Time to drop Dani Alves?

Barça’s disappointing loss to PSG on Tuesday showed that Lucho still has some work to do. Perhaps one of the things he needs to do is drop Dani Alves. After wowing us his first few seasons, has the time come for Dani Alves to be dropped following some subpar seasons of late.

When FC Barcelona kicked off the new era of Pep Guardiola, one of the biggest signings back then was the Brazilian fullback, Dani Alves. He was 25 years old and fresh from some amazing performances for Sevilla in which he played a part in helping the club capture back to back UEFA Cup titles. He exploded on the scene during that magical Barça treble season as he clicked well with Messi down the right flanks. He was considered one of the best at his position in the world during his first three seasons with the club as the club rose to the top and became one of the greatest sides in football history.

Fast forward to today and Dani Alves is 31 years old and no longer the force he once was. His assists are down and he has become comedy fodder for fans when they count the number of times he whips in a cross to no one. He has become careless with the ball in the attack and has become too sloppy with the ball as evident by him after losing the ball 15 times against PSG. Unfortunately, his turnovers in the attack lead to counter attacks and his lack of hustle down the other side of the pitch leaves much to be desired. Even defensive minded Luiz Felipe Scolari dropped Dani for Maicon in the latter stages of the most recent World Cup so it’s no surprise he’s become a defensive liability.

There was talk all summer long that Luis Enrique wanted to sign Cuadrado to be a weapon on the right side. One doesn’t have to wonder why when you see performances like this from Dani Alves these past few seasons. His drop in form coincided with his marriage ending in December 2011 and he hurt his stock with his attacks on the Blaugrana faithful last season.  He still has those flashes of brilliance here and there but the days of when Dani Alves bossed the right side of the pitch are over.

This is why Luis Enrique needs to decide whether to keep going with him or go with his younger understudy, Martin Montoya. However, Montoya can’t seem to get a game, let alone find a spot on the bench under Lucho. He did perform well against Athletic in subduing Muniain but the way Athletic have been playing this season, it’s not saying much. The less said about Douglas, the better, following his average debut and his medical ailments that followed that forced him to miss his next few games. Montoya attacks well without whipping in useless crosses to no one and are a pretty good defender.

Dani Alves will go down in history as the club’s greatest right back of all time. However, Dani Alves is being remembered more for what he says off the pitch than for what he does on the pitch. So why not give Montoya a shot and not be subjected to more of Dani Alves’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act.

Lucho’s First Test for Barca Reveals More Questions.

September has bid us farewell and October is now upon us. Nevertheless, this new month begins with more questions than answers being provided by FC Barcelona and their manager Luis Enrique. These past few weeks were the manager’s first big test and although he passed his first big test, he still has much work to do.

Back in September, I discussed Luis Enrique’s first big test of the season that awaited him that month. I asked if he would be able to have his players perform well in both competitions and can he keep his players well rested? Will he rotate players and perhaps drop Messi from the odd game and continue to rely on Barça B players? The answers were a mixed bag of yes and no. Overall, this test, which culminated in the PSG loss, was to show us if Luis Enrique can handle the demands of this job. Unfortunately, we are left with more questions than answers after this first test.

The first issue Luis Enrique has to address is his goal keeping situation. Claudio Bravo has performed well in the league without conceding a single goal. I expected Bravo to start yesterday seeing as you should always go with the player who is in hot form. Marc-André ter Stegen has only featured once this season, and that was in the first Champions League match against APOEL two weeks ago.  I had some concern that perhaps he would be a bit rusty for PSG and I would have opted for Claudio Bravo instead. Unfortunately, ter Stegen did not perform well, and neither did those in front of him, and now Luis Enrique has to decide what to do about that position. Should he rotate both more often so both feature at least once a week or just go with Claudio Bravo as his number one and let ter Stegen be the backup and feature in Copa del Rey? Obviously this does not leave third choice Masip with not many minutes at all but Lucho needs to make sure all his keepers are not rusty and in form.

The second issue is the back four. Lucho wants his fullbacks to attack and be part of the offensive juggernaut of this team. Sadly, it’s not working that well. Dani Alves and Jordi Alba both lost the ball a combined 23 times against PSG, with the Brazilian guilty of losing it 15 times. To see Dani Alves still start is alarming seeing his work rate has dropped defensively and he still resorts to countless crosses which result in more turnovers than scoring chances. I have been a big proponent of letting Montoya start where he defends well and will not turn the ball over when he attacks. New signing Douglas had an average debut against Malaga followed by a case of the fever and a bruised foot that saw him miss some action. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays as often as Dmytro Chygrynskiy did. Meanwhile, Adriano is a decent backup who has come up clutch at times but he is not good enough to replace Alba.

