Barcelona version 2010-2011: Can Messi lead the club to more titles?

Barcelona had a busy summer, no doubt about that. Election campaigns, transfer rumors, new board, players bought, players sold, hatred tsunami generated by the propaganda of fake interviews, lot of pride coming from the club’s contribution in the world cup winner’s squad and football style, you name it. But that’s all history. Is this Barcelona better or worse than last season's liga winners and Champions' league semi finalists?

Observing the squad, there were changes in every department beside goalkeeping. The team lost Marquez and Chegrnskiy and bought Adriano. Marquez was one of the key performers for many years while Chegrnskiy was Pep’s bet for years to come. Yet, the Ukrainian was not a huge contributor last season and Marquez was out of form most of the time, leading to say that they may not represent a huge loss compared to the last season. 

Buying Adriano adds a utitlity player who can strengthen many positions directly –by playing there- or indirectly when he plays in a position giving the first option there the chance to play somewhere else (Abidal?). Abidal’s performance as a Center back is still uncertain, mainly because with France he didn’t shine while playing that role. Was it because of Abidal’s lack of quality or the national team chaos is yet to be seen. I do believe he can do good as a center back after he adapt to its needs. That may need some games but certainly he can do there better than Marques or Chegrnskiy did last season.

Milito is another player who will have a vital role this season. He played some games last season but this time he starts the season from day one.

Barcelona’s defense will not be a concern this season. Adriano will add depth for the right back position. Something the squad lacked last season. Abidal can add pace at the center. Maxwell in his second season will be more adapted to his role, and Pique will only get better. If Milito reach the level he had before the injury and Puyol beat his age impact once again, the defense will be in safe hands.

In the midfield, the squad lost Yaya and bought Mascherano. It goes without saying that selling Yaya was a huge loss. Though it was clear that he wanted to leave and the club had no chance but to give him the chance to move. I can’t avoid mentioning that the loss was not where he used to play –holding midfielder- but where he should have played –center midfielder- where he could have done much better. That’s his natural position as I’ve been repeating since two years. Mancini is using him there this season and to my surprise lot of football analysts in England were shocked about it. Yet, If we are comparing exclusively to last season’s team, Barcelona shouldn’t miss Yaya much. Especially with Busquets getting better by each match he plays. It’s safe to say that Mascherano can offer what Yaya offered last season to say the least. The holding midfielder position was a department the club needed to upgrade, and they did. No concerns there.

In front of the holding midfielder, Barcelona still counts on Iniesta, Keita, and Xavi for two positions. Nothing changed since last season. Maxwell played in the midfield and he still can play. Buying Mascherano may offer a chance to use Busquets there and he will do well. Selling a striker at the last moment caused some difficulties because Iniesta will have to play on the wing more often and Messi will not be an option to play in the midfield anymore. That may cause some damage to the midfield depth. The only hope is that the youth players start to find their way through to the first team. One of the reasons we supported Pep for not buying a midfielder was the bet on them. If he doesn’t use them, then questions should be raised. Especially if the reason for not buying a midfielder was saving space to buy a much more expensive one. Still, the midfield is still the best and most complete department in the squad. 

Last season, the offense line passed through lot of crises. The club changed the main striker. The new striker missed the preseason and had an injury at the beginning of the competitions which caused a setback for his adaptation period. He then started to pick some form and lead the club earning many points before suffering another injury. Things looked completely strange afterward and better not to get into that. But that wasn’t all. Henry’s form collapsed and his direct sub for his position –Iniesta- suffered a sequence of injuries that damaged his form. Messi was taking all the responsibilities on his shoulders though the offense dynamics didn’t seem to reach the peak performance. Pedro was the bright light. Still the club marched well in the liga and the champion’s league and Won some secondary super cup titles and world cup club something. 

As for this season, hours before sunset, there were no concerns regarding the offense line. Villa, Ibra, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, and Jeffren. Not bad at all for the pessimists, and a line full of promises for the optimists. Then Ibravimovic was sold (donated). 

Last season, Henry was not setting the world alight, but he had a decent start and he was right there on the bench when needed. Now he is not an option. Pedro had a great exceptional season and one can only hope he can stay on that level (that’s optimism). Yet, I like to believe that the offense will be different, rather than weaker. It seems like Iniesta will have a good season, playing on the wing. Bojan will finally have his chance to show what kind of roles he will play for the club on the long term. He is talented, but he locked our options for long and there is a need to figure if Barcelona can count on him or not. 

Villa is a player who may fit Messi and co better –which is not necessary a good thing as I will point out later. Ibrahimovic was not the best player last season, but I think lot of the team defects were hooked on his shoulders. Now there is a chance that the players will start solving such defects collectively as there are no more excuses. There will be those special occasions where the weaknesses of an offense line containing Messi-Villa-Pedro/Bojan/Iniesta will be exposed. But generally speaking they will find their way to the net in most occasions. In the liga that will be enough as it brings much more points that it wastes. In the champions’ league there will be lot of work to be done. Not by the offense players as there are needs beyond their qualities. It’s Pep who needs to do the fixing.

The squad depth will keep being a huge challenge though. What I mentioned above analyze the possibilities of having a strong selection compared to last season. But for the whole season the whole squad should be weighed. Even the players who were not consistent last season were able to help the team in different segments during the year. Henry is a good example. He played lot of games at the beginning of the season. Pedro’s form benched the French striker but this season who will bench any forward if he suffers bad form? The choices of the offense line are so limited and –most importantly- so identical that you can talk about neither tactical options nor depth. This will put more pressure on the midfield because they will have additional responsibilities to cover the offense lacking tactically and concerning depth. For a team like Barcelona, the offense line is the key for success. This season, Barcelona will be as comfortable in that matter. Putting the exceptional talents of Messi aside.

 

The matches Barcelona played so far this season summed up the season in many ways. When all the players are at peak they can beat their weaknesses through the brilliance of their qualities. The defense looked alright for me so far. The buildup still up to Barcelona’s standards. The offense showed some good signs regarding the chemistry between the players –with Villa. The energetic performance is back with pass interchanging and movement. But there were also signs of bad habits. 

The most passive sign is Villa getting adapted to serve Messi. No doubt Messi is the key player of the team. No doubt Messi is happier when he is served as he deserves for being the key player of the team. But Villa is the main striker now and he has to take himself seriously per se. He is another option, not a supportive one. He needs to take responsibilities and risks. One can give him the benefit of doubt for being new to the team. But his performance is showing an increasing tend to be settled to the underdog position in the lineup. A striker can’t roll that way. He will do well. He will score the fourth goal of five and he will move properly to link with the star. But when the star is in a bad day he will be one of nine players who will drop dead and save no matches. Villa doesn’t need to have the ambition to lead the team and shine the way Ibra tried to position himself in the selection, but he needs to play for Barcelona with the spirit and confidence he had at Valencia. 

I believe it will be all to Pep as this will prove being the most difficult season for him as a manager, and it needs more than his quality pep talks. This is the season where the team will need to count on tactical ideas more than before. The midfield contribution in offense will make or break the titles hopes. He will also need to work hard on the offense structure where the players avoid the bad habits like moving to the midfield and forgetting their basic roles, lack of long shots, and too much fancy stuff before securing the result, etc…

The club is still the favorite to win the liga, but will have a big challenge in the Champion’s league. I do believe that Pep will not put lot of focus on the cup and will use the youth there. The squad is just too thin to bother competing on any secondary titles.

Posted by Ramzi on 07:26. Filed under Articles, Barcelona, Football, Liga, Ramzi . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0