Barcelona’s poor performance, described by manager Luis Enrique as their worst during his time in charge, in Sunday’s highly fortuitous 1-1 draw at Real Sociedad was no great surprise.
It was no great surprise partly due to the opposition – the Basques are a good side who are in great form, especially at their Anoeta ground where Barca historically always seem to struggle, failing to win there since 2007.
But the manner of Barca’s dismal display was also fairly predictable because they have been well below par for weeks now, dropping points with alarming regularity and only just sneaking victories even when they have prevailed.
Looking back over the campaign, there are only really two or three occasions when Barca could be said to have offered a good all-round performance: the thumping opening day win over Real Betis, the Champions League home victory against Manchester City, and the 5-0 league triumph at Sporting Gijon.
Those exceptions aside, none of the Blaugrana’s displays have been particularly convincing this season, and they are probably a touch fortunate to only be six points behind Real Madrid going into Saturday’s Clasico at the Nou Camp.
As always, much of the problems currently being experienced by Barca – and the potential solution – centre around Lionel Messi, who scored an excellent equaliser at the Anoeta on Sunday but was otherwise exceptionally quiet, touching the ball just 58 times – fewer than 11 other players on the pitch.
Getting the best out of Messi has always been, and will continue to be, the greatest challenge for any Barca manager, and for a long time Enrique achieved exactly that by lining up the Argentine star on the right wing in a 4-3-3 formation, ending his occupation of a more central ‘false nine’ role.
Although Messi has always had liberty to drift inside, his position on the right wing was fairly rigid during the heights of Enrique’s time in charge, the treble-winning climax to the 2014/15 season.
Messi would form passing triangles with his right-back and right-sided midfielder, generally Dani Alves and Ivan Rakitic, probing for space in the opposition defence, and then cut infield to link up with Luis Suarez or arrow dangerous angled passes to Neymar and Jordi Alba on the left wing.
This approach often proved unstoppable, especially with Neymar, Alba and Andres Iniesta teaming up to do the same thing on the other side. If Barca’s right didn’t get you, their left would, and most opposition found it impossible to guard both sides while also keeping Suarez in check in the middle. Now, however, for some inexplicable reason, Barca have deviated from the 4-3-3 that served them so well and shifted to the 4-4-2 formation they employed on Sunday, with Messi and Suarez in the middle.
It isn’t working at all, with a huge disconnect between the back eight and the front two meaning that Messi generally receives the ball in positions where he has few passing options. The 4-4-2 experiment should be scrapped. Barca had a system which was working perfectly for them – the 4-3-3 should be reintroduced immediately.
Barcelona's form away to Real Sociedad:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) November 27, 2016
LDLDLLLD
Goals: 8
Conceded: 14
Barcelona haven't won at the Anoeta since 2007. 😳 pic.twitter.com/1f2hsOfxra
