Barcelona: Lack of energy to defend three points

Barcelona: Lack of energy across the board, deadlocked for three points

After losing to Granada, Barcelona is on a five-game winning streak. The team will be hoping to continue their winning streak when they face Slavia Prague on the road today.

In the end, Barcelona did get three points on the road. But I'm afraid they never dreamed that this victory would be so difficult. I don't know if Barcelona remembered the fear of being dominated by Liverpool at Anfield in the second half of the game.

UEFA Champions League - Messi blitzed Su Shen made the oolong Barcelona 2-1 away to Prague 2 consecutive wins to lead the way

I. High resistance to penetration in the middle and reliance on side impacts

Prague players earned the respect of their fans with their high spirits and aggressive running. But we shouldn't overlook the highlights of their tactical setup. The home team's strategy is very flexible and the defense is extremely resilient.

Let's start by looking at the picture above to see how Prague play positional defense. The home team's two center backs rarely move laterally, and the wing backs play forward up top rather than in. The gap between the wingbacks and the center backs is filled by the midfielders dropping back. And Prague's two midfielders are backing off when the defense is away from the box. We can see that even before the ball crosses the halfway line at Langrée's feet, the Prague defense is already in a six-man position.

So even if Barcelona even if they were able to use Griezmann's run to rip open the gap in the ribs like above, there are still enough defenders in the middle of Prague who can move across to make up for it. By the time Suarez got the ball, there wasn't any room to start. The Uruguayan's transfer was a little less precise, and the ball was immediately destroyed by the interference of the returning Prague players.

Of course recycling the depth of the midfield inevitably affects the overall hierarchy. When Prague's midfield is in the process of repeatedly dropping back from one top to the other, it can easily lead to problems in the side defense. Barcelona also took advantage of this. Semedo, who performed well in the last game, played an important role in the side again today.

This time Griezmann roams to the right and De Jong is the pseudo wingback. Semedo presses up and sees his chance to get behind the rival wingback. The Portuguese managed to overtake him with his speed. Unfortunately for Barcelona, Suarez was the only one in the box, and Semedo's cross failed to go around the front.

Look again this time, Griezmann pulls straight back and leaves the side open. At this point there was no accounting between Prague's wing-backs, wing-forwards and full-backs, resulting in a wide-open door down the side. Semedo stepped in and slotted straight at Suarez, who unfortunately knocked the one-two away.

Most of Barcelona's threatening attacks in the first half relied on Semedo's ball-carrying or ball-less cover, because the Portuguese's speed is not possessed by the rest of his teammates. And Barcelona needs to attack from deep to open up gaps.

Where Prague succeeded was that today they were not limited to one tactic. When retreating couldn't solve the problem of the sides being broken down again and again, the hosts resorted to high pressing at the front top. And it's precisely the high press that Barcelona are not good at cracking these days.

Firstly their proud midfield control has plummeted.

For example, above, Artur made consecutive mistakes at the back. Once was a direct break after a physical confrontation, and once was a pass that was interfered with when he took too long to observe the ball. De Jong didn't make any mistakes, but he was only able to do just enough to defend himself and could only make some safety passes.

The chart above shows the positional statistics of Barcelona's two starting center forwards who lost possession in this game. You can see that four of those times were near the center line. When the center forwards are not able to hand the ball forward smoothly, the team's offense tends to have problems as well.

Weakness in the midfield resulted in Messi often having to return to the center circle to receive the ball as above. Even when the Argentine superstar was able to hold the ball, it was difficult for him to turn and push forward straight away. Once he didn't get the ball out first time, then Bragg would immediately set up a number of people to come forward and wrap up the ball.

Another reason why Barcelona can't crack the high defense is the lack of speed. Semedo's speed is only that of a wingback, and he can't be the first to appear in front of the ball.

This time De Jong's direct kick in transition was very nice and Suarez was quite aware of it. The problem is that the latter no longer has enough pace to get the ball.

So even if Barcelona were able to break the first tier of Prague's pressing, they didn't have the speedy players up front to convert their chances into goals.

Second, the defense's ability to resist pressure slipped, deadlocked to preserve three points

The excellent performance of the trident in the last game masked a lot of problems. In fact, the real power of the trident was after Semedo came on as a substitute. Today, Semedo started the game and consumed too much energy in the first 45 minutes. Valverde has actually used the Portuguese as half a winger.

The result is a team that relies too much on the right side of the field to make an impact, and once the dynamism is reduced then it is difficult to threaten both positional play and counter-attacks. Prague, on the other hand, will be able to respond on the offensive side of the ball once the pressure on the defense has been relieved.

Late in the first half, Prague has frequently attacked Barcelona's right side. Because this side of Semedo frequently assisted a lot of consumption, Piqué's condition is not really good.

This time it was Piqué who failed to clear a high ball, and when he landed on the ground he didn't move across the field to cut off the route first time. As a result, the opponent got the opportunity to kick in the penalty area. Luckily, Ter Stegen focused on the danger.

And this time Barcelona's luck wasn't so good. A long pass from Prague hit Pique behind the ball. Although Longley's first time to fill over played a delaying role, but Pique follow-up work did not do. Pique could be seen looking heavy-footed, slow to move in the box, and neither stepping up nor jamming his route. The late follow up saw Polier equalize.

With the situation passive, Valverde chose to replace Dembele. In fact, his thinking is correct, Barcelona's front field needs speed to impact Prague's defense, to relieve the huge pressure on the back field. And the French winger did play a certain role after coming on the field.

For example, this counterattack, Dembele did not receive the ball but his first forward insertion played a good role in covering. With the padding Suarez as the second point and then inserted to receive the ball is very easy, but unfortunately he was not able to grasp the opportunity of a single shot.

This time it was also a counterattack orchestrated by Dembele. He pushed all the way from the back to the box through his pace and timed his final distribution well. Only for Suarez to waste another chance.

The problem for Valverde was that apart from Dembele, the subsequent adjustments were too slow. By the time Vidal and Rakitic came on, the team had become significantly less dynamic. And Prague, cheered on by their home fans, have completely turned the momentum around.

We see that Vidal is still able to step in and play his part as a substitute, but Messi has clearly run out of steam after passing the ball. So in this case, only three substitutes can no longer solve the whole team's declining trend.

The inability of the offense to respond inevitably led to too much pressure on the defense. In the final stages of the match, Prague formed a siege against Barcelona.

Above you can see Dembele's problems in defense as he doesn't pay attention to the man without the ball behind him but presses with his teammates. Blaugrana played through a cross from the wing creating a mess in the box. Barcelona cleared the ball but couldn't control the second point and the ball ended up back at the opponents' feet.

Valverde replaced Dembele was hoping to use his speed to play a role in the offensive end, but at this time Barcelona's attack has been basically paralyzed, then Dembele defensive end of the problem has become a weakness. So Valverde did not continue to change when the whole team still has the physical strength, resulting in Barcelona in the last moment was surrounded.

III. Summary

The reason Barcelona played so poorly in this match, despite being superior, was because the lineup lacked impact. They relied too much on Semedo and were unable to increase the score. Even Messi couldn't turn the tide when his stamina was slipping. Valverde recognized the problem but only did half of it right, and by the time he switched midfielders it was already too late. Thanks to Ter Stegen's heroics and Bragg's general ability to capitalize on chances in front of goal, Barcelona held on for the win.