The bigger the card on the football field, the better the effect, play the right tactics, second-rate or even third-rate players can also shine brightly. From the "scrap centre-forward" of the first half of the season to two consecutive La Liga goals, Luke De Jong's transformation into the Netherlands Ibrahimovic has made countless Barca fans boil with blood. Unfortunately, Today Harvey did not succeed in making a substitution, which disrupted the team's offensive logic. Garvey's red card left 10-man Barca in a 1-1 draw in the 89th minute.
01. Luke De Jong transforms into Dutch Ibrahimovic: He has no shortage of talent
Xavi's starting attack logic is that Dembele has the ball on this side to put pressure, after holding the center of gravity of the Granada defense, Garvey has a part of the space to handle the ball, and then both sides can send high-quality crosses, allowing Luke De Jong to complete the finish.
One of the problems is that Barca have fewer attackers in the penalty area this game, Nico's awareness and proportion of forward insertion is slightly lower than that of Frankie De Jong, and Jutegra does not insert the box many times after pulling the edge.
However, Luke De Jong's form is really too good, and this time he scored a header in the middle of the box alone. Unfortunately, Garvey was blown offside before receiving the ball, so that this beautiful goal was cancelled.
What is even more exaggerated is that this attack, it is still Luke De Jong alone who grabs the point in the penalty area. His running position is very clever (see my scouting report before Luke De Jong joined Barca, which highlights Luke De Jong's movement habits when grabbing points).
By abruptly moving from back to front, followed by a scorpion-tailed shot, it almost pays homage to Ibrahimovic's old classic.
This goal of Barca, Jutegra has a lot of credit. He effectively held the ball inside and distributed it to Alves in the far post, then inserted it into the front of the penalty area.
After being covered by his teammates, Luke De Jong completed a beautiful no-ball movement and went around to the back post to receive Alves' cross.
You can see this time the goal, Alves' cross landing point is perfect, Luke De Jong's advantage is that he has a good sense of running position and is tall enough.
So he jumped high around the back post and was able to pick up Alves' high-throw arcing cross after bypassing the defender. Scoring a goal seemed easy, but Luke De Jong inadvertently unleashed his advantage completely.
02. Failure to extend the score: Luke De Jong's strength difference & Dembele's many mistakes
Barca's tactical approach in the first hour of this game was relatively successful, and it is a pity that the team only achieved a 1-goal lead.
Luke De Jong's problem is his deviant strength deviation, which he only won 2 of the 8 one-on-one matches in this game, which also exposed this problem. His running position is smart, but it takes a little fate to finish the final shot.
Dembele's pass on the counter-attack was brilliant, but luke De Jong fell into the box after the confrontation. Despite the suspicion of foul play, the referee remained indifferent. If Luke De Jong had been a little better, the ball would have been completely different.
Take another look at this opportunity, after an opponent's mistake, Luke De Jong was given a chance to counter-attack in the front of the penalty area. But he tried to protect the ball but failed, and was destroyed by the other side.
There were even several shots of Luke De Jong's one-on-one power match being bounced off by his opponent. His foot skills are actually good, and he is even very talented in doing movements. But how to get a shooting opportunity, for Luke De Jong, needs more help and luck from his teammates.
The man who could help Luke De Jong the most was Dembele in Harvey's plan. Dembele has had 5 successes in 8 passes and 2 key passes at the same time doesn't seem bad.
The problem is that his shooting performance is too poor, 4 shots on goal 0 shots on target, coupled with some senseless active mistakes, how much it affects the morale of the team and the viewing experience of the fans.
Just like this time, there were two mistakes in 1 minute, first the stop ball appeared to cross the foot, and then the ball was out of bounds when accelerating. Dembele's movements in the game are very varied, and some people will love his talent for a moment, and some people will hate his inexplicable mistakes.
If you put aside a few mistakes on the offensive end, Dembele will also have a moment of moment of surprise. This time, after the first mistake, he snatched the ball back, and then instantly entered the core hinterland of the opponent, but unfortunately, the ball was given to Nico on the flank, and there was a lack of tacit understanding between the two, who moved more slowly.
Like this time Dembele's foot Ling Bo micro-step in the 4-man circle, it does have a high level of achievement and standard, but the last shot was still rubbed by the defender and flew out of the bottom line.
Dembele's offensive choices in this game are more unique, exposing the instability of the shot and further reducing his offensive efficiency.
03. Depay's appearance breaks the logic of the attack: Garvey's red card amplifies the defensive line problem
I don't know if it was to prepare for the subsequent Super Cup semi-final with Real Madrid, Xavi let depay returning from injury in the second half to find a feeling, but it broke the team's offensive logic.
Depay is a ball-and-ball attacking core who doesn't like to grab points and pick up the ball. Depay needed a winger who would close in the middle and transform into a two-striker, which made Dembele's positioning awkward. Depay also doesn't need an in-cut left winger, which puts him and Abd in a positioning conflict. The personal data is almost all zero, which is the answer given by Depay in this field.
After Luke De Jong came off the field, Barca continued to send crosses from the right into the box. As a result, it was midfielder Garvey who got the drop point, and Depay and the youngster rushed together, but failed to compete with the small midfield teammates.
Garvey was sent off with a red card after receiving a second yellow card for an irrational tackle foul in the second half. This isn't the first time Garvey has had such a rash shot, and this red card will also calm him down. Otherwise, such a defensive action is not only easy to hurt people, but also easy to cause injury to yourself.
Harvey then chose to take Dembele to add a midfielder, understandably. After all, Both Abd and Depe are players who have just played, and the problem is that Abd did not switch to the right side in time after Dembele got off the bus, resulting in the opponent's main attack point Marchis completely out of pressure.
Alves' side was supposed to rely on Dembele to suppress the opponent to relieve the pressure, without Dembele, was it an accident that Alves quickly went to the sidelines to heal his injuries? This time, if it were not for Lenglet's key time blockage, Barca would have conceded the ball earlier.
Barca had only one shot on target in 13 shots in the game, and the final draw was also the result of a combination of multiple mistakes. Before facing Real Madrid, this blow may calm Xavi and avoid bigger mistakes in subsequent games.
Conclusion:
This Barca team still has the problem of weak edges, and the outbreak of Luke De Jong has eased the problem slightly, but there are still shortcomings inefficiency.
Defensive ends lack the ability to withstand pressure, and barca, which has the initiative, will look more beautiful when they can pose a threat from the front, otherwise conceding goals can come at any time. This is Barcelona, the future is promising, but the present is still a little helpless.