Gordon and Gabriel Jesus do their best Raphinha Impressions | 5 Headlines from 3-0 Win vs. Getafe
Five observations from Barcelona's 3-0 win over Getafe: Gordon breaks through and Flick's rotation raises questions
The host reviews Barcelona's 3-0 win over Getafe after the international break, focusing on Anthony Gordon's first goal, Getafe's failed low block, Eric Garcia and Koundé, and Lamine Yamal's workload. The conclusion is that the win was comfortable, but the use of the squad and rotation still leave room for debate.
- Anthony Gordon had begun to feel the pressure, and his first Barcelona goal will relieve it — He had racked up assists before finally scoring for Barcelona, even though the goal involved a deflection and poor goalkeeping
- Getafe's 5-4-1 low block failed to function — They let Barcelona break through the middle and in behind repeatedly, failing to protect the central lane or deal with balls over the top
- Barcelona's attack was guilty of overplaying — Even with plenty of time, they took extra second and third touches and made their passing too intricate
- Getafe's second conceded goal was mainly down to their own poor ball handling — They failed to clear and dribbled too much at the back, losing the ball when Barcelona swarmed them
- This midfielder should not be casually treated as the odd man out — Alongside Rodri he controlled the tempo, covered defensively and supported the high line, and he has already proved himself to Flick over the past two seasons
- Eric Garcia had a very good game at center-back — He led the defensive line and hit the ground running after returning from a knock and wearing a mask, though that is not enough to say he has locked down the left center-back spot
- Koundé needed this goal to feel important — He may not be an automatic starter with Eric Garcia at right-back and another center-back in the middle, so the goal matters for his confidence and sense of belonging
- Flick should not have left Lamine Yamal on for the full 90 minutes — Yamal was the Spain player who started all four matches over the break and already had a heavy workload, so keeping him on late was questionable
Without Raphinha and coming back from an extended international break, Barcelona didn't waste any time jumping all over Getafe. Anthony Gordon got his first and Jules Kounde made some history for French players in Catalonia. 0:00 Gordon Will Take It 2:02 Getafe Can't Clear 2:53 Let's Talk Gavi & Eric 4:52 Kounde Gets His 6:36 Set Up for Galatasaray? Check out our merch in our store! - https://the-barcelona-podcast.creator-spring.com/ Listen to the full podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast ... Follow Me: Instagram ➔ https://www.instagram.com/thebarcelon ... Twitter ➔ https://twitter.com/TheBarcelonaPod Facebook ➔ https://www.facebook.com/barcablog TikTok ➔ https://www.tiktok.com/@barcelonapodcast BlueWireVideo
Transcript
Just because I'm on vacation does not mean that Barcelona did not come back from the international break with the serious business. So yes, I'm on vacation. You can clearly see. So let's make these five headlines a little bit quicker than we normally do. Let's get right into it. Headline one, Gordon will take it. After the international break, it was 3 weeks, but Barcelona went right back to it at home and hit the ground running through Anthony Gordon, who spent four matches with England and looked like he was in really good form. It's finally time for him to get that debut goal for Barcelona. And he did it against Hafe. He was fortunate, but it's one that he'll take because it does get him into the goalcoring column, which is where I think he was starting to feel a little bit of the pressure, but it certainly has been relieved. Now, there was nothing fortunate or lucky about that good bass from Eric Garcia right through the middle. And then the good fortune happens for Gordon with a good deflection back into his path and Adaf failing to clear. More good fortune comes in as he keeps the ball to set himself up for the shot and the keeper probably should have done better here. And as I said, it's the first Barcelona goal for Gordon after quite a few assists. Good stuff there. I will also say too from Adaf setup. I know that against other teams they play that 541 low block and settle in, see what they can do, counter press and counterattack, but wasn't really working for Adaf settle into a 541. We've seen it for Barcelona in the league so far this season of plenty, especially at the camp. No, Adaf allowing the ball through the middle and over the top. And if you're going to set up in that 541, yeah, you got to make sure you're not getting broken right through the middle of the field. But Barcelona, they were overcooking some. So, kind of still finding their way. Sure. Yeah, I wasn't too worried about that match even after going up 10 minutes into the contest. 14th minute, it's Gordon to Almo on the cross. and just a touch would have done the trick. But again, Barcelona overcooking some of their passes and maybe overthinking having so much time to take those second touches and third touches. And we'll get into more of that as we go through. Headline two is Adaf. As much as I do want to praise Barcelona for getting through on the second goal, it is a lot to do with Haddafé completely failing to not only clear the ball but use their brains, it's a terrific job by quite a few Barcelona players on the other side of that to swarm an uncomfortable Haddape on the ball. Kundai did well to keep it in on the right. And then after it looked like Haddafé would be out of trouble, it was Elmo Gordon and he and Gabrielle Jesus doing the swarming. Too much dribbling from Adaf too along that back line. That almost goes without saying. Jesus given time on the ball to set up his shot, pick his corner. It's two Barcelona. Nice and easy in extra time of the first half. Again, remember we're kind of abbreviating this because I do have to get back this thing called vacation. So, Rodri delivers over the top to Kundai. He's on side. He gets him behind, but Kundai couldn't get his feet right and we stick at the