The clash against RCD Mallorca was a rather forgettable one for FC Barcelona. The Catalan giants came into the game hoping to take away all three points and retain their lead at the top of the La Liga table but were instead met with disappointment in a 2-2 draw away from home.
While there were several errors in the game that led to Barcelona being unable to emerge victorious, the fact of the matter is that certain errors were far more injurious to the result than others.
According to the Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, there were five primary errors from the perspective of FC Barcelona that led to the team collapsing against RCD Mallorca that ranged from collective team errors, to management mistakes, and individual blunders as well.
Ter Stegen’s initial mistake
The first goal was one that already had Barcelona fans scratching their head and many even frustrated with the German goalkeeper. Despite what initially seemed like a simple enough clearance, the Barcelona captain decided to make a pass towards Oriol Romeu who did not anticipate it properly nor was the pass itself weighted properly.
Due to his error, RCD Mallorca were able to capitalize and ended up scoring a rather fortunate early first goal. Leaving Barcelona to trail, the first error became the catalyst for all the mistakes to come on a rather fateful day.
Clear lack of fluidity
Despite their visible intentions of progressive play, Barcelona were kept at bay quite well by Mallorca. Moreover, their players seemed to lack fluidity in their play and this resulted in a lot of passes within the final third that posed no threat to Mallorca nor did they possess any particular bite behind them to break apart the rigid defense of the home team.
Miscommunication in the second
When Barcelona conceded the second goal from Mallorca, both the way it occurred and the timing of its arrival were frustrating for the Catalan giants. With barely any time left to half time, a wayward long ball came towards the Barcelona defense and the defenders made a complete mess of it.
Miscommunication occurred between both Ronald Araujo and Inigo Martinez, leading to the ball reaching Ter Stegen and another moment of hesitation allowing Mallorca to score their second goal and put them back into the lead right before halftime.
Barca’s inaccuracies
While the Catalan giants were foiled in terms of their game plan by Mallorca and the tactics of Javier Aguirre, they were still at fault for not making the most of what they could still do. In the final third, Barcelona’s success rate in terms of passing only reached 73.7%, a figure that was surpassed in other areas of the field.
Showcasing a clear lack of progressive distribution, Barcelona was toothless in the final third. As per Mundo Deportivo, the absence of Frenkie De Jong was a particular miss given the way things were proceeding.
Ineffective rotations
Xavi Hernandez remains determined to rotate his squad as often as possible to avoid fatigue and injuries. In theory, his reasonings are perfectly valid and justified. However, the Catalan coach needs to be more astute with the type of changes he makes and how effective they are beyond just the factor of giving time to players for the sake of it.
The new attacking trident of Ferran Torres, Raphinha, and Joao Felix did not seem to click at all. While the Brazilian did manage to get a great goal to his name, Ferran Torres was the one who was rather underwhelming. Inigo Martinez was another name whose performance in this game left a lot more questions than answers at the end of it.
