Barca Breakdown (FC Barcelona)

Dembele To CHELSEA?? Fati Opts Out Of Surgery, 8 Weeks Rehab! Araujo REJECTS Contract Extension

The Barca Breakdown discuss recent news as Dembele's agent's meeting with Chelsea to strike a deal. Reports are that the negotiation did not go particularly well and Dembele is asking to speak to Laporta directly in hopes of staying. While these are rumors, there could be some validity knowing that Dembele's agent would be asking for a large payout. The world also knows that Demebel has had his fair share of injuries. Will Dembele be able to strike a deal with Laporta and stay at Barca or will his agent be successful and strike a deal and make a move to England? 

 

In other important news, Fati, who re-injured his knee against Athletic Bilbao, has opted out of surgery. He has chosen a more conservative approach and will be available at a sooner date. We discuss the pros and cons of each decision and understand how one could make either decision based on the circumstance.

 

Speaking of players possibly leaving, Ronald Araujo has rejected the first proposal by Barca in regards to a contract extension. It is thought that the contract did not offer enough to the largely sought after CB. Barca will have to come back to the drawing board and make an enticing offer to keep the CB if they don't want to lose him to the Premier League. Now we don't think he will leave easily since it seems Araujo loves Barca and wants to continue performing well for the club. 

 

Lastly, we mention the rumors of the Pique/Messi fallout as Pique was not present at a dinner with Xavi, Busquets, and Alba.

Alaves v. Barcelona Match Review (0-1): Frenkie Scores Game Winner In Lethargic Koeman-Like Style

The Barca Breakdown discussed a narrowly won Barcelona performance against Deportivo Alaves. In the attacking front we saw Abde, Torres, and Luuk De Jong. Xavi started Frenkie De Jong in the midfield in place of Gavi (out due to red card against Granada) alongside Busquets and Pedri. And in the back we finally see the return of Dest with Araujo, Pique, and Jordi Alba. 

 

It's hard to imagine Barca playing in such a lethargic, slow, and utterly uninteresting game against the 19th team on the table. Yet a late goal by Frenkie was the highlight of the 90 minutes. Other than that moment, Barca performed like a bottom tier team against a team facing relegation.

 

Xavi made incredibly late subs (first in the 71') when clearly his strategies on the pitch in the first 70' were not working whatsoever. The Breakdown questions how Xavi didn't implement changes to boost the energy of Barca (clearly the choice should have been Dembele). Of course Xavi started Alba, Busi, and Pique playing them another 90'.

 

In two weeks Barca will play Atletico Madrid, who are 1 point ahead of Barca and played the same games. After the performance in the Copa Del Rey against Athletic Bilbao and Alaves, Barca have almost zero chance of winning that game to take 4th on the table. 

Athletic Bilbao v. Barcelona Match Review: Xavi’s Barca Are Susceptible And The Back Line Is Old

The Barca Breakdown discussed another tough loss in a big game. In the Round of 16 of the Copa Del Rey Barca were knocked out by Athletic Bilbao who just lost in the Supercopa against Real Madrid. Seeing as the Barca Breakdown have believed Barca were on a small upswing this game has really highlighted the teams deficiencies. 

 

First and foremost, the Barca backline is old and slow. We constantly have Dani Alves, Busquets, and Jordi Alba playing defense against some of the fastest players on the pitch and time and time again they fail to keep up and prevent counters. Of course we can say that these players are old and under performing to the caliber they once had, but who is really to blame? It is clear and obvious these players are old, but we see them time and time again playing a full 90 minutes on the pitch and constantly let us down. Xavi is clearly choosing to start the players and not making tactical decisions to minimize or account for the players deficiencies. Furthemore, it seems we lack the strategies to prevent being susceptible to counters and set pieces which have resulted in many goals against the Blaugrana. 

 

With the benching of Ousmane Dembele, due to his lack of contract agreement, Barca were left to head the game with Abde, Jutgla, and Ferran Torres. Essentially, all three were non-existent in the front attack and really lacked creativity and open space to press. This could have also been a result of the fact that Barca could not keep Bilbao out of their half for most of the game. 

 

Only a few players were a delight to watch, the top three being Ronald Araujo, Pedri, and Marc Andre Ter Stegen. Barca have a lot of work to do, but It needs to be orchestrated by Xavi to realize his vision and Barca success.

