The scoreless draw obtained against the Vallecano Ray at the Camp Nou it was an unexpected result for Barcelona. Xavi’s team hoped to start the season with three points at home, especially after the good sensations left by the blaugranas in the preseason. Although it is true that the azulgranas they had chances to win the match, irola’s team also arranged of great opportunities for it.
And open and uncontrolled party which can be understood through cord disconnection who suffered the blaugrana set. Gavi y Pedri they had one minor share to the one expected in a Xavi team. The one from Los Palacios made 25 touches and 18 passes (12th and 13th of the team) in the match, for the 41 and 27 (8th and 9th respectively) from Tenerife. To put it in context, Busquets got higher numbers in these statistics that two flyers together (79 and 57). As collected in EUMD, only twice in the last twelve years the two midfielders plus offensive blaugranas they had not reached 55 passes in a match.
The two midfielders, on whom falls the responsibility of stringing together the Barça game, ended up being replaced by Kessié and De Jong. Curiously, The dutch finished the game with more direct holdings than Gavi (23 successful passes, 32 touches on the ball). The coach Barça, in a press conference, stated that it had cost the team to have superiority in the midfield, and that the substitutions had helped them gain prominence in this area.
The next appointment azulgrana will be next Sunday in Anoeta, where Xavi will have to find a solution to increase the participation of both midfielders, especially Pedri, fundamental piece on which tour the present and future project of Barcelona. The azulgranas already suffered from his absence last season (83% of victories with him on the pitch, 42% without him), so a disconnection of the ‘8′ in game creation could be ominous for the options to titles of the blaugrana team.
