Three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Alaves | La Liga GW 22 | OneFootball

When Barcelona and Deportivo Alaves met earlier this season, Robert Lewandowski scored a sensational hat-trick to seal the match within 45 minutes.

Since then, the opponents’ season has not gone too well with them now sitting in 17th place, just one point ahead of Espanyol on the leaderboard.

Barcelona, meanwhile, are in a world of pain themselves in La Liga after dropping their lead and now finding themselves seven points behind Real Madrid.

Hansi Flick’s men have no room for error in the domestic competition and the coming weeks will be critical if they are to engineer a comeback. With the Madrid derby just around the corner, they will have serious chances to fight back.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Deportivo Alaves.

Inigo’s return

Barcelona’s flying start to life under Hansi Flick was largely down to two factors – the perfect implementation of the high-pressing structure and the precise offside trap.

The team’s defensive duo of Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez stylistically fit in like a hand in a glove and thus did not make the team feel the absence of Ronald Araujo or Andreas Christensen for close to six months.

Araujo’s return from injury coupled with Martinez’s fitness blow, however, saw the Uruguayan gifted a string of games under Flick. While the centre-back was decent, it is clear that he did not get close to Martinez’s levels.

The Basque star, after all, has operated like a leader from the beginning of the season not only with his defensive contributions but also his maintenance of the offside trap.

His composure, decision-making, and distribution were sensational and it is clear that Araujo has not quite done enough to warrant replacing Martinez who has been one of the best in the world this season.

Back from his injury and set to return tomorrow, it is quite clear that the veteran star warrants his place back in the starting lineup. Not for any fault of Araujo’s but his own quality.

Time for a tactical twist?

Start or rest Lewandowski?. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

Barcelona’s forward trio have been in great form all season, with Raphinha and Lamine Yamal wreaking havoc down the flanks and Robert Lewandowski bagging the goals upfront.

In recent months, however, the Polish striker has seen a dip in his form and is no longer as clinical in front of goal as he was in the initial months of the season.

Lewandowski has started on the bench on a few occasions this season, primarily to get rest given his age. However, it is likely now time for Barcelona to begin dropping his for tactical reasons given his low output.

On the three occasions, the Pole has started on the bench in recent games, the team has gone on to win by healthy margins and it is thus clear that his presence on the field is not a must.

Tomorrow, Flick could thus look to start the veteran on the bench and change his tactics. With Dani Olmo unavailable to play as a false nine, he could look to deploy Ferran Torres as the number nine.

The last time Barcelona tried a similar manoeuvre, they beat Valencia by a 7-1 scoreline and they could look to do that again tomorrow night.

Szczesny must show his class

Hansi Flick confirmed that Wojciech Szczesny was his preferred goalkeeper once again ahead of Barcelona’s clash against Deportivo Alaves, and it is clear that the Polish goalkeeper has done enough to stay in the coach’s good books.

His period of rise began in the Spanish Super Cup earlier this year and there has been no looking back since as he has completely replaced Inaki Pena in the starting lineup.

However, it is clear that Szczesny’s place as the team’s numero uno goalkeeper is far from clear, especially given his moments of lapse of concentration that appear to strike game after game.

Szczesny has already been sent off once this season, made unnecessary tackles in the box, taken poor decisions coming out of his box, and has looked very shaky in possession.

While his shot-stopping mettle cannot be doubted, his ability on the ball has always remained a question and made him a weak link.

It is thus time for him to step up and show that he can be more reliable in possession and stitch together 90 minutes without making errors. After all, Inaki Pena is not too far behind on the pecking order.