Full coverage of FC Barcelona's must-win La Liga clash with Sevilla FC at the Camp Nou on Saturday evening, as the Blaugrana seek to keep pace at the top of the table with Real Madrid
The final international break of the year has been and gone; now it's time for domestic football to recapture the spotlight, and it's time for FC Barcelona to recapture their form. Just a month ago, Luis Enrique's side were sitting pretty at the top of the table as league leaders; we were anxiously awaiting a mouth-watering El Clasico showdown with bitter rivals Real Madrid and everyone was optimistic about the future. Sure, we knew that the side wasn't infallible, but we were confident nonetheless.
Then came the Clasico; and what a start. Neymar opens the scoring with less than five minutes on the clock at the Santiago Bernabeu. It's party-time for the travelling contingent tucked away up in the far top corner of the stadium; until Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco and company abruptly interrupt. With a powerhouse performance, Los Blancos eventually overwhelm and threaten to humiliate the visiting Blaugrana. The final scoreline of 3-1 doesn't even tell half the story; that comes a week later against Celta Vigo.
Even back on home soil, Barcelona's troubles continue en route to an almighty slip-up; losing against Real Madrid, no matter how painful, is relatively acceptable. Losing to Celta Vigo, at home, without scoring a single goal? The knives are out, and they're pointing squarely at Luis Enrique and the Barcelona board. Two less-than convincing victories against AFC Ajax and UD Almeria alleviate some of the pressure, but a dark cloud lingers over the Camp Nou -- a dark cloud that hasn't entirely dissipated over the lengthy international break.
It seems like an age ago that Barcelona last took to the field; so long ago that for me at least, the dismal nature of those performances has been all but forgotten, although the doubts remain. Have the players regained any of that hunger and intensity that was particularly lacking in those two defeats? Has Luis Enrique learnt from his mistakes, or at least, has he learnt from the most important errors? We're less than 24 hours away from finding out, one way or the other.
Will FC Barcelona be able to claim all three points against Unai Emery's high-flying Sevilla, or will the pressure on Enrique rise to boiling point?
TEAM NEWS
BARCELONA
Every member of the squad may have resumed training, but not everyone is back, at least not yet. The concerning fact is that the one member who hasn't been cleared is arguably one of our most important, Andres Iniesta. However, on the plus side while we haven't got Iniesta back, we have gained Jeremy Mathieu, Rafinha Alcantara and believe it or not, Thomas Vermaelen. The Belgian international hasn't played a single minute since his summer move from Arsenal, but after a protracted spell on the sidelines, Vermaelen finally has the medical green light and may yet be included in the matchday squad by Enrique tomorrow morning.
Or he might not. We've had two weeks off from everything FC Barcelona-related, but that's not nearly long enough to forget just how unpredictable Luis Enrique can be with his squad selections.
Ironically, the opposite is true for his tactics on the field, and that's what is hurting the club, or at least so the story goes. Rather than acknowledge that sometimes, talent alone isn't enough. Given that we're the fanbase who pointed and laughed at Florentino Perez' initially misguided attempt at success via the Galactico policy, it seems odd that we have fans who now criticise Enrique and the FC Barcelona board for not delivering success, simply because we have players of the calibre of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez in our ranks.
Nevertheless, I digress; let's get back to the team for tomorrow's match: Claudio Bravo will retain his place in goal searching for his first clean sheet in what will be his last four La Liga appearances. The veteran custodian had mixed fortunes over the break, first shutting out Venezuela in a Manita victory, before conceding twice in a 2-1 defeat to a Luis Suarez-less Uruguay. Of course, none of Barcelona's concerns are with Bravo or his performances, so there's not much point in over-analysing this decision too much.
In defense, Dani Alves will probably start at right-back much to the chagrin of the world and it's dog. Anyone would think Dani Alves has single-handedly cost us each of our defeats, cost us our title last season and quite possibly cost us our freedom or done something similarly abhorrent to warrant such hate, but checking back, he hasn't. If this is the reaction people get for a few (alright, a whole bunch) of overhit crosses, I dread to think what would happen if someone actually did something bad...again, I'm getting off-topic, so yeah, Alves is gonna carry on keeping Martin Montoya and Douglas out of the picture.
In the heart of defense, a late night might cost Gerard Pique a place in the starting line-up. Or it might be because of his general fame, his supposed poor form or whatever reason is in the tabloids at the moment. That's in spite of the fact that Pique is probably our best defender and desperately needed within the system. Bewilderingly, I'm sure most Barcelona fans would rather see Vermaelen start ahead of Pique, but hey, I'm not here to judge...instead, it's likely that neither get the nod. Jeremy Mathieu may slot right back into the fold after his injury and who would count out Javier Mascherano from continuing in defense? Oh, and there's Marc Bartra to consider as well.
