One of Ronald Koeman's priorities is stop the bleeding of goals conceded in the last matches. For a month, Barcelona has been unable to leave a clean sheet, already accumulating a total of eight consecutive games receiving at least one goal. In fact, the numbers are rather worrying, adding 16 goals conceded in the last eight games, leaving a bleak average of two per game.
You have to go back to last January 24 to see the last game that Barcelona put the bolt on Ter Stegen's goal. It was precisely against Elche (0-2), the rival that Barcelona will face this Wednesday in their postponed match of the first day.
Since that day, all the rivals who have faced Barcelona have managed to beat the German goalkeeper: Rayo (1-2), Athletic (2-1), Granada (3-5), Betis (2-3), Sevilla (2-0), Alavés (5-1), PSG (1-4) and Cádiz (1-1).
Obviously, the injuries in defense have not helped Ronald Koeman at the time of settling the rear. First Gerard Piqué and then Ronald Araújo have left the centrals exposed, since neither Clement Lenglet nor Samuel Umtiti have measured, having to come a player from the subsidiary, Óscar Mingueza, to cover more than one patch. On the sides there is not the thing to shoot rockets either: on the right, Dest is still very irregular and Sergi Roberto has been injured for almost three months, while on the left only Alba is saved from the fire, with a Junior as apathetic as he is disappointing.
In fact, Koeman's Barça has only been able to add three consecutive games without conceding a goal this season: Dynamo Kiev (0-4), Osasuna (4-0) and Ferenvaros (0-3). Curiously, the streak was broken against Cádiz (2-1) on December 5, in the last defeat that Barça suffered in LaLiga,
The main concern of the technicians is to urgently plug this bleeding and more taking into account the need to consolidate the rear in future matches if they do not want to see how the three titles slip away in one go. The imminent return of Araújo opens a door to hope, since the presence of Piqué y Araújo could consolidate a rearguard in need more than ever of leaders in the field. And there are two games on the horizon that conceding a goal would be fatal of necessity: the second leg of the Cup semifinal against Sevilla and let alone the Champions League in Paris against PSG.