Barcelona’s offside entice is not their key weapon—The stats say all of it

Barcelona’s 1-2 loss to Las Palmas revealed a major weak point of their defensive setup, significantly of their capability to execute efficient offside traps. 

The defenders—Jules Kounde, Pau Cubarsi, and Inigo Martinez—who had beforehand been stable in thwarting opposing assaults by means of well-timed offside traps, are not as efficient as they had been earlier within the season.

It’s to be famous that whereas Barcelona confirmed a slight enchancment of their efficiency towards Brest, the sport towards Las Palmas uncovered structural points inside the crew as soon as once more. 

Disappointing numbers

One of many primary considerations is the crew’s lack of precision on the subject of timing the offside line. 

Gone are the times when Barcelona’s defensive unit was in a position to catch opponents offside repeatedly, as seen of their El Clasico victory over Actual Madrid earlier within the season. Now, their opponents are adapting and attacking Barcelona’s line of defense in numerous methods.

Las Palmas completely exploited Barcelona’s defensive construction. (Photograph by Alex Caparros/Getty Photographs)

Within the final 4 matches, Barcelona’s defence has managed to catch opponents offside a mean of 4 instances per sport. It is a important lower from the earlier 16 video games, the place the typical was 6.75. 

The drop in offside calls means that groups at the moment are discovering new methods to interrupt by means of Barcelona’s defensive construction, significantly towards the centre-back pairing of Martinez and Cubarsi, who’re nonetheless not being rotated sufficient to take care of recent legs.

A take a look at Las Palmas’ targets

The 2 targets Las Palmas scored function examples of the shift in attacking methods towards Barcelona. The primary objective got here from a breakdown in Barcelona’s marking. 

Las Palmas had been in a position to go the ball 5 instances earlier than making a three-on-two scenario, which led to Sandro’s objective. This confirmed a scarcity of defensive organisation and allowed the opposition to reap the benefits of the area.

The second objective was a results of a well-executed cross from the wing. Barcelona’s defence struggled to get into place in time to set the offside entice accurately, leaving Hector Fort unable to deal with Fabio Silva, who scored the objective. 

This highlights how Barcelona’s line of defense is turning into more and more weak to fast, exact assaults that bypass their defensive traps.