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Barcelona are, by no means, a force to be reckoned with this season. They have been outplayed several times by teams boasting of a much thinner squad, and inarguably less-talented players.
For the longest time, under Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Tito Vilanova, and even Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona were scoring goals for fun while maintaining a steadily healthy defence.
However, Xavi’s side, especially last season, became famous for their defensive resilience, with the B.A.C.K. back quartet. These, of course, were, Alejandro Balde, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo, and Jules Kounde.
Over the course of 38 games in the league last season, Barcelona scored just 70 goals, which is less than two per game, but conceded a record-breaking 20 goals, while maintaining a bizarre 26 clean sheets.
Nobody expected the trend to continue across this season, though, with criticism laid on Xavi for over-relying on the defence, and the reinforcements in other positions on the pitch, like Joao Cancelo, who by no means, is a defensive fullback.
Unfortunately, though, Barcelona have not only become worse defensively, they cannot even outscore their opponents.
One goal wins
Barcelona have won 12 games this season out of a possible 17. Two of these, possibly the best performances under Xavi’s regime, were 5-0 wins against Real Betis and Royal Antwerp.
However, nine of the other ten wins have been by a single goal. Be it a high-scoring game like the 4-3 win against Villarreal, or a game where they were bailed out last minute like the 1-0 wins against Real Sociedad and Athletic Club.
But, is Barcelona’s attack underperforming or is it an issue of the lack of service to the goalscorers in the team?
The numbers
Well, numbers suggest that Barcelona have created the second-most clear-cut big chances in the league so far, with 44, which amounts to more than three big chances created per game.
Barcelona have missed 26 of these chances, scoring only 18. Robert Lewandowski is…
Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/numbers-dont-lie-barcelonas-attack-not-good-enough-to-bail-them-out-of-games/
Author : Udhav Arora
Publish date : 2023-11-14 19:49:25
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