Barca Levante Second Half -as Barca loses control of the match

I’ll give the time I’m referring to, and intersperse it with general analysis of the primary patterns of Barca’s weakness this season. (imo)

45:05 — De Jong receives the ball from lenglet amongst several opponents. He’s slow to turn and makes a poor pass to Semedo, who isn’t moving to get open.

45:10 — First instance of a man unmarked at the op of the area. Ten second into the half. he luckily takes a poor touch.

46:10 — Open player at the half line.

46:28 — Another man unmarked at the top of the area. Are you noticing a pattern?

47:00 — Griezmann is currently playing at RB. Gives the ball away because no one comes to help r opens up even as he’s getting closed off.

47:15 — Several extremely sloppy passes turn possession over.

48:15 — Miscommunication between Pique, Griezmann, and Sergi which results in a giveaway.

48:33 — Excellent man defense by Lenglet. Closes the player down without over committing and then promptly returns to his line when the ball is played to the flank.

48:50 — Winger’s run goes unmarked, and Sergi is in the wrong side of the man on goal, he is fortunate Pique is able to block the low cross. Man open on the far side of goal. Semedo is in no man’s land.

Poor marking on the throw.

48:58 — Same runner goes unmarked. Perez is tracking him but steps behind. Same man open on the far side of goal - luckily the cross is off. Semedo is not tracking back.

49:06 — Run goes untracked, and a man open at the top of the area again. Poor effort and awareness by both defenders and midfielders.

49:21 — Poor pass gets a fortunate deflection and they finally manage to pass their way out from the back with a good little run by De Jong, one of the few players showering bravery.

— A very weak beginning to the half, unable to play out of pressure for the first five minutes and getting carved open repeatedly in and near our area.

49:55 — Messi is DM for a moment.

50:00 — Slow, uninspired build-up.

50:20 — De Jong shining for a moment in midfield build-up and control.

Arthur looking sluggish and unfocused in defense and offense, lacking his usual edge.

Barca’s build-up doesn’t look patient, just slow and rather aimless.

53:30 — #10’s run goes unmarked on the wing.

53:36 — Inaccurate long ball by Ter Stegen, who appears not to have the confidence in his back four to play tight at the back, and is more often choosing long balls.

Barca is currently pinned back by Levante with almost ten minutes gone in the half.

54:23 — A wonderful burst by Arthur, rare in this game, to beat a player and initiate the attack with a crisp pass to Perez.

54:40 — De Jong plays a poor pass straight out the goal line. He seems to be expecting Semedo to run, but he wasn’t moving. They don’t know what to expect from one another.

55:50 — A man goes unmarked after the throw-in, and Arthur and Perez trip over one another trying to figure out where to go, while Semedo leaves a man wide on the right.

As the ball moves across the area there are multiple unmarked Levante shirts, and Barca players are literally tripping over on another, clogging the same areas. They aren’t clear about their defensive responsibilities. Just look how may yellow shirts there are, but still so many Levante players open.

56:25 — Excellent run by Sergi and Messi finds him.

57:20 — The marking by Griezmann here is poor. He leaves the Levante LB 15 yds of space, marking no one - perhaps thinking he needs to drop deep for defensive stability. He doesn’t move until the ball is played to the fullback. He closes out well, but what was he doing in no man’s land?

57:28 — Again, multiple Levante players entirely unmarked in the throw-in. Vidal, Griezmann, Arthur all watching the ball, while a man makes a run behind them and receives the ball.

57:32 — !!As Levante begin this attack after the throw, Pique leaves his line completely, and then leaps forward to try and win the ball and the player goes around him. He completely overcommits. Multiple runs go unmarked down the wing.

57:50 — A flash of great build-up play, FDJ-Griez-FDJ-Vidal-Sergi-Messi-Sergi. Crisp passing, a few one-touches, some good dribbles. Perez has a good ball into the middle, but Messi gets dispossessed (understandably). FDJ with a brilliant slide to recover the ball. For these few minutes we looked calm, crisp, and organized. For a moment. Another attack ends with Messi being dispossessed. Griez tracks back admirably, but Sergi already fouled to stop the counter. After this, the momentum begins to strongly shift to our detriment.

