Barcelona were defeated by a two-goal margin in La Liga for the first time under Pep Guardiola, at the hands of newly-promoted Hercules.
Guardiola’s side were without Carles Puyol through injury, whilst Sergio Busquets, Daniel Alves and Xavi Hernandez all started on the bench. Bojan was the central striker, whilst Javier Mascherano made his debut in the deep-lying midfield position.
Esteban Vigo introduced a new striking partnership of David Trezeguet and Nelson Valdez upfront, with the Paraguayan dropping off Trezeguet into a midfield role, where he tirelessly battled to help win the ball back. The midfield was a flattish diamond, with the outside players as shuttlers, and Abel Aguilar generally ahead of Matias Fritzler, who patrolled the zone in front of his defence.
The most immediate thing to notice about the match was the poor state of the pitch – dry as a whole, and cutting up in some parts. Barcelona can’t use this as an excuse for the defeat as a whole (and it is their pitch, in any case) but it did explain why their passing was so slow in the opening period. Read more »
