Last night was the start of a series of away matches that Barça will play in January. Facing Huesca was actually a great opportunity to start 2021 with a right foot. However, the match that started well for Barça, ended with some alarming events. But in the end 3 very important points for FC Barcelona last night vs Huesca. Let’s take a look at the main points from this game.
Good Points:
- Dembele returned to the starting lineup, and got a great assist to his name. Yeah the French suffered many injuries, and has his issues. But at the end of the day, when he’s fit Dembouz offers something that no one besides Messi does: The ability to create a goal out of nothing. I hope that he will stay fit and continue to improve. Dembele can make a difference for Barça this season.
- Araujo moved past the big error he did in the last match. When you’re young you will make mistakes, that’s natural. But the fact that he got back from that means that his head is in the right place. It’s fair to say that right now Araujo is the best Central Defender we have.
- Messi again was everywhere. The fact that he’s more a midfielder this season means that under Koeman he has to create more from the back. It’s something that he always did, but this season it’s more than ever. But he looks very good, and he was very close to score more than once last night.
- De Jong with a great game, and of course the goal. The Dutch continues with his great form, and having him at his best is massive. Number 21 with the first goal of 21. Coincidence?
Bad Points:
- The fact that we all saw that the team got worse in the second half, means that it’s on Koeman. The Dutch started with players that provided in the first half and should have ended the game fast. Replacing 3 players when you can do 5 is a bad thing, considering the month we’ll have. But making the first substitution in the 75th minute is worse.
- Braithwaite. Was he even playing? The Dane is our only natural striker, but the guy looks lost. With 1 shot and very few touches on the ball, Braithwaite was arguably our worse player last night.
- Alena and Riqui with another full game on the bench. It’s really sad actually. They could contribute and helped the team control the game in the second half. But Koeman continues to be Koeman. With every day goes by he looks to me like less of a Cruyff and more of a Van Gaal.
- Making a defensive substitution vs in a 1-0 lead vs the team from the bottom of the table. That’s small-club mentality there. What might be good for Southampton is bad for FC Barcelona, and we saw that vs Huesca. The players looked lost in the last minutes. That’s exactly the bad mentality that we used in the big defeats of last years. Pep once said that FC Barcelona don’t make adjustments vs the rivals, “let them adjust to us” he said.
