Team Focus: Barca's Away Day Blues

Barcelona’s latest failure on the road this weekend in the 0-0 draw with Villarreal saw them fall seven points behind Real Madrid and even with 18 games to go the task of replicating Johann Cruyff’s dream team’s achievement of four successful titles already appears beyond them.

So why has a side commonly regarded as one of the best in history struggled so much away from home this season, winning only four of their 10 matches?

There have been many theories, the most popular of which has been Pep Guardiola’s switch from the conventional 4-3-3 that he used with such success in his first three seasons to a 3-4-3 in many games this season. This has also meant there have been more tactical changes within games and more changes in personnel as only once has Guardiola maintained the same starting XI for two consecutive league fixtures - the constant change creating a type of uncertainty that hadn’t previously existed, whilst also disrupting the metronomic flow that had helped them to thrive.

Initially, from a statistical point of view, the difference between how Barcelona have performed at home and away appears somewhat of an anomaly. As shown in their Team Statistics Barca's control of games drops off slightly when away from the Camp Nou, with their percentage of possession falling from 72% to 68% and the number of passes they have completed from 760 to 719, but they remain the dominant side.

However, it is in the areas of the pitch where Barca control the play that their opponents have been successful.

Whilst the European champions have continued to control the middle third of the pitch, it is in both boxes where the statistical difference between their free-scoring ways at home and failures on the road add up. Barca have scored an average of only 1.6 goals a game away from home compared to 4.3 per match at Camp Nou. Some of that can be attributed to fewer efforts on goal with an average of 14 (seven on target) away and 19 (nine on target) at home. However it is where those shots are being taken from which is more telling.

Away from home the percentage of attempts they muster from inside the six-yard box is half that of their Camp Nou average (3% to 8%) with shots from outside the area up 12%.

The same is true at the other end of the field. Until their last home league game with Real Betis, Barca had remarkably gone nine league games without conceding at all in front of their home support. But even after Betis’ two goals their goals conceded average is still extremely impressive at 0.2 per game compared to 1.0 away from home.

The difference when it comes to conceding shots isn’t that great with an average of eight compared to six at home. Again though, away from home their opponents are getting better sights of goal with double the percentage of their attempts coming from inside the six-yard box (11% - 5%)

Another area which helps explain the type of game Barca have been dragged into on their travels this season is that, unusually for an away side, they have been given more fouls than when playing at home. This reflects two tactics commonly used by teams playing at home against them. The first is to be more aggressive, to press hard and shut down the pockets of space Barca normally control in midfield.

In doing so they will obviously commit more fouls; Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Getafe all had success when committing more than double the number of free-kicks they received themselves. But fouling isn’t just a result of these sides’ aggression, it is also a tactic. The more soft fouls you can commit (i.e. those without the sanction of red and yellow cards) the easier it is to break up Barca’s rhythm, get players back in position and in a shape that is extremely hard to break down.

Finally, it is also hard to ignore the feeling that despite their collective greatness, the dichotomy between Barcelona at home and away this season comes down to one man. Of Lionel Messi’s 22 league goals this season only four have come away from Camp Nou.

It is not only in the goalscoring ranks that his performances differ, his assists (5 - 3), shots per game (6.3 - 4.1), key passes (2.5 - 1.9) and number of successful dribbles (6.4 - 3.6) are also down when on the road - a sign arguably more of the opponent’s ability to shackle him on smaller pitches than any real inconsistency on his part. However, it also demonstrates that if Barca are to still mount a serious challenge to retain their title in the coming months, those around the Argentine need to take more responsibility.