Luis Suárez was the hero for Barça in a stressful comeback win that did little to convince Luis Enrique's critics that his ideas can lead the club to success.
Once again Barcelona got the job done but once again they did it the hard way. For the second time in four days an awful first-half performance was redeemed by a much improved second and a gutsy determination saw them persist where other teams might have given up. For a long time it seemed like Barça would never score, with Lionel Messi hitting the bar twice and Luis Suárez once, while the midfield struggled to assert itself and break down a well-organised opponent. The players kept going, however, and got their just reward.
Luis Enrique rotated his starting line-up and, as the tabloids will be sure to point out, left Gerard Piqué on the bench again. Claudio Bravo came in for Marc-André ter Stegen in goal, Adriano replaced Dani Alves at right-back, Rafinha was reinstated to partner Ivan Rakitić, and Pedro and Munir came in for Suárez and Neymar.
Almería started very defensively, happily conceding possession and assembling behind the ball in a compact and narrow 4-3-3 formation. Crucially, they held a high line, squeezing space in midfield and forcing Barça to take the ball into wide areas. When attacking themselves, they looked for long passes out of defence into the channels. Even before his goal, the pace of Thievy Bifouma caused Bartra and Mascherano real problems.
The recurring pattern of the first half was Barça taking the ball and looking to advance through combinations on the flanks, with Rakitić and Pedro working closely with Adriano and Rafinha and Munir combining with Jordi Alba. As we have seen in several games this season, this inevitably led to Messi becoming isolated and frustrated and the full-backs wasting possession with aimless crosses straight into the opposition goalkeeper’s hands.
Oddly, the early periods were notable for Barça’s pressing exposing the defence rather than protecting it. They put lots of pressure on the ball in Almería’s half, but Francisco’s side often found a simple way around the first wave and consequently attacked at pace down the flanks. An almost costly instance of this came in the 8th minute when Barca’s press failed and allowed Almería to advance and win a corner after a dangerous cross.
Just as many of Ajax’s first half attacks came from Barça’s repeated failure to clear their lines effectively, Almería found it very easy to sustain pressure by collecting errant balls out and sending them straight back where they came from. Bravo kept playing long passes to Adriano or Pedro, who kept heading their flick-ons straight to the centre-backs, Ángel Trujillo and Fran Vélez, who were left free to start the next attack.
Barça’s forwards didn’t do enough to prevent such advances and time and again Almería quickly progressed into dangerous areas and sent balls into the box, which were poorly cleared and the process started over. For a period, the home side became the protagonist of the match and Barça were pinned back and left playing as the reactive side.
Due to their failure to play out from the back and the presence of Almería’s entire team in front of the ball, Barça found it very hard to build attacking moves. There was often no good pass into midfield available for Mascherano and Bartra, who repeatedly played ambitious long passes out to the flanks, leading either to turnovers or hopeless crosses. One such cross resulted in a scramble that should have ended with a goal for Messi, but otherwise the home side were absolutely untroubled.
One can generally gauge how well Barça are playing based on where Messi is waiting to take the ball and given that Almería were closing the centre off so well and establishing such total supremacy, it was no surprise that Messi started to come deeper and deeper in a bid to influence proceedings. In the 23rd minute, Messi was on the halfway line looking to receive a pass and in the 27th he was standing out on the right flank, miles from where he’s most effective and with almost the entire Almería side between him and the goal.
The opening goal, scored by the ever-threatening Thievy following a quick break, gave the home side a fully deserved lead. Almería’s excellent tactical play exposed Barça’s muddled setup and once again Luis Enrique’s new system was left looking silly. If the reason for having tactics is, as Arrigo Sacchi said, to achieve a multiplying effect with your players’ abilities, then Almería’s tactics were far better. While Barça’s ideas led to slow, convoluted and ineffective advances, Almería’s allowed them to cut Barça to pieces with one or two passes.
Luis Enrique’s answer was to replace Munir and Pedro with Luis Suárez and Neymar at half time. Neymar went out to the left while Suárez played centrally and drifted right and Messi started right and moved into the centre. Even though the attacking personnel had changed, the speed in midfield remained slow and Almería could trust that if they kept organised and flooded the centre, Barça would take the ball into harmless wide areas and run themselves into dead ends.
