Four quick things as Barcelona rotate and roll over Cadiz

Cadiz 0-1 Barcelona

A much-changed Barcelona side kept things rolling for Xavi’s men by grinding a 0-1 win out over Cadiz at Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla.

The win was the Blaugrana’s sixth-straight across all competitions, their fourth-straight in La Liga, while they’ve kept six clean sheets in a row in domestic action.

On the face of it, this wasn’t a dominant win that exuded the quality of a team on the sort of roll Barça are on right now, but considering the circumstances it may actually be more impressive than even that would have been.

Here are four quick things to consider:

Rotate and roll

Xavi rotated eight of the starting XI from the PSG game, with the only players keeping their place being goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen, centre-back Pau Cubarsi and midfielder and captain Sergi Roberto.

It’s worth considering that Roberto only retained his place due to being suspended for the second-leg, and the only reason Cubarsi played was because Iñigo Martinez picked up a needless yellow card in the last La Liga game. Needless because getting a suspension out of the way before the Clásico is the sort of thing you do if you’re going to start the Clásico, which Iñigo Martinez clearly is not. Xavi was close to rotating all of his outfielders!

“Every minute is practically a revalidation. You try to do the best you can and help the team. I am satisfied to be able to collaborate and help the team.” — Oriol Romeu

Although Cubarsi had his least imposing game for a while, looking less comfortable alongside the placid Andreas Christensen than the imposing Ronald Araujo (or even Iñigo) his work with the ball was as effective as ever. He really is quite ridiculous.

Roberto played very well, however. First in midfield, then at right-back. He wasn’t the second-coming of Sergio Busquets, but he regained and retained possession really well and that helped Barcelona tremendously.

The new faces ranged from the familiar (João Felix, Fermin Lopez, etc.) to the surprising (Oriol Romeu started! Marcos Alonso made a return!) and they were… alright? Barcelona weren’t really fluent in attack, barring a few moments when Fermin managed to bring the ball under his spell.

It speaks to Xavi’s man-management that he could send out a ramshackle side like that in a tricky road game against a team fighting for their lives as Cadiz are, and the side would return with all the points. Xavi may not have been the tactical genius we all expected, but his ability to get the most from his players has proven very potent.

“Three points are just as important as any game. It is true that with the Champions League and the Clásico next week it is a bit of a trap game but we have known how to suffer and get the three points.” — Marcos Alonso

João Felix states his case

João Felix is a stupendously talented footballer who, since joining Atlético Madrid for €120m in 2019, has always looked a little lost. And it always felt like it wasn’t his fault. How could they have put an artist like him with a defensive brute like Diego Simeone? It’s cruel is what it is!

When he joined Barcelona on loan, it felt like the world would finally see the real João Felix. A consistent João Felix who shines bright every week and is so good Barcelona just have to sign him permanently as he becomes a world-beating wonder. And, well, has he? He’s scored 10 goals this season, as many as he ever did with Atleti, but he’s hardly been consistent. It’s been much of the same, really.

That inconsistency has caused him to lose his starting spot, which is why he was starting yesterday, and thrown into doubt whether Barcelona would make the loan into a permanent transfer to fully rescue the Portuguese from his Atleti hell.

“We played a very good game. It is not an easy field, we knew how to suffer. Very happy for the three points. We suffered, we should have controlled more but Cádiz is risking its life.” — João Felix

But against Cadiz we saw another compelling case for why Barcelona really should try and make the transfer permanent. João Felix is stupendously talented. Absolutely ridiculous. Completely sick with it. Like, my dude is just DUMB GOOD.

In a game where Barcelona lacked fluency, where the studs were either not on or had to come on, where a workmanlike defensive display needed a bit of pazazz to turn a 0-0 into a 1-0… João Felix had the pazazz. He pulled a rabbit out of a hat, and he didn’t even had a hat! This was an incredible magic act.

37 minutes into the game, Marcos Alonso whipped in a corner but Cadiz got to the ball first and knocked it into the air. As it was falling from the night sky, João Felix eyed it, timed it, and leaped off the ground to smash in an overhead kick.

This goal was bananas, man. Not only was it an overhead kick but he was being shoved around mid-air by Cadiz defenders as he was in the middle of overhead kicking! It would have been incredibly easy for this to go wrong, but such is João Felix’s innate talent that he was able to hold his nerve and slam it home.

A moment of magic out of almost literally nothing to give Barcelona a huge win. And he’s done that on more than one occasion this season.