Furthermore, I thought this was the season we would see Mascherano play in the midfield but here we are, yet again, watching him playing center back and although he has great last ditch efforts, he was beaten by David Luiz on the first goal during a set piece. His partner, Mathieu had a subpar performance and has been shaky of late. One wonders why Pique is not starting more often and what does Bartra need to do to get more minutes? Moreover, Vermaelen is now deemed fit so how is Lucho going to handle the center of the defense. Lucho has his work cut out for him in how to keep these guys organized and focused. The clean sheet run in the league is impressive but not whole heartedly convincing. In other words, those clean sheets have been rather fortunate and not the work of a team that is shutting down teams with authority.

The midfield also poses some issues. Lucho wasted Rakitic on the flanks against PSG and didn’t play him in the middle of the pitch where he strives. Iniesta seems to be off to a slow start with some flashes of genius here and there. Busquets is paying the price with some sloppy play because of this new style mixed in with some Xavi-esque moments when it comes to superb passes. Speaking of Xavi, we have not seen enough of him and perhaps we should adjust the lineup to have him feature in a 4 man midfield, or as some would like, with Busquets and Mascherano instead. I never rated Sergi Roberto and if Rafinha is 100% fit, then he should be featuring more than Sergi Roberto.

Up front, Messi is back to his old self again and I am enjoying him pressure high and cause some turn overs after watching a more subdued version of him last season. The problem is that Messi still has to carry everyone on his back and none of the guys up front are doing that for him. Neymar is thriving because of Messi but he is not doing enough for Messi’s sake. Pedro, Munir and Sandro all have gotten to play and all have shown that this is Luis Suarez’s job to lose when he returns later this month.  The problem is the inconsistent ineffective play by the fullbacks in the attack, which probably explains why Lucho wanted to sign Cuadrado this summer, and there is no guarantee that Luis Suarez’s inclusion will solve these problems. These players cannot rely on Messi to bail them out and hopefully Suarez’s inclusion will do that and not become another player reliant on Messi.

The loss to PSG does not mean the sky is falling; Far from it. I expect this team to challenge for both the league title and the Copa del Rey. Champions League football is another story altogether. Lucho got outcoached in this loss and the team’s performance this past month showed that there is an issue of a lack of structure and organization by the players on the pitch. Furthermore, Lucho’s usual tactics leave much to desire when his plan B is to replace one player with another without changing positions or tactics. Perhaps it is a sign of things to come when he did throw us a surprise after he took off Dani Alves and put on Sandro with Mascherano attacking as a full back. That though didn’t seem like a well calculated plan but more of a gamble. This team went through two seasons of poor coaching on the pitch and can ill afford a third straight season of such.  Real Madrid can solve whatever issues they have by buying in the winter; Barça does not have that luxury. These issues have to be resolved by the manager and the players.

An additional element of concern for Lucho will be how he handles players returning from international duty. He was fortunate that many of his big stars missed out on September international duty. I can’t see Messi missing out on playing for Argentina in early October and mid-November; circle your calendars for November 18 when Argentina and Portugal face one another at Old Trafford. Will he be fortunate to have a well-rested squad for those two months like he did for September?

I will end this on a positive note. September was a harsh month that saw the team play 6 matches in 3 weeks with a combined result of four wins, a draw and a loss. That is still a great result and the team is still are league leaders. Also, October with only consist of three league matches, with El Clásico being one of them, and one Champions League match against Ajax Amsterdam at the Camp Nou.  I don’t consider Copa Catalunya Final as a serious fixture and let’s see if it even takes place. Hopefully Lucho and the team will get their act together this month because there is still much to do.

Conundrum in goal for Luis Enrique?

UEFA Champions League action is upon us again as our beloved club kicks off another campaign to win their fifth Champions League title. Luis Enrique dropped some starters for today’s encounter against APOEL FC. However, the big question on the Blaugrana faithful’s minds is who will start in goal today and whether Luis Enrique will pull a Carlos Ancelotti and have two goalkeepers start in different competitions?