59:50 — First Levante goal - begins with a very poor clearance by Pique into the center of the pitch above the area, straight to an opposition player.

60:50 — goal replay - Arthur also at fault, somewhat Semedo for not tracking back and marking open men at a sign of danger. All began with Pique’s woeful pass

62:25 — Second Levante goal. Begins with a poor header by Perez. Pique leaves a man WIDE OPEN between he and Lenglet (who is marking another man as usual) in the box, who receives the ball. Then Pique is afraid of being deceived by the turn and so doesn’t commit to the blocking tackle.

64:02 — replay of Levante’s offside chance. Pique again leaves his line and lunges for the ball, he’s just fortunate Lenglet played the offside trap. He fails to hold the line and trust the midfield. He makes these lunges far too often, and his positioning is suspect.

64:25 — Messi and De Jong combine well after a Messi dribble down the flank. Griezmann misreads the intention of the pass and runs into the box. Ball given away.

64:45 — A very dubious tackle from Pique to stop the break- he leaves his position again, a very risky move if he misses the ball, which it turns out he did, and gets the yellow card for the foul.

As an aside, I’m noticing how difficult it is for De Jong to be alternating between DM and interior. It doesn’t give him to develop a rapport with the CBS and Arthur as CM.

68:11 — Levante Third Goal. 21 and 5 go unmarked in the box during the FK. Lenglet does very well to clear, and then Perez, Semedo, De Jong somewhat, and Griez are all caught ball-watching and leave several men wide open.

Major Point #1: This is the most baffling part of our defense this year. A high percentage of goals against us happen when opposition players are simply unmarked in the box - making runs, standing still, drifting - our players just leave them open and converge on the ball. What is happening in training that they are so clueless about defensive responsibilities/positioning?

Also, Busquets makes an rather unwise stab at the ball. You have to trust your keeper and not make desperate lunges at the ball ten yards out from your goal. I’m not saying he’s tremendously at fault here any more than anyone else is (5 Barca players following two Levante players and leaving everyone else), but this is a minor detail. Leaves Ter Stegen moving the wrong way and helpless. Lenglet was also in a better position to make a clearance. It needs said, Clement Lenglet is an excellent defender, and one of the few players who fills me with trust when he’s on or near the ball. Very collected, sensible, but also driven.

69:20 — More excellent build-up between Sergi (gorgeous pass) and Messi on the right flank. Ends with Busquets misplaying a simple pass. What’s going on there?

70:10 — Smart pressing gets the ball to De Jong who dribbles 4 players! Wonderful dribble Frenkie! Good switch of play and then Perez makes a poor pass into the box.

70:27 — Shambolic (I rarely use the word) control by Pique who has no player in 15 yds of him when the high clearance descends, but manages to give it away anyway. I ask you - what is going on with Gerard Pique?

70:43 — Semedo is several steps late marking the run after the break. Just jogs back all relaxed. Sergi closes down the ball well, but the lack of marking means a player is open at the top of the area. A good strike is very dangerous there.

71:06 — Excellent by lenglet! Wonderful dribble and pinpoint lead pass to Semedo on the left wing. Clement Lenglet is one of the players showing urgency, focus, and consistency, although it’s a problem to say the least when our CB is one of the few players taking people on and dribbling aggressively. Semedo gives it away. Not a lot of help from teammates to give him a pass, but little patience shown by him.

71:21 — Pique makes another lunge off his line, and he does get a head on it, but is once again charging into the midfield for some reason, which is full of yellow shirts, but no one in good position.

71:55 — De Jong has a delightful chip to Semedo who miscontrols it. De Jong looks frustrated. Ends another nice bit of slow build-up.

72:55 — !!!! Pique AND Roberto leave a man unmarked, with yards of space, at the top of the box. Wtf? De jong arrives - whew... - AND LEAVES THE SAME MAN UNMARKED RUNNING IN SPACE TOWARDS GOAL! Luckily the run goes unseen and the other runner is late to the ground cross along the open goal.

73:30 — Some excellent combination play between Semedo and Fati- a lot of fire from the young player. They bring it up the left flank before passing off to Messi.

73:40 — Messi drops deep to build-up from the back of the midfield.

