Arsene Wenger Savages Barcelona In Brutal Analysis After Slavia Prague Draw

Arsene Wenger has launched a scathing attack on Barcelona by insisting that they play like a "team in crisis."

The reigning La Liga champions were stunned on Tuesday night after they were unable to break the deadlock against Slavia Prague and were held to a 0-0 draw at the Camp Nou.

While Barca remain top of the Spanish league and Group F in the Champions League, the pressure continues to mount on manager Ernesto Valverde as '#ValverdeOut' trended on Twitter after the Slavia Prague match.

And now Wenger, who has been linked with Bayern Munich, has slammed Barcelona's playing style and urgency in their Champions League clash.

"They're top of the league, they're top of their group and they play like a team in crisis," the legendary former Arsenal boss said on beIN Sports.

"Their game is too slow. There is no dynamic in the last 30 meters, it's too individual.

"And every time they lose the ball, it looks like they will concede a goal on [the] counterattack because they cannot deal with pace against the opponent... the team lacks dynamic, lacks energy, lacks confidence."

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi struck the bar in a superb solo effort, but he failed to score or assist for the first time in a home Champions League group clash since 2012.

According to Wenger, the Spanish side were far too reliant on the Argentine superstar to make the breakthrough against Slavia Prague.

"Barcelona is an interesting case because they have a history of fantastic collective play, and on top of that, came Messi to make differences," the 70-year-old explained.

Today, it looks like they play and they wait for Messi to do something, but the basic strengths of the team play is a bit gone.

"And you think, when will Messi get the ball to do something?

"And before, the music, the basic music, was the fantastic team play, making it difficult to catch the ball, and then on top of that came Messi.

"Today, it looks to me that they lost charisma."

Wenger continued his brutal assessment of Barca's performance with a stat comparison for 'distance covered' in the match.

Barcelona managed to cover 97km in comparison to Slavia Prague's 109km, with the Frenchman saying it was the equivalent of 84 box-to-box runs.

He continued: "Barcelona was beaten tonight really, physically, and then, not enough pace."

Wenger was also critical of Barca boss Valverde, but he refused to place all of the blame at his feet.

"At the end, it's always the coach who is guilty, he's not always responsible," he said.

"There's a difference between being guilty and responsible, you know?

"As we said, Valverde does not make the decision on who comes in.

"He has to do the best with what he has.

"So, what we speak about raises many questions: who has the final word when you buy a player? Secondly, is this really the player that the team needs?"

Valverde, who was appointed Barca boss in 2017, was heavily criticised on social media after his side were shown playing in an 'ultra attacking 1-2-1-6 formation.'

And Barca fans were also convinced that there is serious tension between Messi and Antoine Griezmann after the Argentine forward 'snubbed' an easy pass to him.

Topics: Football News, Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Ernesto Valverde, Barca, Camp Nou

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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