Left-back is a little more straight-forward; Jordi Alba will start and that's all there is to say. Well, that's not quite true; Alba will start because he's Alba, but based on his form this season, Alba hasn't been playing like Alba and therefore shouldn't automatically start simply because he is Alba. Make sense? Obviously, I'm pointing out what everyone is thinking; Jordi Alba isn't playing very well and needs to pick his game back up if we're to improve as a whole.
You know what might help him do that? Moving the central midfielders back into central midfield! What a revolutionary idea! Stationing Ivan Rakitic and Xavi and Andres Iniesta and whoever else on the flanks, or at least closer to them has been nothing short of a complete failure. The principles behind the move are logical; in reality, it simply doesn't work. The full-backs don't have as much space, the midfield isn't actually doing anything and when you're a possession-orientated side, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that to succeed, the midfield should actually be playing a prominent role in the game.
Shift the central midfielders back into the centre and you solve another problem -- the Sergio Busquets conundrum, a problem that should have never, ever became a problem in the first place. He's the best in his position. By far. Possibly of all-time. And yet somehow, someway, we've found a way to make him look occasionally bad, and found a way to make FC Barcelona fans (re-read that club name again) pine for a midfield destroyer to take his place. FC Barcelona. Midfield destroyer.
Sure, there's more to Mascherano's game than that, but ultimately, that's what it boils down to. Apparently Busquets doesn't offer enough defensively, and to solve this we should bring in someone with a more defensive mindset.
WRONG.
That's admitting, accepting and welcoming the problem. What should be happening is that FC Barcelona should be identifying, challenging and eradicating that problem; give Busquets a little more support, press from the front and don't try to force the issue. That way you don't leave a midfielder isolated against an opposition counter-attack; bring in Mascherano and that isolated midfielder might be able to stop those counter-attacks, but he's still just as alone and just as vulnerable as his predecessor.
Tactical rant over, Enrique really needs to re-implement the whole narrow midfield triumvirate thing we had going on before. Ivan Rakitic and Xavi in support; problem (probably) solved.
Let's move onto the attack. What's going on? While the names seem to pick themselves, there remains an awful lot of confusion over the best way to utilise those star names within the confines of our current system. Does anyone even have a definitive answer? Of course not; all the theoretical tactics in the world won't do Barcelona any good in this scenario. The answer, or perhaps more pertinently answers, will come in each of the games, through trial and error.
In some case, Luis Suarez will work as a right-winger with Lionel Messi performing his usual duties as a false nine/trequartista/all-round superman. That might be enough to beat an Elche, or a Rayo, or a Valencia, or a Real Madrid. Who knows? It's all about the form of the front three, the form of the opposition defense and the tactical setup of the opposition.
On other occasions, it might make more sense to deploy Luis Suarez as an out-and-out nine, hassling and harrying the opposing centre-halves while Lionel Messi drifts in to deadly effect in a more peripheral role as a nominal right-winger. The early signs for Argentina were that this approach, i.e. Lionel Messi back on the wing, could prove difficult to stop, although ultimately, one could argue their victory against Croatia came as a sole result of Messi's brilliance rather than their team performance.
Then again, what's the goal of your offensive tactics when you have Lionel Messi in your side? Is it to maximise and fully utilise the potential of your entire team, or is it to maximise and fully utilise Lionel Messi? Let's face it, at his best Lionel Messi is better than an entire team of players, so maybe it's the latter. Of course, having options like Suarez and Neymar sure helps when Messi isn't on form, but shouldn't our primary directive always be to play to Messi's strengths?
Food for thought...
SEVILLA
Unai Emery has never coached one of his sides to victory against FC Barcelona, at least at the Camp Nou. Still, that's no reason to underestimate him and what will be a very difficult Sevilla FC side. They've been in good form all season and while they haven't been able to maintain their lightning start to the campaign, they are still sitting pretty in 5th place. Carlos Bacca is in the form of his life, for both club and country; of course, we know all about Gerard Deulofeu and Denis Suarez...what perhaps we might not have known earlier in the week is that Stephane Mbia is back from injury along with former Arsenal star Jose Antonio Reyes. Benoit Tremoulinas, Fernando Navarro and Sebastian Cristoforo all miss out, along with long-term injury concern Vicente Iborra.
FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WWLLWW
Sevilla: DWWLWD
LAST MEETING
Sevilla FC 1-4 FC Barcelona -- 9th February 2014 -- La Liga
Alberto Moreno gave the Andalusians the lead early on in the first-half, before a Barcelona fightback, orchestrated by none other than Lionel Messi proved too much for Emery's side to handle.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Alves, Mascherano, Mathieu, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Xavi; Suarez, Messi, Neymar
Sevilla (4-2-3-1): Beto; Coke, Carrico, Pareja, Diogo; Krychowiak, Mbia; Deulofeu, Suarez, Vitolo; Bacca
MATCH PREDICTION
This is always a tough fixture on the calendar, let alone based on current form after a lengthy international break. Still, I'm backing the quality of Messi and Neymar, plus the home advantage, to see us through. 3-1 Barcelona.
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