The honeymoon period is over, and Lewandowski can't be trusted!No wonder Barcelona are in a hurry to sign Brazilian youngster Roque
When the referee blew the final whistle, Raphinha collapsed on the Mestalla pitch and covered his face with his jersey. Despite their efforts and the chances they created, Barcelona managed to win a 1-1 draw away at Valencia on Saturday. The defending La Liga champions have once again failed to take all three points.
Raphinha was one of the most active players of the game and also provided the assist for Felix.
Raphinha worked until the last minute, creating chances to win by running off the ball, but his choices at key moments were not very reasonable. This means that he did not deliver the desired outcome for the team. He himself was aware of this.
Just a few metres away from Raphinha, Lewandowski stood with his hands on his hips, staring blankly at the Brazilian winger.
Another day without a goal!This must have been Lewandowski's inner monologue at the time.
Seconds later, Lewandowski walked to the stadium's visiting fan zone to applaud the Barça fans who had driven more than 200 miles (about 350 kilometers) to Valencia, before walking into the players' tunnel and back to the dressing room.
We must be one of the worst teams in Europe in terms of efficiency. Barcelona boss Xavi said in his post-match press conference, "The same thing happened in our matches against Mallorca and Granada (both 2-2 draws) ......Against Atletico (1-0 win), we could have won without such a hard time, as they came close to levelling at one point. Against Girona, we could have won 2-1 or drawn 3-3 (and ended up losing 2-4). Our efficiency is not very high. ”
Harvey's words were to the point. Indeed, according to OPTA, Barcelona have missed the most great chances in the first half (23) and full-time (41) of Europe's top five leagues this season.
Barcelona still created enough chances last Saturday, but they scored just one goal against a team that has struggled lately. Valencia are winless in the league since the start of November, and the club and their chairman and owner, Lim Eng Hock, seem to be in perpetual crisis.
Barcelona created more chances than in recent games and worked together more closely in midfield, but those were not enough for them to win. Xavi's side got 16 shots on goal – eight on target, four off target and four blocked. They had five great chances but missed four of them. Valencia, on the other hand, didn't create many dangerous chances other than that goal. To sum it up, it is that Barcelona has an XG value of 324, while Valencia is only 054。
Although Barcelona are better than their opponents in terms of expected goals (xg), they have not reached the number of goals to match:
Against Girona (2-4 loss): 425 vs 2.94 xg (Barcelona in front).
v Real Madrid (1-2 loss): 132 vs 0.96 xg (Barcelona in front).
v Granada (2-2 draw): 300 vs 0.61 xg (Barcelona in front).
The reason for this result may come from their center forward.
Lewandowski once again contributed a game of 0 goals. Against Antwerp in the Champions League in midweek, he didn't have a single shot on target or off target – not the first time this season. He had 3 shots on target, 2 off target and 1 blocked.
In most other games, Lewandowski will complain that his team-mates don't pay enough attention to him and that he can't play an attacking role if his teammates don't create opportunities for him. This time, the team really continued to support him. Despite his efforts, he did not open his account for the goal.
Lewandowski joined Barcelona as a superstar last summer and was tasked with leading the team into a transition period in the "post-Messi era" after signing. Despite his good start to the season, he doesn't seem to be the team leader Barca need.
The phenomenal performance of the Polish centre-forward and the tight defense were the main reasons why Barcelona were able to win the La Liga title last season. Lewandowski doesn't seem to have stopped scoring goals. Before the start of the World Cup, Lewandowski scored 13 goals in La Liga and 18 goals in all competitions.
However, since returning from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he has been different, although he still scored 33 goals in all competitions last season and was the top scorer in La Liga with 23 goals.
This season, the 35-year-old has scored just eight league goals. His efficiency and the sense of pressure he gave to the opposition before scoring goals can be said to have plummeted compared to last season. Prior to the game against Alaves, he had failed to score in six consecutive games.
After Lewandowski moved to Barcelona from Bayern Munich, he was able to communicate actively with his teammates on the pitch, especially with young players. Now, when the ball isn't passed to him, he's turned that communication into an attitude of constant anger or complaining. One of the obvious examples of this is his accusation against Yamal, which went viral on the Internet. You know, Yamal is just a young player who is less than half his age.
In addition, Lewandowski has been very inconsistent in possession in recent games and has not been actively involved in the team's high press. Barcelona suffered as a result.
All of this has left this Barcelona team uneasy and a big reason why Barcelona decided to bring in Brazilian striker Vitor Roque in the winter window.
La Liga allows any team the opportunity to sign an additional player if a player has been injured for 4 months or more. They were allowed to use 80% of the injured player's value to complete the signing of a new player, and Gavi's unexpected injury gave Barcelona such a chance.
Despite leaving a void in midfield, Gavi is in fact using the opportunity to sign a new striker. It also sends us a message that solving the goal problem is now Barca's top priority.