Where will Barca go from here?

There are many issues that Barcelona find sitting on their table today. After a comprehensive defeat by Bayern Munich in this year’s Champions League semi final, the club is at a crossroad.

It’s a problem that most clubs would relish but could it be one that rips the clubs foundations apart?  They weren’t just defeated by Munich but where shown that others have learnt how to play against their tiki-taka style and have developed something to defeat it, proving the elite have moved on where Barcelona have stood still.

This may seem harsh considering that they have just reached a record breaking 6^th consecutive semi-final of Europe’s most glamour’s club tournament and I am myself torn on which argument is correct.  A team that contains the talents of Valdes (highly under-rated), Pique (slightly over-rated), Jordi Alba, Xavi, Iniesta, David Villa (massively under-rated) and Lionel Messi (highly over dependent) will always be reaching the later stages of all tournaments.  But is that enough?  With these stars, winning is expected.

There is another two groups of players that are in the squad; the pretenders that are trying to force their way through and the players that have been brought, expensively, to the club but are either not playing to the level that they should or are not trusted by the management team….and that is another issue that will be address later.

So with regards to the question above relating to the 2 groups; do they stick or twist?

It is clear that certain players are not playing to the level that they were two years ago, a possible reason for Pep Guardiola leaving, and thoughts are that they won’t get back to that level, so which road do they take?

If they can’t grow them, do they buy them? A road they don’t seem to want to go down, and if they do, they need to do it better than they have recently.

Buy or Grow?

The Golden Generation

For several years the academy system, La Masia, has been producing world class players that have made the Blaugrana the envy of every club chairman in the world as with the list of players above, only Villa didn’t come through the ranks.  They are numbered in today’s squads and are all international class players that would be stars in every other team.  But was that a freak?

How often will a youth team of Valdes, Pique, Cesc, and Messi & Inesta all come through together with a team that contained Busquets, Pedro, Alba following on very closely to supplement more established players like Poyul and Xavi?  It surely is a one off?

There are promising youngsters coming through. We have already seen the attacking talents of Tiago and Tello frequently this season and both of the pretenders to Puyol’s throne, Bartra and Montoya, have had their chances too.  They have 2 promising players gaining experience elsewhere in Afellay and Cuenca which will hopefully result in a better player gracing the Nou Camp when they are back.  Also some players that haven’t yet progressed to the top team but are highly thought of are Deulofeu and Juan Angela Roman.  But will they be good enough?  If Barca are on a slide, can these players lift them from it?

If the answer is no then they have to open the cheque book.  Barcelona aren’t cheapskates, in the past seasons they have bought big but have they bought well?  In the current squad big name buys include Mascherano, Song, Pique & Cesc (both brought back to the club at a high expense) all from the EPL and Alexis Sanchez, Villa, Alves & Alba (like Pique & Cesc too) from Latin leagues.  Previous big name buys have included Ibrahimovic, Chygrynsky, Yaya Toure and many others but for different reasons.  Other expensive signings have proved successful, done a turn and moved on like Eto, Deco & Ronaldinho.

An Expensive Mistake

There is nothing wrong with selling a player if they are not fitting into the system (Ibra & Toure) even if they could bring something different, a plan B if you like. There is no harm in moving a player on from the club to allow a Messi or Inestia to flourish as they did with Ronaldinho and Deco.  Finally, there is nothing wrong with NOT spending millions on Javi Martinez when Sergio Busquets does the same job just as well.

Where they have went wrong is with their “square peg round hole” philophsy.  Song, Mascherano, Villa & Fabregas have all been brought in for a lot of Euros but are either not good enough (Song) or are being played out of position (Villa) which is affecting them to such a degree that they can’t play to their own standards because their confidence has been compromised.

If Puyol is to be replaced don’t convert a holding midfielder into a centre half just because you want them to be able to play out of defence, pay the money and buy one.  What’s wrong with Kompany, Agger or Hummels? It doesn’t look like Fabregas will replace Xavi as seamlessly as first predicted so would Mata or Hazard have been a better fit?.  Can you play with 2 wingers if both full backs push on as much as Alba and Alves? Robben at Munich is better at cutting in and shooting with his correct foot than Sanchez is.

So what now for Barca?  Is last year’s defeat by Chelsea, were they were bullied, and this year’s defeat by Munich, were they were outplayed, just blimps…..or do we need to see a New Barcelona step forward? Let's wait and watch.