrid decided to sit back and counter attack with fewer numbers but watching Marcelo bypass him and Xavi was a rerun of past disappointments.
Lucho’s strategy was a failure when you consider the lineup he submitted. The same midfield trio of 2008-2009 cannot be expected to perform like that team did back then and cannot be expected to perform in his direct style of constant pressure. Xavi and Iniesta are not young men anymore while Busquets has been playing hurt for a while. Many thought Mascherano and Rakitic would play in the midfield with Iniesta but alas, Lucho stuck with the old guard and the wear and tear of the old guard was too much to bear.
The big gamble of going with Luis Suarez paid off with some great scoring chances for others but I would have preferred seeing Sandro start or even Pedro due to his familiarity with the players. It was asking a lot for Luis Suarez to get out there and know where his teammates would be and gel with them. That comes with time. More bizarre was watching Barça attack Madrid down Carvajal’s side of the pitch and ignoring Marcelo, who was exposed by Germany as Brazil’s weak link. We used to see Messi and Pedro attack Marcelo often to the point that Mourinho benched him for Coentrao. Yet, Messi and Luis hardly attacked that right side of the field.
Unfortunately, Barça’s own wrongdoing caused them to be down 3-1 and when that happened, Lucho showed us that he has no Plan B; he just swapped one player with another who played in the same position. Lucho’s press conference today made him seem defensive and petty at times when questioned about what happened on Saturday, and it’s only after nine league matches. There is a long season ahead of us but Lucho has failed in his first two big tests; PSG and Real Madrid. That does not bode well for him and this loss means that Barça will now have three other teams breathing down their necks. Barça must overcome this train wreck of a performance but the honeymoon period for Lucho is over.
No comments:
Post a Comment