Abysmal Barcelona eke out a win against Getafe

More questions than answers as Barcelona scrape by Getafe

Barcelona did just enough to squeak out a 2-1 over Getafe at home. But yet another drab performance overshadows the victory.

The game started off well for the Catalans as Sergi Roberto found himself on the score sheet for the second time in three games. He finished off a cross from Jordi Alba as Barcelona took the lead in under three minutes.

More from Playing for 90

• Alexia Putellas reaches 400 games with Barcelona
• Everything you need to know ahead of the 250th ‘Super Clásico’
• Barcelona put five past Real Betis
• Manchester City suffer but come away with win over West Ham
• Baffling Liga MX ruling strips Puebla of a hard-earned victory

But then the team seemed to settle into a lull seen too often last season where they looked to be on the back foot. Getafe managed to wrestle some of the control back to their side and started to get more comfortable on the pitch. They looked closer to an equalizer than Barcelona to a second.

Getafe took full advantage and tied the game thanks to a nifty one-two between former Barça players, Sandro Ramirez and Carles Aleña.

The midfielder received the ball just outside the area and laid it off to Ramirez who took the quick shot slotting the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The striker had no qualms about celebrating against his former team either.

Memphis gave Barcelona the lead back near the half hour mark as he scored his second in as many games, dribbling inside the box before rifling one past the keeper.

Barcelona struggled mightily in the second half as it was all Getafe. The visitors took complete control of the game and simply overpowered the home side in midfield. The Catalans were unable to string a couple of passes together and had to rely on long ball over the top both to get rid of danger and to try to create some of their own.

Ronald Koeman, despite seeing this, took longer than expected to make some substitutions. He brought on academy player Nico Gonzalez and Gavi to replace Roberto and the injured Martin Braithwaite.

While their presence did help in midfield, it didn’t solve the problem up front. It was another poor showing by Antoine Griezmann who was whistled when coming off the pitch.

Barcelona had a strong 30 minutes to start their season against Real Sociedad. Since then, it’s been all downhill with their play ranging from poor to abysmal.

One has to wonder how much longer president Joan Laporta will put up with it before he decided to sack Koeman. Had it not been for the club’s poor finances, he would have done so before the start of the season.

The team looks the same in the Dutchman’s second year despite it only being three games. Bringing on another center-back for Griezmann to try to hang on to a one goal lead against Getafe at home does not sit well with anyone.

The international break means Koeman should get more time to practice with the players not going to their national teams. He also gets an extra week as their next game at Sevilla has been postponed because of the South American players coming back needing to quarantine.

Barcelona keep pace with Real Madrid but they have not convinced anyone they are a candidate to win LaLiga, let alone the Champions League.