Barcelona player ratings as Koeman's men lose to Getafe
Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembélé were particularly poor as Barcelona were beaten 1-0 by Getafe in LaLiga on Saturday.
Neto:
Growing into the gloves. He occupies more space in the area than Marc-André ter Stegen, and that’s an advantage when it comes to Barcelona’s opponents’ aerial play. With ball at feet he doesn’t take any chances. A reliable presence between the sticks, he kept out a Mauro Arambarri opening with a minimum of fuss in the first half, and pulled off a fine save to deny Cucho Hernández in the second. Guessed wrong on Jaime Mata’s penalty.
Sergi Roberto:
Roberto left gaps for the terrific Marc Cucurella to take advantage of, and in general was given a tough evening by his fellow Barcelona youth product. He always does a decent enough job going forward. An acceptable display, if no more than that.
Gerard Piqué:
Piqué had to watch his step for much of the night after picking up a first-half yellow for a seemingly non-existent offence. Sought to push the team on in the second half, carrying the ball forward and joining in transitions from defence to attack. He proved up to the task in a team which, as a collective, did not. One of the few who showed some pride out there.
Clément Lenglet:
Lenglet struggles when there’s space to run into behind him, but did a reasonable job despite the team’s poor performance from half time onwards. One moment when he lost possession late on was particularly poor from the Frenchman, but the centre-backs weren’t Barcelona’s problem in Getafe.
Sergiño Dest:
Looked nervous to begin with, but then settled down and, despite not playing on his preferred flank, helped to set up Lionel Messi to hit the post in the first half. Finished the game as a right wing-back. He’s intense, but imprecise with the ball. He has a lot of room for improvement.
Sergio Busquets:
Busquets has started the season in good nick. Well positioned, and perhaps feeling a little less vulnerable know that he is playing as part of a two-man base of the midfield. Always reliable with his passing, he’s turning in focused displays that are certainly up to the mark. De Jong isn’t, however.
Frenkie de Jong:
De Jong’s night was summed up by the penalty he gave away. It was schoolboy stuff. At the moment, he has gone from being a player who generates excitement for the future to being an utter fiasco. Disappointing and utterly innocuous, he needs to pull his socks up. Or spend some time on the bench.
Pedri:
He’s a joy to watch. He makes it look so easy and has a degree of courage and personality that belies his youth and apparent fragility. A real talent. His pass set Antoine Griezmann up for the chance that the Frenchman blasted over the crossbar. However, he faded in the second half and was substituted.
Lionel Messi:
Tonight he started on the right, something which possibly took José Bordalás by surprise. Ronald Koeman didn’t want to give the Getafe defenders a clear reference point, and was keen to avoid the Argentine playing against them with his back to goal. He might have scored twice, but vanished in the second half. Barça need more from him.
Ousmane Dembélé:
By half time, Dembélé had already given the ball away 14 times. Koeman gave him an hour and, just as his predecessors have, ended up losing patience with him. The winger’s problem is that he makes bad decisions out on the pitch. There’s basically only one role that suits him, and that’s coming on for the last half hour when there’s more space to be exploited.
Antoine Griezmann:
A 120-million-euro forward simply cannot sky chances like the one Pedri laid on for him. He never comes into contact with the ball. If he’s going to finish like that when his Barça team-mates see his runs, maybe he should keep his trap shut when he’s on France duty.
Substitutes:
Ansu Fati:
Fati didn’t offer the penetration Barça needed and allowed Allan Nyom to get under his skin with his skulduggery. Since his fine displays against Villarreal and Celta Vigo, his level has dropped off.
Philippe Coutinho:
Tried to take the attacking initiative when he came on. He made his presence felt, but not enough. He needs to shoot more.
Francisco Trincão:
Failed to make an impact, messing up an easy cross-field pass and getting in a muddle several times when the ball was at his feet. Another player whose level has dipped.
Martin Braithwaite:
Brought a bit of bite to the Barcelona attack. He at least makes things happen. He lacks quality, but in a team whose players seem scared to get into the area, he at least shakes things up a bit.
Riqui Puig:
Given a 10-minute run-out, he sought to have an impact on the game but just didn’t have time to get going.