This was a guest post by Christopher Malcolm. Give him a follow on Twitter or Instagram!
They only had one job. All Barcelona had to do to top the group today was to not get blown out by Juventus. They fell short. Since I’ve missed writing about a couple games now due to work commitments, I wanted to write something about this one. But, quite simply, the explanation is fairly simple. We are not a good team, right now.
We’re not bad in the sense that we have bad players. Not many teams in the world can lay claim to multiple World Cup winners suiting up for them every week. And, even though we are a young team, the collection of young players we do have on the roster would be the envy of most clubs in the world. Imagine what a better organized team like Bayern Munich might be able to do with the likes of Puig, Pedri, Alena, and Araujo. It should also be said that while a simple explanation for our malaise this year would be that a lot of young players are getting minutes, truth be told the youngsters haven’t really been the problem.
In fact, I would argue that the most significant moment of the season so far has been largely overlooked: the injury to Ansu Fati. Yes, I realize we still have Messi. And I’m not suggesting the youngster has supplanted the G.O.A.T. in the pecking order. But, when Ansu got injured, he was the team’s leading scorer and arguably the most dangerous offensive threat. He personally solved the team’s width problem, speed problem, and scoring problem all in one. And though he suited up most games on the wing, his surprise start as a number nine in El Clasico points to the fact that he might also have been an option as a number nine.
Without him, the team is left without any real wing options on the left. You can put Dembele there. But A) he still seems better coming from the right and B) putting Dembele on the left means you now need to figure out what to do on the right. That leaves you with Messi or Trincao. Both of whom tend to spend the game drifting in from the sidelines into a more central position. Then, with Dembele injured, you are left with Coutinho or Pedri on the left, who both also like to drift in centrally. You already are playing with Griezmann who tends to end up in the same area. So now you have a collection of talented players who all unfortunately want to occupy the exact same patch of grass.
Adding Braithwaite was a good choice. The one player that wants to play as the point of attack. Not that Koeman really had a choice given that Braithwaite is literally the only true 9 on the roster. His workrate and positioning definitely helps. But that still leaves you with a choice of who to put in the 10 role behind him. Messi, Griezmann, Coutinho, Pedri, and Puig are all suited for that role. But they can’t all be on the pitch at the same time. And they have all proven far less effective when moved to other positions. The cruel irony behind the reckless spending spree of the Bartomeu era isn’t only that he overspent, but also that he seems to have spent all of the money to address one position. A position which, coincidentally, happens to be already occupied by the greatest player of all time.
Koeman could change the formation back to the 4-3-3. Although I’m not 100% sure that solves the glut of number 10s on the roster. In a 4-3-3, that puts Braithwaite in the middle, Messi back on the right, and Dembele on the left. But that leaves no room for Griezmann who has proven he is neither a winger nor number 9. Coutinho has proven he can’t play on the wing. Theoretically he could play as a midfielder, but he didn’t prove himself super successful playing midfield in the 4-3-3 in his first go around. Besides, in a 4-3-3 midfield, you have to assume De Jong gets the deep lying role, leaving two more slots for Pedri (who seems to be able to adjust to playing anywhere) and ideally Puig. That leaves Busquets and Pjanic on the bench. Although, my inclusion of Puig is admittedly wishful thinking. I’m not sure if Riqui made a pass at Koeman’s wife or simply reminds Koeman of his least favorite son, but the coach does seem determined to only go to the kid in times of desperation.
Speaking of desperation, we finally did get to see the kid in the Juventus game and, while not perfect, he did pretty darn well. Puig’s default mode is to try to move the ball forward. This may seem like a foreign language in recent iterations of the Barcelona midfield, but, in the end, this is the direction the ball should go. Puig brings creativity and energy to a midfield that desperately lacks both. I realize that’s throwing yet another 10 into the mix of a team that already has far too many of them. But, Koeman would do well to try and get the kid more minutes, even if it means trying him out in other positions.
Speaking of youngsters, Araujo and Mingueza have both made costly mistakes in the last couple of games. Yet, it is arguable that the pairing may start a lot of games together in the near future. Lenglet is usually Steady Eddie in defense, but has had an unusually high share of bumbles this year. Pique is out for the rest of the season likely. Even if he does return before season’s end, it’s hard to see his career lasting more than two more seasons. Umtiti, once my favorite Blaugrana player, doesn’t seem likely to ever regain his true potential, which is saddest of all. And with the lack of funds in the bank, it seems likely that signing a big name center-back seems unlikely, if even necessary.
Barcelona is a bad team right now not because they lack talent, but because, at the moment, they are a team that just seems to find a way to lose. There are times when your team is less talented than you would like, but still finds a way to win. Many of the Valverde teams were like this. Then there are teams that should win and seem to always find a way to win no matter what. These are the teams that win championships. Then, there are teams that have the talent to win, but just can’t quite put it all together and seem to always fall apart when it counts. They are clearly better than most of their opponents, but they just can’t seem to put the ball in the net. That is where Barcelona is right now.
Thankfully, the operative words in that sentence are “right now.” Here in the U.S., there is a phrase we use: “rebuilding year.” It’s when a team has been good for a long time, but has begun to fade. The management blows up the roster, lets a lot of veterans go, hands the keys to the youngsters, and accepts the fact that some losses will come with the territory. Those seasons can be tough to sit through for fans. But, ultimately they are necessary for long term success.
The new energy brought by Koeman made me, at first, forget for a moment that we are, in fact, in a rebuilding year. Even I, the eternal optimist, don’t have very high hopes for us to win La Liga. At this point, I’m just hoping we win enough games to qualify for next year’s Champions League. My mind even started to wander the other day to where exactly one goes to watch Europa League games. And despite that this is our first loss in Champions League this year, a closer examination of our group competition hints at the fact that a previously undefeated record might not have been such an accomplishment.
I do hold out hope that we can catch fire in the back half of the season and go on a run in both La Liga and Champions League. In fact, I not only hope for it, I expect it. Why? Because despite games like the last couple, we are not barren of talent. Puig, Pedri, Araujo, Mingueza, Dest, De Jong, Alena, Dembele, Konrad, and Trincao are all talents that should only grow into the shirt as time goes along.
This year is forcing us to accept a couple facts of life. We have way too many number 10s on the same roster. Busquets is now too slow to keep up with the opposition without using his hands and is thus getting more yellow cards than usual. Pique’s decision not to have surgery on his knee was actually logical for someone who knows their career is coming to an end sooner rather than later. Messi is still the G.O.A.T., and will always be, but even he doesn’t beat players one-on-one with the same regularity he is used to. Don’t get me wrong. He’s still the best. But we shouldn’t be looking to him to win every game for us single handedly anymore.
But along with those facts of life, there are definite upsides to this rebuilding season. Our youngsters are getting a solid amount of playing time which will steel them for the future. Fati and Pedri have announced themselves not only as rotational players but absolutely key players to the team going forward. In fact, prior to his injury, I was starting to look to Fati to save us in games the way I am used to looking to Leo. Both Araujo and Mingueza have proven themselves capable of starting big games and should only continue to improve. And apparently Koeman has remembered that he has Riquii Puig on the bench as an option. He may not be getting many starts yet, but I can dream.
This season may be proving more disappointing than we may have wanted. But we are building something. And by the time the new board (and likely new coach) come into place, we will have a core of young talent with skill and experience to carry on the mantle when The Great Man exits the stage.
Watching the Juventus game sucked. But I’m holding out hope that it will ultimately make for a better tomorrow. Visca Barca.
