BarcelonaThe team has a lot of problems, and one that should be of particular concern is their attack, as the team is posting their worst successful start to the season in nearly two decades.
Blaugrana have scored just eight goals in their first five games in La Liga Santander, the club’s lowest record since 2003.
Curious what it was Joan Laportafirst season as president, and there was another Dutchman at the helm – Frank Ryckard… Then the Catalans scored only five goals in the first five matches of La Liga.
That 2003/04 season Barcelona As a result, he finished second in La Liga, five points behind Valencia. In cup competitions, they were also unlucky, they were knocked out Real Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey and Celtic in the UEFA Cup.
Rijkaardthe blunt attack in those openings was also unstable. Ronaldinho being the only regular, while he hacked and changed others around him, including Ricardo Quaresma, Javier Saviola, Patrick Kluivert and Sergio Garcia…
The similarities can be seen now, 18 years later. This time around, Memphis Depay was unchanged, but the lack of consistency around it didn’t help.
From the first Lionel Messi leaving in the summer it was Martin Braithwaite and Antoine Griezmann who started the first games of this campaign, but the first was injured and the second returned to Atlético Madrid at the deadline. Ronald Koeman also addressed Yusuf Demir, Philippe Coutinho, Luuk de Jong and even in moments of despair Ronald Araujo and Gerard Pique…
Blunt attack and fading Memphis
New signing Memphis Depay kicked off fantastically – as he usually does at the start of the season – but has cooled down since when Blaugrana fans saw their own bright spark gone out.
Luuk de JongThe badly wanted number 9 Koeman is still reported missing and has yet to hit the target of his new club as he continues to settle down. Coutinhoalso appears to be a shadow of himself, but he has been injured for a long time and may take a while to gain speed.
Yusuf Demir started the last two games, but he is clearly not an answer, but just a temporary stop until Koeman can call for reinforcements from the treatment room.
Together with Braithwaite, Sergio Aguero, Usman Dembele and Ansu Fati all are currently injured. If they were all smart and witty, the story could be different, but until then Barcelona have problems with attack.