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Three takeaways from Barcelona’s 5-3 loss to Arsenal

By David Wyatt-Hupton

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JULY 26: Abde Ezzalzouli of FC Barcelona during the US Summer Series game between Arsenal and FC Barcelona at SoFi Stadium on July 26, 2023 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JULY 26: Abde Ezzalzouli of FC Barcelona during the US Summer Series game between Arsenal and FC Barcelona at SoFi Stadium on July 26, 2023 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images) /
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Oriol Romeu is no Sergio Busuets

This was obvious to begin with, but watching Romeu play that pivot role occupied by Busquets for all those years, really hammered home the point.

Romeu did absolutely nothing wrong, but he really wasn’t involved in the game. A lot of the play-through midfield starts in that pivot. While Romeu was happy to go sideways, he rarely attempted passes through the lines, which is something Busquets was so good at.

Romeu also didn’t look as comfortable with the ball at his feet. Barca like to play in close quarters despite their obsession with space, and Busquets always had his head on a swivel to quickly move the ball on.

It’s near impossible for someone like Romeu to replace Busquets, let’s not kid ourselves, it’s like David Moyes trying to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager.

It’s unfair to judge him based on one game and having arrived from Girona late, but Romeu is a tidy but limited footballer. He’ll do a job for you defensively, but he’s not going to make those kinds of cutting passes that Busquets used to.

We’ll see how this one progresses, but based on what we saw against Arsenal, if we want to maintain and dominate possession, but with an end product…Romeu is going to have to improve.