5 Areas Where Luis Enrique Is Getting it Wrong At Barca

After a season where Barca failed to pick up a major trophy, the Catalan giants parted ways with Gerardo Martino. Eyebrows rose on who will be the next man to take up the job of restoring the Blaugranas to European powerhouse as they used to be. There was only one man, Lucho!!!
Barcelona appointed Luis Enrique as the teams head coach and the former Celta Vigo handler made a bright start to his Barca coaching career, going 8 matches without conceding a goal and topping the league with 22 points.
Lucho’s team then lost their 9th game of the Liga campaign 3-1 to arch rivals Real Madrid and this raised questions on his tactics and strategies towards the game. Pundits and Fans gave Enrique another chance admitting the fact that Real Madrid was a stronger side.
But it was all too obvious in the next round that Luis Enrique’s team needs a whole lot of improvement after they lost 1-0 to his former team Celta at the Camp Nou which dropped them to 4th position on the log.
The squad is good but the truth is that the problem is Luis Enrique. Here are 5 things the Barca tactician is getting wrong at the camp nou:
1. Finding the right formation: Enrique operates with a 4-1-2-3 formation which Barcelona used to achieve greatness over the years but it doesn’t seem to work out with the present squad. The starting line up has only Neymar as a true winger with Suarez and Messi both centre players. The best formation for the present Barca team should be 4-2-3-1 with Busquets and Mascherano (or Rakitic) playing a pivot role at Central Midfield, helping Barca’s weak defence. Messi should play the false 9 role as a second striker to Suarez, while Neymar and Iniesta (or Rafinha/Pedro) should take care of the wings with the latter returning to midfield when the team attacks. If this is done, goals will come too easily as all players will be in charge of at least two positions.
2. Announcing the Starting XI: Well, you may feel this is not an issue but Lucho should endeavour to announce the Starting XI a bit earlier, this will improve game plans and adequade communication between players. Naming the XI 90 minutes before a game is not the best.
3. Dealing with corner kicks: Barca are yet to score a goal from a corner this season and they have had the most. Enrique should device a pattern other than crossing. We can’t score dead balls.
4. Ethics of Dani Alves: What we see from Alves nowadays are ‘Crosses, Crosses and Crosses’. Enrique should instruct the Right full back to limit his number of crosses and improve on squaring the ball to a player in space and also marauding. This would go a long way.
5. Improving Counter Attacks: Had it been Barca were a team with powerful counter attack abilities, Real Madrid would have conceded a whole lot. The midfielders, especially Busquets play very slow football when they are supposed to make a counter attack, allowing the opponent to fall back. Messi is the only Barca player that moves the whole team when moving the ball. Barca players really need to improve on this.

Well, it’s just a matter of time, things will get well for our Beloved Barca, but only if things are changed, or rather, improved. MES QUE UN CLUB is not just a slogan, it is fact.