Areas Where Barcelona Are Actually Worse Than Last Season

Barcelona will be happy with their season so far, heading into the international break three points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

However, compared to the heights the team reached last term, there are some areas that need improvement. That isn't necessarily a negative thing, more a target to aim for as they move into the midsection of the season.

Of course, after winning the treble, it would be difficult to avoid criticism unless they manage to repeat the feat, which is unlikely, albeit not impossible.

Primarily, Luis Enrique will not be impressed with the way his defence has been performing this season, although it does seem to be improving bit by bit.

Barcelona let in 21 goals in the league last season, with Claudio Bravo picking up the Zamora trophy, which is presented to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-against average in La Liga.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

This season, they have already conceded 12 goals with barely over a quarter of the games played. Particularly in the first few weeks of the season, it seemed that much of last year's good work had come undone, with the team looking a lot shakier at defending set pieces.

That's an old Barcelona flaw, but one Lucho and assistant Juan Carlos Unzue seemed to have ironed out during the Asturian coach's first season in charge.

Bravo kept two clean sheets in La Liga, against Athletic Club and Malaga, to kick off the campaign before getting injured. After that the team failed to keep any in La Liga until the 2-0 win away at Getafe on the final day of October.

They kept none at all in September, a month in which they shipped nine goals in six games, but at least managed to keep Villanovense and BATE Borisov at bay in October in the Copa del Rey and Champions League respectively.

Four goals conceded in six games is not a bad tally for that month, while in November they kept a clean sheet in the home clash with BATE Borisov and one against Villarreal on Sunday. That makes it four games in a row in which they have not let in a goal—a positive sign.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Secondly, the squad is clearly lesser in both size and talent than it was last season thanks to losing Pedro Rodriguez and Xavi Hernandez without being able to replace them.

Barcelona's FIFA-imposed ban on registering players means the Catalans have signed Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal but are unable to play either until January.

When they can play, Barcelona will be in better shape because at the moment they are short in midfield.

The only fit and available central midfielders in the first-team squad are Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Andres Iniesta.

That's only a combination they could use recently because the latter, the captain, has been out injured for several weeks.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Finally, the third area in which Barcelona do not look as impressive as last season is going forward, scoring goals.

That's purely down to Lionel Messi's injury-enforced absence. You can't lose the best player in the world for around eight weeks and not be worse both in that area and as a team.

Luis Suarez and Neymar have been superb, doing their best to lessen the pain of Messi missing key games, but they too will breathe a sigh of relief when the Argentinian returns to action.

Barcelona's opponents, meanwhile, will be quaking in their boots because the Uruguayan and Brazilian have been particularly lethal in his absence. If they continue to play like they currently are when Messi is added back into the mix, they have a chance of bettering their record last season, when they scored 120 goals between them.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Matching up to that number might prove too difficult because of Messi's injury, but performance-wise there is nothing to stop them doing it. 

Numerically, Barcelona have 25 league goals at this point of the season, the same as they did last year. Obviously, that means their level has dropped a bit from the second half of last season.

Barcelona are behind where they were in some regards, but not many would doubt that they will sooner or later recapture that form and perhaps even surpass it.