Im very happy that Rodri spoke out publicly about this. This defense sht is pissing me off so badly.

For the past 2 years, we, fans screamed for a new CB, or 2 new CB. I knew it in August. Christensen - will play 1-2 months and then be out for 3. It amazes me for anyone thought that this guy will magically replace his muscles or something. He will always get injured. And WE OFFER HIM A NEW DEAL. And we get rid of Araujo, rightly so, BUT WHERE IS THE REPLACEMENT? At the start of the window, every top journalist said - Barca will sign a CB if someone leaves. And guess what? We weakened our defense basically. Why would we agree terms with Bastoni?

Same story with defense every year. It’s not good enough it’s embarrassing that a club like Barcelona thinks about playing Rodri as a CB because we don’t have any options left. One more injury and itll be very interesting…. And when you play Flick ball, 4 competitions, you need to have top rotation. At least we did it in the attack, but defense was our weakest area for 2 years.

January comes, we need to get Lisandro Martinez and that kid from Twente. Because if it continues like this, will probably see Rodri-Frenkie CB duo.

We're 11 wins from 11 and have scored 48 goals. Brilliant start, obviously, but Paris away is a different test. PSG are the reigning European champions, they've won six games in a row, and our away numbers last season weren't nearly as convincing as our home form.

I went through the numbers to look at three things: where PSG can hurt us, what their recent form actually tells us, and where we can get at them.

1. THE HIGH-LINE AND CROSSING RISK

I don't want us abandoning the high line. It's part of how Hansi wants us to play, and it helps us pin teams back. But against PSG, I think there are two things we need to be careful about: balls played in behind our defence, and crosses or set pieces into the box.

The Betis game showed the crossing problem first.

We didn't clear their corner properly, Betis kept the attack alive, Fornals sent the ball back into the box, and Valentín Gómez headed in. The danger didn't end with the first clearance because we couldn't get the second ball away either.

The second Betis goal was a different problem. At 53', Lo Celso played Ezzalzouli into the space behind our high line, and he finished across Joan García. This is the risk when the press is beaten and there's room to run into behind our defenders.

Galatasaray scored in a similar way. Leão carried the ball into the space behind our high line before laying it off for Batrakov, who finished from around the edge of the box.

These are the situations that make the high line vulnerable: once the press is beaten, a single run into the space behind us can turn into a dangerous chance.

Six of the 11 goals we've conceded this season have come from headers or counters. That's a pretty big problem, and it isn't even something new for us.

Crosses and set pieces are another concern. The Betis game showed how costly a poor clearance can be. We failed to clear the corner properly, they recycled the ball, and Fornals crossed for Gómez to head in.

But the danger isn't limited to set pieces.

PSG showed against City how dangerous they can be from open play too, with Doué's cross finding Dembélé at the far post.

We need to track those runs, defend the first delivery and, just as importantly, make sure we don't give them a second chance to put the ball back into the box.

The counter threat is still there, even though PSG haven't scored from a fast break this season: they've had 10 fast-break shots in nine games. Last season they scored 11 times from 68 fast-break shots. So it's just a matter of time before they start scoring thru fast breaks.

2. A QUICK RECAP

🔵🔴 Barça: The away record worries me

We've won all 11 games so far, but there's one thing I can't ignore. Last season, we won all 19 of our home league games, but lost six of our 19 away games. Eight of our 10 defeats across all competitions came away from home.

Surprisingly when looking at stats I observed our attack didn't fall off, but our defensive record in away games becomes awful.

We can score against anyone, but PSG will punish us if we lose the ball carelessly or leave too much space behind our defence.

⚪🔵PSG: A slow start, then six straight wins

PSG didn't exactly fly out of the blocks. They started their league campaign with two draws and a defeat, taking just two points from those three games. Since then, they've won six straight.

The important thing is that they were creating chances even when results weren't going their way.

They lost 2-1 to Monaco despite having plenty of opportunities, then created a huge number of chances against Marseille but only won by 2-1. Their results have improved now, but the threat was there even during that slow start.

What about the 4-2 win over City?

That scoreline looks frightening, but the game was closer than it might seems.

PSG went 3-0 up by the 32nd minute, yet City finished with more expected goals and hit the woodwork twice along with a goal line clearance by PSG.

My takeaway: PSG are dangerous, but they're not invincible. Barça should have chances to hurt them.

The challenge is making sure we score our chances and to not make silly mistakes that give them easy goals.

3. HOW WE CAN HURT THEM

Score first. We won 32 of 36 games after scoring first last season. PSG won only four of 14 after conceding first. That doesn't guarantee anything, but an early goal could change the shape of the match.

Keep creating chances. PSG have conceded 12 goals in nine games and are allowing more shots and big chances than last season. We shouldn't overcomplicate this: if we move the ball quickly and get our forwards running at their defence, we'll get opportunities.

Make the corners count. We average 6.9 corners a game, while PSG concede 2.9. But we've scored only three goals from 76 corners. Against a side that's been vulnerable to headers, we need better deliveries and movement.

Raphinha and Yamal can make the difference. Raphinha has 14 goals already, and he's returning to Paris, where he scored twice in our 3-2 Champions League win in April 2024 under Xavi.

IMO, that was the match that really set him off on the path to becoming one of the best.

Yamal already has nine goals, too. Gordon's assists have been important, while Adeyemi has four goals. Whoever starts, we have players who can hurt PSG if we get the ball into the right areas.

