The giants compete, and if they are not strong enough, they are guilty. Xavi, who won the La Liga title last season, naturally knows how powerless Barcelona is this season. But the Barcelona lineup, old and small, lacks a stable framework and core players, what to take to defend the title?
The reporter reported coldlyThe past week has been terrible for Barca. First of all, Montjuïc was defeated by Girona 4-2 at home in the league, and the neighboring team topped the La Liga tableIn the final round of the Champions League group stage, Antwerp, the weakest guest, actually let the opponent who lost 5 in a row get the only win;Xavi's side continued to drop points in a league trip to Valencia in the bottom half of the league last weekend, pushing the Bats into the top half of the league for a long time. In just one week, Barcelona has not won 3 consecutive games, conceded 8 goals, and is at least 7 points away from the top of La Liga.
World Sports lamented: For nearly three months, this Barcelona team has not shown the form of defending champions. The whole team didn't know how to kill the game, lacked personality, lacked tactical diversity, and lacked superstars who could step up in key moments. People don't even need to miss Messi, and even if Suarez, Busquets and Pique were still around, they probably wouldn't be the ...... they are today
Felix, who scored against Valencia last weekend, did not celebrate because he feared Raphinha's assist could be offside. This lack of confidence in scoring goals is in a way a microcosm of Barcelona's recent form. Xavi mentioned the issue of efficiency in front of goal 14 times after the game, and Barcelona have created 64 good chances this season, the most in the top five leagues. However, the goal conversion rate is only 31%, and the ranking is as low as 76th. A combined total of 44 missed chances are also the top of the top five leagues, nine more than second-placed Chelsea. The team has not scored more than two goals in 16 consecutive games since the end of September, and after this round, La Liga has scored 31 goals and a goal difference of 12, both of which are the fewest in the top five.
Last weekend's trip to Valencia was a case in point: eight of 16 shots on goal created five great chances, with only Felix holding one. The expected goals for this campaign are 345, but only 1 goal was scored. Valencia coach Baraja praised goalkeeper Mamadashvili's bravery, but the truth is more about Barca's lack of finishing skills. Barcelona have a total of 38 expected goals in La Liga this season5 goals, but only 31 were achieved, the only team in the top 4 of La Liga to score fewer goals than expected. Atletico scored 3 more goals than expected9, Real Madrid have 5 more goals than expected, Gironado 74 pcs.
The biggest name Lewandowski's decline in form is particularly prominent: Lewandowski scored 23 goals and 7 assists in 34 La Liga games last season, and scored 5 goals in 5 games in the Champions LeagueThis season, 8 goals and 3 assists in 15 games in La Liga and 1 goal and 1 assist in 5 games in the Champions League. In addition to the average number of goals per game (118 minutes down to 175 minutes), the Polish striker has had a nine-game goal drought since the end of September. Zero data against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and goals against dark horse Girona but unable to recover the heavy defeat. In the Champions League, Lewandowski played a pass against the weakest Antwerp in the first game, and then had zero data in all 4 games. If you only look at the last 3 months, only 3 goals have been scored in 13 games, which is not at all like Lewandowski's statistics.
The same is true for Felix, with three goals and two assists in four games in September, but at the same time as Lewandowski, three goals and one assist in the last 15 games. The three-goal upswing in the last four games is not enough to solve the problem of lack of attacking power. Ferran Torres and Raphinha are no exceptions, just as high and low. Although Raphinha has provided assists in three consecutive games, his efficiency in front of goal is still surprisingly low.
The front court can't score, the back field can't defend, and trying to keep the goal is not lost, for Barcelona, it is a link that needs to be changed as urgently as the goal. Barcelona have won just three of their eight away league games this season, dropping 10 points. Although Barcelona are unbeaten away with 3 wins and 5 draws, they have won 3 fewer games than Real Madrid and 4 fewer than Girona. Poor defense is the main reason. Only 2 clean sheets in 8 games, and only 1 clean sheet in the last 7 away games, conceding as many as 10 goals in total!The number of away goals conceded is joint seventh in the league, along with Alaves and Villarreal in the bottom half. Tied with Atletico for third with 13 away goals, but four less than Real Madrid and seven less than Girona at the top of the table!
After two years in charge, Xavi still emphasized that "the team is still rebuilding", but Barcelona, which is heavily in debt, cost 25.6 billion euros to sign 20 players, including Brazilian teenager Roque (40 million euros), who will join the team in the winter. It also signed 10 senior players for free and moved up 10 rookies from the echelon. In addition to Felix, Kessie, Bellerin, and Cancelo, the rest of the free players are veterans over 30 years old, and the veterans who spent the transfer fee are Lewandowski, who was introduced for 45 million euros.
Xavi has a reason to complain, Barcelona's squad is thin, and the main players Araujo, Pedri and Gavi were seriously injured at the beginning of the season, and the team's performance immediately fluctuated. Lewandowski did not receive enough midfield support, and Raphinha and Ferran Torres, who are worth more than 50 million euros, could not match their value. In addition to being one year older, the introduced Gundogan has not been tactically integrated into the team.
In addition to left-back Balde and central defender Araujo, midfielder Fermin, strikers Yamal and Giu have not yet fully established themselves in the first team. It is indeed difficult for such a team with veterans without a core and rookies to play a championship-level stable performance. Harvey is indeed a difficult cooker.
What's worse is that the exact opposite of Lewandowski's form is the salary: Lewandowski earned 20 million euros a year last season, 26 million this season, and 32 million next season. In order to make room for salary recruitment, the Barcelona top management is said to be interested in Lewandowski next summer, and the shadow of the very low cost performance of the Bartomeu era seems to have reappeared in the Laporta era. At the same time, the 50 million central defender Kounde, the 55 million winger Ferran Torres, and the 58 million winger Raphinha have not performed satisfactorily this season. At least half of the huge investments of more than 200 million euros have not fully proven their worth.
Laporta, who once accused Bartomeu of extravagance and waste in the ball market, is now becoming Bartomeu's ......
Of course, the player's performance is not up to expectations, and it is not only the responsibility of the recruitment department, but also the responsibility of the coaching staff. The more Barça's performance struggled, the more stress and anxiety Xavi became. Of course, he has always been aware of his Barca's fate, as he said to Laporta on his return: "I will be criticized by the outside world one day, you have to be mentally prepared." ”