Guillem Balague column: 'Barcelona have problems, but Tottenham should be wary'

[Blackfire]

 

Guillem Balague will be writing a regular column throughout the season and also appearing every Thursday on BBC Radio 5 live's Football Daily podcast, when the focus will be on European football.

You can download the latest Football Daily podcast here.

Few people know better than Mauricio Pochettino that there is never a 'good' time to face Barcelona.

Even so, the Catalans' current form suggests the timing of Wednesday's Champions League group match is as good as it's ever going to get for the Tottenham boss.

After just seven La Liga games, Barcelona have already dropped seven points. They had only dropped six by the halfway point last season.

They are without a win in three matches. A defeat at lowly Leganes a week ago was followed by a tame home draw against Athletic on Saturday.

What's going wrong at Barcelona?

 

Two points out of a possible nine in the league and eight goals conceded in their past seven games suggests a vulnerable team way short of their best form.

Much has been made of uncharacteristic mistakes by centre-back Gerard Pique, with three errors in recent games leading directly to opposition goals. But while he certainly needs to improve his intensity and concentration, Barca's problems go a lot deeper than that.

 

They are struggling to maintain pressure high up the pitch, and with Ivan Rakitic playing in a more advanced role, the pivotal Sergio Busquets is cutting an isolated figure further back in midfield.

And there is a deeper problem. Too often this season their attacks have been more individual than collective and sometimes too direct. When Barcelona attack as a unit they defend as one as well - but right now, when they lose the ball, there are often big gaps between defence and midfield. Opponents have been exploiting this space.

There is also a lack of strength in depth, with a second string not of the required standard and not making a sufficient impact. OK, trying to fill the boots of the likes of Lionel Messi and Busquets is probably the toughest gig in world football, but, even so, Barca have certainly spent big to bolster their squad.

Philippe Coutinho, bought from Liverpool for £142m in January, works wells enough in an attacking role, but the club's midfielders require a more patient ball distribution and the Brazilian's defensive work needs to improve.

Ousmane Dembele, who joined from Dortmund for £135.5m in August 2017, is not settling in as well as he could. The France forward is struggling with the language, is shy and surrounded by his own people all the time. He was certainly not helped by the bad injury he suffered at the beginning of his Barcelona career.

To his credit, he has scored five goals so far this campaign, but he does not understand enough of the Barca style to help the fluidity of the game or to take the right decisions at key moments.

Malcom, Arturo Vidal, Arthur and Clement Lenglet - all arrived in the summer; all remain on the periphery.

At the same stage of last season Barcelona had seven successive league victories and had conceded just twice. True, they are top of the league on 14 points - but that is the lowest number to head the table at this stage for 25 years.

The next five games for Barca will probably go a long way to defining their season: away to Tottenham and Valencia and then at home against Sevilla, Inter and Real Madrid.