BARCELONA IN JANUARY: DEMBELE INJURED! OUT 15 DAYS! WOOO (CLOSE ONE) / BARCELONA FLYING HIGH?? / HIGH TIMES AND WEIRD VIBES IN THE JANUARY TRANSFER MARKET

     

        

          Barcelona has had a topsy-turvy January, with a few losses in the Copa del Rey humbling us, although in the competition that truly matters right now (La Liga, until the Champions League begins early next month), Messi and co. have been in good form as of late.
          Call it....professional.

THE HISTORICAL FUTBOLSEX OF LIONEL MESSI AND JORDI ALBA
          Though, when talking about the brilliance of left back Jordi Alba and his partnership with our captain, our maestro, our king, Lionel Messi, you cannot say enough about the absolute surgical precision with which they can cut an opponent's defense and midfield to shreds with their perfectly executed chemistry, smartly timed runs and outrageous passing.

          Jordi Alba has been having the greatest season of his career, with a hat trick of assists earlier in the year against Tottenham, 1 brilliant assist in El Clasico, scoring against Inter Milan in the UCL, reclaiming his place in the Spanish national team as well and proving the idiotic doubters wrong with his mystical play.
        He already has 7 assists in La Liga, while being directly involved in 3 more uncredited goals in that same competition, combined with his 3 against Tottenham, Jordi Alba already has more assists than most attacking midfielders at a world class level with 10.
           Who knows how long the insanely quick and outrageously athletic 29 year old left back (who will turn 30 in March) can keep this up, yet his stamina levels, his enthusiasm and energy for the game never seem to dip. He's assisted 5 goals to Lionel Messi, 3 for Luis Suarez, 2 for Ousmane Dembele and 2 for Coutinho, showing Alba has no problem spreading the love around to whomever may be open.

          And the man, The myth, the freak  who is open most of the time happens to be none other than the lightning in a bottle / So Glad We Were Alive presence of Lionel Messi, who has now bent the history of time, space and everything holy to go his way and has notched another otherworldly goal, scooping it over Girona keeper Bounous like he was a pillar of salt to be pissed on in the wind, the ball caressing off of his foot and being sent like a flippant comment from John Lennon into the corner of the net, Girona defenders sprawling in vain.
           Messi just keeps getting better.
     Just put the phone down, shut up, stop the doubting, the idiocy, the statistical whipdee-hoo and watch him play. After he's done, then you can get into all of that, but while he's playing just put it all down and watch him.
         You could see we were missing the speed and direct altitude of Ousmane Dembele today against Girona's narrow, while still effective defensive line. Although Messi and Suarez combined and carved our Catalan neighbors apart at times, creating almost at will, but without any of the necessary luck for such disgustingly noble deeds to come off (such as Suarez's attempted bicycle kick that proved: YES, the dood is human after all, and we love him).

THE MACHINE LEARNS HOW TO FEEL: THE MAKING OF A BARCA WORLD CLASS TALENT AND OUSMANE WILL BE RETURNING SOON
          As for the missing man, the French youngster Ousmane Dembele has been hitting his apex as a Barcelona player as of late, with 3 goals in his last 2 matches (his brace against Levante in the Copa Del Rey were a pair of rather fortunate, although earned fortune goals) and his sliced, brilliant off the post finish against Leganes last week, was immaculate:
      He cut inside off of one player, juking them out of their socks, then smashed a brilliant ball to the wing to Jordi Alba on the overlapping run. Alba then cut the thing back to the easy, smart run of Dembele going to the top of the box, where he met the ball with his right foot on the first touch and effortlessly passed it into the net off of the far post with his second.

