Monday musings

One of Tata Martino's tasks as Barcelona manager was to vary their
style of play and make the team less dependent on Lionel Messi by
helping Neymar's integration into the side. By and large, Martino was
getting there without sacrificing results, as evidenced by the 16 wins
and four draws in the club's first 20 games of the season in all
competitions.
But after back-to-back defeats -- against Ajax in the Champions League
and at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday -- it's inevitable that his progress
would be reassessed. And while the overall impression is that you can
explain away many of Barca's issues -- starting, obviously, with the
absence of Messi, but also of Dani Alves, Jordi Alba and Victor Valdes
-- the club showed little progress Sunday .
Playing Cesc Fabregas as a theoretical "false nine" obviously isn't
like having Messi in the role. Fabregas doesn't accelerate and take on
opponents in the same way. He becomes another guy to hold possession
in the middle of the park, which is fine when Xavi and Andres Iniesta
are on top of their game, but less so when they're not.
Also, if you're going use Fabregas in that way, you can't keep Alexis
Sanchez and Neymar as wide as they were at the San Mames because it
means you then lack an outlet or a vertical threat. The result is a
lot of possession -- 62 percent for Barca -- but much of it sterile,
which is part of the reason why Athletic outperformed Tata's crew both
in terms of shots and shots on goal.
David Ramos/Getty ImagesBarca's woes could easily be a hiccup, but
Neymar & Co. need to work on their consistency.
And sure, Ander Iturraspe probably should have seen red rather than
yellow for hauling Neymar down as he bore down on goal, but that was
nearly an hour into the game. And Barcelona did little before that to
show they were clicking, while poor old Gaizka Toquero was fluffing
multiple chances at the other end.
- Rigg: Liga momentum swings to Madrid
- Ledwith: Time for Barca to worry?
- Busquets: Barca loss down to ref
- Wrap: Bilbao's stunning win
"They deserved to