Dissecting the disappointment: 4 key reasons for Barcelona’s failure this season
25 Apr, 2012 Jonathan F Europe, Latest, Spain, UEFA Champions League

The first thing to point out here is that this is no obituary piece.

Barcelona are not in crisis, this is not intended to imply that Barça are a crumbling empire or spent force (let’s see what Pep Guardiola decides regarding his future first) and this is not meant to be an overly critical sharpening of the knives.

On their day Barcelona are still, probably, the best team in the world and thirteen trophies in three years is no bad haul whichever way you look at it. As Fernando Torres put it after his goal helped send Chelsea through to the Champions League final: “we could only qualify by playing this way. (‘This way’ meaning defensively, with only 18.3% average possession over two legs). “Barcelona is the best team in the world.”

However, that said, watching Barcelona both in recent weeks and through the season, there are undoubtedly some problems at Camp Nou.

True, at this exalted level the margins are extremely fine, and what constitutes a problem in Catalunya might pass for a luxury in around 90% of all the clubs in world football. But such is life at the top.

Thus, here are four reasons that, combined, have contributed to the Barcelona of 2011/2012 conceding both their La Liga and Champions League crowns:

1) A squad lacking depth in key areas, part I – the defence
As far as recognised defenders go Barcelona have just four – Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal and Adriano. Six if you count youngsters Andreu Fontas – he of less than 10 first team starts – and Marc Bartra, but in terms of top-level experience and proven quality, just four recognised defenders.

Really, that is a staggering fact for a team chasing trophies in every competition available. By contrast Real Madrid have eight – and that’s without dipping into the cantera.

Javier Mascherano’s reinvention as a centre back, borne almost out of necessity at the back end of last season and carried through, has seen him used there almost all season by Guardiola. Tactically speaking, for the way Barcelona want to play, there is debate to be had concerning the merits of playing a converted defensive midfielder at the back.

But at a mere 5′8, the Argentine strikes no fear into the heart of towering centre forwards like Didier Drogba or Zlatan Ibrahimovic and is prone to moments of obvious positional naivety in the role, as witnessed in the build-up to Chelsea’s goal at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League semi-final first leg.

By his own admission, Mascherano has had to adapt, with some degree of difficulty. “It’s not easy adapting and it’s been strange to leave the midfield, my natural role, but I feel comfortable with Piqué and Puyol,” he says.

Throw Abidal’s health problems into the mix and you have just three recognised, top class defenders available. One, Puyol, is 34. Such lack of cover in defence is plainly unsustainable over a season, and has proved costly. Barcelona have conceded more goals in La Liga now, with 4 games remaining (26), than they did in the entirety of their last two seasons (21 in 2010/11 and 24 in 2009/10).

In this light, the decision to sell Maxwell to PSG in January seems baffling.

2) A squad lacking depth in key areas, part II – attack
Again, this boils down to a squad that looks both positionally and numerically lopsided. The injury to David Villa back in December was a cruel blow, and on such twists of fate do seasons hinge. But again, where is the back-up? Where is the squad depth? Where are the options?

This may come down to matters of tactical style (some might think of Alexis Sanchez and Lionel Messi as natural strikers. I don’t). But it is within reason to conclude that in Villa, Barcelona only have one recognised, out-and-out centre forward. Real Madrid have two (Benzema and Higuain). Valencia have two (Soldado and Aduriz). Malaga have three (Julio Baptista, Rondon, Ruud van Nistelrooy). And that’s just La Liga!

This does have an impact.

In Spain, while Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fight it out for the Pichichi, behind them Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema are 4th and 5th in the goalscoring charts with 21 and 18 league goals respectively. That’s ignoring Ronaldo’s 42.

Meanwhile Barça’s next top scorer behind Messi is the 13th highest in La Liga – Alexis Sanchez with 11, the same number as Real Sociedad’s Carlos Vela.  They’ve been very unfortunate to have to do without Villa, but the impact from Barcelona’s support cast hasn’t quite been as effective as Villa, Pedro and co last season.

How an extra target man might have helped offer Barça a plan B at times of emergency this season. Someone like that tall Swedish guy at AC Milan, perhaps….

3) Fatigue and an ever-so slight drop in level
As mentioned earlier, the margins at this level of the game are very, very fine indeed. We’re talking wafer-thin margins here, but it does seem apparent of late that Barcelona’s level has dropped slightly in both the intensity of their pressing and the speed of their passing.

“Barcelona are reminiscent of the great Dutch teams who attacked with and without the ball,” UEFA’s technical director Andy Roxburgh observed last season. This remark has largely remained true this year, but lately Guardiola’s team appear to have played with far less of their customary vim and vigour.

A look at the sheer number of games played by some of their key players, and we can begin to see why:


Barcelona: Games played by key players 2009-2012 up to and including 25.4.12 (stats via Espn Soccernet)
“Suddenly the passes aren’t fizzing around midfield with the same pace and accuracy,” Jonathan Wilson recently noted in a piece for Sports Illustrated. 686 games in 3 seasons between four players – a staggeringly large number – helps explain why.

Has some degree of understandable and inevitable fatigue led to a drop in Barça’s overall level?

Possession-wise Barcelona’s stats are the same – in Europe they’ve averaged 68% possession again, exactly the same figure as last season. They have however been far more profligate in front of goal. Last season the Catalans averaged 6.23 shots off target per game (81) in total. This season that figure has increased to 9.25 per game and 111 in total – more off target than any other team in the competition.

Even Guardiola has looked slightly world-weary of late. Being so good, for so long, can take its toll.

4) No clearly defined style / Guardiola turns Tinkerman
In UEFA’s 2011 post-season Champions League Technical Report, comment was made regarding an “accentuated trend towards a 4-2-3-1 structure.” “Of the teams who reached the knockout rounds,” UEFA observed, “nine opted for this formation, with six adopting a 4-4-2.”

“The glaring exception to this rule was FC Barcelona – the only team in the last 16 to operate a clear 4-3-3 with a single screening midfielder. Barça’s variation on the 4-3-3 theme stems from the positioning of Lionel Messi, a player who cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be labelled a target striker.”

This year, be it out of necessity, overthinking, or just downright tinkering on Guardiola’s part, Barcelona’s system has been anything but clear. Be it a 3-4-3, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 3-1-4-2 or even 3-3-4, both the shape and the personnel within those various systems has altered repeatedly.

Xavi previously observed that the 3-4-3 shape “makes it harder for us to defend” and, ultimately, it seems Guardiola’s constant fine-tuning in search of perfection – admirable as it is – may have cost Barcelona at key moments in the season, the recent clasico defeat one pertinent example.

When trying to make a reasoned analysis as to where things may have gone wrong for Barcelona this season, it is important to note, as stated, the extremely fine line between success and failure.

Guardiola’s side hit the woodwork numerous times in both games against Chelsea – any of those shots go in and instead we’re discussing a triumphant return to a third Champions League final in four seasons. Despite the disappointment, Barcelona have remained competitive throughout most of the season and still have a Copa del Rey final to look forward to.

Nevertheless some will still look upon this season as a failure, and this piece I hope touches on some of the reasons why.

“We will come back stronger,” vowed Cesc Fabregas after the Chelsea game, and few would bet against him. The key for the Catalans now is whether Guardiola signs a new contract.

Why do you think Barcelona faltered this season? Comments welcome below.

(photo credit: N i c o_ via Flickr)

Alexis Sanchez, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Champions League, David Villa, FC Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola, Rise and Fall, Spain, Spanish Primera Division, Xavi

http://www.just-football.com/2012/04/dissecting-disappointment-4-key-reasons-for-barcelona-failure-this-season/