Over the past century, Barca's left-back position has produced many excellent players, from Van Bronckhorst and Adriano to Maxville and Abidal, all of which have left wonderful memories for fans. Now, Barca's left side belongs to Alba.
In the eyes of the fans, Alba may be stronger than his predecessors, he can attack and defend, excellent technique, sharp. Today, Alba has been here for 8 seasons, and he has become a 30-year-old veteran. As he grew older, his form began to worry fans.
So, whether Alba has the strength to continue to play for Barca, this article will analyze the player's ability and state in detail, and explore his future.
In 1998, Alba joined the La Masia Academy, and although he failed to enter the first team, his training during this time made him "branded" by passing football. After traveling to Cornelia and Valencia, he gradually became known for his speed, momentum and fiery temper in La Liga. In 2012, Barca spent €14 million to bring him back to Camp Nou, which began a legend.
Back at Barca, Alba immediately became the main left-back, his speed became one of the sharpest weapons of the team, and both Neymar and Messi liked to connect with him and get his assists. In his seven seasons with Barca, Alba has made 323 appearances, 16 goals and 54 assists, helping Barca to win 16 trophies, including 1 Champions League, 5 league titles, 4 Copa del Rey titles, 3 Western Super League titles, 1 European Super Cup and 1 Club World Cup.
Likes to find gaps, good at assists. During the Valencia era, Alba's insertion of assists was the team's secret weapon. After coming to Barca, he made the team's left side sharper. He likes to look for opportunities behind the opposing right-back, rushing straight into the opposing penalty area and sweeping the goal in reverse triangle to help his teammates create a chance to score.
In his first seven seasons with Barca, Alba has had 5, 2, 3, 6, 6, 8 and 8 league assists, and has created 20 scoring opportunities in the last two seasons. In the team's tactics, the "Brazilian connection" has become a strictly guarded attacking route for each team.
Alba connected Messi to receive assists
Pictured above, when Messi attracted several defenders in front of the penalty area, he sent a straight pass to Alba. Alba, who got the ball, crossed the ball in front of the goal, and Messi only needed a light push to score the goal. If from Alba's point of view, he can find a gap to Messi from dozens of pairs of feet inside the box, it is an amazing talent.
Solid basic skills, good at short passes. Like most La Masia players, Alba has a strong passing ability, and he can complete the passing and cutting with his teammates in a small space. In recent seasons, when Barca's midfield has gradually become weaker, Alba's position has often moved forward near the midfield to help the team control the midfield.
As shown above, in the last six seasons, Alba has averaged 68, 66, 64, 57, 67 and 70 passes per game, and the pass success rate has always remained above 85%, which makes him one of the most stable players. This season, Alba has averaged 4th in the team in terms of passes per game, indicating that the left side has become the main attack direction of the team.
Alba and Messi's back-to-back short passes combined
Pictured above is a combination between Alba and Messi, who get space to sprint after a consecutive two-by-one. During valverde's time, Messi returned to the middle, he often consciously approached Alba, and the combination between the two was one of the team's offensive routines.
Strong running ability and extremely fast speed. As one of the fastest players in Barca's squad, Alba's forward insertion in attack and the back-and-forth in defense are crucial. In a 2017 statistic, Alba ranked fifth in the team for running faster, faster than Neymar, Mathieu, Alex Vidal and Mascherano. Now that all four players have left Barca, there is no doubt that Alba is the fastest player in the team.
In the 19th round of La Liga this season, Barca's away challenge to Espanyol, in the official announcement of the instantaneous speed ranking, Espanyol's Chinese player Wu Lei is the fastest, followed by Messi and Alba, which shows that even if he is over thirty years old, Alba's running ability has not weakened.
Alba single defense Bale
Pictured above is Alba's one-sided defense against Real Madrid winger Bale in the national derby, in which Bale's speed advantage was not reflected. It can be seen that Bale wants to cross the ball, but Alba's turning and chasing speed is faster than Bale's, and he takes the lead in grabbing the position, leaving Bale helpless.
The 2017-18 season, Valverde's first season in charge of Barca, brought Messi back to the middle, which created more "chemistry" between Alba and Messi.
This season, Alba made 33 appearances in the league for a total of 2745 minutes, with 2 goals and 8 assists, and averaged 7.22 points per game. Defensively, he averaged 1.9 steals per game, 2.1 interceptions per game and 1.5 clearances per game; in terms of organization, he averaged 63.7 passes per game, 1.2 key passes per game, 87% pass success rate, 78% forward pass success rate, and in attack, he averaged 0.5 shots per game and 0.7 passes per game.
