This result doesn't bother me. Here is what I'm skeptical about. The goals against Athletic Bilbao at home came in the 79th and 84th minute. Villarreal 82nd. Struggled against APOEL apart from a set piece goal. As far as I'm concerned Barca were looking ponderous against Levante, too. Until the red card killed the game. This Malaga game was particularly bad but there is clearly a systematic problem when it comes to chance creation, especially when Messi doesn't do it. Forget assists. Rakitic and Iniesta don't even register a single pre-assist so far. And here is why:
Both midfielders are split apart from each other and playing rigidly balls into wide areas, mostly to the fullbacks. They barely interchange with each other, neither with passes nor positionally and are generally too deep to interchange with Messi as well. Here are the top 3 combinations vs. Malaga:
Alba to Iniesta: 23
Douglas to Rakitic: 22
Rakitic to Douglas: 20
The defensive numbers are no surprise. All 3 midfielders and the centerbacks are behind the ball when Barca is countered. With 5 players behind the ball and Alba sprinting back like a maniac and the forwards comitting tactical fouls it's very hard to break through Barca. When the central midfielders don't attempt to go through the middle and play it wide like shown above they are also far less likely to lose the ball in the middle of the park for quick counters. But it's also the reason why there is no offensive fluidity and only one moment of Messi genius is winning games so far.
Now. When Suarez gets back. When the teams gets in better physical shape. When the team understands the tactics better. When Barca plays on a better turf. Then Barca will certainly play much better than what we saw yesterday. I'm still not convinced turning Iniesta into Alba's personal defensive bodyguard and sticking him rigidly into LM so Alba can bomb forward and put in crosses into the box is the way Barca should be playing or whether this will be able to break deep defenses, even with Suarez. The way Lucho sets up the entire creative burden is on Messi now.
It's funny because this is actually a lot more "anti Barca" than Tata's Barca yet the Catalan press is quiet because they love the former Barca captain. Or they are simply stupid and can't see beyond "but less than 50 % possession" numbers. Barca since Cruyff has always been about positional freedom to the central midfielders and creating triangular shapes through the middle. This Barca has its forwards more central but now the central midfielders are hugging the touchline in return.
Let's see how Lucho will proceed from here but color me skeptical.
