Occasional offensive impotency, a fragile defense and an eternity of mismanagement; FC Barcelona's current struggles aren't down to some "crisis", the truth is that this is just fate
FC Barcelona will be looking to get their La Liga title challenge back on track tomorrow evening, when they travel to Andal usia to take on newly-promoted UD Almeria at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos. The hosts are yet to register a victory at home thus far this campaign, but given the Blaugrana’s recent form this promises to be anything but a straight-forward encounter for Luis Enrique’s side.
Of course, Lionel Messi’s majestic brace against AFC Ajax halted Barça’s losing streak at two games, but his individual brilliance did nothing but paper over the cracks of another underwhelming Barcelona performance. Naturally, with the Dutch champions reduced to ten men and with a one goal lead to their names, the Blaugrana were in complete control in the closing stages of the match, but overall, it was far from vintage stuff.
Indeed, the problems we witnessed against Real Madrid and Celta Vigo appear to be rather more deep-set than perhaps first thought. The lack of intensity, the poor to non-existent movement and of course, the defensive frailties they accentuate; those have been endemic for a few years now, dating back to the final season of Pep Guardiola’s reign as head coach.
In that sense, while some of the criticisms levelled at Luis Enrique have been fair and justified, there are others that fall into neither category – if we witnessed the same problems under Pep, under Tito, under Tata and now under Lucho, are they solely the manager’s responsibility? At what stage are the players, both on an individual level and as a collective, to blame?
Taking it one step further, at what stage do these problems dissipate entirely? To trot out a tired cliché, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different outcome. Isn’t that what Culés have been doing for the past few years, criticising the status quo and expecting that as a result, something will change for the better?
Maybe the next step isn’t to expect the club to address these issues – with an impending transfer ban this might be all but impossible anyway – but to simply admit that these faults are here to stay?
Just as a culture of pressing, passing, movement and ultimately success became part and parcel of Guardiola’s Barcelona, perhaps the negative traits that have come to the fore against Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and even Celta Vigo are indicative of the "new" Barcelona?
Heck, aside from our time under Pep and a couple of select seasons under Cruyff, one might argue that Barcelona’s entire history can be summarised in a similar way to our progress this season.
Don’t forget the highs of the Guardiola era but cast them aside when judging this current side; never before have Pep’s words been more apt. As a message to everyone who is "expecting" better:
"Welcome to the club. You cannot win every time"
Case in point; between the turn of the millennium and Guardiola’s arrival, Barcelona won the La Liga title just twice in eight seasons. Admittedly, this was one of the darker periods in the club’s recent history, but it’s proof that this club hasn’t always and perhaps never has been the truly dominant force in Spanish football. For better, or for worse, that club always has been and probably always will be Real Madrid. The side with the real "global appeal", the "star power"…the "backing of the state".
To put it simply, if Barcelona are més que un club off the pitch, Real Madrid have been más que un club on it. Behind the scenes as well; despite their troubles with the Galactico policy, Real’s general history screams good management. While Culés again love to denigrate the current board and their actions, the cold, hard truth is that Barcelona have almost always been mismanaged.
Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu have been far from model presidents, but the decadence at the tail-end of Joan Laporta’s reign left the club with a mountain of debt, undoing all the good work he did to put out the fires caused by Joan Gaspart. In that sense, the free-spending and subsequent problems caused by Gaspart were partly influenced by the previous president, the now-imprisoned Josep Lluis Nuñez who was infamous for his reluctance to pay high wages.
A reluctance that ultimately led to an exodus of star talent. It ended with Luis Figo, but was omnipresent throughout his reign; Diego Maradona was ostracised by the directors and forced his way out to Napoli – at the tender age of 24, Maradona had his entire career ahead of him, and internal disputes ensured that Barça let his talent slip away without a second thought.
The same with Ronaldo; his single season with Barcelona remains one of the greatest ever seen by a player of his young age. The raw, unadulterated ability that he demonstrated...and again, we let him slip away. For what? To save a few pennies?
We’ve always had the cornerstones in our squad to build a dynasty, but a consistent oversight to recognise this talent and sufficiently build around it, protect it or even keep it happy has crippled us.
So Culés, as Real Madrid look to have gained a comprehensive upper-hand in the battle for La Liga and as Barça drift further away from challenging for the UEFA Champions League, don’t worry too much about whether you should blame the board, Lucho, or the players. Don’t think that our current situation is some sort of "new" injustice either; this is just fate, and no matter how hard you try, know this: you can’t fight it.
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