Match Points : Granada vs FC Barcelona (1-1)

A frustrating night at Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes, as Barcelona slipped the lead vs Granada in the last minutes. Luuk de Jong scored the opener for Barcelona, but Xavi’s 10-men couldn’t prevent the equalizer by Granada.

Despite the sad ending to the game, we’ll start with the positive things to take from the game

Good Points

• The last minutes goal should not take away the fact that the team is improving under Xavi. Since Xavi started coaching Barcelona, the team gained 15 points out of 24. However, Koeman gained those 15 points out of 30 possible ones. Under Koeman the team scored only 1 goal away from home. However, since he left, the team scored 11 goals in away matches. So there is a change, but it will take more time. We knew that and we’re experiencing it right now.
• Dani Alves with a marvelous performance, proving that he still has that magic that the team needed since he himself left the club. Hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy more from him. And let’s see how he’ll do vs a much better opponent in a few days.

• Nico absolutely dominated the game during the first half. Great performance for the youngster. In the last minutes, like the whole team, he got tired. But overall another great game for him.
• Luuk de Jong is proving again that he deserves respect. I still don’t think that he’s a Barcelona material, but the goal vs Granada was his third this season. People joked a lot about him, but he’s not a ‘Douglas‘ kind of player. He’s a national member of the Netherlands for years, and a prolific goalscorer for many teams. Just not for the level of Barcelona. But he knows how to score goals.
• Hopefully, in the next days we will see Ansu, Pedri, Ferran, De Jong, Araujo all back. With them, we should expect our team to look a lot more like what we want it to look like.

Bad Points

• Like Xavi said after the game, this game is a perfect example of the lack of experience in the team. Gavi is one of our favorite players, but his red card was because of a lack of experience. Moreover, it was also the lack of experience of the coach who didn’t replace him in time.
• Memphis looked off. It’s natural because he just came after a muscle injury and it takes time. But can he return to good form until the Super Copa vs Real Madrid? Not sure at all. Moreover, I think Memphis lacks time working tactically with Xavi. Let’s see if and when he’ll adapt to Xavi’s methods.
• Jordi Alba with another bad game. He’s in a bad form all season. Personally, I think it’s important to bring another Left Back soon, as it looks like Balde isn’t ready yet according to the coach.
• Just as we were optimistic that the injuries are about to be over, Eric Garcia left the field with an Hamstrings injury. Hopefully it won’t be a severe injury. However, it looks like Pique and Lenglet at the center back vs Madrid. And that’s a bad thing. Hopefully Araujo can make it on time.

Marco