FIGURES

Barca economic Vice President, Susana Monje, presented the economic balance of the 2015-2016 season. Before going on, let me make a couple of considerations.

The first is, Mrs. Monje, that the fact that the judge has concluded that the famous 40M€ paid to N&N for the transfer of Neymar to Barca are salary and no transfer, does not mean that this transfer has cost 19,3M€. At "accounting" level it will be reflected in this way in the books, sure. But the reality is that, between one thing and another, the transfer (not counting the "real" wage the contract says), is around 100M€. That we are not experts in Economics does not mean we do not know about addition and subtraction.

The second consideration is that, according to the same Mrs. Monje, the accounts have been audited, as established by law and that, for the sixth consecutive year the accounts have been validated without any annotation. Perfect. Or not. If auditors are the same who said they were 40M€ transfer and, it turns out they are not, I would not be too quiet. Let us not forget that the Club has come to recognize two tax crimes, while the same authors (who signed the agreements, Mr. Rosell and Mr. Bartomeu), have come free of any charge. And it was audited. Not to joke about it.

Let the numbers as such. As starting point, when you see the big numbers, you can’t say anything but: AMAZING! They had budgeted income 633M€, against 598,5M€ spending, with a profit (before tax) of 34.5M€. The results were:

Income:                      679M€            (+46M€)

Expenses:                 630M€            (+31.5M€)

Benefit:                       49M€            (+14.5M€)

Moreover, debt has been reduced from 328M€ to 271M€, i.e. 57M€. Another great news in terms of numbers:

Now, let's analyze where these data come from, and we’ll see that the situation, although economically it seems more than good, at productive level perhaps it is not so.

The first thing is that the club received a bonus of 24M€ from Nike and sold players (Pedro+Bartra+Adama), for a total of 48M€. That is, as such, we have only achieved revenues of 607M€. When it comes to reaching 1,000M€ in 2021, it seems to be quite difficult if there is no ability to generate more revenue out of extraordinary circumstances. Because there is something we can’t forget: the great clubs are players-buyers, not sellers. Clubs of medium/small size include in their budgets the sale of one or two players to have a balanced numbers. The large, don’t. And at Barca, heading fastest growing in terms of revenue is sales of players and, marketing (new sponsors), not selling products.

What does this mean? Well, I understand that this means that the economic model that we have is not useful anymore. If you look at the "Stadium" section, you will see that increases 9M€ over the previous year. A game like Spanish Super Cup (paying for socis now), can allow to enter 4-5M€. There is a clear stagnation. I repeat: for an economist, what matters is the total amount, but for those who have to get the money means something is not done well.

Let's go to debt. 57M€ less. But, if there is no the sales we have said before, you can’t reduce debt. We are back in the same place. Since there is no normal increase in revenue, the only way is the extraordinary one. And, of course, it’s not every year that extra millions will come from a sponsor or we’ll sell enough players to fix the situation.

Think, on the other hand, that more sponsors mean fewer tickets to sell ... or less socis in the Stadium. As the agreements are "confidential", we don’t know what the sponsors have in exchange, but everywhere, one of the things they receive are obviously match tickets. The more sponsors, the more tickets you have to give, obviously. And the Estadi has a limited capacity. Therefore, if we add sponsors, we will have to stop selling tickets or, when there are socis who leave the Club, these seats will not go to socis who are on the waiting list. They have not said the number of season-holders tickets. Last year it was 84,000. We'll see how many are this year or next year.

We go to a third point. The payroll. The budget was 419M€ meaning 66% of revenues. The reality tells us it is 435M€, representing 69%; if winning the League and Cup is not included in the budget, we have a problem. A problem aggravated when the amounts paid in bonuses to players exceed the bonuses we receive from sponsors and others. Somewhere the accounts have been done too lightly, without calculating all circumstances. And this year, unfortunately, we didn’t win the Champions League, which always represents an expense that makes all the economy stagger the club. It can’t be.

To all this we have to add the issue of "Grand Sponsor": 35M€ (5%¡¡ of the Budget), for a Board that shows off Trident, Triplet and I don’t know what else. 35M€ for a shirt that wear the world's best player by far, the one that should be his replacement and the best striker in the world. When you see all this, it is clear that, at commercial and image level, things aren’t well done. All this, when you're considered one of the most valuable Clubs in the world (it matters little whether first or second, because the criteria used can have many variables, the fact is you are up there). Me, I'm sorry, but I do not understand any of this. Or they are very bad selling the club or I don’t know what to think.

