One win in five games. Such is the pathetic record of Barcelona in La Liga in recent weeks after last night’s defeat to Leganes.
The visitors scored early on in the night from a set-piece after the Blaugrana failed to mark Sergio Gonzalez and soon sat back to defend deep and frustrated Hansi Flick’s men.
Barcelona then upped the ante and dominated the game until the very end but did not find the back of the net even once, ultimately succumbing to a disastrous result from the standings standpoint.
Barça Universal brings you three takeaways for the manager from Barcelona 1-0 Leganes.
A jinxed game
Sunday night’s game at Montjuic was one of those matches where it is close to impossible to believe that Barcelona did not even score. Yet, the team have no one to blame but themselves.
After all, their inability to beat the goalkeeper was not down to a lack of chances as the Blaugrana created multiple chances across both halves and dominated the proceedings.
With 80% of the possession, 20 shots and three big chances, the Catalans were the better team by far and should have had multiple goals to their name. However, they lacked clinical finishing and their poor final touch let them down horrendously.
To not score once from an xG of 2.67 is simply unacceptable for a club with the attacking proficiency of Barcelona and a large part of the blame falls on Robert Lewandowski who was uncharacteristically poor in front of goal.
In the end, Barcelona’s finishing struggle proved to be their undoing as they never found a reply to Leganes’ open goal. For the chances they created, it can only be called a jinxed game.
Poor man-management
Barcelona’s defeat to Leganes was indeed largely down to the failure of the team in front of goal, particularly Lewandowski and Dani Olmo’s off nights where they were exceedingly poor.
An equal share of the blame, however, falls on the coaching staff for their poor management of personnel.
Hansi Flick was not available on the sidelines last night after seeing a red card in the previous game and it is unclear if the poor man-management was down to his lack of communication or the deputy management’s inefficiency.
However, there is no doubt that there were flaws with player management and substitutions throughout the 90 minutes, something that has not been seen often with the manager on the sidelines.
For starters, Lewandowski and Olmo were quite blatantly Barcelona’s weak links in the first half and should have been replaced by fresher legs much earlier in the night. However, they were replaced only in the 66th minute and continued bottling chances until that point.
Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres were far better than the aforementioned duo, and while they did not score, they did show more intent towards progressing the build-up play.
Further, one can only wonder why Pablo Torre was not called off the bench especially given his eye for goal and how he has proven to be a valuable option in place of Olmo with similar characteristics.
The biggest player mismanagement, however, was with Lamine Yamal who was forced to play on despite openly requesting to be substituted off late in the first half.
It is clear that players only ask to be taken off the field when in serious pain, and while Yamal played through the pain in the second half, he was right about his body and the sensation he had.
Now, he is reportedly a doubt to face Atletico Madrid and one cannot help but wonder if it was essential to risk his fitness last night with such a massive game coming up.
Tension in La Liga
Hansi Flick is slowly finding himself under increasing pressure due to Barcelona’s form in La Liga for the team has been far from good enough in recent weeks.
Their run of results is simply disappointing and one cannot help but think that they are throwing the title away.
From being clear leaders and undisputed favourites, the Catalans have continued to be in free fall in terms of results and are now close to being in third place behind Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.
What is more worrying is the fact that the team have been dismal at home in recent games.
With losses against Las Palmas and Leganes in their last two games at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys now, they have succumbed to two teams close to the relegation area and serious questions must be asked of their form in the league.