Looking at how high Almería's defensive line was when Barça’s centre-backs had the ball, Piqué's eye for a pass over the top would have been really useful: he provided a game-winning assist against Rayo, who played with a similarly high line, and Mascherano and Bartra were struggling to provide similar incisions. Barça also missed Xavi’s movement and control in midfield. Having made two substitutions at half-time, Lucho could only introduce one of the two and he chose Xavi, who came on for the injured Busquets.
In contrast to the lack of space afforded to Barça, Almería were still finding plenty. Yet again we saw the defence dropping deep and the attackers remaining relatively high up the pitch, creating space in midfield and allowing Almería to play. Even when there were chances to get more men back or at least close the space, Barça didn’t and it made it hard for them to win the ball or control the direction of opposition attacks.
Predictably, as Almería tired they dropped deeper and Barça had more of the ball. When Xavi came on, Barça’s midfield became noticeably more fluid and attacks much more structured. For the most part, there was still little movement in the final third and little supply for the forwards. The vast majority of Barça’s attacks were still going down the flanks and Suárez and Neymar were stuck taking passes with their backs to goal.
Eventually, however, the sheer weight of Barça’s pressure told. Rather than going wide, Messi drove through the centre and played a quick pass into Suárez’s feet on the edge of the box. Having tried and failed a few times already, Suárez managed to turn Trujillo and square for Neymar to equalise. Barça’s relief was palpable and Almería’s dejection equally so.
From this point, the home side dipped. They were a split second slower to close Barça down when they looked for passes, and where in the first half they were yelling instructions and warnings to each other about runners and passing angles, they were ball-watching and staying silent. Suárez went close with an angled shot; then, for the second time in the match, Messi hit the bar with a header; he then lobbed over after a tight offside call. The inevitability of the second goal was obvious.
It arrived with ten minutes to go. Again, Suárez was the provider, chipping a beautiful pass across the area for the arriving Jordi Alba, who bundled the ball home past the despairing Rubén. It was his fourth assist in Barça colours and although the Uruguayan is still waiting for his first goal, his contribution has been considerable and decisive.
After a difficult and testing first half, the players deserve credit for turning it around and Luis Enrique also deserves to be praised for acting decisively to correct problems after a dreadful first half. The introductions of Suárez, Neymar and Xavi were arguably obvious calls, but crucially he made them at the right times and the influence and persistence of his substitutes, combined with their obvious quality, were the decisive factors in securing victory.
Obvious problems remain, however. The key area of concern is the midfield, in which both the personnel and the ideas limit Barça’s ability to control games and hinder their attacking potential. After their horror show against Celta last weekend, the selection of Rakitić and Rafinha together was a big surprise. As we saw again here, they follow Lucho’s orders in circulating the ball and supporting the full-backs but they just don’t trouble opponents enough.
Far too often, the attacking responsibility falls squarely on Messi’s shoulders. Before Suárez and Neymar came on, he had to do absolutely everything if Barça were to break down this kind of amassed and well-organised defence. Messi always rises to the challenge and never hides when his teammates need to use him, but when Rakitić and Rafinha hold back he gets annoyed and comes deep, which means he rarely has good options with the ball at his feet.
Messi was criticised for losing the ball in the build-up to Thievy’s goal, but consider his options: he can either try to make a burst through the centre and combine with Pedro or Munir, or pass to one of the free men, who are Alba and Rakitić. If he gives it to Alba, Alba crosses it and the attack ends. If he gives it to Rakitić, Rakitić gives it to Alba and then Alba crosses it and the attack ends.
It was only when Xavi came on that Barça’s midfield began to cause Almería’s real problems, moving the ball much faster, allowing Messi to find more space and supply Suárez and Neymar, who obviously carry a greater threat than Pedro and Munir. Of course, it's positive that Barça have such players to call on to change games, but from a tactical point of view, it's hard not to look at the negatives and worry.
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