In short: the financial situation of the club looks very good -although still they have not explained why it was that Nolito (18M€) could not come in January, but we have now these figures of income and profits-, but, on the other hand, the business situation it is stagnant, without solutions to increase revenue, either by way of further exploitation of what is done now, either by way of new activities to do. In the short term they can give us good results and the accounts can be good. Once everything is sold, what will they do?

Club sports model have been already burst. Now, it seems they will do the same with the economic model. Selling players to have benefits is sending us away, every day, of being "More than a Club" and brings us closer, increasingly, to be "One more Club".

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP

BARÇA B AND OTHER STUFF

Sunday ended the regular season in 2nd B Division. From this weekend we will have the playoffs for promotion to 2nd A Division. Barca B will not be there. And, when things have a bad starting, it’s normal to end badly.

The elections to the Presidency of Barça took two very significant changes at the level of the sport structure that affects B team. On one hand, García Pimienta, who had done all the planning together with Roura, found that, overnight, they put Gerard Lopez above him, as 1st coach. On the other hand, the sports organization changed: the club was splitted into 3 parts (4 with Women's Football): Professional Football (1st team), Formative Professional Football (Barça B, Juvenil A (U-19) and B (U-18)), and Amateur Formative Football (Cadete A (U-16) to Prebenjamines (U-8)). The EscolesFCB are outside and are part of Marketing Area (what do you want I say?).

Each of these parts has a Technical Secretary and still we have the ​​Scouting Area and the Methodology Area (which in principle are transverse)

Is this you see here above.

The first problem is that each Technical Secretary seems to do what he wants. They call it Technical Secretary, but it seems rather a Technical Director. That is, marking the lines to follow in terms of the way of working, playing, etc. With all that it has as consequences. Roura does one thing, say classic "model". Robert Fernandez is only for the first team, looking for players around the world to enable keep winning, increasingly "as is."

We have the Formative Professional Football. The Technical Secretary is Pep Segura. They sold it as the intermediate step between "grassroots" and "professional football" as it was neither one nor the other. And indeed, when you're in no man's land, you end up not knowing where you are and the results are what they are. Juveni B is the only one, with one game to finish the league, can win. The Juvenil A has finished 4th at 19!! points behind the 1^st, with no option to play the Champions League (both, Spanish and European), or the Cup. And, the B...

Barca B. After the disappointing season 2014-15 where the team dropped from 2ªA to 2ªB (although for some Directors that was not problematic or bad) with coaching change in mid-season (Vinyals instead of Eusebio) and, speeches here or there saying if players this or that (incidentally, quite players had been in the Juvenil A with Vinyals, so if not adequate behaviours were detected and nothing was done to correct it...), the 2016 season began with a coach appeared at the last minute with some players signed who could not play for the famous "FIFA Case" and the desire to come back to 2ªA quickly. The reality was very different. At the end of the year the team was in position for the relegation to 3^rd Division. Excuses were everywhere ("they are very young," "no experience", "the FIFA case"...) and when the winter market came there was a revolution. A lot of new players (7?, 8?, 9?... I do not remember), which also meant a lot of players released.

In summer they had gone some as Adama; others, like Deulofeu, still running around Europe and it seems with no return. The latter case seems pretty clear: Quality, indisputable. The character, too. And I wonder, with so many coaches, assistants, psychologists, etc. that we have in the club, no one has sat a couple of hours with this kid to see what happens? And I ask the question from complete ignorance. I have no idea if this has happened or not.

Other players left because, by contract, should be promoted to the first team. Amazing!!! The top of incompetence. Having in a formation team players that are promoted by contract and not because the quality. And, of course, there wasn’t room for them at the 1^st team. And therefore...

We continue. Two names: Grimaldo and Robert Gonçalves. The first seems not very "friend" of Luis Enrique and this does not want it for the 1^st team. Until here, it’s perfect. Now, if the club believes it is a player with a future, why not to loan him and we'll see in a while? Well, no. Sold. No option for buy-back. The second, a player who came on loan from Fluminense of Brazil and sold to us as the new... Neymar! He came to "cost 0" (this was told to us), with a buying option this summer for 7M€. First, if he was overweight; then we know nothing more. The truth is that it has played in the league, exactly the same as its price: 0 minutes. And what is worse, without any explanation.

