Toothless Barcelona Must Find Their Purpose After Real Sociedad Shambles

For a while, we have given Barcelona the benefit of the doubt.

Their first-half performance against Manchester City at the Etihad and the second-half display against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan were held up as examples of their quality, even while struggling with injuries and other problems.

But against Real Sociedad at Anoeta, we saw what happens when they play as badly as they did in the second and first halves of those two games respectively but across the 90 minutes instead of just for half the game.

And it was not pretty. They left with a point after the 1-1 draw, a point that Luis Enrique said was the result of a miracle.

The coach was uncharacteristically open after the game.

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press

"It's the worst performance since I have been in charge," he said, per ESPN. “We didn't deserve the point we're taking back to Barcelona."

Lucho was spot on. Barcelona were lamentable, beaten black and blue by La Real, somehow making it in at half-time with the score goalless.

The hosts dominated virtually every statistical count at the interval, from shots to corners, including possession.

In fact, the Basques played in the way Barcelona were once famed for, with the Blaugrana insipid at best, self-destructive at worst.

It would have stung to see Eusebio Sacristan, a former Barcelona midfielder and B-team coach, organising his team in a way many pine for at Camp Nou, despite the success of the Luis Enrique era.

"It's easy to explain [the result] because Real Sociedad were superior to us in all aspects," Luis Enrique continued.

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press

"It's almost a miracle that it's ended 1-1. They've not allowed us to string five passes together, they pressed us as and when they wanted, they won all the battles and you have to say that to be goalless at half-time was a miracle.

"In the second half we improved a little, but not enough. We got back into the game through an isolated moment between Messi and Neymar, but there was little else."

That moment was the reason Barcelona walked away from Anoeta with one of the best results they have recorded in recent years, from a ground where they have not won since 2007.

It did not feel like a good result, though. As Diario Sport director Lluis Mascaro wrote, "it was a draw that tasted like a defeat."

Barcelona's goal came from nothing, created purely by the speed and skill of Neymar. He lurched away from his marker down the left, driving past another defender before cutting the ball back to Lionel Messi.

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press/Associated Press

The Barcelona No. 10 took one touch to set himself up for his second, driving the ball home to give his team parity in a game where they should have been dead and buried.

With Denis Suarez on the pitch, Barcelona looked better in the second half but not by a significant enough margin to make a difference to the scoreboard.

If anything, the hosts had more chances to seal victory, but a wrongly raised flag denied them the win.

Carlos Vela's powerful strike bounced down off the crossbar, and Juanmi turned home the rebound but was ruled offside. He was not offside.

"It was a legal goal, AND YOU KNOW IT!" midfielder David Zurutuza wrote on Twitter. He was one of the team's finest performers during the match.

It was Zurutuza, Xabi Prieto and Asier Illarramendi in midfield for La Real, and they imposed themselves on the game, making Sergio Busquets, Andre Gomes and Ivan Rakitic look useless.

There is too big a gap between Busquets and the other two, which leaves the pivot isolated and often in danger.

That is partly the players' fault for not being intuitive enough to solve it, but it's also the coach's fault for not setting the midfield trio up better. 

That area of the pitch has always been the weakest during Luis Enrique's time at Barcelona, and without the glue that is Andres Iniesta, the Catalans are suffering.

The departure of Dani Alves may well have had an influence, too, as unlikely as it sounds.

When the right-back was there, Rakitic often dropped deeper to help cover for the Brazilian's frequent voyages into enemy territory. 

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press

With Sergi Roberto, the Croatian feels more comfortable staying further up the pitch, conscious that the athletic convert is capable of getting back into position faster than Alves was. In turn, that leaves Busquets without anyone to associate with.

Gomes, meanwhile, seems to be taking one step forward, then two back. This was another inept display from the Portuguese midfielder.

While it is tempting to blame him for that completely, when the team as a whole play badly, it does not help a new player trying to bed in. 

Real Sociedad's suffocating high press gave Barcelona few options when it came to distributing the ball.

Gerard Pique was clearly frustrated after the game, and that came across in his words, where he was extremely critical of his team. 

Speaking on Spanish TV station Movistar Plus (h/t Sport), he said:

"

You have to say that a point is a good result. We've lost two more points on the leaders, but that's the least of my worries right now.

La Real were superior, in terms of how the game unfolded but above all in terms of attitude. We didn't show up in the first half. In the second half we improved, but [playing like that] it will be difficult to win La Liga.

There are few times you can say this, but it was a good point. Sometimes you can win a game losing [your] style of play a bit, but it's the attitude which is more worrying. La Real have produced a great performance, pressing high.

"

Pique showed exactly the sort of brave self-criticism Barcelona need to make if they are to get out of their rut and improve.

What they lacked against Real Sociedad most was a purpose. They were passive, willing victims.

We have praised Luis Enrique for adapting the club's game, but the danger is Barcelona get too used to playing on the back foot to get out of it.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Being able to counter-attack lethally is a useful tool in the armoury, but the club relinquished too much ground to La Real.

The coach was confident his team would improve next weekend in the Clasico against Real Madrid.

Defeat at home could be a death sentence for their title hopes because it would turn Los Blancos' current six-point advantage into nine.

"To the fans, I say come and support us because I'm sure we'll put up a fight against Real Madrid and we're going to give everything against the current league leader," Luis Enrique added, per Sport.

Alternatively, a victory in the Clasico would reduce the gap to three points and surely reinvigorate a team that is in need of a wake-up call.

The shock Barcelona received at Anoeta in January 2015 spurred them on to win the treble. The players united, determined to correct their slump. The same must happen again.

Rik Sharma is Bleacher Report's lead Barcelona correspondent. All information and quotes obtained firsthand unless specified. Follow him on Twitter here: @riksharma_.