Many people are overstating the problem of Messi’s non-pressing. His effort is put toward finding space, advancing play, playmaking, and scoring. He makes quite a few interceptions. Every team exempts one player from most defensive duties except a few specific examples. You can’t have Messi back in the box defending and then no outlet pass for a man to lead the break.

The pressing problems are elsewhere - we can’t have 2 players hovering around the half-line at all times, defending with only eight. And you can’t have our back 4 and fullbacks leaving men open everywhere. What changed in the pressing strategy after the half? What changed in the dressing room?

It reminds me somewhat of the change from the second pre-season game against Napoli to the first game of the season. Against Napoli the team was wonderful pressing as a unit, cutting off passing lanes, swarming the ball, which was already a huge change from the first game against Napoli. That was one of our best games of the year in a sense. And then against Athletic Bilbao, we were low-energy and disorganized, leaving both players And passing lanes open. What changed from the first game against Napoli to the second and then from there to Bilbao?

To what degree is it the manager alternating pressing styles too much for different opposition? Changing styles too often famously is bad for a team, leaving them uncertain about their roles on a given night, and unclear about the fallback plan when a game is getting out of hand. To what degree is it our effete away mentality, and individuals not having focus and effort? Does that point back to a problem in training? Griezmann almost always presses the same (although he stopped midway through this half), because he’s had that instilled in him in his time under El Cholo. He was at times our best defender today.

73:50 — Disallowed goal. Good play both in build-up and in the final third. Levante falls asleep for a second and Barca momentarily seems to capitalize after a good wall pass from griezmann (offside on the pass) and a bit of luck and effort by Messi. It’s possible that a goal he may have turned the tide for us, but that’s just speculation. Everyone except Fati still looks wan, tired even after they think they’ve just scored. There’s a serious problem in the spirit of the team, and you have to wonder even if they had scored there would they have had the belief to keep fighting.

75:50 — More really good build-up play by De Jong, Messi, long ball to Fati who has a great header to Semedo, who controls, plays to Busquets, advances to Griezmann who takes a great first touch and plays Messi forward. Then Messi ignores Fati and Griezmann open for help and loses the ball. Is trust an issue here? He’s done so much on his own, sometimes he gets too focused on dragging the team along on his own effort when he should pass.

75:58 — Busi takes a baffling, woeful touch as Barca has a chance to recover the ball, and his lack of peak focus and athleticism gives Levante another break on our CBs and Sergi. But on a positive note, good tracking back and they quickly corner the ball-carrying player.

De jong does well to get back on recovery, and Sergi’s positioning and close-down is admirable. This is the kind of urgency we’d like to see through a whole match, and we only see it when they’re down in goals, with little time left, against a lower table team, or coming off a fresh loss or poor performance.

Suddenly everyone looks energized; heated, trying to beat opposition players one-on-one; seeking out forward passes, pressing. Why is this intensity usually missing?

Unfortunately Perez doesn’t get the memo, and actually backs away from the ball. BACKS AWAY FROM THE BALL, leaving De Jong and Sergi gesturing in bafflement as they run back to recover.

Imo perez should still be with Barca B. The idea that he is more suitable for first team than than Puig and Alena is quite odd, to say the least. He has a good strike and aggression in the final third, but his touch and awareness is not there.

Pique does his lumbering run chasing the ball-carrying player into the corner but luckily the cross is to no one and Semedo chests it down for Ter Stegen. Semedo’s defensive instincts are generally quite good, with some lapses.

Ter stegen has a chance to start the attack, and while Barca is advancing as he rolls the ball out, their movement is nevertheless rather slow, predictable and all vertical. This is another point (Major Point #2) of extreme weaknesss - we lack dynamic movement and creative runs, and there is a near-constant lethargy.

And Busquets plays a perfect pass to the Levante defense— 76:32— Griezmann maybe could have read his intentions and moved toward the ball. Nevertheless a bizarre pass.

Now Levante has it and until the poor pass straight to Ter Stegen, they look energized, focused, organized, and aggressive, even with a 2 goal lead and 15 minutes to play. They haven’t parked the bus to wait it out because they simply aren’t scared of Barca’s attack.