When Victor Valdés announced he would be leaving the club more than a year ago, we braced ourselves for a new goalkeeper signing. After it was decided that the club would no longer need the services of veteran backup keeper Pinto, Barça B keeper Masip was promoted but the idea was the club was going to sign a new keeperMarc-André ter Stegen’s signing was one of the worst kept summer transfer secrets of the summer but we were all caught off guard when the club also signed Claudio Bravo. Suddenly we had two keepers who should be starting and a young keeper who probably would not be seeing many minutes.

Clearly, Ter Stegen was Zubizaretta’s signing, and I have no problem giving credit where it’s due since I have been giving him hell for the past three seasons, but this was a superb signing. Ter Stegen is a young up and coming talent from Germany who many believe will eventually be the starting German keeper. Besides preseason, we have not seen much of the German player because of a back injury he suffered in training from Alex Song. His injury though presented Claudio Bravo with the opportunity to shine and that he has.

Perhaps it was a good idea to sign both Ter Stegen and Bravo after Ter Stegen had to miss action because of an injury; Déjà vu to last season. Claudio Bravo has started all three league matches for Barça this season and he has kept three clean sheets. Quite a start for the Chilean international keeper, although he did not have to make a save in the two first matches against Elche and Villarreal but in the end, he was victorious against the likes of Villarreal and Athletic and that’s not too shabby. Claudio Bravo was a Luis Enrique signing, who was requested by his assistant, former Barça keeper, Juan Carlos Unzué. So suddenly we have two players who are both good enough to start in goal for this club.

Which brings us to today and the Blaugrana faithful will be wondering who will start in goal today. Ter Stegen has been declared fit to play in today’s game. Will he finally get the start and play today or will he find himself on the bench watching Claudio Bravo? Will Luis Enrique decide to use Claudio Bravo for the Spanish League and rely on Ter Stegen for European nights? Real Madrid’s manager Carlos Ancelotti did just that last season when Diego Lopez was his starting goalkeeper for the Spanish league but preferred Iker Casillas for the Champions League.

I am sure many managers would love to have this sort of problem where they too much talent to pick from. We will see what Luis Enrique has in store for tonight and perhaps the rest of the season. It is tough to please everybody so unless he plans of rotating keepers, I expect one keeper to be upset. Nevertheless, we learned last season what happens when you don’t have a suitable replacement if your starting keeper is injured. In the end, it’s good to have more than less.

Champions League: Group F preview ~ Barça’s Quest for Fifth Title Begins.

FC Barcelona kick off a new UEFA Champions League campaign which sees them facing familiar foes and a new competitor. New manager Luis Enrique will get his first ever taste in Champions League football as a manager. Will he able to duplicate the success of Guardiola in getting the Blaugrana back to the Promised Land?

FC Barcelona’s foes in this season’s Champions League group stages are Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Ajax Amsterdam, and APOEL FC. Luis Enrique will kick off his managerial debut in the Champions League with his side hosting the Cypriot side APEOL FC at the Camp Nou in Match Day 1. This is APOEL’s third appearance in the group stages with their last visit seeing the club from the small island in the Mediterranean Sea reaching all the way to the Quarter-Finals before falling to Real Madrid. Their other experience against La Liga teams in this competition came in 2009-2010 season where they were grouped with Atlético Madrid and finished fourth behind Chelsea, Porto and Atlético respectively. Current APOEL players John Arne Riise, with Liverpool, and Tiago Gomes, with Hercules CF, both tasted victories with their respective teams at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona.  APEOL’s Urko Pardo is also a former member of La Masia and was a member of the 2004-2005 Barça B team. Meanwhile, Ivan Rakitić, with FC Schalke 04, faced APOEL in the 2008-2009 UEFA Cup first round and scored a goal against them.

FC Barcelona also renew acquaintances with Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain F.C this season. Despite both club’s long history in European football, last season was the first time Barça and Ajax faced one another in European competition. Both sides tasted victory on home soil with Barça enjoying a 4-0 victory at the Camp Nou while Ajax won 2-1 in Amsterdam. Both APOEL and Ajax are expected to fight each other for third and fourth place in this group. Ajax’s domestic campaign is off to a poor start while APOEL has two heavy weights to deal with which might be a tall order for the small club. Upsets however do occur so don’t write them off just yet.