             As TalkFCB, the Barca YouTube channel for fans, pointed out (to paraphrase) "it was completely from the Messi to Alba playbook": the run Dembele made shows his improvement not only as a footballer, but as a student of the game. He seems to be more confident in knowing which route to goal is the safest, easiest and quickest. Sometimes in the past, Dembele made the game look a lot harder than it could be for someone so naturally gifted; fast forward to now, he's become so good he makes it look as easy as Messi and Suarez do at times.
            In the process of all this flashy play, Ousmane has won an astonishing 26 points combined for his club this season, truly a Messi-esque statistic putting to absolute rest this "Barca Bust" tag that is both cheap and unfair.
      And now he will be hurt again for another week and a half to go, with a sprained ankle from a bizarre slip last weekend. Still though, the World Cup winner was extremely lucky the injury wasn't far worse as it had looked on initial viewing. The Frenchman is beginning to prove a little more durable and versatile than he was his first season in Catalonia, and it is always a privilege to watch him lace them up with Messi, Suarez and Coutinho.

            For a creator, he's been scoring goals for fun lately, with 13 total on the season and 5 assists to go with it, yet his overall performance levels have been outrageous: He's notched 11 dribbles against Leganes, 8 dribbles in the Copa Del Rey match against Levante and has been averaging 3.1 over all competitions, sending opponents on their asses nearly as many times as Lionel Messi has this season.
      Also this month, while playing right wingback in the absence of both Nelson Semedo and Sergi Roberto, Dembele pulled off 7 dribbles while tracking back to shut down the opposition in a thoroughly unselfish display that must've won him an applause in the dressing room post match as it proved key in another victory.
        He's also begun to take his time on the ball, posting higher volumes of completed passes and smarter, more possession-oriented conservatism on the ball, with the danger of a crazy move or a direct play on goal is always looming for defenders to deal with.

COUTINHO'S DESCENT INTO MADNESS
         All of this attention towards Ousmane has sent Phillippe Coutinho into the shadows, something the Brazilian is definitely not used to. He's been trying to whittle away at the confidence iceberg, yet hasn't quite made the necessary dents despite a beautiful assist a few matches ago. Still: Coutinho only had 11 more passes than Dembele against Leganes a week ago, while playing 32 more minutes than the Frenchman and while taking up a midfield role, with 0 key passes against Leganes and 3 shots...all off target.
       This weekend, he went the full 90 minutes, and again was luckless with 0 goals and 0 assists, missing a brilliant Messi through ball that sent him one on one with Girona keeper Bounou, only for Coutinho to smash the shot into the keeper's chest. He took 3 shots again, managing 2 of them on target, and 59 passes completed with only one chance created. 
        The problems with Coutinho seem to lie in his absolute need to control the entire left quadrant of the pitch from the left center midfield area clear up to the left forward position and a good chunk of the attacking midfield central area. He needs all of this space to conjure his moves, to attempt his combination flicks and tricks, which are all designed with the aim of setting himself up for a long range shot.           

       This becomes too easy to stop when you know Coutinho will only cut inside on his right foot and look to unleash a blast.... not to look for runners. Defenders and midfielders alike know if they can contain him and break down on either side of a sprinting Coutinho, he'll most likely lash a shot wide rather than dishing the ball loose, as he lacks neither the strength or the pace to shake markers loose.
       We also aren't seeing him combine out on the left with Alba, a cardinal sin for anyone playing on the left wing at Barca. The predictability of the later MSN era lies flatly on the shoulders of Neymar, as he hardly ever looked outside for the overlapping run of Alba, narrowing our attack in the process, allowing each defender to key on each one of our front three.
       This was the reason Barca has lost in the quarterfinals of the UCL the last few seasons, along with defensive fragility, failing to replace Xavi, Messi-dependence, not owning or (last year with Semedo left on the bench) playing a real right back, or having to deal with a faceless, illegal board or a competent manager.
        Is Coutinho going to become another Brazilian left sided attacking player who doesn't live up to the transfer price or invests more time and energy towards selfish pursuits? Or is he going to evolve and progress into a true Barcelona player, which he's proven he can be many times in a shirt of ours already?

This assist by Coutinho is just an example of the majesty and otherworldly talents Coutinho can provide...yes this goal is all about the Rakitic strike, but the skill Coutinho shows to not only keep the ball in bounds, but to also feed Rakitic while turning and falling to the ground, chipping it over the entire Tottenham team in the box simultaneously, with the ball bouncing for a perfect volley at the top of the box?