Which said attack is very weak largely because the midfield is not controlling possession with any verve and intelligence, and the forwards are too spread across the pitch to combine well on a counter. And of course, perhaps most importantly, our defence doesn’t provide stability to quickly restart an attack after recovering possession. Our problems start in defence.

77:08 — Fati shows energy to attack the area and creates danger. No one gives him a good overlap or opens for a pass. Ball is cleared.

77:54 — Some good build-up play that, typically, peters out with a poor pass (or sometimes is stamped out by the opposition) just as it reaches the final third. Messi is our only player consistently providing real creativity in the final third. Major tactical weakness, and also the result of not having any attacking midfielders in the squad.

78:50 — Some good build-up between Sergi, Messi, Perez, and De Jong on the right (after recovering through strong pressing). Looks to me that De Jong is fouled as he receives the pass on the edge of the box.

Even though I didn’t like the substitutions much, I have to say the attack looks more robust with 4 forwards. Perhaps a reason to play a 4-2-1-3 with Messi and griez in the center, dembele and fati on the wings?

Busquets manages to chase down and stop an attack down sergi’s flank, popping the ball out for Sergi to recover. Busi looks slow, but he’s a positioning genius and is showing urgency and great effort atm.

79:20 — Some more good build-up on the right beginning with De Jong. Sergi’s cross is to no one and flies to the opposite side of goal. Semedo wins a corner. Semedo has been, as usual, relatively solid on both ends of the pitch, but nothing spectacular, and his defensive positioning is relatively often suspect.

He’s an interesting case-study in mentality, as to me he looks like a different player for Portugal - happier, and extremely high energy and intensity.

His corner is met by a header from Griezmann that may have been on target but is deflected. Messi chooses a great moment for a hard press and frees the ball up for Pique who is forward for the corner. Pretty backheel to messi, who is the victim of an excellent slide tackle (he probably should have passed to one of two open men anyway) and Sergi has to foul to stop the break. Messi was tracking back hard and looks to be on pace to win the ball anyway.

Lenglet it occurs to me is intelligent and focused in all areas of the pitch, as he was in prime position to receive the ball above the area.

80:50 — The broadcast shows Messi’s heat map. Bizarre to me that people want this player to do more pressing. He is involved in everything starting at the back of the midfield. You don’t ask a player like that, at his age, to be box-to-box. You structure the team to benefit from his brilliance from the DM area to build-up to scoring, and use him as an outlet pass when defending. Common practice with most “striker”-like players, and very sensible to allow him to press at opportune moments (which he does extremely well), find pockets of space, and provide defensive support for his activity with Mids and the RB. Players used similarly by top teams can be found in aguero, Lewandowski, vardy off the top of my head.

82:27 — This is an example of excellent and intelligent pressing by Busi, De Jong, Sergi, and Perez to win the ball back on the right flank - why was this kind of pressing abandoned after the half, and why is it so rare this season in general? Conditioning? Intentional tactics? Lack of clear communication by the manager? Again, I’ll point to the second game against Napoli in pre-season as the best example of our pressing this year. Multiple players converging on the ball after losing it, in all areas of the pitch, for the full 90. Then the very next game, nothing of the kind.

And then — great one-touch passing after wining the ball. This is Major Point #3 - another crucial weakness I’d point to - this crisp passing is largely missing from our game at the moment, other than rare exceptions.

What’s the point of all those rondos if you’re not going to one-touch during the game to move the ball quicly and carve open spaces? Our movement is predictable because everyone takes too many touches before finding a pass; allowing the opposition to adjust and mark open men. We know our players are capable of it? Why has this hallmark of our great footballing success fallen by the wayside?

Quick build-up - Ter Stegen-Semedo-Fati, where we see the advantage of a pacy, dribbling winger as he beats his man. He is fouled imo, but he pushes back a bit too hard, and the whistle goes against him.

All our defenders except Semedo carrying a yellow. That indicates disorganization, as fouls are borne out of desperation to halt attacks. Semedo has the pace, and I will argue intelligence not to foul like this; although he is guilty of it at times. More so it’s another indication that our organization is not right.