Now, it seems that for next year, a new revolution for B is prepared, with the aim of being promoted to 2ªA. It sounds good to me... or maybe not. The aim of B is to prepare players to be promoted to the 1st team. The higher the B is, more competitive and therefore better for the players. So far, the theory is fantastic. The problem is putting it into practice. There have been games where only 2 B players were coming from La Masia. 2!! Is this Barca B?????? Is this a formation team ???? If I was told that next year there will be 4 or 5 of these "new" in the 1st team, although I could understand, however, it seems that this will not be the case.

This revolution also seems to be aimed to find/sign other kind of players: now we have to look more "physical" players. This is, Roura continues working, as we have said, "the model" but when they reach 17, only the bigger and the stronger will continue. Is that, isn’t it? That is, as I said before three "Technical Secretaries", each one making the war on their own, with no one, at Executive Technical level, marking the line of the Club. We go like this.

Why do we want a "Formative Amateur Football" full of quality players if, when they reach the Juvenil B, w will not want them for being small? Why do we want Juveniles and a B if, hardly, they will not contribute with player for the first team? And, to contribute means players who can compete with those who are playing. Having 20 minutes in a cup game against 2ªB team...

Zubizarreta said one day, when he was still the Technical Director: "If we don’t find out what we want, we will have to look for it at home." Translation: the priority of B is NOT the formation for the first team. The priority of B is... I cannot see it.

By the way, it seems that Samper is one of those players who, as he has no "physical aspect", it is quite difficult for him to stay at the 1^st team. Nothing more to say.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP

SOME NOTES

Some notes and comments about the Blaugrana present:

1. Messi is the best. No doubt. He can play walking, he can run or he can do whatever he wants to. When he has to be, he is. And, while he is, we will win titles. Then... we'll see.

2. The way to play Luis Enrique seems increasingly "it". Interestingly, the more we resemble "that", the more important have become players like Busquets who some wanted to send to the bench and put in his place Mascherano. As if they were the same. As if a change of stamps.

3. In this line, the model was changed (it was not evolution, it was change, for sure) to come back, now, as close as possible to the model. The worst thing is we do not know if the model is for the Club or for the team.

4. Iniesta (84), Pique (87), Messi (87) and Busquets (88), were already when the FIFA Club World Cup 2009. Thiago (91) and Sergi Roberto (92), should be next. The first is gone. The second, is not yet consolidated. Danger.

5. If in January we should bring 5 or 6 players to save the "B" (playing in 2nd B, do not forget, after relegation last year), it means that something is being done badly. B's mission is to serve to prepare the players for the 1st team.

6. So many players coming and going from the "B" also means that something is not well done at the level of planning and scouting. The "B" players should get there to go to the 1st team, not for commercial transactions.

7. It is great that the Technical Secretariat goes up and down and tries to have as much information about players worldwide. The problem is that we have gone from "What we do not find at home, we’ll go to look for it out" to "What we do not find out, we're going to look for it at home."

8. The Club is in "excellent economic situation", but we can not sign in January, because we would not be on-line with EBITDA and new elections should be called. In other words, maybe we are not so well.

9. It seems that the only way for the club's new revenues is through agreements with sponsors. Agreements that we do not know what they really mean for the soci. What do we give in return? We're not told. They talk about "confidentiality clauses". Given that everything had to be done with "transparency"...

10. All this, with a reform of the Stadium that still we do not know if we have permission from City Hall and the Generalitat or, either, how it will be funded. Remember that 200M€ were coming from downgrading the debt from 400 to 200M€ to borrow again. Today, the debt is more than 300M €. Complicated. Very complicated.

11. The Club continues at the courts (and losing lawsuits). The latter, with bills paid for a work not done. In any normal place this should make those responsible resign. Here...

12. We all know that guilty ones are Jordi Casas and the "black hand". Interestingly, judges (both civil and sports), say the opposite. Why is that way.

13. Do not turn around more. The team holds the Club. The day the team stops winning (and we've seen this year after Anoeta), the situation will be untenable. Those who know me know that I do not want the team to lose never. Neither the team, nor the Club, deserve the officials we have. I know there have been elections and Bartomeu won clearl. No doubt. But, that there are many socis who vote based on whether the ball goes in or not, it is also very clear. And, the same that voted Bartomeu now, will ask for his resignation as soon the team loses two games in a row. And back to point 1. Will be able Neymar (beyond the 57,1M€ or whatever), to do what has made the Argentine when this one is gone? And, it is not about a couple of months, as he did recently because the injury of Messi. It is doing so one year, yes, and next year, also.

