Memphis comes to Barça's rescue

The Barça that kicked off the post-Messi era with an impressive win against Real Sociedad were nowhere to be seen in last night's clash at San Mamés. Athletic Club ran over them like a steamroller for much of the match, destroying the good sensations that were created in last weekend's win against La Real. This was until a moment of magic by Memphis, who snatched Barça a point with a thunderous left-footed finish. Memphis and De Jong shouldered the responsibility when it looked like their side would be returning to Catalonia without any points, dragging Barça back into a game which was worryingly reminiscent of last season's performances.

Koeman knows that it is not possible to replace the best player in the world. As such, he is aware that he needs to build a new project in which the team is greater than the sum of its parts. 'Messidependence' is no longer an option. Instead, Barça must use last weekend's victory as a template to build on. They must press harder, recover the ball quicker, use the width more, make use of late runs into the box from central midfield and play with a greater intensity. Last night, Barça didn't show any of this. For more than an hour, they were defensively fragile (Neto didn't help with this), never had control of the game and were unable to generate clear opportunities besides Araujo's goal, which was incorrectly ruled out by the referee. The same old mediocre Barça, without Messi's magic to bail them out.

Not even after Athletic's goal were they able to react. Barça started to attack more, but did so without any real purpose. Koeman brought on Demir and Sergi Roberto for a disappointing Braithwaite and an exhausted Pedro, who will need this 15-day break. However, things didn't improve until De Jong woke up and Memphis came to the rescue. The two dutch internationals shouldered responsibility, with De Jong dictating the play and Memphis firing home high into the net. Despite suffering for much of the game, they managed to come home with a valuable point from a difficult match.