Barcelona v Real Madrid (2-3) SuperCopa Review: FATI & PEDRI Return in Cataclysmic El Clasico Clash

The Barca Breakdown discussed the El Clasico of the Supercopa! While Barcelona could not take a victory here and progress to the final on Sunday, there are many great takeaways from this game. First and foremost, we saw the return of the very anticipated Ansu Fati and Pedri. Fati came in off the bench and was able to secure Barcelona's second goal to force overtime of the game. What was truly wonderful was watching Barcelona operate with such relentless vigor when going down a goal throughout the whole game. Two key players exhibiting our unending fight to win was Ousmane Dembele and Luuk De Jong who both were non-stop creating chances and making attempts on goal. On the defensive side we must highlight the studly performances of Ronald Araujo and Gerard Pique who protect the net on several accounts despite Barca allowing 3 goals. This margin could have been much higher. Although, as the Breakdown saw some great moments in this spectacular game, we must highlight our deficiencies. Overall the Barca defense was not good enough to prevent 3 goals from the ferocity and speed of the Real Madrid attacking force. As we have said many times, the Barca defense has much work to do in goal prevention. Not only does the defense need to spruce up, but Barcelona cannot be careless with the ball leading up to the countless counter attacks from Madrid. This game was winnable, but we were full of countless mistakes leading to our demise. While the players clearly have improvements to make, Xavi as coach needs more time. His substitutes for this game worked out overall. We do criticize the fact the busquets did not come off after a bad giveaway and that Depay had no play coming into this game. Overall we can say there is great promise after a game like this and the team has been showing leaps forward in improvement. We hope it is in time to seal a top 4 spot in La Liga so that we can make Champions League next season. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarcaBreakdown​​​​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barcabreakdown Listen to our podcast on Spotify or Apple/Itunes Podcast. Please support the Barca Breakdown and subscribe to our channel and like our videos. Please let us know in the comments what type of content you want to see more of!

Granada vs. FC Barcelona (1-1) Match Review: LDJ Header, Gavi Blunders, & Chance for 3rd Place Lost

The Barca Breakdown discussed a tough draw against Granada CF in their first La Liga match of the new year and first match of the second half of the season. This was Barca's opportunity to take 3rd on the table, surpassing Atletico Madrid and Real Betis. Unfortunately, Luuk De Jong's Header was not good enough to secure the victory for Barcelona.

 

It became increasingly difficult for the Barca defense to lock down Granada's attacking force when a second poor foul by the youngster Gavi resulted in a red card and ejection. This left Barca with 10 men in the 10 minutes, just enough time for Granada to take a corner and find the Barca defense slacking. Puertas in the 89' was able to rocket a shot off the top post and in, scoring the game equalizer.

While we discussed many contributing factors to this draw, it is another example where Barca falls short when there are opportunities that they must take advantage of. Xavi, unfortunately put on Memphis Depay who ended up adding nothing to the team in place of LDJ. On top of this, once LDJ came off the pitch the Barca squad looked less organized in attack and no opportunities flourished in this formation of play.

Furthermore, the Barca squad looked less enthused to be on the pitch especially in the likes of Ousmane Dembele. His stay is extremely questionable at the moment, but we do not believe Barca played in the manner to open the field for Demebele. While we can sayGavi looked over zealous, hios chaotic tackles and poor choices was ultimately his downfall. In conclusion, the opportunity to rise on the table was thwarted by poor player output in combination with poor coaching decisions and a lack of adaptability. A silver lining of it all, is that Barca seem to be making improvements in different places. Although, they still have yet to fully fuse each incremental improvement into all aspects of the game simultaneously.

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Linares Dep. 1-2 FC Barcelona Match Review! Dembele and Jutgla Score! Dani Alves Makes his Return!

The BarcaBreakdown discuss the 1-2 victory for FC Barcelona over Linares Deportivo. Thankfully, substitutions at half time allowed Ousmane Dembele and Ferran Jutgla to score 2 second half goals to allow FC Barcelona to advance to the Round of 16 of the Copa Del Rey.

A first half marked by bad defense and ball control was highlighted by a Linares Deportivo goal that quickly put FC Barcelona behind. At half, Xavi made a crucial substitution of Riqui Puig, who had a very poor performance today. Though, Frenkie De Jong and Ronald Araujo both picked up injuries which could hurt an already injury plagued team in Barca. New is coming out that Araujo's hand is fractured and he will miss 3-4 weeks.

Dembele again sparked some magic with his performance, which is increasingly bittersweet as he has not signed a contract renewal to stay with FC Barcelona and could be on his way out of the club this winter or summer due to an expiring contract. Ferran Jutgla continued to take the most of his opportunities starting (as Barca have injuries to Memphis Depay, Braithwaite, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres is not ready to play yet) and score a nice goal to seal the Barca victory.

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Mallorca vs. Barcelona (0-1): Luuk De Jong Scores Winner & Stegen Saves the Day Securing 3 Points!!

The Barca Breakdown discussed Barca's second away victory of the season against 15th place RCD Mallorca. The win puts barca in 5th place, 1 point behind Atletico Madrid and 2 points behind Real Betis. With so many Barca players out of the roster, Dembele, Gavi, Abde, and more due to Covid, the results are wonderful. 

 

Xavi deployed a 4-3-3 with Araujo, Eric Garcia, Pique, and Mingueza fortifying the back line. In the mid field Puig, Nico and FDJ fed balls forward to Jutgla, LDJ, and Ilias. While this team is not seasoned on the pitch, Minuguza was able to supply a cross to the head of LDJ who put one away as the game winner. This goal came at the end of the first half, which means Barca had a lot of work to do to secure the 3 points. Overall, Barca was able to protect the net until a huge chance came to Mallorca. Barca's German Wall, who has not been living up to this name, finally redeemed himself with a massive save by slapping the attempt away with his forearm. 

