Ronald Koeman has expressed concern over Barcelona’s attacking performance after playing 1-1 against Alaves, to record another week without a La Liga win.
This is coming from Barcelona’s 1-1 draw at Alves on Saturday, having lost back to back league games against Getafe and Real Madrid heading into this weekend.
Antoine Griezmann’s second-half strike secured a point for the Catalan giant, while Ansu Fati and Lionel Messi lost important late chances to win the game.
❝If you create so many good chances, and you score only one, that's not good.❞
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 31, 2020
— @RonaldKoeman, reacting to the 1-1 draw at Alavés pic.twitter.com/CebjAupUhx
The trio of Griezmann, Fati, and Messi have been Koeman’s first choice attacking trio this season, netting a combined six league goals in six games. This has left the Dutch boss worried.
“I am concerned about the performance upfront. It is not a matter of attitude or concentration, but of having more success in front of the goal.
“It happened to us against Juventus and tonight too. In addition, we have given the goal to Alaves.
“But if we create so many chances, we cannot fail this much. If you create chances and only score one goal, it’s not good enough,” he told a post-match interview with Marca.
Koeman left worried by Barcelona’s failure to replicate Champions League form against Alaves
Meanwhile, Barcelona already has a 100 percent record in the Champions League action so far in 2020/21 with successive wins against Ferencvaros and Juventus.
As their domestic struggle continues, Barca will welcome Dynamo Kyiv at the Camp Nou in midweek. A win puts them on the brink of a last 16 spot, followed by the visit of Real Betis to the Camp Nou next weekend.
The Alaves result leaves Barca without a win in four league games, drawing two and losing two. They have registered just eight points from their opening six matches.
The last time they recorded such a low points total at this stage of the campaign was under Louis van Gaal 18 years ago. They currently eight points behind early leaders Real Madrid, although they do have a game in hand.
Due to their wasted chances, the manager called on his players to be more clinical.
“I am very disappointed with the result and once again we haven’t done enough in attack to win the game. That was the problem against Juventus in midweek and it cost us two points today.
“It’s not an attitude or concentration problem, it’s about taking our chances. It’s not acceptable for a team like Barca to create so many chances to only score one goal — but I would be more worried if we weren’t creating,” he Dutch coach added.
Barcelona currently occupies the bottom half of the table but Koeman could take heart from an improved second-half display in the Basque Country, which came after he’d made three substitutes at half time.
“I made the changes because I wasn’t happy with the first half and because some players were carrying a booking,” he said. “I was criticised the other day for making my subs late but today I made them at the break and we were much better. We created a lot of chances.”.
Alaves vs Barcelona highlights
Alves went in front through Luis Rioja at Mendizorroza after a mix up between Gerard Pique and Neto.
Griezmann then leveled matters after the break with his first goal of the season. After throwing everything forward late on, Barcelona were unable to get maximum points despite playing with an extra man for the final 30 minutes after Jota’s red card.
Fernando Pacheco later in the game, denied Fati, Lionel Messi, Sergino Dest, and Miralem Pjanic the opportunities to score. The goalie made eight saves in total.
