FC Barcelona are in first place in both the Spanish League and in their Champions League group. Even though they look good in the standings, their performance hasn’t been good at all. Barça still have issues to resolve and hopefully they can get it together after the international break or else we risk witnessing another disappointing season.
Even though the results do not show it, Barça keep regressing under Ernesto Valverde. The defense keeps leaking goals and the offense looks predictable, which is extremely reliant on Messi. The Blaugrana resemble a car in dire need of a tune-up as they struggle to fire on all cylinders. New signing Griezmann is struggling to click with the team, especially with Messi.
The bigger concern is whether Valverde can actually get the team to play better. Not one player has improved under his helm, so how can we expect him to improve the team. The blame doesn’t fall entirely on him seeing as the players also bear a brunt of the blame. Perhaps Pique needs to cutback on his non-football activities and focus on playing football and rest. Also, it would be nice to figure out why so many Barça players are coming down with muscle injuries.
It’s still early into the season, but Barça being just OK is not OK. Things have to change or else they will be heading towards another disappointing finish. The Blaugrana have been fortunate that Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid have also stumbled early on into the season but eventually one of them will get hot and if Barça don’t get their act together, they may have more concerns than just coming up short in Europe.