In the 2018-19 season, Barca sold substitute left-back Digne. Barca had only one full-time left-back, Alba, but fortunately he was not affected by injuries and played almost fully.
This season, Alba made 36 appearances in the league for a total of 2988 minutes, with 2 goals and 8 assists, and averaged 7.01 points per game. Defensively, he averaged 1.2 steals per game, 1.7 interceptions per game, and 1.6 clearances per game; in terms of organization, he averaged 65.6 passes per game, 1.3 key passes per game, 86% pass success rate, and 79% forward pass success rate; in attack, he averaged 0.4 shots per game and 0.4 passes per game.
In the 2019-20 season, Alba experienced a significant decline in form, and all the statistics declined. But Alba is still more trustworthy than substitute Firpo.
In this season's league season, Alba has made 17 appearances for a total of 1377 minutes, with 1 goal and 1 assist, and averaged 6.7 points per game. Defensively, he averaged 0.8 steals per game, 1.2 interceptions per game and 1 clearance per game; in terms of organization, he averaged 68.4 passes per game, 1.1 key passes per game, 88% pass success rate, and 83% forward pass success rate; in attack, he averaged 0.2 shots per game and 0.6 passes per game.
As can be seen from the data of the above three seasons, Alba has begun to decline in defensive intensity, especially the decline in stealing ability. At the same time, his offensive ability also declined, and the number of assists and threatening passes began to decrease. As a result of this situation, in addition to the overall strength of Barca players began to decline, it is also an indisputable fact that Alba's own strength began to decline.
The decline in status is noticeable. Alba, who is over thirty years old, has to face the fact that his technical and tactical ability has declined, and although his passing ability remains top-notch, it has inevitably slipped at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. This season, Alba has only 1 goal and 1 assist.
Defensively, Alba's downward trend is more pronounced. Because midfielders Rakitic and Busquets are not as physical as before, they cannot make up for the gap on the left side in time, so the gap left by Alba's front plug often becomes the main direction of the opponent's attack. The chart above shows Alba's defensive stats over eight seasons, and you can see a trend line that is gradually declining. Especially in the past three seasons, Alba's average number of steals per game is 1.9, 1.2 and 0.8, the average number of interceptions per game is 2.1, 1.7 and 1.2, and the average number of clearances per game is 1.5, 1.6 and 1 respectively, of which the number of steals and interceptions has dropped by almost half, indicating that the defensive strength has dropped greatly.
His performances on both ends of the spectrum also led to a decline in Alba's season scores, averaging 7.18, 7.08, 7.22, 7.05, 6.91, 7.22, 7.01 and 6.7 in the league over the past eight seasons. In 2014-15, Alba and Neymar combined to score 7.22 points; in 2017-18, Messi's left-back attack gave Alba another 7.22 points. But his ratings slipped over the next two seasons, reaching just 6.7 this season.
Alba was cut off at the back
Last season's second Match against Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final was a game in which Alba stepped down. As shown above, Alba successively gave the ball to Mane, and was cut off at the back, resulting in consecutive goals conceded. In any case, the fans will not think that with Alba's strength, no matter how aberrant the play should not occur such a low-level mistake.
Injuries and illnesses are on the rise. After coming to Barca, injury problems have always plagued Alba, and he missed 107 days due to injury in the second season and 297 days in eight seasons.
As you can see from the chart above, Alba has missed only 10 days due to injury in the past two seasons. But after the age of 30, his physical condition has plummeted, and he has missed 67 days and accumulated 10 games this season. In terms of the type of injury, two were hamstring injuries and one was a muscle injury.
Injuries increase as he gets older, and some skilled players can avoid injuries by reducing confrontation, but Alba is a speed-type full-back who inevitably sprints back and forth, which increases the chances of his injury. At the same time, from his injury history, injuries caused by overstees such as hamstring injuries and muscle problems have always existed. As a result, injury issues are likely to continue to affect Alba's form.
Although Alba has gradually moved from the peak to the downhill, he is still an indispensable main force in barca. Because since Neymar left the team, Barca has used Coutinho and Griezmann as left wingers, but the effect is not ideal, but Alba, as a left-back, can repeatedly create threats on the left side, so his attack on this road is still the main way for Barca to seek to break the goal.
However, players always have to gradually retreat to the second line, and when Filpe is not yet competent, Barca will either find another substitute for Alba, or find a good left winger, such as Neymar, so that the left-back can concentrate on the defense.
Fans, what do you think?