Match preparations from both teams
The only good thing for Barcelona was that Dembele joined the squad from injury. Mid-week Champions League story was horrific for Barcelona. The team could not register more than one shot on target in Dortmund. Ter Stegen saved so many moments that we could not even count. Valverde should be grateful for Stegen as he saved the match.
At the same time, Granada coach was satisfied with team preparation. According to coach, the team could recover from the last match, and players were ready for Barcelona. Spanish coach even mentioned that Barcelona and Granada are in different universes, and no one can compare those teams to each other.
What happened with the defense of Barcelona?
Barcelona had the most influential defense for the last few years. What has changed since summer? Nothing as the players are the same. The only thing that changed is the weak hole in the defense. Pique is world-class, but because of his bad play, Barcelona lost two points in the third round of La Liga. On the other hand, because of Semedo, Dortmund got right on a penalty kick.
In La Liga, Barcelona could not save match without conceding minimum one goal. If we go into details, Barcelona conceded a minimum two goals for the past four matches in La Liga. Teams were not Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid to justify so many goals in five rounds. We saw that Valencia, Granada, Bilbao, and other middle-range clubs can score two goals against Barcelona.
Can Valverde change the situation?
Soon after the match against Granada, hashtag #ValverdeOut went viral on Twitter. We saw 100 000 tweets containing the hashtag in just one hour. Barcelona fans are furious and can’t keep calm because of disastrous results.
As it seems, Barcelona has the worst start of the season since 2004. So, we have not seen this lousy start from Barcelona in Messi’s era.
Valverde’s team has seven consecutive away matches without a single win. Can someone imagine that team having the best player in the world can’t win away games? Results speak differently. Barcelona is different when playing away games.