 

Barca finally broke the 7th spot on the table and reached 5th, just in range to secure a Champions League spot for next season. The results could not have been much better with the hand Barca was dealt. Although, the biggest worry is Dembele will not sign to extend his career at Barca and if we do not transfer him in the January window, he will be off for free. Despite this, Ferran Torres, Pedri, and Fati should be available soon to get to the 4th spot! Forca Barca!  

Ferran Torres JOINS FC BARCELONA! Dembele Close to Re-Signing! Pedri, Fati, and Depay Will Be Back?

The BarcaBreakdown discuss the massive news that Ferran Torres has joined FC Barcelona from Manchester City! Torres is also a Spanish national, so he has plenty of experience playing alongside Jordi Alba, Busquets, Gavi, and Pique, which should help him quickly get used to FC Barcelona. He also previously played for Valencia, so he is well accustomed to La Liga's playstyle. Laporta has signed Torres offering a huge boost to Xavi's side. Torres can play as a winger, striker, or a false nine, all roles he played under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City or under Luis Enrique for Spain. We also discuss the returns from injury of Pedri, Ansu Fati, and Memphis Depay. We also discuss Ousmane Dembele being close to signing a contract extension with FC Barcelona. Please like, comment and subscribe to our channel! Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarcaBreakdown​​​​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barcabreakdown Listen to our podcast on Spotify or Apple/Itunes Podcast. Please support the Barca Breakdown and subscribe to our channel and like our videos. Please let us know in the comments what type of content you want to see more of!

Sevilla 2-2 FC Barcelona Match Review: Xavi‘s Barca Improving! Araujo Goal and Dembele‘s MOTM Play!

The BarcaBreakdown the 2-2 Draw vs. Sevilla in La Liga. Facing the #2 team in La Liga, Xavi's Barca played a very impressive game as the team continues to learn Xavi's style he intends to implement in the team. Ronald Araujo scored a wonderful header and the only goal allowed by Barca was an unfortunate corner goal in the first half. Barca really took the first half by storm and showcased some brilliant offensive play with Gavi, Dembele, and Abde showing no fear against a great Sevilla side. The game turned on its head once Kounde received a red card for throwing the ball directly at Jordi Alba's head. Sevilla played a very aggressive game with multiple fouls on Barca players throughout the match. Down to 10-men, Sevilla parked the bus and Barca had very few good scoring opportunities. Again, we still are facing tremendous injuries to our offense with Fati, Pedri, Depay, and Braithwaite all still injured. The team continues to inspire, especially led by young payers like Gavi, Nico, Abde, and Araujo. Our team still has an issue of turning in weaker second half performances, though this is getting better. Please like, comment and subscribe to our channel! Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarcaBreakdown​​​​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barcabreakdown

FC Barcelona vs Elche (3-2) Match Review: Gavi/Nico/Jutgla Spectacular Offensive Performance!

The Barca Breakdown discusses the victory and performance of FC Barcelona vs. Elche CF. Xavi's starting 3-4-3 lineup including Araujo as the right back, Erica Garcia starting, and Jutgla. Araujo again started in a position that is unnatural and Erica Garcia who has been slow and lacked strength to snuff out attacking opponents. Jutgla had his first start in a La Liga match for the Barca A team, looked absolutely spectacular. Rolling into the first half, there were wonderful attempts on goal with great passes facilitated by Ousmane Dembele. Magic struck from a Dembele corner, landing on Jutgla's head, who wonderfully placed it past the goalie. Then, only a few moments later Gavi received the ball with a quick turn and rushed to attack, ultimately smashing it to the left in which it bounces off and into the net. Barca up 2-0 before the 20'. As the half closes, Barca allowed a couple chances for Elche to score which were misplaced. Second half had begun and the Barca defense looked weak. Elche received an awful pass from Araujo, leaving the counter attack open. Elche scored, 2-1. Moments later a cross from the right and a header smashes past Stegen who weakly contested the opportunity, 2-2. A great representation of how the Barca season had been going. Just as we thought Barca would shut down, Dembele and Gavi connected in the box resulting with a give and go. Gavi spotted Nico in the middle of the box, wideopen. Niceo received the ball and reacted in time to save 3 points with a powerfully exhilarating goal. Barca leave the pitch with 3 points and hope under Xavi's promising offensive tactics. Unfortunately, the Barca defense still looks weak for reasons by Xavi and the players. Please like, comment and subscribe to our channel! Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarcaBreakdown​​​​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barcabreakdown Listen to our podcast on Spotify or Apple/Itunes Podcast. Please support the Barca Breakdown and subscribe to our channel and like our videos. Please let us know in the comments what type of content you want to see more of!