Barcelona in January: In the first month of the new decade, we have experienced many changes and different games. We’ll review everything in this article. By ElJuegoDePosicion.
1) Espanyol – Barça: The deceiving start of the year. The Catalans were uninspiring and drew 2-2.
2) Barça – Atletico: The other deception. Despite a good display,the Catalans lost 3-2 as Correa led the Rojiblancos to the final of the Spanish Super Cup, despite that Catalans had ruled over the 80′-Only the last 10′ were Atletico’s-And they took advantage of it.
Following the game, an unexpected change came in: Valverde out, Setien in.
This had surprised many of the culés as it seemed that Valverde would never be fired, as he was still in cahrhe after Roma’s & Liverpool’s debacle. However, the board decided to replace Ernesto with Quique Setien, former Betis manager and pure Cruyffista.
New era? Changes take time
3) Barça – Granada: First game under Setien, where the Catalans won with a convincing display. Puig had warned how first call up and first minutes with the first team for the first time of the year. Moreover, Setien had also tried new ideas, such as Ansu on the right wing and a back three with Roberto as RCB.
4) Ibiza UD – Barça: The deception. Most of the players had a bad game, the back three didn’t work well either, and most of the players just didn’t do well, not knowing what to do with the possession. However, Griezmann saved the Catalans with a brace after an early lead by our opponents.
5) Valencia – Barça: The first big test failed for Setien. The Catalans seemed lost and were bad at creating chances. Defensively, it was awful. The Catalans did however shoot 14 times, but none of them went in. Critics came up, however, Setien didn’t really care.
6) Barça – Leganes: The relief. We witnessed a good version of Barelona yesterday despite the defensive weaknesses. As Messi scored a brace, assisted Lenglet from the corner, whole Griezz grabbed himself an early goal, and Arthur scored from an open goal 6′ after his substitution.
Positional play expressed through all phases of play, a football fan that fell in love with the Beautiful Game over 10 years ago. Occasionally writes about FC Barcelona for Barca_Buzz, on tactics and attempts to explain the game to the casual eye.
