After amazing everyone with their start to the 2024-25 season, FC Barcelona has lost significant steam in the last few weeks.
Since the match against Espanyol, which capped a wonderful two weeks for the team in which they convincingly beat Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, the Blaugranes have won only one match in La Liga, against Mallorca, lost two, against Real Sociedad and Las Palmas, and drawn another two, against Celta Vigo and Real Betis.
Although the stage has not yet reached an alarming level, the Catalans are still concerned about this decline in results. They are assessing the various shortcomings in the team that are contributing to these poor results while retaining full confidence in Hansi Flick.
In this regard, Mundo Deportivo reports that one of the weaknesses that the Blaugrana club has identified in their team is the lack of forcefulness in some key situations in matches, which results in Barcelona coming out short in aspects like winning loose balls, maintaining pressure, and causing offsides.
This is most evident in the defense, as Jules Kounde is not naturally a very aggressive defender, and the same is the case with Pau Cubarsi and Alejandro Balde.
Although Inigo Martinez has a fighting character and aggressiveness as a part of his game, he is alone in this regard, and this lack of forcefulness was on full display in the matchup against Real Betis’ Chimy Avila.
Fortunately, this problem will be mitigated to some extent in the coming weeks as Ronald Araujo is getting closer to returning from his injury. In fact, he will be traveling with the rest of the team for the Borussia Dortmund clash, even though he is not yet ready to play on the pitch.
His return to the field is expected to take place in the ensuing game against Leganes, and he will make a gradual return to full fitness in the coming weeks. With his return, Flick will have another warrior in his backline, who can prove to be a good solution for this problem being faced by the team.
