Barcelona's rotation woes continue as Lenglet red leads to Girona draw

-
Ernesto Valverde tried some fresh faces to combat a heavy fixture list, but again the results have been found wanting
Rotate and suffer— or don’t and burn out. This is Barcelona’s Catch-22.
It was the same old story on Sunday for the Catalans, who struggled the first time Ernesto Valverde deviated from his regular side, dropping their first points of the season against Girona at Camp Nou in a 2-2 draw.
Barcelona moved back to the top of the league ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference, but will not be able to escape the feeling these were two points lost rather than one gained, even after Gerard Pique equalised with his team down to 10 men.
Last season, Valverde was blasted by the media for not rotating enough and leaving the team fatigued as the crunch games approached in the second half of the calendar, including the humiliating 3-0 second-leg defeat to Roma which saw them eliminated from the Champions League.
Having played PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday and with a trip to Leganes coming up on Wednesday in La Liga, Valverde chose this spot to rotate, to ensure his players stay fresh. Clement Lenglet and Nelson Semedo replaced Samuel Umtiti and Sergi Roberto in defence. In the heart of the park, Ivan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho were benched for Arthur and Arturo Vidal.
On paper,
this seemed the right time for the coach to make changes, even though it was a Catalan derby. After all, Barcelona thrashed Girona 6-1 last season and their neighbours have not been as impressive thus far as in their maiden top-flight campaign.
And yet one of the most painful defeats in recent Barcelona history came in a similar position, with their 2-1 tumble against minnows Alaves at Camp Nou in September 2016, when then-coach Luis Enrique heavily rotated his team.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez started that game on the bench and were called for after Barcelona fell behind, but they could not stop the side from tumbling to defeat.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COE LAUNCHES IAAF WORLD ATHLETICS HERITAGE PLAQUE AWARD

-
Image
IAAF President Sebastian Coe this evening announced the creation of the IAAF World Athletics Heritage Plaque. Coe also opened a public competition to design the plaque and launched a dedicated plaque website section for the new award. Coe made the announcements while hosting 150 guests at an IAAF Heritage Legends Reception in the Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel, Monaco. The audience included representatives and family members of several deceased athletics legends including Paavo Nurmi, Jesse Owens, Fanny Blankers-Koen and Emil Zatopek. On stage, each family presented Coe with historic artefacts from their relatives’ famous careers by donation to the IAAF Heritage Collection. Coe commented: “The IAAF World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition which highlights, celebrates and links together iconic and historic athletics competitions, careers, performances, cities, venues, landmarks and culture around the world.” A uniquely designed plaque will be permanently a...
Read more

Messi's €700 million release clause Won't Scare Bigger Clubs

-
Image
Barcelona corporate director Pancho Schroder concedes Lionel Messi's huge buyout clause may not be enough to frighten off big spenders. The Argentine maestro put a halt to speculation he could leave the Catalan giants by signing a contract extension until 2021 in November, with the deal including a €700 million release clause. But Schroder told Sky Sports: "We have established a clause that we consider sufficient for Messi to retire at Barcelona, but, having said that, a year ago we thought that Neymar's clause was also good enough to keep him and last summer it proved that it was not so. "Looking to the future, I think it's difficult, but I don't have a crystal ball and now things are getting a little crazy."
Read more

Bring On Real Madrid, Juventus - Salah

-
Image
Liverpool forward, Mohammed Salah has declared that the team isn’t scared of facing Real Madrid and Juventus in the quarter final of the UEFA Champions league. The Reds qualified to the next round after thrashing FC Porto 5-0 on aggregate, the first leg had ended 5-0 before playing a 0-0 draw at Anfield last week Tuesday. The Egyptian international has been in blistering form this season since joining Liverpool in the summer from Roma, scoring 33 goals in all competitions to help the Reds spearhead a possible title dream. Salah revealed that having crossed the round of 16 hurdles, the team welcomes any opponents from Real Madrid and Juventus in the quarter final. "We are really confident of ourselves regardless of what other teams in the Champions League feel. Our goal is to ensure that we face each game as they come and we are not scared of Real Madrid or Juventus in the next round should they pit us together. "We are more than focus in the competition and I belie...
Read more