The assist was unreal.

 It is what makes Coutinho world class, just as much, if not more than his rocket goals from 30+ yards out.

If he hunkers down and begins to create more for Messi and Suarez, his goals will come, just as we see with Ousmane Dembele. If he continues his lack of trust in his teammates, especially such unselfish ambassadors of World Badassery like GOAT Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and a young gun he has combined with on more than a few occasions for goals, Ousmane Dembele, then what is the point of having him? Does he merely see Dembele as competition for a starting spot?

 If he can't realize that his goals will come from giving the ball to the wizardry of Messi and Suarez and then going on a run into the box, or moving in tight and playing little back and forth balls between the three or four attackers, then....frankly...what is all of this money and time taken away from other players really for? 

This is Barcelona...not a bigger platform for your long range shooting abilities.

Coutinho, while vastly talented and one of our best players, hasn't currently deserved the minutes he has been given, especially over such talents as Alena, Arthur, Roberto in midfield, or Puig...

          Coutinho and our stacked midfield aside, we move on to the hiccuping performance of our defensive unit.

THE BACK LINE & THE CURRENT BRILLIANCE OF NELSON SEMEDO 

          As far as Barcelona's right back position goes, Nelson Semedo is finally beginning to show the end product Barca fans have been dying to see. The Portugese international had 10 assists (directly involved in 14 goals) in his final season at Benfica before becoming a Blaugrana player, so we all expected Nelsinho to hug the line at the edge of the opposition box, playing little passes and combinations and earning penalties and playing on the ground crosses with his deceptive feet. 

              But that hasn't happened....until lately. 

              Semedo has finally scored his first Barcelona goal with an unusual left footed blast at the edge of the penalty spot on Sunday at Girona, watching a touch from Arturo Vidal get deflected into his path by a Girona defender and he wasn't going to make any hesitation as he sent the ball into the corner of the net, ending his duck as a Barcelona player. 

              His defensive duties and abilities have been underrated his entire season and a half career at Camp Nou, with fantastic flying tackles and lunging last man interceptions and blocks, Semedo has been a defensive wonder and his outrageous recovery speed and skill has been a mask for the deficiencies and the lack of pace from Gerard Pique on the right side of our back line. 

       Yet it has always been his end product in the final third we've all been wondering about...where is the vertical threat in his attack? Why has he only just recently begun to use his tremendous pace as a weapon? And Where is the combination with Messi and / or Dembele up that right wing as he takes off in space? Many times we've seen Semedo deny a 60-80 yard chunk of space into the attacking third of the right wing and check inside to a midfielder with a pass that sends the team 25 yards backwards. 

            That cannot continue if he is going to be a Barcelona right back of the future....hell, we've still got Sergi Roberto (a midfielder by trade) who's somehow delivering 7-8 assists from being played out of position at right back,  so if Semedo cannot deliver in the final third with aimless crosses and sloppy cutbacks that constantly get deflected or blocked by defenders (much to the annoyance of the always running Messi and Suarez), we will continue to see our lackluster manager Ernesto Valverde, continue to hurt our team in the long run by playing Roberto at right back.

            Can we really win a Champions League title with Sergi Roberto at right back? Against Lyon's Memphis Depay and Ferland Mendy up that left wing, just for starters, in the Round of 16 in only a couple weeks? Then, potentially Ribery or Coman? Martial? Sadio Mane? Neymar???? Leroy Sane godforbid.

Nobody is doubting Sergi's effort or his knowledge of the game, but playing right back is a completely different thing than center midfield. I have always been enamored with Sergi Roberto, but it is obvious his future with us is in midfield or we are hurting a player's last stage of development, with his performances sometimes muddied by the blurred responsibilities of right back, right forward and right center mid all becoming one...often times leaving the older Gerard Pique exposed in defense.

      Roberto is nearly in his late 20s now...and Rakitic is in his 30s and playing too much as it is to the point of heart failure if it continues...we need to figure out if Roberto staying as a right back / right wing / right center mid hybrid is really where our future is at.....or if we couldn't just swap Roberto for Rakitic at Right center mid for the rest of this season until we figure out if new signing from Ajax and Dutch international midfielder, Frenkie De Jong is a central defensive midfielder or an interior midfielder.