And 14. The "repoker" this year has only one point of comparison with the sextet or the Champions League in Paris. And it is that we have been for 10 years at the top of world football. No one had ever been so long up there. And it has to continue, because otherwise...

Anyway, only to wish Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP

GAME OVER

Finally, we have had elections at Barça. Bartomeu has clearly won and will be President the next 6 years (in theory, we all know how this Club goes...)

As there have been many analyzes of these elections, I do not think we have another matter. So, here it is.

BARTOMEU: The triplet and trident. The triplet and trident. And everything works fine. And, what does not work, it is the fault of others. This and the support of a press unworthy of the name (with exceptions), which has hidden to all the socis the "bad" issues, has had enough to win. He has not presented any program (go to his website and see if you can find it), and neither it has been necessary. He asked for fair play in January, when he said that elections would be at the end the season but he and the members of his Board have been traveling up and down since then on behalf of the "events of the Club". He dind't want to go to any debate with the other candidates, except the obligatory on TV3, which is the essence of democracy. But, he is chosen by a majority of socis and, if they think the Club has to be this, it is their decision. We will have enough time to check if this Club becomes just a football team.

LAPORTA: I think he was wrong on both the timing and strategy. He said he was running for elections at the last minute and thought it was because he had to and not because he really believed in it. Nor did he present any particular program (also, go to his website), but a good number of names, really, quite exciting. Program as such was "we did so and will do so if we win." It seemed the student who leaves everything to the last day trusting his memory, and it fails him in the final exam. While on stage he is the best of all by far, the day of the debate was at a low level, without getting virtually the melee with Bartomeu (and it is very clear that Laporta is much better in this regard). If he wants to continue in the race, I think he has to do a deep self-criticism and start working from scratch.

BENEDITO: Got 8000 votes in 2010 and now 3000. Does this mean that people have no trust on him or he has done a bad campaign? Surely not, but Laporta was not in 2010 and had no clear replacement within his group and, now he was. It is quite possible that, sociologically, voters of one and another are very close, though, defended Club models are quite different. He presented his "100 proposals" as a program and many of them, really, really interesting. It has been five years breaking stones going across the country. As a worker, I do not think anyone can say anything. However, as I said once, I think he lacks something to be a media and charismatic leader. I doubt that, after two consecutive defeats, can present something more exciting for the future. We'll see.

FREIXA: A very well presented program (go to the web, like everyone else). A group of well known names by the fans, together with another group of "football workers" unknown to most of the general public. However, I said from the beginning that his credibility, to me, was nil. He has been 5 years in the Board and now he criticizes left and right. "Everything they did was wrong, the Board members had no information ..." I ask: Why did he not leave, if it was like that? If one day he is able to explain it (I doubt), he could be an interesting candidate.

BATISTE: I respect everyone's ideas, however, I can't come to understand that a group that only appeared with the idea of ​​having the famous "animation stand" and to get affordable prices for travel to matches, has been about to be a candidate. Or maybe that's what really matters to the soci. The team wins, no matter how, and that we can go to watch it wherever in Europe.

FARRE And, following the above reasoning, he was much more far from being a candidate. And, in contrast, he had a very interesting program. Even a sponsor to put more money than Qatar Airways! The upside for me is that, now that he knows how it works and what to do, can be a very interesting candidate for forthcoming elections.

MAJO: Beyond the idea, pretty well explained of the electronic voting, I do not buy anything. Majó is the person who said "Messi, best mum" when the Faus-Messi affaire ("that man", remember?). As Benedito, he has already been (and lost) more than one  elections, which does not make him for the future.

FONT: His name was mentioned as a possible candidate for many weeks and finally decided, due to time constraints, not to show and prepare the next elections. We'll see what happens.

MANAGING BOARD: They weren't a candidate, but it seemed. They bought, sold and loaned players during the election period, going far beyond what the statutes say, with the excuse of "The coach demanded it." Unacceptable for a club like Barca.