PSG are considered Barça’s rivals for the top spot of the group. Barça will once again face former players, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Maxwell and Thiago Motta. Ibra and Maxwell also represented Ajax and Barça together in the past so this will be a reunion tour of some sort. This is the first time both teams meet in the group stages. Their recent encounter took place in the 2012-2013 Quarter-Finals where Barça eliminated PSG on away goals following a 3-3 aggregate result. Barça and PSG faced each other in the 1994-1995 Champions League Quarter-Finals stage where PSG upset Cruyff’s Dream Team by winning 3-2 on aggregate. Barça did however defeat PSG 1-0 a few years later in the 1997 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final. The final group match will feature Barça hosting PSG in what could be a pivotal match for qualification to the knock out stages as group winners or a lack luster affair where the top two spots have been decided and will feature role and youth players.

Luis Enrique’s last encounter as a manager in European competition came with Roma when they were upset in the 2011-2012 Europa League playoffs by Slovan Bratislava. Luis Enrique suffered criticism for his handling of that tie and he will now get a second chance to improve his record in European competition. Nevertheless, there are lingering questions for Barça for this upcoming Champions League campaign.

Will Lucho pull an Ancelotti and go with a different starting keeper for Champions League action and one for league action? Claudio Bravo has been his starter in all 3 league matches but with Ter Stegen deemed fit, will Luis Enrique give the young German keeper his first competitive debut or will the manager stick with Claudio Bravo. With Luis Suarez set to miss the first three matches of the group stage, will Lucho go with experience in Neymar and Pedro or trust his young starlets Munir and Sandro to start up front with Messi or mix it up?

Champions League never gets dull regardless of what group your club is in. Barça kick off their campaign in a group that has a bit history in terms of rivalry, influence, and underdog elements to it. Tomorrow will see Barça begin a new quest and for the Blaugrana faithful, one can hope it ends in success on June 6^th in Berlin.

Is it time to end the Diego Costa Experiment?

With only a handful of matches with the Spanish national team, is it time for Vicente Del Bosque to end the Diego Costa experiment? There clearly is a clash of styles and one has to wonder if Costa’ presence is a hindrance on the team as they plan on getting over their recent World Cup fiasco.

Diego Costa is a dangerous forward that many teams would be lucky to have. He commands the attention of opposing team defenders and is the type of player you would rather have on your team than face. In other words, you’d hate him if he was on any other team except your own. Nevertheless, it seems that Spain and Diego Costa are not hitting on all cylinders which is perhaps a sign that this experiment was not meant to be.

Diego Costa’s inclusion to the Spanish national team prior to the 2014 World Cup seemed like a masterstroke by Del Bosque. He managed to obtain the services of one of the most dangerous forwards in the game and at the time same, deprive a contender of his services. One has to wonder what might have happened if that was Diego Costa out there, and not Fred, playing for Brazil this past summer. However, one team’s loss was not another team’s gain.

Diego Costa, along with many other players representing Spain, suffered a grueling a domestic campaign that saw Atlético Madrid capture the league title and make it to the Champions League final. However, Diego Costa was forced to leave the pitch in two pivotal matches at the end of the season, very early into the game, because of injuries. It was no surprise that he was a non-factor for Spain at the World Cup afterwards. Yet, watching Costa play for Spain is like putting a square peg in a round hole.

As I indicated before, he has played a handful of matches for Spain. However, in the five matches he has played he has failed to score and quite frankly offer anything. To be fair, Diego Costa did indicate that he needs to adapt to the team’s style.  Del Bosque also indicated that the team must connect with him.  However, that train of thought is hurting Spain’s progress from their recent World Cup fiasco.

Diego Costa is a dangerous forward as evidenced by his four goals already with Chelsea in just three matches. He has shined under Diego Simeone and is likely to do well for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho. However, those two managers are known for relying on a style of football that is quite the contrast that Spain has relied on over the years. The two styles cannot mesh together and deliver a beautiful product.

Thus, it’s time for Del Bosque to admit defeat and pull the plug on this experiment.  He does not have to drop Costa off the team but perhaps he can bring him on as a plan B substitute much like he used Llorente against Portugal in World Cup 2010. Speaking of Llorente, what happened to him and why does Del Bosque not even call him anymore is another mystery in itself.  One mystery at a time, but the solution to what’s ailing Spain was shown in their victory over Macedonia.