MY VERDICT

I think we can hurt PSG if we play our game and keep creating chances. But the away numbers are a warning

And I keep coming back to two things: don't give them easy corners, and don't lose the ball carelessly with everyone pushed up.

The high line isn't the problem by itself. What matters is how well we protect the space behind it when the press is beaten.

What worries you most about this game?

SOURCES

• Real Betis 2-5 Barça – Match report for the Betis goals discussed above.
• Strasbourg 1-3 PSG – PSG's recent league form.
• Man City 2-4 PSG – Match stats and the Champions League game discussed above.
• PSG fixtures · Barça fixtures – Results and season records.
• Previous Barça-PSG meeting – Previous head-to-head match.
• Understat: Ligue 1 · La Liga – Expected-goals and league statistics.
• Galatasaray vs Barça – Match report and player positions.
• PSG 2-3 Barça, April 2024 – UEFA report on Barça's previous win in Paris.

The statistic many of you may have seen published by the Premier League recently is that Lamine Yamal and Pascal Gross both lead Europe in most big chances created, at 40 each. Not sustainable for Gross but very impressive considering he is 35 years old. However, this just the tip of the iceberg.

Both Barca and Brighton lead Europe as the most effective high pressers in the top 5 leagues. Both clubs have German managers that employ very hard working teams pressing off the ball and Brighton even has a tall lanky Spanish DM in Chema Andres.

Squad-wise both Barca and Brighton have incredibly in form left backs in Cancelo and De Cuyper who are scoring goals for fun and changing matches. Cubarsi and Vuskovic are two of the most promising teenage centrebacks in Europe, and are only born 1 month apart.

The most glaring and interesting parallel between the two clubs is that both clubs had a prolific but old strikers in Lewandowski and Danny Welbeck leave the club. This paved the way for Raphinha, who is by far the most form player in the world. This also paved the way for teenage striker Kostoulas, who I believe will be this year's Kroupi Jr. This 19 year old striker presses like a machine alongside Gomez and De Cuyper, scores and assists despite limited playtime at start of season and runs the channels relentlessly. I would not be surprised if this guy gets sold to a big club for a large sum of money if he manages to maintain his form.

Yes, there are many differences but I just had to share these interesting similarities that we share with Brighton at the beginning of the season. Hope you enjoyed the read.

After so many defenders being injured (Kounde, Christinsen, Eric Garcia and now Gerard Martin) I would like our lineup to be Balde at LB, Xavi Espart and Cubarsi as CBs, and Cancelo as RB.

I do feel Balde should be given a chance in this match as I believe in him and his dip in form will be overcome by his efforts to prove he belongs at Barca. He has proven time and again his dedication and love for this club so I believe he should be trusted and given another chance

The skill to evade the defender, and the accuracy of the shot. What an amazing strike by Lamine Yamal!

The match against PSG, Madrid and possibly subsequent matches will be proof that we should have signed at least one defender instead of twerking for Julian Alvarez.

I don't know what Laporta and Deco were thinking not signing at least ONE, JUST ONE DEFENDER after we let Araujo and Alvaro Cortes go, and nearly let Balde go. (Tbh this might not matter much since Flick isn't even playing him.)

How they looked at our squad and thought "Yep that's good enough defensive depth) is mind boggling when we only have one LCB in Gerrard Martin, 2 fullbacks who weren't in good form for the majority of the 25/26 season, a very injury prone CB that we renewed (which ok was great since he allowed us to register players by deferring his wages and we rewarded him for that).

Instead they were willing to spend 120 to 150 million Euros on a attacking player that did not have a great season with Atleti nor a good WC, and kept trying to negotiate with Atleti. Yes we signed Rodri and that's a really good signing but our defensive depth is still buns.

All I'll say is that if we do not sign any defenders this January, we're one long term Cubarsi injury away from our UCL hopes crashing. We'll probably still win LaLiga given our attacking depth and we can always promote a new academy player to be the starting defender, but in UCL nights combined with the way that Flick wants to play, not signing just ONE DEFENDER has to be the dumbest decision the board has made.

Captain Raphinha doesn't miss a thing always having his younger brother's back in fear of further escalation so glad to see Rapha back again it's going to be the match of Giants against psg

Drip your thoughts below !

Source : @fcbarcelona via Instagram

Alternative video angle of Facundo Bernal - Lamine Yamal scuffle that resulted in a red card to Facundo Bernal and a yellow to Lamine Yamal...

The city is in such a state of chaos that even the police cannot get a handle on it. Under these conditions, winning a match would be extremely dangerous - protesters might simply block the players from leaving the stadium, lying in wait for them outside. It creates immense psychological pressure, to aim for a win in such a match is to accept that, without a helicopter, leaving the stadium safely might prove very difficult.

Although it wasn't a crowd favourite when it came out, 22/23 was one of the cleanest designs we had as our Home kit in recent years.

At least one reason I find it very pleasing to the eyes was because it came right after our 21/22 kit which was undoubtedly one of the most ugly looking one we ever had. Even worse than the 'Croatian' kit we donned in 2019/2020 season.

Source link.

Hansi Flick's unstoppable Barça side defeated Betis 5-2 in La Cartuja to continue their spectacular start to the season. The victory is their ninth in their first nine games of the 2026/27 La Liga campaign, a win that allows them to match Real Madrid's record start from the 1968/69 season.