Arsenal thrashed Barcelona 5 - 3 in their first pre-season game. Barcelona players were recovering from a virus that caused stomach upset to the whole squad, Considering this, is the backlash Barcelona is getting from their fans and media fair? Should these pre-season games be taken that seriously? Well Let's discuss more about this.
Should these Pre-season games be taken seriously?
Well not as a team, that means pre-season's are the perfect opportunity for the managers to experiment with their squad as new signings, tactics, and formation are implemented to check the compatibility of the squad. These games don't guarantee any major trophy but are performed to please football fans all over the world as the friendly consists of games like Manchester United vs Liverpool or Real Madrid vs Barcelona.
Only some young players or new signings take these games seriously as they want to impress their managers and probably want to guarantee a starting position once the season starts.
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So why is there serious criticism against Barcelona for the defeat?
We can say losing might seem okay if the score had ended 1-0 or 2-0, but Barcelona conceded 5 goals to Arsenal. Clubs like Barcelona has huge fan following all over the world so losing a game 5-3 creates a huge buzz all around the world as it becomes a joy for the rival fan to mock or troll Barca fans also we can't forget Real Madrid lost 7-3 to Atletico Madrid in their pre-season friendly in 2020 but Real Madrid went on to win that year's La Liga.
So this criticism comes naturally for a global icon like Barcelona or Real Madrid even if they lose a friendly.
Will Arsenal win the title with a performance like this?
Surely Arsenal has come a long way from those boring, unorganised years of Unai Emery and Arsene Wegner Arsenal has now become that can probably challenge for some titles this year. They have a very young core in their squad. Their main players like Odegaard, Saka, Martenelli, and Gabriel still haven't hit their prime years compared that to Manchester City where all their main players are above 30 or close to it.
With enough wisdom that Arteta might have gathered last year after coming agonisingly close to winning the league this might be the year for Arteta's boys. They have shown they have the character needed to win crucial games even in the friendly they have shown the aggression which only comes from an elite mentality.
The only problem we see in this young Arsenal team is the ability to handle pressure as it was the pressure that crumbled the very foundation Arteta had build last season. We are talking about the game against Liverpool if Arsenal could hold the lead against opponents like Liverpool in the dying minutes then surely this Arsenal has every chance to with the league.
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Are Barcelona finished?
A friendly game can never decide the state of a whole club surely, Given to that Barcelona players were suffering from a really bad stomach ache which made the whole of the squad fall sick that means they couldn't play their first game against Juventus. This was Barcelona's first game compared to Arsenal's third of the pre-season so that does look like an advantage to Arsenal.
Yes, some of the players had been miserable for Barcelona and even fans don't shy away from making their feelings known. Marcus Alonso and Sergino Dest had been bad performers for Barcelona many claiming that they don't possess the quality to represent Barcelona.
But overall Barcelona has a pretty good and big squad to compete for all trophies their main focus now would be to put this game behind and focus on the El-Classico that they are going to play against mighty Madrid.
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