“I try to do my best to help the team, whether I play as a starter or not. We all work to be starters. I am one more. I know that I can be inside and help the team.” — João Felix

He’s not consistent at all and there’s no way Atleti will make it so easy to get him back on loan again (especially after he’s scored in both games against them this season). There are so many better ways for Barça to spend their money, for sure. But the kind of genuine game-breaking world-class talent that João Felix possesses is still so, so rare in the game.

If he wants to play for Barcelona and is even happy to not start every single week, a guy who can score overhead kicks out of absolutely nowhere is hard to just ignore — this is the second time he’s scored an overhead kick away to Cadiz. There’s but a handful of dudes who can do what João Felix does, even as inconsistently as he does it.

It’s something to consider!

Pedri The Gamechanger

For the second game in a row, Pedri came off the bench to change the game. Against PSG he produced an instant assist and snatched control of the game away from the Parisians for a crucial stretch of the second-half. Against Cadiz he did the same just without the assist, which was even more impressive given the side he was playing in.

For the hour or so before Pedri’s appearance, Barcelona (understandably) had no fluency. Then Pedri appeared and as if by magic they began to play like Barcelona. The passes were zipping about the pitch in short triangles as the Blaugrana maintained possession and siezed control over the match’s momentum.

A feature of Xavi’s time in Barcelona has been his insistence that Pedri play higher, closer to the box, much as Frank Rijkaard had initially done to him, in an effort to impact games as much as possible.

“I wish Cádiz all the best. If they play like this, they will have a chance to save themselves. On our part, we played a very good match with a serious intention to put pressure on Real Madrid.” — Xavi

But recently, with the arrival of Ilkay Gundogan as a box-crashing champion, it’s clear that Pedri’s most effective and alluring ability is to give Barcelona the kind of control Xavi once did from deeper under Pep Guardiola.

He’s done it twice off the bench now. And while his ultimate evolution will surely involve him getting into the kind of positions Gundogan does, dominating the final third as well as the middle one, for now the Blaugrana are best served by having Pedri in the middle of the pitch, pulling the strings.

Given the suspensions against PSG there will be a temptation to start Pedri with Gundogan and Frenkie de Jong. But it makes more sense strategically to give Fermin Lopez the start, let the kid run his lungs out for an hour, then bring Pedri on for the control in the last phase of the game.

This way you get the advantages of Fermin’s pressing and runs, but then can switch it up with Pedri’s control while moving Gundogan into his best position just behind the striker for the crucial last half-hour.

Going forward this season, if Pedri isn’t fit enough for 90 minutes, given how brittle his muscles have been this season using him as a super-sub for the rest of the campaign is honestly not the worst idea. 30 minutes every four days keeps him active while helping to avoid the kind of overburdening that has often led to his injuries. This then gives him time to build physical confidence and resiliance now and then over the summer with a specialised programme so he can begin 2024/25 with a clean slate.

Vitor Roque and a hard place

Since arriving in January, Vitor Roque has had a strange time of things at Barcelona. His initial arrival seemed to be in the knick of time as Robert Lewandowski had spent most of the season up to that point playing like expired milk.

But ever since Xavi subbed Lewandowski off and Vitor Roque on in a couple of games, and especially since Vitor Roque scored twice in as many games, including a game-winner against Osasuna, Lewandowski has stepped his game up.

While Vitor Roque offers a lot even at his young age, an in-form Lewandowski obviously offers more. And so with Lewandowski playing superbly, finding minutes for the young Brazilian has been tough, but with the Polish striker suspended against Cadiz, this was to be Vitor Roque’s big chance!

Except not really. Because Barcelona’s team selection rendered their football as largely stacatto and ineffective, Vitor Roque was chasing shadows and feeding off scraps all game long and thus did not look very good at all.

He definitely pressed well, covering ground and harrying defenders. And his movement was sharp, darting between defenders and showing his pace. But he didn’t do anything with the ball, nor did he really even get a chance to.

Doubly unlucky was that just when Lamine Yamal and Pedri came onto the pitch, offering hope that there may be some creativity to provide him chances, Vitor Roque was one of the ones who went off!

“On Tuesday against PSG, we have a war. We want to do something big. The match comes during our best form this season.” — Xavi

But on the plus side, Xavi subbing him off instead of just running him into the ground for the full 90 did indicate that he may see some minutes off the bench in the upcoming meaty clashes vs. PSG and Real Madrid. And for sure, if you introduce him while there are actual consistent creatives on the pitch capable of finding his runs, he could yet make a big impact as a goalscorer.