๏ปฟThe start of the season has been all over the place for FC Barcelona after a summer full of hope and high hopes.
The Catalans went all out in the summer to try to improve their team as much as possible to go with the core players they already had. This was after winning La Liga last season.
One of those pieces was left back Alejandro Balde, who had a great breakthrough season in 2022โ23 and was one of the most important parts of a rock-solid backline that helped Barcelona win two titles.
Things have been, to say the least, shaky since the start of this new campaign.
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Balde, like many others, seems to have lost some of his form and isn’t quite at the same level as he was last season. According to new reports from BTV esports, the club has taken note of this.
Getting used to things?
Several times last season, Balde showed that he is exactly the type of player Barcelona needs at left-back.
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It was great for the Catalans that he had great speed, could dribble well, and was sure of himself enough to get past his man and make plays on defense.
At first, he showed that he wasn’t very good at making decisions and delivering the ball in the final third, but he also looked like he was slowly getting better last season.
But he seems to have gone backwards in that area again this season. Even on defense, he has been caught out of place too many times and hasn’t tried hard enough to get back on track.
His man hasn’t been pushed back hard enough, and Barcelona seems to be paying close attention to this.
He is without a doubt a great player, and someone like Marcos Alonso, even though he can be dangerous with the ball sometimes, is not the right player for this team.
He signed a five-year deal with Barcelona not long ago, so there isn’t much real competition for him. This could make him lazy, but the club also thinks that Balde’s lack of selection for the Spain team this time could serve as motivation.
They may also try to use Joao Cancelo at left back because he has a lot of experience there to try to get Balde to remember what a great level is capable of.