Barcelona Must Learn to Focus After Throwing Away Lead Against Deportivo

Focus was what Luis Enrique demanded before Barcelona's clash with Deportivo de la Coruna at Camp Nou. It was not what he got.

Barcelona played like they had headed to Japan's Club World Cup already, not performing well enough to deserve a win, and also managing to throw away the points when two goals ahead.

It was an exact repeat of what they did on the final day against Deportivo last season, although in that situation it was far more understandable, having already wrapped up La Liga.

More worryingly, it was a repeat of what has happened to them three games in a row now, going ahead before allowing their opponent back into the game to take something from it.

Luis Suarez fired Barcelona ahead against Valencia, but Santi Mina's equaliser earned Los Che a point.

Then Lionel Messi did the same in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek, but Javier Hernandez's equaliser prevented Barcelona from winning that one.

Now, after goals from Messi and Ivan Rakitic seemed to have earned Barcelona a triumphant end to their league efforts for 2015, they managed to let their opponents back into the game. Lucas Perez hit the first and Alex Bergantinos rattled home a brilliant equaliser.

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While allowing leads to slip against Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen were written off for being against a tough opponent in a tough venue and an exercise in avoiding injury, respectively, this was different.

This was the sort of thing that will worry Lucho and could signal the start of a mini-slump for Barcelona.

It would only be natural for the side to suffer a dip in performance, considering they are playing at an extremely high level, which is tough to maintain, and have been without Messi and now Neymar, who has a groin injury.

They will have to work in Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal as they get their match fitness back, while players like Sergio Busquets already look exhausted from being used too much already.

In his case, Xavi Hernandez leaving and Rafinha Alcantara's injury, along with the coach's reluctance to give either Sergi Samper or Gerard Gumbau starts in important games, has drastically increased the number of minutes he needs to play.

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The same goes for key players across the team, with Dani Alves only enjoying some relief after being injured, like Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta.

Luis Suarez has avoided injury and suspension and has started on virtually every occasion possible, bar Copa del Rey clashes.

The Uruguayan striker scored a third goal against Deportivo that was ruled out for offside, however, replays indicated that it should have stood.

That is what some will point to when looking for answers after the draw, which gives both Real Madrid and Atletico the chance to finish above them come the turn of the year.

But, really, Barcelona have to wonder why they played with so little thrust before Depor hit back. Both of the Blaugrana goals came out of nothing; a Messi free-kick and a long-range bullet from Rakitic.

Without Neymar's incredible ability to unbalance the defence, Barcelona struggled. But it wasn't just his absence that upset them. It was the lack of focus.

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Luis Enrique said in his pre-match press conference, per Sport360:

"

A lot of people are already thinking about Japan and the Club World Cup, including my family! But I’m here to say that we have another game before then, against a team that I really like. We have to treat the game with a lot of caution. The Club World Cup is attractive but it would be sad if we don’t take care of business before travelling to Japan. Deportivo are sixth in the table and they are putting together some spectacular numbers. They work together well in attack and defence and they don’t look anything like the team we saw last season.

"

And the coach was proved right. His players were far from their best, and the visitors, who played superbly, took full advantage.

It has blown La Liga wide open, with Atletico able to go top if they beat Athletic Bilbao on Sunday night.

Barcelona now head to the Club World Cup without wind in their sails, but despite the recent poor results, it has been a successful first half of the season for Luis Enrique and his men. They would have taken being in this position at the start of the season, it's just a little galling for them to be letting things slide a little at this point.