Personally, it has made me very happy to see how many of the ideas that have been put in this blog in recent months about the "Model of Club" and other stuff, have appeared in many of the programs of the candidates. I do not mean (which could also be), that some of them have been copied. To the contrary, what makes me happy is to see that, someone unknown like me is not so far, in concept of Club and way of doing things, of these that have been present at the elections. Also, you know I was in the group "Origen" which got to submit a program and finally decided not to run the call of the elecions. Right now, I do not know if we will try to participate in the next one.

I know that some candidates will read this and some will not. Some will like it and some will not. It is what it is. In any case, this game is over and now it begins a new one. We'll see what happens!

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP

ESPAI BARÇA

I wanted to write about the elections and the pre-candidates. In fact, I had it prepared fifty-fifty. However, what I have read of Josep Maria Bartomeu about the "Espai Barça" has made me change my mind. According to the pre-candidate and former unelected president (but legitimate), if his candidacy doesn't win, it is unlikely that this reform is made. Let's see:

1) The reform approved by the socis was "all or nothing". There was no alternative. It was the proposal of the Board or not doing any action.

2) A project was presented for a total amount of € 600M, when this same Board was contrary to the known "Foster Project" by Joan Laporta, costing € 300M ... because it was very expensive.

3) The construction of a new Palau Blaugrana is presented to a vote when it was already included in the electoral program. What is the reason for it? This new Palau will have a capacity of 10,000 spectators. The minimum demanded by Euroleague Basketball. Is it there so little confidence in filling it? Unable to be 12,000 or 15,000 spectators?

4) Mini-Estadi disappears. If there was so few people attending (and better not to mention Barça B match against Betis), do you think that they will go a lot to Sant Joan Despi?

5) From the 1st Ring, they will disappear several rows of seats (we do not know how many), to make way for a series of "VIP Boxes" and "Hospitality". "UEFA compels us", they say. LIE. So clear. And when they want, I show them. Show us UEFA regulations obliging do this.

6) WiFi coverage will be placed around the Camp Nou. Wasn't this in the electoral program, and it haven't been done?

7) Catering kitchens and modern extraction systems will be improved, they tell us. Let's see, so many stadiums they have seen and they have not realized that what is needed are real restaurants where people can have different offers (sandwiches, snacks, menu, "a-la-carte" ..) and not a better system for smoke's extraction?

8) Some of the money needed to make the reform will come from all these concessions and other spaces (shops, etc.), which become long-term (can be up to 50 or up to 99 years); this point was confirmed by the then Vicepresident Faus ("this man", do you remember?), asked about it in one of the presentations of the reform. But let's have clear that if they give us the money now, for all the years of the concession we will not see anything. Or is it not? What revenues will we have therefore?

9) The number of season ticket holders at the Camp Nou has dropped to 84,000. That is, there are 15,000 seats available to the public for each match. This, while there is a fairly long waiting list of socis who want a seat. Meantime, in time of Laporta, the seats were changed by others narrower, so the actual discomfort is clear enough in many areas of the stadium, without the current Board has done nothing to fix it.

10) Therefore, we speak of a reform where the socis, beyond escalators and elevators, will have little benefit. € 420m just for the Camp Nou I do not think they are justified.

Now, make no mistake about one thing. A major reform of the Camp Nou is necessary. In many ways, as I have said many times. Not only escalators, elevators, toilets and kitchens cleaner with better flues. The reform the Camp Nou requires is more than that. Make no mistake. And, I have not heard any pre-candidate saying he will do nothing in this regard. What Bartomeu has done with his statements is purely emotional blackmail to the socis.

Is it necessary a reform of the Camp Nou? Yes. So clear.

Is this reform that they propose needed? No. So clear.

Do we need a President with these ideas? No. Even clearer.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP

SPACE + TIME = XAVI

Everything points that, at the end of the season, Xavi Hernández will leave Barça. "It's okay to leave. It's old" or "He is not useful for this modern game" are some of the things we've heard in recent times. I will not make any assessment on them. It's wasting time. It's that simple.

It is true that no one will remember Xavi as the player who ran faster than anyone, who jumped more than anyone, who recovered balls, who put the foot making a huge effort to prevent the ball went into the goal after the goalkeeper was overcame, that... nothing. From all this, nothing.

Nor he won't remembered for three "nutmegs" on the same play or, dribbling one player after another or, for his records as a scorer. Not Either.