Spain just needs to go back to basics and rely on players who can move around the pitch in a way that gets teams dizzy. False number nine or not, their style is only suited for those who can adapt to it. Diego Costa’s style is more suitable for the direct approach which clashes with this style and hence it cannot work. Even though Metallica managed to make heavy metal and symphony orchestra work, you cannot expect it to work all the time. That is why Del Bosque needs to do away with the Diego Costa experiment and stick with what made this team successful in the first without experimenting.

Luis Enrique’s First Big Test Arrives.

Well, Luis Enrique’s era as Barça manager has gotten off to a perfect start by sitting atop of the league standings. Barça are the only team to win their first two matches of the season but with the international break coming to an end, Luis Enrique will now encounter his first big test as Barça manager.

So far, things are going alright for Luis Enrique. His faith in the Barça B players and bench players has come in handy as he deals with numerous starters suffering injuries. Munir has stepped in adequately into the starting lineup and Sandro came off the bench to score the only goal in their victory over Villarreal. We will see how long he will continue to rely on these young players when the likes of Neymar and Suarez are fit for action in the near future.  The international break provided Luis Enrique with a superb opportunity for the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Pique, Ter Stegen and Vermaelen to recover from injuries or knocks by staying home and not be subjected to international duty full of additional wear and tear.

Luis Enrique will need all his players healthy due to the upcoming brutal schedule. Barça are set to play six matches in the next three weeks. This means that there will be limited rest for the players as they recuperate on a few days rest between matches. One can only hope that Luis Enrique will juggle lineups to keep everyone fresh as they embark on the 2014-2015 UEFA Champions League campaign while trying to remain league leaders.

This weekend will see the Blaugrana host Athletic on the 13^th which will be no walk in the park between two teams playing in this season’s Champions League. Following this clash of Champions League teams, Barça will kick off their Champions League campaign when they host Cyprus side APOEL on the 17^th. Barça will then switch their attention to back to back away fixtures to Levante on the 21st and then Malaga on the 24^th.  The month then concludes with the Blaugrana hosting Granada on the 27th before traveling to France to face Paris Saint-Germain on the 30^th.

As clearly shown, that’s a lot of games and traveling and not enough time for rest and recovery for the players. Luis Enrique’s first test will be how he handles this month. Will he be able to have his players perform well in both competitions and can he keep his players well rested? Will he rotate players and perhaps drop Messi from the odd game and continue to rely on Barça B players? This test will show us if Luis Enrique can handle the demands of this job and for the sake of the Blaugrana faithful, we hope he can.

International break a blessing in disguise.

Once again, the poorly timed international break is forced upon us by FIFA. Countries playing in meaningless friendlies just two weeks after the domestic leagues have started never ceases to rile up club supporters. It disrupts the rhythm of the players getting used to playing with new teammates or under a new manager, or in Barça’s case, both. It also can lead to injuries which impacts the clubs they play for. For once however, this international break came at a good time for Barça.

Usually, the international break usually means Barça see their players coming back from international duty full of extra wear and tear along with some small knocks or serious injuries. However, this time around, a few Barça players were knocked out of representing their national teams because of pre-existing injuries. Messi suffered a hamstring injury against Villarreal while Iniesta has some discomfort in his knee, Ter Stegen is recovering from a back injury, Pique isn’t 100% fit and is feeling some discomfort while Vermaelen is on his road to recovery from his thigh injury. With Barça’s next game in another week, this week off has been a blessing for them to recuperate.

Barça’s next match is at home to the ever dangerous Athletic Bilbao on September 13. For those who are hurt or recovering from small knocks, this week off is a godsend. Barça are off to a perfect start to their league campaign while their arch-rivals Real Madrid already sputtered by losing 4-2 to Real Sociedad. Barça will need their best players to beat Athletic, who are considered one of the best teams to fight for a Champions League spot after finishing 4th last season and qualifying to this year’s Champions League group stages.

With Barça set to play 6 matches in 3 weeks, this extra rest will come in handy. They face Athletic on the 13th, kick off their Champions League campaign at the Camp Nou against APOEL on the 17th, play away to Levante on the 21st and also Malaga on the 24th, host Granada on the 27th before concluding the month with a trip to France to face PSG. Not a lot of rest between games so Luis Enrique will have his work cut out for him and a well-rested and healthy squad is clearly beneficial for him. The only concern is that we hope that this break does not result in injuries to the current Barça players representing their countries. The FIFA Transfer ban is in effect so it’s either stay healthy or rely on the Barça B players for Luis Enrique. Fingers crossed we have all the players healthy for this month.