Gerard Pique, Carles Alena Goals Push Barcelona Past Sevilla in La Liga

Barcelona regained top spot in La Liga after beating Villarreal 2-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Goals from Gerard Pique and substitute Carles Alena, who was assisted by Lionel Messi with just three minutes to go, put a below-par Barca above Sevilla, at least temporarily, with the latter in Alaves later this evening.

Clement Lenglet is Out of His Depth

Keeping a clean sheet against the division's third-lowest scorers can't mask the fact Clement Lenglet looks out of his depth at the heart of the Barca defence. In fact, it's not unfair to say the hosts kept Villarreal out in spite of the accident-prone Frenchman rather than because of him.

Lenglet joined Barca from Sevilla in the summer and is making a mockery of the decision to put a gaudy release clause worth an eye-watering £265 million in his contract.

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The 23-year-old is increasingly shaky in the middle of Ernesto Valverde's back four. His reckless tendencies showed up as early as the 18th minute when a late and rash challenge left him fortunate to only receive a yellow card.

Lenglet committed two more needless fouls during the opening 45 minutes and could consider himself lucky to survive until the break.

Aside from his troublesome habit of diving in, Lenglet also struggled to cope with the pace and intricacy of Villarreal's passing. He struggled to identify the pattern of play and was drawn out of the middle too easily and too often.

Unfortunately for Valverde, these are from isolated concerns, after the manager dropped Lenglet for the 1-1 draw away to Atletico Madrid last month. The player was also involved in a heated exchange with midfielder Ivan Rakitic over defensive issues at the end of Barca's recent 2-1 win away to PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League, per Sport.

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Although Lenglet downplayed the issue, there's no hiding from the fact he's been a regular part of a defence that's been Barca's weak link so far this season. The champions have conceded 19 goals in 14 matches, with Lenglet's inability to adequately replace the injured Samuel Umtiti a big reason why.

He had some standout moments with Sevilla, notably when the club shocked Manchester United in last 16 of the Champions League. However, Barca should have exercised more caution when approaching a centre-back who was also part of a defence breached 58 times in La Liga last season.

Pablo Fornals Proves He's Barca Quality

The early evidence may suggest Barca erred when signing Lenglet, but the club would be smart with its money if it invested in Pablo Fornals. Villarreal's main playmaker proved he's every inch Barcelona quality with an industrious and artful display.

Barca are said to have "focused" on the gifted midfielder who has a release clause of €25 million, per Sport. The same report noted how Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are also among those keen.

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Fornals ran the midfield in tandem with former Arsenal star Santi Cazorla, making the visitors' football easy on the eye. He found his passing range to create a pair of excellent chances early in the second half, first for Santiago Caseres and then for Cazorla.

Only wayward finishing prevented Fornals from notching the assist his thoughtful use of possession merited.

There was a marked contrast between the way Fornals carefully and cleverly distributed his passes and the way Barca were wasteful on the ball. In particular, both Arturo Vidal and Philippe Coutinho were guilty of striding forward at the expense of looking up to identify and connect with team-mates:

Problems like those have left Barcelona lacking the creative hub Andres Iniesta used to be in the middle. It means the pace and precision has gone out of their collective game.

Beating the competition to a burgeoning talent with Fornals' radar would soon solve the problem.

What's Next

Barca host Cultural Leonesa in the second leg of the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, while Villarreal are also on cup duty at home to Almeria.