Lack of Depth in Defence Threatens to Undermine Barcelona Treble Challenge

Barcelona drawing at Villarreal on Sunday was a point gained rather than two lost, make no mistake about it.

One of the worst refereeing performances in a long time threatened to spoil this game as a contest, but in spite of the official's incompetence, both sides made it an absorbing La Liga contest.

It's worth pointing out that Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen had all been beaten at El Madrigal before the arrival of the reigning champions.

However, the Yellow Submarine had lost the last six meetings between themselves and Barca, and at 2-0 down into the second half, the awful run seemed likely to continue.

Cue a misjudgment rotationally by Barca head coach Luis Enrique.

No doubt mindful of the way the man in the middle was brandishing cards like confetti, Enrique didn't want to take the risk that Gerard Pique—already booked—would eventually receive a second yellow and miss El Clasico in a fortnight as a result.

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There's no other way to explain his substitution because the centre-back had been excellent to that point.

Jeremy Mathieu took to the field, and as happened against Deportivo La Coruna earlier in the season, no sooner had the Frenchman taken residency at the back than the visitors were at sixes and sevens defensively. Depor were also two goals down, coming back to draw level by full-time.

Within 10 minutes of his introduction here, the hosts had brought the game level and arguably looked the more likely at that stage to go on and win the game. 

Both games show that for all of the Catalans' attacking verve and spirit, they are still somewhat amateurish when their first-choice defensive pairing are not lining up alongside each other.

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A question that perhaps needs to be addressed to Enrique is whether he genuinely believes Mathieu is a better bet alongside Javier Mascherano than either Thomas Vermaelen or Marc Bartra.

Neither of the latter two have imposed themselves during the course of the season, but the Blaugrana look awfully susceptible to counter-attacks and the like with Mathieu in situ.

Half decent in the air but horrible positionally and with no real pace to speak of.

Enrique will surely be hopeful that the title can be secured in double-quick time now so that the big-game players can be rested and used only for the vital final few matches.

With Barca now nine points ahead, nearest challengers Atleti have to win three matches and hope that the Catalans lose the same amount just to draw level at the top. Even then, the Rojiblancos would lose out on the head to head. 

Only eight games left to play means that such a scenario is practically impossible given that the Blaugrana are now a Spanish record 39 games unbeaten.

But maybe that's also part of the problem. Players believing that they're over the line already—invincible even.

Certainly Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez haven't had too many worse games in terms of influence and chance creation. For that, one must doff a cap to Villarreal head coach Marcelino, whose tactics were spot on.

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His formation has mapped out a pathway for others to cause Barcelona problems, something that not too many opponents have managed this season.

God forbid that Pique should be injured or suspended coming into Barca's most crucial period of the campaign because it's abundantly clear that they can't really cope without him.

It also brings into sharp focus yet again the issue of the Blaugrana not buying a central defender of note.

Even as far back as the playing days of Carles Puyol, Barca have been crying out for an exponent of the highest quality in that area of the pitch. Instead the club have consistently gone for make-do-and-mend players.

You get what you pay for, and never was that saying better evidenced than against Villarreal.