Barça’s customary weaknesses reared their ugly heads again following some less than impressive recent performances in the league. Their inability to get the best of their opponents who prefer to sit back and be defensive along with not having a deep enough squad raised some red flags about their chances winning both the league and European crown. Perhaps the solution lies with looking elsewhere for players to provide Tata Martino with a successful Plan B and a deep enough squad to overcome injuries. Barça needs to be proactive and not reactive when it comes to transfer.
Barça’s recent draws against Atlético Madrid and Levante saw them drop points against teams willing to defend while only scoring one goal. With the first leg against Manchester City is less than a month away, these types of performances brought back memories to Barça coming up short in Champions League Semi-Finals against Manchester United, Inter Milan and Chelsea. In those ties, Barça enjoyed a lion’s share of possession but could only generate a few scoring chances which resulted in ever fewer goals.
Watching this team come up short back then and now means the club needs to address this problem. Part of the problem lies with not having an adequate plan to confront these teams that park the bus. The other problem is also not having adequate squad depth to compensate if they lose players to injuries. This team struggled to defeat Levante last weekend while missing Dani Alves, Iniesta and Neymar. Those who were asked to fill in failed to adequately replace those missing stars.
Furthermore, just relying on the same style with some tweaks is not enough. Sure, it is great to rely on the long ball at times to catch the opponent off guard, but merely swapping players while using the same system is no adequate backup plan. Thus, the club’s best option is to pursue players in this transfer window period.
It’s no secret that I have always been a firm believer that this club has lacked a true aerial threat type of player who commanded a physical presence to attract defenders such as Julio Salinas and Patrick Kluivert in the past. Guardiola had his heart in the right place when the club signed Ibrahimovic but the player refused to adapt and was more inclined to score through amazing spin kicks and not by simply heading the ball in.True, Neymar was signed as the X factor to solve these types of problems. However, they can pursue players such as Miroslav Klose to be a weapon off the bench to help in implementing the plan B. He is not cup tied with regards to the Champions League and is at an age where he probably wouldn’t mind being a role player much like Henrik Larsson was.
Moreover, it is clear that the club is lacking adequate depth to compensate players who are injured. With Iniesta out, the club is relying on up and coming Sergi Roberto but he is not at the level to be considered as a sufficient replacement. Thiago’s departure is felt in moments like this where you wish the club handled his situation properly. Afellay has returned from his injury and perhaps can fill in for him but perhaps the club can scout and find someone of caliber, on loan even, to fill in for his absence.
The biggest pressing need though is for the club to sign someone in the hear t of the defense. Puyol still does seem to be fully fit which makes it difficult to rely on him being there down the stretch. That only leaves the club with just Pique and Bartra as the two centerbacks of this club along with Mascherano. If either of them suffers a long term injury, then this club would be handcuffed the rest of the season by relying on a few players to be the centerbacks. Bartra’s injury scare should serve as a warning shot for the club to scout the globe and bring someone in now.
It’s about time the club began to be proactive and not reactive to address the team’s needs. Barça cannot wait till someone goes down to a long term injury to start planning for the future. They need to realize that there are some needs that should be addressed now and not till the summer. Signing players now much like they did with Afellay a few years ago, or Edgar Davids, on loan back, in 2003-2004 season, should be looked into to strengthen this squad for the second half of the season and give this club other means of attack.
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