half at two nothing. Headline three. Let's talk about Gabby and Eric Garcia before we do jump to the second half. Gobby didn't get the start here and he does feel like especially with Frank Young already back in training and back soon. It feels like Gobby with Bernal coming in to be the guy for Rodri. I I'm kind of thinking that Gobby might be I'm going to say this with air quotes here, the odd man out, but I'm not so sure about that either. He did exactly what he had to do. He didn't do anything to lose himself any minutes here. Did he play well? Does he have something to prove? Those are kind of the two questions that I kept asking throughout this match. And the answers to me were yes, he did play well and no, he really doesn't have anything to prove. And over the course of two seasons, I think he's already proved it to Hanzi Flick. When you're absolutely dominating a hapless opponent and playing that double pivot with Rodri and Gobby, his job with Rodri was to dictate the play and defensively support Shavei Spar when he underlaps. And that's exactly what happened. Gobby did his job today. Barcelona got the three points and it did look rather easy. And of course supporting that back line and the high line today and getting forward into attacking positions to help continue to facilitate that movement in horizontal spots and move Adaf side to side with that five at the back. That's again what he was asked to do and there's not much more you can ask of Gabby when he does so much of what you asked him to do. Eric Garcia, I just want to also shout out here that he had a really, really, really good match. Jan Martin also solved. Nothing he did wrong obviously, but the defender that had to lead the line was Eric. And I was really happy with what he delivered at center back. And we've been talking a lot about that left footed center back position. It's not like Eric Garcia is going to wake up tomorrow and say, "I'm definitely the starting left footed center back next to Kubarci with Kundai being good enough to start at right back. But to see Eric Garcia, who picked up that early knock in Spanish camp, had to come back to see him hit the ground running here after this break, still wearing the mask, really good to see from Eric Garcia. 50th minute, there's a speculative shot from Wuhika, but the shot wasn't on target and Dwan Garcia might have gotten to it anyway. So, we move on. Headline four is Kundai gets his. Just a few more things to note as we kind of near the end of this game. And I'm kind of giving again this the same time that I felt like Haddaf had prepared for this match. 57th minute, Rodri Spar to Almo, but stopped by the keeper. 60th minute is Pedri and Fermine for Gabi and Almo. And as we've seen with Barcelona, they are a deeper team, especially in the midfield. And you just go strength to strength in these matches with again Pedri and Fermine the two guys coming off the bench for you. 68th minute Jesus makes a meal of across from Kundai. Another good moment from Kundai. 71st minute is Bernol and Admy for Rodri and Gordon. And that sets us up for the 73rd. Third goal for Barcelona from a corner. Barcelona play it short. Fermine to Pedri back to Leini Maul. And then there's your Lamini Maul moment. Kind of waiting for it all match. And we'll talk a little bit about him not being subbed in a second here. But for this goal, it has a lot to do with Laminaul, but it also has a lot to do with Kund getting in behind a Hanape defense that decided to not put a body on him. It's not like Kund was missing a mark from when the corner was initially going to be played. So, I don't know who initially was supposed to have him. That's why he never even had to go back and defend. He's able to stay up in the box. And yeah, to not mark him in any way and let him go right down Broadway, right down Main Street, not what you want to see from Adaf. And good for Kundai. It was one I think again very much like Anthony Gordon a player that needed this. He may not be the starter for Barcelona with Eric Garcia at right back and Kumarcia obviously the starter at center back. So for Kune to get this goal and I think these are important moments for him to really feel important and it is a day too that he's being celebrated as a player from France to make the most appearance for FC Barcelona. So for all those other great French players that Barcelona have had Kundai is now number one on that list. And headline five is set up for Galataseray. I asked that as a question. You can check on YouTube. I did a collaboration with the Galatasai Show. So, we broke that down a little bit and I'll be reposting that. I'll put it on the audio podcast again if that's where you're finding your shows just to make sure everybody kind of gets that conversation. I I don't think there's too much to go over this week with Galatasai. But looking ahead to it. So, 81st minute, Gabriel Jesus can't go to the 90. So here comes Hanza Alvik Karim after starting all four matches for Spain over the break at this point in the match with that being the fifth sub. It was interesting to see Hanzi Flick go. Okay. Have Lamini Maul go 90. Interesting. I would say here in a bad way. I would love if Lamini Maul had been substituted again, especially having been started. The only player for Spain who also started all four. 87th minute almost a fourth. It's Hamza close to a good touch, but alas unfortunately he couldn't get to it on the cross of Madagi. Lamin also close on the shot but just wide. Anyway, Barcelona and I will have to, as I would kind of jokingly say, settle for that 3 0 clean sheet and now it's all hands on deck for Galatasaray. All right, again, this is me on vacation. Still found a way to be quite long-winded. Not so much production as you might be used to, but anyway, I will talk to you very soon after Galatasarai midweek. And then again, it's on to some really big stuff going on in the Liga and the Champions League with PSG and Real Madrid and Real Batist in there too on the horizon. All right, everybody. Thanks so much. Hope you had a great weekend and I'll see you next time for Subarata.