83:50 — An interesting shot as Rakitic stares at valverde and at the camera behind. He looks upset, resigned, disaffected, and slightly vindicated. He would have been a better early sub than Busi imo, as his style is galvanizing in all areas of the pitch. He has a lot left in the gas tank, and his treatment is yet another indictment of this board’s callousness towards players and people (Dani Alves comes to mind).

84:22 — Sergi is making a run and has to stop suddenly to collect Pique’s pass. This is a minor instance of another point about why our passes go awry so often. Players don’t seem sure of their roles, and consequently don’t know where their teammates will be, and where their runs will take them.

Frustration foul by Fati after losing the ball during some slow, extended build-up. He looks physically more robust even since his debut.

85:50 — Messi has a gorgeous pass through 3 converging defenders to Fati, who shows the aggression we’re often missing and has a decent attempt on goal after a clever touch to avoid two defenders and give himself space. Unfortunately he misses the square pass to Messi who is open in front of goal. A goal would likely been called back anyway as Messi appeared to put his marker in a headlock as he ran in to the area. Uncharacteristic from Messi. Wonder if he was fouled earlier by that player, or if he’s frustrated. Possibly a kind of nasty move by Leo.

87:45 — Slightly higher tempo build-up in motion until Perez is (barely) offside

88:38 — Some style by Pique who does a couple kick-ups to clear with good distance and dig himself out of the corner.

88:48 — A moment of lovely flair and verve shown by Levante as they enter the attack. Crisp one-touches and clear understanding with their teammates. Decisive. A contrast to our play in this game.

89:30 — Another case of strange/poor marking. Pique follows a man well out of his line rather than passing on the marker to Perez or another midfielder. To my eyes, Pique chooses strangely random times to leave his line, and oftentimes the result is giving away a counter.

90:08 — Pique’s top speed is just barely sufficient to beat a man closing in, but all he can do is get a weak header on it before giving him yards of space.

90:23 — Great passing by Barca after the throw-in. Our passing hardly ever seems as crisp and elegant as when we are getting out of our own corners.

90:59 — Messi makes a great chip into the area and Fati can’t quite bring it home or get it to Griez. If our attack and build-up looked like this one all game - energetic, alert, decisive - no one would be complaining.

92:20 — A complete defensive breakdown as no one is sufficiently covering our CBs who have stepped forward for the corner kick. We had about a minute of excellent play before that, completely undone by no one tracking back quickly enough as their counter began. Almost 4-1

92:54 — Semedo has a chance to play De Jong and Griezmann in behind, elects for the backpass. This is Major Point #4 about our missing elements- we don’t play balls in behind the defense on the flanks. Griez makes about 5 or more of these runs/game, and almost never receives the pass. Tactical decision? Players being told to only attack through the middle? What do you all think?

Attack ends with a poor touch pass from De Jong, who immediately pressures to win the ball back which Barca does on the clearance. De jong has things to improve, but his effort is phenomenal.

93:26 — Messi goes for the dribble when he has open passes and is dispossessed again. He has no one else he can give it to for playmaking. Messi is playing as an attacking mid, trying to create because, similarly to Argentina, Barca currently does not have any attacking mids, only DMs and CMs. Puig deserves a call-up.

93:47 — Our last attack. A few ordinary passes get the ball to Messi in the middle with the defense in front of him. The game fittingly ends in a Messi last-ditch blocked shot and bounces harmlessly toward the touchline.

Point 1: Extremely poor defensive marking and positioning except for certain players. Open men, especially problematic in how often it happens in the area. Also very inconsistent in our pressing strategy.

Point 2: Stagnant off-the-ball. We lack movement and dynamism.

Point 3: We lack crisp, decisive passing, and one-touch passing especially. Players take too many touches while searching for a pass and allow the opposition to adjust.

Point 4: We always try to play through the middle- very few balls in behind the defence, very few crosses in the air or in the ground. This is a lot of what makes our attack so predictable.

Additionally, our midfield is often far away from one another. They do not dependably combine in the center of the pitch, because they aren’t consistently in the same vicinity. We don’t control the middle of the pitch.

— These are just my thoughts and observations about this game and our broader patterns of defensive and offensive weakness this year. Please don’t call me an idiot if my understanding seems silly to you or you disagree. I welcome feedback.

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