The first friendly of the preseason has set off the alarm at FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona opened against Arsenal in preseason with a painful defeat that leaves a lot of doubts in Xavi Hernández’s team. Not because of the defeat, which, after all, is the first game and the English have been preparing much longer.
The problem is in some positions that are not well covered. The right-back was already known, but Sergiño Dest once again showed that he is not prepared for the level that the Barça team demands. The thing gets complicated when verifying that there are other problematic points in Xavi’s FC Barcelona.
Arsenal teaches the shortcomings of FC Barcelona
Some due to excessive competition and others due to the opposite. The worst case scenario is observed on the left wing. Jordi Alba was criticized a lot, but the reality is that when Alejandro Balde was absent, Jordi more than complied. Marcos Alonso showed against Saka that he has no rhythm for the side. He can play as a left-handed center back one day, but as a winger he is leaking.
It is evident that Alejandro Balde is going to be the undisputed starter and that he will be one of the best full-backs in Europe. But he won’t be able to catch even a single cold. Without a pure right-back and without a replacement on the left-handed side. The panorama, with the little economic capacity, does not invite much optimism.
Overbooking in attack
The attack happens the opposite. But in the end it will also be a problem for Xavi. Because Abde was the best against Arsenal. The Moroccan faced with spectacular self-confidence and served the first goal of the game on a tray. But it is that Raphinha also stood out with a goal.
They were joined in the second half by Ansu Fati who seems to have recovered his explosiveness, a Ferrán who scored a goal and said he wanted to stay at Barcelona and a Dembélé who is Xavi’s favourite. There are 5 players for 2 positions. That can become 5 players for a place if Xavi bets on the 4 midfielders.