The shocking stats behind Barcelona's first defeat under Quique Setien

Barcelona suffered their first loss under new manager, Quique Setién. The Catalan side fell to a 2-0 defeat away at Valencia on Saturday afternoon. This comes after 2 previous unconvincing performances against second division side Ibiza, a game they narrowly won 2-1, and another narrow win against 10-man Granada. The nature of these performances will also be a cause for concern. After all, Ernesto Valverde, the man Setién replaced, was not sacked for results but rather the style of play. In fact, Barça was sitting top of the table at the time of his sacking, having won the previous 2 league titles as well. However, concerns from fans about Barça seemingly losing their identity caused the board to act and ultimately dismiss Valverde.

While it is early in Setién's reign, the stats fromthe loss to Valencia certainly don't point towards a return of Barça's highly attacking, fast-paced, possession football made iconic by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff. The stats actually point to a very slow-paced and sterile possession game. Despite having nearly 80% of the possession, Barcelona managed just 3 shots in the first half and just one on target. To make matters worse, all 3 shots were from outside the box. All 3 shots were taken by Lionel Messi showing a frightening reliance on one player.

Setién suffered his first defeat while managing FC Barcelona against Valencia

Barcelona did step things up in the second half at the Mestalla Stadium, taking significantly more shots, however, failed to really create clear cut chances. The second half did fail to change in one way, yet the reliance on Messi showed once again. The Argentine finished the match having taken 11 shots, Barcelona as a whole only took 14. In fact, no other Barça player took more than a single shot. This makes an unwanted record for the 6 time Ballon d'Or winner, as it represents the most shots he's ever taken in a single La Liga match without scoring.

Final pic.twitter.com/2mGJrUlZ3z

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 25, 2020

The match finished 2-0 to Valencia, courtesy of a Maxi Gómez brace. The scoreline could have been worse for Setién though, with ter Stegan denying Gómez from the spot and in doing so saving his first penalty in La Liga since joining the club.

In their first 3 games under Setién, Barca have averaged 862 passes per game but only 1 goal. So while they may be on their way to restoring the possession side of their identity, there's certainly a long way to go on the goal-scoring part.