About football it has always said that it was a matter of space and time. The one who dominates this, dominates football. And this is SIR XAVI (Yes, in capital letters, as the "Master" Puyal named him). Xavi is football. It is the "fucking boss" of space and time. Always with the GPS in position, scanning all the possibilities before receiving the ball. "What he does is very easy," said some. Easy? You mean it's easy to play 1-2 touches almost always choosing the best option? No. Not a chance. What Xavi does is very complicated. If it was that easy, the world would be full of Xavis. And it is not. For some reason it will be.

Now turn to play short. Now, long. Now, to the right. Now, to the left. Now, forward. Now back. Now, we accelerate. Now, we stop. Now, I approach. Now, I go away. Space and time. Always, at all times. Reading the match and the play as few players in football history. Always knowing what it is most interested for the team.

"The false 9" is not understood without Xavi. "When you see Leo in this  position between the lines, pass him the ball," said Pep to Xavi the day of 2-6 at the Bernabéu. And Xavi,  searching for Messi. And when he saw him where he had been told, PAM! Because, of course, for much intelligence you have, if you can not play it ... and Xavi, plus intelligence, has quality. Tons of quality that many people have never seen or understood.

"Move the ball to move the opposition," says the manual of positional playing. And Xavi got tired of playing the ball. Towards hither and thither. Always with the idea of ​​disrupting the contrary, to find the spaces between the lines, to find the place inside pass and then again, PAM! Take, Leo, finish. And, Leo, if he gets the ball on the edge of box, he finishes. That's why he is the best in the world.

"Do not touch if they don't come" also the manual says. And Xavi was running with the ball, until an opponent was coming to look for him and, then, a soft touch and an opponent less. And a line overpassed. And, closer to the opponent's box. Space and time. Every Time.

Xavi, besides breaking many lines too, with Iniesta and Messi broke another football "myth". The small and technical players. Especially among the "6" and "8" showed that, for playing in midfield, you did not need to have 1,80m. nor weigh 80kg. And, when they linked with the "10"... Those 3v2 near the opponent's box dizzy everyone until, PAM!, once again. Take, Leo, finish

"The ball does not get tired, let's make run the ball," also the manual says. And Xavi made the ball run at a crazy speed. So much that one day, which Barça won 4-0 Bayern in the Champions League, Van Bommel (former Barça and Bayern at the time), when asked after the game why they had not made almost no fouls, he replied "Is that nobody was there. When we arrived, there was no ball or otherwise. It was like chasing ghosts".

It will take years to see one like him. Not at Barça, no. In the world. No players like him appear every day. There is no plenty of Architects and Engineers with this style. No people have mastered spatial concepts like the one of Terrassa. A player does not have 7 Leagues, 3 Champions, 2 World Club Cups, 2 European Championships and 1 World Club, playing as a starter, if you don't have something special.

Ladies and gentlemen, stand up and hats off. With all of you, the "Lord of space and time": SIR XAVI!

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

Beyond the change from "Model" (The one which, according to the Board wasn't questioned) and the fact unacceptable to me that the 1st team plays in a way and at grassroots (Academy), they work and play in a different manner, fact is this Barça of Luis Enrique has a number of features quite marked. Let's see what this team stronger and, where squeaks this way of playing the Asturian.

The first thing that is clear is that this team has been made from verticality and not horizontality. So far Barça was a team that slowly up the ball until all players have placed in attacking positions and from there, start that dance of positions and players which mesmerized the rival until it left a hole to penetrate with many options to score. It was a team based on midfielders. To fill the midfield with players and create the superiorities from there was the most important.

Now, that does not exist. The team begins at the back to go quickly up, to find the "Three Tenors" that, from these, come the plays. And basically everything goes around Messi. Before, the game was organized from Xavi. He dictated the "tempo" of the match. When to go fast and when to slow. Now, quickly search of Messi, for him, from the position of dropped winger, to make a diagonal to Neymar. This diagonal is what gives him time to get to the edge of the area, which is where the Argentine star is lethal. Weeks ago, Messi picked up the ball and began to dribble players up to the front. He had two lines and 6-7 players to delete. Now no. He delates midfielders with this pass and reaches the front where there will be 2-3 to "disturb" him. Pretty easier.

If the diagonal is not feasible, then Messi tries to dribble and go by the right side. But here is closed for 2-3 opponents... and the sideline. When Messi played as "False 9", could have opponents, but had no space limitations. Now he has them and this makes it easier to lose balls.

