Paco Alcacer on Steep Learning Curve, but Barcelona Show Grit in Gladbach Win

Paco Alcacer sprinted off the pitch in the 54th minute, job certainly not done. A slapped high-five with his replacement, Rafinha, and a wipe of sweat from his furrowed brow later, he settled down to watch Barcelona try to turn things around, 1-0 down against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Barcelona equalised 11 minutes later through Arda Turan, before going ahead when Gerard Pique found the net eight minutes after that. They held on to win the game and pick up the three points, although Alcacer will head back to Spain frustrated with his night’s work.

There will be plenty of criticism that comes his way after this game, and some of it, at least, is fair.

He failed to show for the ball and get involved enough in a first half that largely passed him by, not linking up particularly well with his team-mates.

His position didn’t seem fixed. At times Barcelona were playing 4-3-3 like usual, with Alcacer in the injured Lionel Messi’s spot on the right; at other times Neymar dropped deep, with Suarez and the former Valencia man playing as two centre-forwards in front of him.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

This flexibility should theoretically cause opponents problems, but Barcelona looked unsure of themselves and far from their creative best.

This was one of a few factors that affected Alcacer’s performance—and that of the team as a whole—that were out of his control.

Alcacer has not had much game time so far, with his only start coming against Alaves in another match that saw Barcelona play badly. He was brought off after 66 minutes in that clash and lasted 12 fewer here.

Against Sporting Gijon on Saturday, he was brought on as a substitute and was unlucky not to score his first goal for the club, rattling a strike off the woodwork that Neymar turned home on the rebound.

Alcacer was also unlucky that Neymar and Suarez had particularly poor nights, although both did end up contributing to their team's two goals.

Michael Probst/Associated Press

Barcelona need those players to step up and fill Messi’s absence, and they will likely do that. However, like last season against Bayer Leverkusen and Sevilla—games they played soon after the Argentinian was injured—they initially struggled without the team’s guiding star.

They weren’t helping Alcacer adapt to the team, instead trying to cope with their own struggles.

Diario Sport editor Lluis Mascaro wrote a column about Luis Enrique’s mistake of playing Alcacer with Suarez. He went as far as to claim Barcelona threw away the first 53 minutes of the game, until Lucho hooked Alcacer.

Mascaro wrote: 

"

Barcelona signed Paco Alcacer as backup to Luis Suarez. A backup with a price of gold: almost 40 million euros. But they didn’t sign him to play with Suarez. Because, save minor differences, they’re the same type of player. They are both No. 9s and they don’t complement each other. It told in Germany. 

It took Luis Enrique 53 minutes to realise his error. The error he made in playing Alcacer and Suarez together and dropping Neymar back in a strange 4-3-1-2 formation. During those 53 minutes, Barca were not Barca. They looked uncomfortable. Lost. And, even though they had chances to take the lead, they weren’t able to score. 

[…]

Barca achieved a victory in just 37 minutes. The 37 minutes in which they played like Barca. Without experiments. Without tactical modifications. As they’ve always played. And as they’ve always won.

"

The newspaper’s director Ernest Folch also weighed in on Alcacer, saying (link in Spanish), “his transfer is still a mystery, and it’s not understood what role he’s capable of taking other than being Suarez’s substitute.”

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Folch added that Alcacer didn’t fit in a 4-4-2 system that Barcelona rejected by instinct, even though it’s a normal way of playing at many clubs around the world.

On this night, Barcelona were dug out of a hole by Arda, a man many people have spent a long time trying to bury in one. 

If anything, the Turk’s slow adaptation to life at the club shows Alcacer that, despite some early teething problems, things can come good eventually. There is no need to panic yet, either for the player or Barcelona fans—particularly when the Catalan side show the resolve they did here.

Luis Enrique drew a much better performance out of his men in the second half. While they were still below par, they had enough to earn a victory against tricky opponents in a loud stadium.

Suarez saw a volley saved after Ivan Rakitic’s neat cross, but it wasn’t until Rafinha and Arda were on early in the second half that the game changed.

Two substitutions from the Asturian, earlier in a game than he would usually make them, had the desired effect. 

Michael Probst/Associated Press

Arda blasted Barcelona's first goal into the roof of the net after Neymar’s clipped through ball, before Pique rammed home the second following goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s handling error from Suarez’s shot.

“It’s a really important victory,” Pique said, per Sport. “We knew it would be difficult against this rival away from home. They’ve won 14 of their last 16 home games in the Bundesliga. We produced a really good performance.”

Pique is one of the team’s pillars and someone who can always be relied upon to perform when the going gets tough.

He doesn’t always score the goal that wins the game—as a centre-back that would be some feat—but he is a driving force at the back, pushing Barcelona forward and ensuring they don’t panic and boot the ball downfield when chasing the game.

The defender doesn’t have an armband—he isn’t one of the team’s four captains (Andres Iniesta, Messi, Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano)—but he doesn’t need one to be a leader.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Barcelona’s coach believed his team merited this victory. “I sincerely believe that the win was fair,” Enrique explained, per Sport (link in Spanish). “It was not easy to win here, they went 18 games without losing, with 11 consecutive victories. For that, you can see it’s hard to win here. In the second half we were better positioned on the pitch than in the first.”

Based on their overall performance and that of Monchengladbach, it’s hard to agree with the coach, but once Arda and Pique struck, Barcelona’s triumph seemed inevitable. That is the mark of a trophy-winning team, a side confident from past successes and looking forward to forthcoming ones.

Alcacer’s personal problems are just beginning—he will doubtless suffer in the coming weeks after this display, with even fewer minutes on the pitch a potential result—but in Arda, he has a good example of a work-in-progress heading in the right direction.