  And Semedo has responded to this challenge as of late, with a goal and an assist in his last 3 matches and an aggressive 3 shots overall and 1 on target (Semedo only had 4 shots all season in all competitions until these last few games and 0 goals and only a single assist in the entirety of last season), Nelson Semedo has shown hunger and desire, while still being able to cover his defensive duties with absolute aplomb. We need to find out if Nelsinho is a true Barcelona talent and the time is now for a long run of matches that culminates with him starting against the biggest teams in the world in the Champions League. Valverde has to buck up and make the smarter decision here. 

 As for our defense, we've improved by and large, with yet another clean sheet against Girona, bringing us to 6 clean sheets in our last 13 matches. We've allowed 10 goals in that same span of time, improving slightly (when Alba, Pique and Lenglet are playing) on our porous, scattered and demented back line in the aftermath of Samuel Umtiti's absence at the beginning of October and on until December. 

We also took the prudent steps in buying Columbian center back Jeisson Murillo, who while not promising to be a world beater, may prove to be an above adequate signing in giving Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet the necessary rest until Samuel Umtiti returns (which may or may not happen). We've also seen Thomas Vermaelen prove dependable and solid  (whenever he's healthy enough to take the pitch).

   Although we had our scary moments today against Girona, we kept the clean sheet with center back Clement Lenglet contributing with calmness in the face of pressure. Still, our defense's best moment came from our veteran center back and co-captain: Gerard Pique made an improbable, but perfectly timed and executed (in position and technique) clearance off of the line, saving Ter Stegen's ass after our German goalkeeper had made 3 sprawling, fantastic saves for us (it must be said Girona helped us out in the finishing department with only a few of these shots being truly challenging for Ter Stegen).
            As a club, we haven't had our greatest month on the pitch, although this season isn't a race...it's a marathon and, with manager Ernesto Valverde's recent slight rotation and resting of Lionel Messi, Busquets, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba among others for Copa Del Rey matches and in other, smaller moments of matches, he has shown an improvement in that area from last season. 
         Hopefully Valverde understands what the game is all about now: it's about winning the Champions League as many times as possible while Messi is still playing. That is the goal....especially after the era of recent Madrid based dominance, FC Barcelona is and should be keying on Champions League glory.

             Rest, recuperation and having your best players fit and firing from February until late May, is what it's all about. It is a fine line where sometimes injuries are just going to happen....and sometimes we cannot blame anyone for the sheer luckless happenings that we call injuries: the great shame, sadness and cause from the energies of the game itself.

             January has been about growing the team, keeping the team fit and rested, while looking to the future with the dynamic signing of the all world talents of Frenkie De Jong. There has also been typical Bartomeu stupidity though....

            Am I going to sit here and tell you about how Kevin-Prince Boateng is going to transform our team to new heights? No I'm not going to be saying that, nor could I imagine Barca ever buying Kevin-Prince Boateng, but here he is...just like Paulinho.

             Anyone can get a few goals playing with Messi and the players we've got at Barcelona, but is he really just there as another body? To make up numbers for the Copa Del Rey so we look like we're taking it seriously? 

              I have no idea why we signed him, other than to make sure Suarez or Messi don't have to play in the Copa Del Rey. Still, we didn't need to sign someone for way more than they were ever worth to do that. We'll see if the man who hasn't scored since October 28th (and only has 4 goals and a solitary assist) can contribute as the supposed "back up center forward" to Suarez, but hey he's already started as many matches as Malcolm. 

         Here's hoping to an exciting February with the Lyon tie looming, the guaranteed great goals, huge victories and fit, firing and happy players and fans.

LET'S GO

             

   
Please join or create the conversation below. Are we signing the right players? Is Barca in good condition to play in the knockout rounds of the UCL? What should be done about Coutinho? Are we insane?

Tell us below and THANK YOU for reading!!