Leganes 1-2 Barcelona: 5 Talking Points & Tactical Analysis | La Liga 2019-20

#1 Another victory for Barcelona but are they regressing under Valverde?

Are Barcelona regressing under Valverde?

In the past couple of seasons, Ernesto Valverde has guided Barcelona to the La Liga twice and has powered them to a Copa del Rey triumph once. However, speculation about his future has never been too far away, especially considering his propensity to prioritise calculation over creativity.

Consequently, a constant practise of those tactics have meant that the Blaugrana have failed to rekindle the tiki-taka of yesteryear, a facet that hasn’t gone down too well with the Camp Nou faithful.

Moreover, capitulations on the road, akin to those in Liverpool and Rome, have allowed his critics to jump on the ‘ValverdeOut’ bandwagon in a trice. And, though the club has shown immense faith in him so far, signs of Barcelona regressing under his stewardship might just be surfacing.

Against Leganes, the Blaugrana rarely looked like a team that was perched at the pinnacle of the league table and were lucky to come away with three points. More alarmingly though, they still seem to have not found cures to visible ailments that have existed for the past eighteen months.

Firstly, their defence, especially away from home, seems a disaster waiting to unravel while their midfield hasn’t been able to impose itself on those matches.

Subsequently, they’ve tried to mix a bit of pragmatism with a set of players used to playing a more attractive brand of football. And, the results have, at times, gone rather pear-shaped.

Furthermore, they seem to lack a cutting edge in attack against sides that are willing to sit back and counter punch.

There is an old adage in football wherein champions are distinguished from the others courtesy their ability to win while not playing well. However, the problem at the Blaugrana currently is that they fire on all cylinders quite seldom, thereby casting the above as the trend rather than the anomaly.

And, one reckons a club of the ilk of Barcelona wouldn’t want things to flow in a similar vein for too long.