Barcelona will NOT win La Liga like this, so what's gone wrong?

Gerard Pique ended the game at Anoeta hurting. Physically and morally. With his ankle strapped up. But more painful were the dropped points and, above all, the performance offered by the team. “Playing like this it will be difficult to win La Liga,” the centre-back recognised after the game at Anoeta. And he insisted, especially, that there was a lack of attitude: “[La Real] created problems through their play, but about all through their attitude. We didn’t turn up in the first half.” 

Pique’s tough self-criticism, which Luis Enrique didn’t enjoy (“it’s dangerous to say things in the heat of the moment, when you’re still on the pitch, because not everything is right”), reflects the reality of a Barcelona who have started the season poorly. In fact, this is the worst start of the ‘Luis Enrique era’: the Blaugrana have lost 12 points in 13 games, double the amount of last season and four more than his first season. It’s been 10 years since Barça started so poorly, under Frank Rijkaard in 2007-08. 

CAMP NOU IS NOT A FORTRESS 

A large part of this nightmare start is because Camp Nou is no longer an impenetrable stadium. The opposite. Barça have let seven of 18 points escape in home games, with two draws (Atletico, Malaga) and one defeat (Alaves). Barça have won three out of their six Camp Nou games (Betis, Deportivo and Granada). Their worst numbers since 2003-04. 

Things haven’t gone much better on the road. Luis Enrique’s side have given up five points from 21, with a draw against Real Sociedad and a painful defeat at Celta Vigo. However, they have won at difficult grounds such as Athletic, Sevilla and Valencia. 

LACK OF STYLE AND ABSENCES 

Away from the numbers, though, it’s the play. And the sensations. Barça have been incapable of playing a complete game. We’ve only seen them in small doses, such as the second half at Sevilla. The main problem is the waiving of their style. They’ve stopped being a team that plays with the lines together, pressing in attack and recovering the ball quickly. They’ve lost the control of games and depend, excessively, on the trident. Above all on Lionel Messi. 

The statistics from Anoeta are especially painful, where La Real beat Barça at everything. In fact, it seemed as if Real Sociedad were Barça and Barça were just any old team. 

One of the reasons for this incocnsitency could be in Luis Enrique’s constant rotations. Some are voluntary, others have been obligatory due to injuries. The biggest absence at the moment is Andres Iniesta, the player who applies the necessary criteria in the Barça midfield. He’s missed six games (four in La Liga) and could, finally, be back for Real Madrid next Saturday. 

THE CLASICO 

The Clasico will be decisive for Barcelona’s La Liga hopes. Even though only a third of the competition has passed, a defeat against Madrid would virtually KO Barça, who would be left nine points behind Los Blancos. An abysmal difference in terms of fighting for the title. Even thought these games are always special and we have to hope that Barça will recover their best form and cut the gap on the leader to three points. Beyond that, though, it would provide a boost to the morale which has been lost.