In December, Barca lost 1-0 at home to Betis, with Xavi suffering his first defeat since taking office. In the 14 La Liga games since then, the team has remained unbeaten with 10 wins and 4 draws, and has scored goals in each game.
I didn't expect that in the first La Liga game after Pedri's injury absence, the team would lose 1-0 at home to Cadiz in the relegation zone. There is no "Messi successor" in the middle, and Barca's attack is missing a key link.
Barca are like no centre-forwards in this game: De Jong and Garvey play each other
There is no front waist in the middle: the interspersed opponents of the flanks are not difficult to defend
Barca's injury to Pedri in this game, the team let Garvey and De Jong play as the starting center forward, exposing a very serious problem: there is no temporary forward in the middle to hold the ball.
De Jong likes to insert the box too much, and Garvey prefers to walk or go to the ribs. Their separate playing style led to a lack of contact between Barca's left and right fans, and the opponent was able to concentrate his forces on one side when defending.
Depay may want to play in the front, but the problem is that Depay is more sticky, the pass is not timely, and it is not suitable for Xavi's current offensive fluidity.
De Jong has a lot of strength in front of him, often standing more suddenly than the forward, but he also can't hold the ball in the core area, more like a "fake striker". So it was Garvey who took the ball more in the core area, but he was also not active in the middle.
A key issue in the subsequent offensive development was that De Jong was not Pedri. Pedri will take the initiative to ask for the ball in the core area in front of the penalty area, while playing a part of the front role, but De Jong will not.
If the empty cut of the ribs is strongly put on, it will appear to be a single routine, which is conducive to the opponent's deployment.
Why didn't this wave of attack penetrate Cadiz in la Liga's relegation zone? Whether it is Garvey's forward insertion or Alba's impact, the attack is always concentrated in this small area, and the opponent's defensive line has a limited range of movement, which is conducive to deployment.
Without Pedri, Barca would not have a key point in the middle of the road, and the attack would appear monotonous and mechanical.
The shot was 7-1 but rarely threatening: it was no accident
As can be seen from the statistics of the first half, Barca, which has a possession rate of 77%, leads 7-1 in the number of shots on goal. However, the team only had 1 shot on target in 7 shots, and the efficiency and threat of the attack were difficult to satisfy.
It can also be seen from this wave of attack that when Dembele withdrew to face the 2-man defense to send a wonderful pass to Dest, de Jong received the ball in front of him but was cut off.
Retreating to the backcourt, De Jong grabbed the ball and once again tried to control the ball and was snatched away. Fortunately, the quality of this foot pass passed by the opponent to the forward is not high (offside), otherwise Barca would be in trouble.
Why did Dembele shoot 7 times? Can't he find the option to pass the ball?
Dembele's 7 shots on goal: Is that reasonable?
As you can see from the statistics, Dembele has made 13 successful attempts in 15 attempts, and even 2 steals (more than a starting player in midfield).
But is it reasonable that Dembele only contributed 2 key passes that brought shots, 1 of which was a great scoring opportunity, and 7 of his own 0 goals?
Taking this attack as an example, in this game' starting point, in addition to Ferran Torres, who is nominally good at grabbing points, Depay and "false striker" De Jong are not good at grabbing points.
So if Dembele insists on crossing, the effect is not good. After he chose to cut inward, De Jong and Depay's positions also lacked liquidity. Coupled with the absence of Pedri and the lack of a pick-up point at the top of the penalty area, Dembele has fewer passing options.
As you can see from the GIF, Dembele's only possible passing option may be for the receding Ferran Torres, who did not actually throw off the defender.
Was it wrong for the French winger to end up forcing a shot on goal himself? He also didn't have much choice.
Dembele's breakthrough on the flanks is actually very good, going deep into the box many times, but the position of his teammates who grabbed the point is really not outstanding. Depay and De Jong were always on the spot, and Ferran Torres worked hard, but his shot was also difficult to say.
Should Dembele pass on De Jong this time?
Dembele's biggest questioner of passing options this game came from a wave of consecutive passes after his own shots, not De Jong, who split the flank space.
However, Dembele may also have his own ideas, after all, when it comes to offensive and defensive transitions, De Jong often maintains a state parallel to Depay, but Dembele will always fall faster.
In this position, should Dembele pass de Jong? Maybe if it was Dest, Dembele would have chosen to pass the ball. Because De Jong didn't like to shoot very much, he most likely did what he did after taking the ball was to pass Dembele back.
So Dembele, who has already dribbled the ball out of the feeling and entered his own rhythm, shot at this point in time, should be able to score the ball de Jong, and wait for the Dutchman to pass himself and shoot again.
In fact, the quality of the shot is quite good, but unfortunately the opposing goalkeeper is too brave, and he still saves the ball when the line of sight is blocked.
Conceding the ball again because Garcia & Fight moment xavi lacked a middle
Garcia was once again the reason for conceding the ball
In the second half, Barca replaced Depay and De Jong, and the team's offensive threat became much greater. 5 of the 11 shots on goal, a bit of luck from the goal.
The key problem was that the team once again conceded the ball because of Garcia's problems, and then the formation pressed forward, giving Cadiz too many opportunities to counterattack.
In this wave of defense, Dembele quickly fell into defense, so the Barca flank did not give the opponent a chance to cut in, and the middle road was a 3-2 situation.
The problem is that Garcia follows Sobrino all the way, only to let the other party easily get behind him at the most critical moment. Lenglet stuck to Lucas and didn't expect his teammates to be punched through so easily.
Ter Stegen tried his best, he saved Sobrino's shot twice in a row, then Lucas's forward insertion threw Off Lenglet, Garcia still failed to play, and finally watched Lucas score.
Garvey stood too close to the side & Dembele couldn't beat the front
If De Jong is a "false striker" (without the passing efficiency of a striker and not responsible for the midfield's landing defense), then Garvey has a big problem with his position being too far-sided.
As a result, Barca's midfield is a bit empty, and the team's flanks become more crowded.
When Barca were playing their main positions, Garvey liked to go to the ribs of the penalty area too much, and then Alba, Dembele, Ferran Torres needed someone to change back to the middle, but no one could do it.
Garvera's cross from the sidelines, far-reaching Dembele is unlikely to be a two-striker.
After luke de Jong and Adama came out, Barca had a lot of attackers, but the middle was a bit thin. Garvey still likes to walk the ribs, but the quality of the cross is average, somewhat inverted.
Forced to be helpless, Dembele appeared in the middle of the front waist many times. However, whether it is a straight ball to find Alba, or a top ball, the quality is not high.
Compared with such a so-called over-the-top ball that makes people cry, perhaps Dembele's biggest threat in the middle is the long-range shot in the second half.
Conclusion
There is a colander centre-back in the backline, there is one less commander in the midfield without Pedri, and the front line is too dependent on Aubameyang's grab points, which are the 3 problems that Barca exposed in this game.
Even if Dembele will stay in this team next season and want Harvey to use his magic, the team needs to effectively strengthen at these 3 points. Otherwise, in a long season, Harvey's team will have a climax stage, but it is inevitable to fall into a trough.