Analyze : 2017/2018 Season , End of the Golden Era for Barcelona?
leapyguide.com-Barcelona again have to accept their loss to their arch-enemy, Real Madrid, after falling 0-2 in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup 2017. Two goals from Marcos Asensio and Karim Benzema, successfully drowned the Blaugrana at Santiago Bernabeu. This adds to the bad record of new coach Ernesto Valverde who previously also massacred 1-3 on the first leg held at Camp Nou, the headquarters of El Barca.
Despite the 1-5-1 aggregate defeat being the main focus of the public, but there is a bigger issue behind Lionel Messi's failure to win the Spanish Super Cup title this season. It is a fact related to how chaotic Blaugrana game when facing their main rivals.
Optimism was echoed by Valverde before the game about how Barcelona still has the potential to reverse their 1-3 defeat. Although that is not impossible, but the players' performances on the pitch last night immediately dashed all hope of winning, even just hope to keep up with Real Madrid.
The absence of the two main pillars of Barcelona, Andres Iniesta and Neymar, immediately felt in the pattern of El Barca game. With injured Iniesta and Neymar who already moved to Paris Saint-Germain, the quality of the game as if Barcelona fall into the mediocre level. Even if judging from the arrangement of players derived by Valverde, it is no exaggeration to mention that the players who are demoted are still far from prepared.
There are less popular names like Andre Gomes, and Javier Mascherano, both proving to be the weak points of Barcelona's game last night. Especially for Andre Gomes, several times he seemed 'lost' on the pitch, failed to pick up the ball, and was unable to help the difficulty built by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi. Even the former Valencia player was repeatedly bullied by the Madrid players.
The condition of the players who are not ready, exacerbated by the formation applied by Valverde. The former Athletic Bilbao coach took the risk by applying an experimental 3-5-2 formation, a decision that was clearly not wise in such a big game last night. The three-defensive system with two strikers (Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi), proved a total failure in stemming Madrid's attack.
Although statistics show that Barcelona can keep up Madrid at least in terms of mastery of the ball, they failed to balance the effectiveness of Madrid in front of goal. Just like the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid generally always rely on fast counterattacks. However, still the troops Valverde failed to anticipate it.
One thing that must be accepted by Barca supporters, is the fact that their golden generation is nearing the end of the road. Names like Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, and even Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have begun to slow down, they can no longer automatically save them from defeat. A clear revolution is needed, let alone after the natural successor of Messi, Neymar, recently.
With a transfer window that leaves less than three weeks away, it is a big job for Valverde to determine what compositions are capable of moving the team towards stability.
The fans are now still hesitant to see the new Barcelona activity brings Gerard Deuolefou, Nelson Semedo, and the latest, Paulinho. The first name even proved to fail to fill the vacancy left by Neymar in the Spanish Super Cup first leg. While the name Paulinho had failed at Tottenham Hotspur, although then achieve success in China.
The public certainly hopes that big names like Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele can be brought to Camp Nou soon. But even if one of them was brought in, only time could prove as quickly as their adaptation with the team. Especially with La Liga which will start since August 20 for Barcelona, adaptation time is certainly thinning for new recruits.
Overall, Barcelona is very likely to face one of their toughest seasons of the 2017/18 season. With the aging squad, and the absence of a comparable replacement so far, it's hard to imagine Barcelona will be able to compete all-out with Real Madrid both in the La Liga and European arena.
Despite the 1-5-1 aggregate defeat being the main focus of the public, but there is a bigger issue behind Lionel Messi's failure to win the Spanish Super Cup title this season. It is a fact related to how chaotic Blaugrana game when facing their main rivals.
Optimism was echoed by Valverde before the game about how Barcelona still has the potential to reverse their 1-3 defeat. Although that is not impossible, but the players' performances on the pitch last night immediately dashed all hope of winning, even just hope to keep up with Real Madrid.
andre gomes getting humiliated by luka modric🔥🔥🔥 #classico #REALMADRIDBARCELONA #ElClásico #RealMadridvsBarcelona @realmadrid @lm19official pic.twitter.com/PGtWPrO2GT— hussein ghazi (@hussienghazi1) August 16, 2017
The absence of the two main pillars of Barcelona, Andres Iniesta and Neymar, immediately felt in the pattern of El Barca game. With injured Iniesta and Neymar who already moved to Paris Saint-Germain, the quality of the game as if Barcelona fall into the mediocre level. Even if judging from the arrangement of players derived by Valverde, it is no exaggeration to mention that the players who are demoted are still far from prepared.
There are less popular names like Andre Gomes, and Javier Mascherano, both proving to be the weak points of Barcelona's game last night. Especially for Andre Gomes, several times he seemed 'lost' on the pitch, failed to pick up the ball, and was unable to help the difficulty built by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi. Even the former Valencia player was repeatedly bullied by the Madrid players.
1 - Barcelona only attempted one shot vs Real Madrid, their fewest in a first half of a game in 2017 (all competitions). Lost. pic.twitter.com/NeKq3emjE5— OptaJose (@OptaJose) August 16, 2017
The condition of the players who are not ready, exacerbated by the formation applied by Valverde. The former Athletic Bilbao coach took the risk by applying an experimental 3-5-2 formation, a decision that was clearly not wise in such a big game last night. The three-defensive system with two strikers (Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi), proved a total failure in stemming Madrid's attack.
Although statistics show that Barcelona can keep up Madrid at least in terms of mastery of the ball, they failed to balance the effectiveness of Madrid in front of goal. Just like the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid generally always rely on fast counterattacks. However, still the troops Valverde failed to anticipate it.
One thing that must be accepted by Barca supporters, is the fact that their golden generation is nearing the end of the road. Names like Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, and even Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have begun to slow down, they can no longer automatically save them from defeat. A clear revolution is needed, let alone after the natural successor of Messi, Neymar, recently.
With a transfer window that leaves less than three weeks away, it is a big job for Valverde to determine what compositions are capable of moving the team towards stability.
The fans are now still hesitant to see the new Barcelona activity brings Gerard Deuolefou, Nelson Semedo, and the latest, Paulinho. The first name even proved to fail to fill the vacancy left by Neymar in the Spanish Super Cup first leg. While the name Paulinho had failed at Tottenham Hotspur, although then achieve success in China.
The public certainly hopes that big names like Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele can be brought to Camp Nou soon. But even if one of them was brought in, only time could prove as quickly as their adaptation with the team. Especially with La Liga which will start since August 20 for Barcelona, adaptation time is certainly thinning for new recruits.
Overall, Barcelona is very likely to face one of their toughest seasons of the 2017/18 season. With the aging squad, and the absence of a comparable replacement so far, it's hard to imagine Barcelona will be able to compete all-out with Real Madrid both in the La Liga and European arena.