And if Messi is closed, turn to play ball back and start moving the ball. But this team no longer has to Xavi and no one to play their role. Midfielders (Iniesta, Rakitic, Rafinha...), are not players with the pause and sense of game as the one of Terrassa. And, the team notices a lot. Too Much. And, as the positional play has become an accessory, if the mechanisms and automatisms are not worked, they are lost. As also football patience has been lost. Everything is vertigo and speed. Back and forth.

And now the team reaches attack positions far between the lines. This means that, if there is turnover, the contrary has a lot more space to counterattack, just as it has Barça. The games have become a coming and going, often nonsensical. And this Barça gives many options for the adversary. Any team can put Barça's defense in trouble, which has not all the blame, much less, of conceding goals.

It is said that when a team receives goals, blamed for the defense or goalie. No. At least not always, and in the case of Barça, perhaps less often than people think. If the ball arrives easily to the rival forwards and they have clear choices to overcome the defense is not, in principle, because the defenses are bad or not in "form". Often in situations 2v2/1v2/1v1 where the opposite faces goal while the defense runs back. Or, the defense must come down at full speed from offensive positions, because the team structure does not allow for adequate coverage and surveillance.

Luis Enrique, after a long time, seems to have found its "starter team". This is formed by Bravo (Ter Stegen for Cup and Champions), Alves and Alba as full-backs, Piqué and Mascherano as central defenders, Busquets as central midfielder and Iniesta Rakitic as attacking midfielders and, Messi, Neymar and Suarez as forwards.

Clearly, the three at the front is pure dynamite. If not the best attack in the history of football, it sure is among the best. There is goal, quality and magic. Each player is different and each player brings to the game unique characteristics: speed, movement off the ball, definition. When any of the three has the ball, you know that anything can happen. And, this is not usually good for rivals.

The midfield is the most suffering this new model of Luis Enrique. Participation in the construction of the game is almost testimonial. As already mentioned, the ball rolling at high speed from defense to the forwards, midfielders only serve as companions. And as companions, have a secondary role. Their work is more recovery than building up. And Xavi and Iniesta are very uncomfortable with these very remote functions of their features. And Busquets has to take care of hundreds of square meters, because the team is no longer the team that was all together and had a player 10m. away of each other. Now, that does not exist. If the ball arrives to the forwards, they try to do something without expecting support. If it goes well, it's fantastic. But if the play does not end, midfielders are far and spaces are very large. As it is about running and not about have fluency in the game, many people prefer Mascherano instead of Busquets in the middle. As I said a few days ago, before, to have the matches under control we were using Xavi. Now we use Mascherano. Different players, different football concept. And, of course, will give different results. We have gone from make the ball run to make the players run. Concept.

And on defense, after Douglas, Mathieu and Vermaelen have come, Piqué and Mascherano continue to play, with testimonials roles for Bartra and Montoya. It is true that we have recovered the best version of Piqué and the team appreciates it. But Mascherano remains the "libero" (Sorry, but I don't accept this of "central amender"; you know that I do not like the inventions of names for existing things), and it seems that there is no credible alternative by the coach in the major matches. In the meantime, Alves still offering a lime and sand and Alba, in tight defensive situations, shows that still have tactical deficiencies. Both are much more comfortable in attack than in defense. Perhaps because even for so fast players like them it isn't useful?

And behind the defenses,  there is the goalkeeper. Bravo is however expected. Sober, without great fanfare. A goalie to win games, but not to win Championships, in my opinion. You can tell me that he is the less scored goalkeeper of the League and probably of the season. Barça goalkeeper has to stop the very difficult balls... and some of the impossible. Ter Stegen is proving the correctness of his signing. No complex, playing quietly and is very young. And, this yes, he stops some of the impossible balls.

We're talking about a Barça that makes a lot of goals, but also gives many options to the contrary. A Barça built from the speed of the players and not from the order of the ball. Basically, this was expected. Compare the players who were Luis Enrique and Guardiola, compare how their teams are. And is not the same to play against a mid-table team in the league, that to it do against Madrid, Chelsea or Bayern in the Champions League. If we play like the first half against the City, everything is possible for this team. If we do as the second one..

A team, as Luis Enrique said in his press conference of presentation, which is unpredictable. What happens is that often it seems unpredictable for the players themselves.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on twitter: @JordiPascualP