Barcelona have been in great form this season, but one big defeat against rivals Real Madrid is all it took to get fans asking questions about their form.
Barcelona’s season was going well before their 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Saturday. They had yet to concede in the league, and had won two of three Champions League fixtures. But as is often the way with the El Clasico rivals, winning seven and drawing one, without conceding, is not good enough- if you go on to lose to your great rivals.
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Spanish paper Marca ran a poll to see find out what fans thought were the real issues with Barcelona, and many of the answers, reproduced below, pointed to a lack of speed in the side.
5) Vary the tempo of attack and defence.
“Mix the use of tiki-taka with increasing pitch pressure during attack, quick passing and control, and quickly move back into defensive area while the ball is handled by the opponent.”
4) Drop Gerard Pique and shoot from range more.
“They should attack, especially counter-attack, much faster than they do now. Pique, in his present condition, should be left on the bench, Mathieu should stay in defence and not try to rise to attack, that’s something Alba does much better. And why don’t they shoot from 20-25 meters – it seems only Rakitic does it, and too seldom at that.”
3) Play Luis Suarez up front and get Lionel Messi back to his best.
“First, pique is out of form and shouldn’t be allowed to play…then once the ball is out of their grips they should get the ball on time which was what we all saw during Guadiola’s time as a coach of FCB, Suarez should play more as a striker not a winger, Messi had his freedom to play up the pitch but we couldn’t see that in the El Clasico which was quite a shame.we need the Messi we once knew.”
2) Be patient and defend the counter better
“Barcelona are still suffering from their defense espcially counter attack, i think by time luis enrique may solve this problems. Messi and Neymar are connected prefectly this season which remind me with Messi-David Villa due in 2010/11 and when suarez will be paired with this due they will be very deadly, just give a little more time.”
1) Faster pressing, faster passing, faster movement.
“They need to press high up the pitch and the passing needs to go much faster with much more movement, that is how Barca can win games, with Suarez, Messi and Neymar they can be very unpredictable…”